Any true basketball fan is well aware of March Madness – the term that indicates basketball season is coming to an end, but not before the colleges and high schools battle for conference, district, state and national championships. It normally builds each week until the final games are played.
For Lehigh Valley fans, March Madness began a bit early – on March 1! That is the night that District XI decided to take their AAAAAA boys’ semifinals to the PPL Center in center city Allentown. PPL had hosted two college basketball games in the past and a professional exhibition game, but it had NEVER hosted a high school game. No one was quite sure what to expect.
District XI officials worried that they may have taken on more than they should have in terms of rental costs and expectations. After all, the place held 8,000 people, but up until game night “only” 3200 tickets had been sold. PPL cooperated to make the fees more palatable, but the numbers were still risky, for sure. What both had going for them were the teams themselves and the individual talent.
You see, this was a basketball “perfect storm”. There were four great teams (17 total losses – eight losses by one team) and many of those losses coming when they played one another. There was a plethora of great talent (seven 1,000 point scorers) who, by themselves, were well worth the price of admission all year long. Three of the four teams had their school’s all-time leading scorer and one school had two players who went back and forth for that honor each time they took the floor. And there was Allen High School; a team that had grabbed a hold of their fan base in December and watched it grow to immense numbers by the end of the season. These were four teams who were so talented and so successful that no Lehigh Valley gymnasium could hold the crowd.
Fans poured in when the doors were unlocked. The upper deck seating, originally thought to be unnecessary, started to be occupied by halftime of the first game. The fans just kept coming. By the time the first quarter of game two rolled around a “Sold-Out” sign had to be posted at the ticket windows. The final count was a paid attendance of 7,661 and an estimated final tally of over 8,000 people, the largest crowd to watch a high school game ever in the Lehigh Valley. It really didn’t matter so much who won the games, because everyone – coaches, players, and fans, won that night.
Congratulations to all who put this together, who had the foresight to give it a chance. It is hard to imagine that teams this good, with players this talented, and fan interest this high will happen for a long while, but, on this night, in this arena, with these four teams, it was awesome.
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- If you were wondering where District XI big basketball games were played in the past, when there were NO really big gyms, I can tell you that it was NOT in District XI. Way back when I was playing at Wilson High School, we played Bethlehem High School in the District semifinal at the Harrisburg State Farm Show Arena. We won and returned to Harrisburg for the championship against Larry Miller’s Catasauqua team. There were @ 8,000 people for each of those games. Only one classification existed back then. Catty beat us, if you care.
- The Lafayette women’s basketball team beat Holy Cross on Saturday. With the win, they became the first Patriot League #10 seed to win a tournament game. They were getting better as the year progressed and their hard work paid off.
- The Northeast Regional Wrestling championships were an absolute showcase for Lehigh Valley wrestlers. Nazareth had six champions; Bethlehem Catholic had four; Northampton two; and Freedom one. That’s thirteen out of fourteen – amazing results. And talk about fans – perhaps, this is the next high school event at PPL.
- The Bucknell men will face Lehigh on Sunday, March 12, for the Patriot League basketball championship.
- Congratulations to Brad Pensyl, the coach of Pocono Mountain West for winning the District XI AAAAAA basketball championship. It was his second and it will be his last. After 28 years (making the Districts in every one of those years), he has decided to retire. He will move into administration at Pocono Mountain. Brad will be very hard to replace and I will miss him on the sidelines.
