EDITOR’S NOTE: Since this story was originally posted, all Wednesday games were postponed and rescheduled for Thursday. The change in date has no impact on the predictions, which remain the same.
The District 2 basketball tournament season is scheduled to continue with 16 more quarterfinal games Wednesday.
There are four boys games in Class 4A and two in 2A, plus a pair of Class 6A subregional games between district teams. On the girls side, there are four games each in Cass 5A and 3A.
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 district and subregional playoffs.
After correctly predicting the winners of more than 90 percent of the games in last year’s tournament, Robinson was above 90 percent again Tuesday when the district tournament opened, hitting 11 of 12 games. After handling the predictions throughout the early rounds, he will once again be joined by a panel of prognosticators for the championship games at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
DISTRICT 2 PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS
By Tom Robinson
(Home teams in CAPS)
DISTRICT 2-4 CLASS 6A SUBREGIONAL BOYS QUARTERFINALS
DELAWARE VALLEY by 1 over Wilkes-Barre Area
SCRANTON by 14 over Wyoming Valley West
CLASS 4A BOYS QUARTERFINALS
VALLEY VIEW by 23 over Berwick
TUNKHANNOCK by 15 over Hanover Area
SCRANTON PREP by 14 over Honesdale
NANTICOKE by 10 over Wyoming Area
CLASS 2A BOYS QUARTERFINALS
MOUNTAIN VIEW by 3 over Montrose
ELK LAKE by 32 over Lackawanna Trail
CLASS 5A GIRLS QUARTERFINALS
PITTSTON AREA by 15 over Crestwood
SCRANTON by 2 over North Pocono
WALLENPAUPACK by 11 over Honesdale
ABINGTON HEIGHTS by 9 over Dallas
CLASS 3A GIRLS QUARTERFINALS
DUNMORE by 22 over Wyoming Seminary
RIVERSIDE by 5 over Mid Valley
LAKE-LEHMAN by 25 over Western Wayne
HOLY REDEEMER by 16 over Elk Lake
WHAT TO EXPECT
Three of Tuesday’s games were won by lower seeds on the road and even though there are more games Wednesday – 16, rather than 12 – we don’t see that happening again.
Tuesday’s scheduled gave us the three wins by lower seeds and several games that were interesting for quite a while, but in the end, 11 of 12 were decided by double-figures margins.
There may be more close games from the Wednesday set of quarterfinals, but we are predicting the higher-seeded team as the likely winner in each case.
Our prediction of a home-team sweep, however, is not a case of simply taking all clear favorites. For the sweep to happen, four teams will need to avenge losses from earlier this season.
Mid Valley swept the home-and-home series from Riverside and had a better record in the Lackawanna League Division 3 girls standings, but the Lady Vikes wound up the higher seed with a better performance in non-league play. The Spartanettes won by seven at Riverside less than two weeks ago, but we’re expecting a reversal there.
Just 15 days ago, Honesdale upset the Scranton Prep boys on their home court. The North Pocono girls won by seven at Scranton in January in their Lackawanna Division 1-2 crossover game. The Montrose boys had the larger margin of victory in their split, but Mountain View is at home for the playoff meeting.
Don’t expect the Honesdale-Scranton Prep boys game to be as close this time. The other three games join Wilkes-Barre Area’s boys trip to Delaware Valley as the games we anticipate giving Wednesday’s schedule more close finishes than what occurred Tuesday.
There are other rematches. The Wallenpaupack girls are seeking a fourth win of the season over Honesdale; the Elk Lake and Nanticoke boys swept their opponents, Lackawanna Trail and Nanticoke during league play; the Pittston Area girls beat Crestwood twice; and the Scranton boys defeated Wyoming Valley West.
RECAP
As predicted, the North Pocono boys won at Crestwood while the Holy Cross girls won at Blue Ridge. There was one more road win, West Scranton over Pittston Area in what we anticipated being the second-closest boys game of the night, but did not correctly predict. Tuesday’s openers included an exact margin of victory with the prediction that the Valley View girls would beat Berwick by 13.
Tuesday’s boys picks: 6-1 (85.7 percent)
Tuesday’s girls picks: 5-0 (100.0 percent) with 1 exact margin.
Tuesday’s total picks: 11-1 (90.9 percent) with 1 exact margin.
PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: The District 2 tournament pairings and schedule. District 2 sets basketball pairings – NEPA Sports Nation
