EDITOR’S NOTE: Since the predictions were originally posted, the entire Friday schedule was postponed to Saturday. The new Saturday schedule can be found at: UPDATED: 21-game Saturday set – NEPA Sports Nation.
The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament is scheduled to open Friday and complete the first round Saturday with a total of 21 games involving District 2 teams.
The PIAA is using home courts in most cases for first-round games again this season.
NEPASportsNation.com editor Tom Robinson, who covers and writes about District 2 basketball for the website, is once again predicting the outcomes of games throughout the state tournament after also picking all the games in the District 2 tournament.
His predictions for Friday and Saturday games are below.
PIAA PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS
By Tom Robinson
(Home team, where applicable, in CAPS)
CLASS 6A FIRST-ROUND BOYS GAME
Coatesville by 4 over SCRANTON
CLASS 5A FIRST-ROUND BOYS GAMES
ABINGTON HEIGHTS by 8 over Murrell Dobbins
West Philadelphia by 4 over WEST SCRANTON
CLASS 4A FIRST-ROUND BOYS GAMES
SCRANTON PREP by 8 over Octorara
VALLEY VIEW by 13 over Shamokin
BETHLEHEM CATHOLIC by 8 over Nanticoke
CLASS 3A FIRST-ROUND BOYS GAMES
HOLY REDEEMER by 12 over SLA Beeber
Mid Valley by 4 over TROY
CLASS 2A FIRST-ROUND BOYS GAME
Holy Cross by 17 over Minersville
CLASS A FIRST-ROUND BOYS GAME
Forest City by 4 over Northumberland Christian
CLASS 6A FIRST-ROUND GIRLS GAME
Abington by 5 over WYOMING VALLEY WEST
CLASS 5A FIRST-ROUND GIRLS GAMES
PITTSTON AREA by 11 over Samuel Fels
ABINGTON HEIGHTS by 9 over Archbishop Ryan
Villa Maria Academy by 13 over Scranton
CLASS 4A FIRST-ROUND GIRLS GAMES
SCRANTON PREP by 17 over Lewisburg
JERSEY SHORE by 5 over Wyoming Area
CLASS 3A FIRST-ROUND GIRLS GAMES
DUNMORE by 2 over Bloomsburg
MOUNT CARMEL by 11 over Holy Redeemer
Pen Argyl by 2 over Lake-Lehman
CLASS 2A FIRST-ROUND GIRLS GAME
MONTROSE by 14 over Northwest
CLASS A FIRST-ROUND GIRLS GAME
MOUNTAIN VIEW by 18 over Harrisburg Christian
WHAT TO EXPECT
Predicting when the first-round games will be played may be more difficult than predicting winners. As of 6 p.m. Thursday, 3 of the 11 games scheduled for Friday had already been moved to Saturday. Rather than list each day separately, we put all predictions together here because of the possibility that most, if not all, will be played on the same day. For the third year in a row, the PIAA is using home courts for most of the first round. That will keep upsets down in the first round, but not all home teams actually are deserving of being the favorites. The Mid Valley and Forest City boys, as well as the Lake-Lehman and Wyoming Area girls, all have a shot at winning away from home. The Scranton and West Scranton boys each earned state home games despite 11 losses while the Wyoming Valley West girls won a subregional title after 8 regular-season losses. Those three will be put to the test while trying to continue their improved late-season play.
RECAP
The championship and third-place round of district and subregional play was tougher to predict than the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.
Final round boys picks: 2-3 (40.0 percent)
Final round girls picks: 6-1 (85.7 percent)
Total final round picks: 8-4 (66.7 percent)
Total boys picks: 29-6 (82.9 percent)
Total girls picks: 27-5 (84.4 percent)
Total picks: 56-11 (83.6 percent)
