| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Wilkes-Barre | 14 | 11 | 7 | 20 | 52 |
| Liberty | 10 | 19 | 12 | 20 | 61 |
photo credit Scip’s Photography
Wilkes-Barre Wolfpack 13-10 the number 2 seed from District 2 made the trip south to Memorial Gymnasium Bethlehem Saturday and faced the Liberty Hurricanes 17-10 also a number 2 seed from District 11.
The Wolfpack showed up hungry for a victory and hoping to extend their season and end the Hurricanes dream of winning a state playoff game for the first time since the Darrun Hilliard led team in 2011. The Hurricanes have had opportunities, in 2023 and 2024 and lost both of those in double overtime and even though Liberty lost star players to transfer Dwayne Chess after 2023 and Blake Hargrove after 2024. Coach Nigel Long and his staff has kept the Canes on a steady course, the one constant has been Jake Pukszyn. The four year starter who now has 1375 career points and is inching his way closer to Darrun Hilliard 1413pts who is second on the list and Warren West 1487 who sits at number one was a freshman on the 2023 team. He brings a lot of experience to the table and his teammates feed off of that. That showed in a big way, with Jake scoring 27pts.
Wilkes-Barre looked strong in the first quarter, at one point led 10-4, but the Pukszyn did what he does best drive to the basket and score or get fouled then convert at the free throw line for 6pts. The Wolfpack led by four points at the end one quarter 14-10. In the second quarter the Canes offense came alive Jake Pukszyn had 11pts 3-2s a 3 and 2-3 free throws, Samir Brown added 4pts, Luke Hefferman 2pts, Brayden Kashner came off the bench and got a big bucket to stop a run by Wilkes-Barre that got the fans on their feet. Liberty went to the locker room with a 29-25 lead at halftime.
Liberty started the third quarter with a 4pt lead and quickly built up 33-25 lead after Pukszyn hit for 2pts and Jarrell Teague made 2 free throws. Luciano Jannuzzi hit a 3pt shot for the Pack to get it back to 5pt lead 33-28, but that’s as close as it got in the third quarter. Quinn Lucas-Bishop had a strong quarter with 2 baskets and a free throw for 5pts and Jarrell Teague added 3pt shot for 5pts on the quarter as well. The Hurricanes get a little breathing room and led 41-32 at the end of 3rd quarter. Wilkes-Barre had another run left in them and they put 20pts in the 4th quarter and at one point closed the gap to 43-40 early in the quarter. But a couple of buckets and 4 free throws from Pukszyn and 3 more big baskets by Super Sub Brayden Kashner, who had a total 8pts for the game. Free throws down the stretch by Jarrell Teague 2-4 Quinn Lucas-Bishop 3-6 and Dartmouth football commit Nick Schenkel came off the bench to contribute a free throw. Once Liberty got control of this game midway through the 4th quarter, they never gave it back. Except for the overtime loss to Parkland, (one of the best games of the year) in the District 11 finals, the Canes and Coach Long have been resilient and overcome adversity down the stretch. And they did in this one as well Liberty won 61-52 and improved to 18-10.
Liberty will face a very good Plymouth Whitemarsh (23-4) the number 1seed from District 1Wednesday at Pottstown HS 7:00 PM
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