Schuylkill Valley’s season ends with loss to Middletown
Mark Rajnath’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds left pulled Schuylkill Valley within a point of the lead but the seventh-seeded Panthers didn’t score again in losing to Middletown 47-45 Monday in a District 3 Class 4A opener at Leesport.
The Panthers (17-7) rallied from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter and scored four points in the final minute but couldn’t come up with a last-second shot to win or tie it. Their season ended with the loss.
Rajnath, an all-division senior who scored a team-high 12 points, cut the Blue Raiders’ lead to 46-45 with his 3. Middletown’s Mason Blazer was fouled and hit 1-of-2 from the line with 10 seconds left.
Blazer, who scored eight of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, scored with 42 seconds left to give Middletown (13-10) a 44-40 lead.
The 10th-seeded Blue Raiders advance to play at second-seeded Fleetwood Thursday in a quarterfinal. The winner clinches a spot in the PIAA Tournament; the loser goes into the playback bracket. The top six finishers in Class 4A qualify for states.
The Berks III champion Tigers (20-3) received a first-round bye, as did each of the six highest-seeded teams, including No. 1 Berks Catholic.
Schuylkill Valley started fast, leading 14-7 after one period. It went cold in the second quarter, scoring just one basket and falling behind 18-16 at the half.
Elijah Houser scored eight points for Schuylkill Valley and Dominic Giuffre and Kelton Faulk each scored seven. The Panthers hurt themselves at the foul line, where they made just 8-of-15 shots.
The Panthers enjoyed their best regular season in coach Taylor Grim’s 11 seasons; they won as many as 17 games only once in that span, in 2016-17, when they won three games in districts and reached the PIAA Tournament.
Middletown finished third in the Mid-Penn Capital behind Trinity and Bishop McDevitt; it lost to both twice. The Blue Raiders beat Wyomissing 44-42; Schuylkill Valley beat the Spartans 57-54 and 62-57 in Berks III play.
