The final day of the District 2-11 Class A Subregional boys basketball tournament came down to the final seconds where two District 11 teams beat two District 2 teams on long shots at the buzzer.
East Stroudsburg Notre Dame stunned Forest City, 58-57, at Pleasant Valley March 4 for the subregional title.
Less than an hour earlier, Bethlehem Christian had ended MMI Prep’s season, 60-58, in the game that decided the subregional’s third and final Class A berth in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament.
A look back at the tournament’s final and semifinal rounds:
East Stroudsburg Notre Dame 58, Forest City 57
Notre Dame went the length of the floor in 3.1 seconds for Xavier Spears to cap a 21-point effort by drilling a 38-footer for the win.
Spears received a long in-bounds pass near the left sideline in the backcourt and stutter-stepped as he received it. Spears cut toward the middle, dribbled across halfcourt and let loose the contested, winning shot just before the buzzer.
Spears had 12 points in the first quarter and 17 at halftime before being held without a basket in the second half until the winning shot.
The Spartans ran out to a 21-8 lead after one quarter and were still up 37-27 at halftime.
Dylan Bezek led the Foresters with 26 points, including 8 each in the second and fourth quarter.
Max Urbas added 14 points and Davon Reams had 10.
The Foresters outscored the Spartans in each of the final three quarters.
Bethlehem Christian 60, MMI Prep 58
Freshman Gabe Transue grabbed a long rebound of a missed MMI Prep free throw in the closing seconds and took off.
Transue went up the left sideline, crossed midcourt, angled toward the middle and drained a 40-footer for the win in the game at Northern Lehigh High School.
Transue scored 13 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter.
Ryan Sones led MMI Prep with 21 points. Brendon Brobst added 13 and Caden Pease had 11.
Forest City 82, Bethlehem Christian 71
D.J. Heath scored 27 points and Bezek added 20 March 1 when Forest City clinched a state playoff berth by making it through the high-scoring subregional semifinal on its homecourt.
Elijah Arzuaga scored 30 points for Bethlehem Christian.
The Foresters scored at least 20 points in three of the four quarters.
Heath helped them hold on by going 7-for-10 from the line and scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter.
East Stroudsburg Notre Dame 63, MMI Prep 52
Spears scored 29 points March 1 to help top-seeded Notre Dame avoid the upset in the semifinal game.
MMI Prep scored the first nine points and led at the end of the first and second quarters.
Sones scored 15 points to lead four Preppers in double figures.
MORE CLASS A BOYS COVERAGE
Quarterfinal roundup: Preppers advance; Sabers fall – NEPA Sports Nation.
