DAVE KENEDY/Sun-Gazette Williamsport’s Jakiha Kline shoots over a Central Mountain player earlier this year. The Millionaires play for the district title on Saturday at Mohegan Sun.

Williamsport missed 12 close-range, first-half shots as a large, loud Hazleton crowd grew more boisterous Saturday night and a deficit grew larger.

Williamsport also still found a way to win.

It may not have been pretty, but Williamsport did what it needed to do Saturday. It shook off the offensive struggles, locked down on defense and silenced the home crowd, beating Hazleton, 44-39 in the District 2-4 Class 6A semifinals. The Millionaires (18-5) won for the ninth time in 10 games and earned a coveted finals rematch against defending champion Scranton Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

What Williamsport lacked in style it sure made up for with grit and determination.

“The defense was there and they showed some resilience,” Williamsport coach Allen Taylor said. “They battled and showed a lot of character.”

Williamsport has done that throughout the season and is back in the championship after losing three starters from a year ago. The Millionaires have made tenacious defense their calling card and that saved its season against Hazleton. Williamsport trailed the Cougars (18-5) by five at halftime before shutting them down in the second half and surrendering just 13 points.

Fittingly, Elijah Frierson put Williamsport ahead to stay late with good defense, making a steal and layup. Kenon Brown helped seal the game at the foul line and Williamsport limited Hazleton to just one fourth-quarter field goal. As he has done all season, Frierson helped ignite that defensive success and slowed dynamic Josian Guerra to seven second-half points.

No matter what happened offensively, Williamsport never let up defensively. That and some old-fashioned determination have it back in the final.

“That’s one thing I’m very proud of. A lot of times when you’re not getting it done on the offensive side, it effects how you perform defensively. We told them to flush and focus on next play. The next play is the most important one,” Taylor said. “Everybody that stepped on the floor found a way to contribute defensively and it was one of our better rebounding games, too.”

Brown scored 17 points and Frierson 15. Xavier Taylor made one of the game’s key shots to, breaking a tie with a drive in the fourth quarter. Williamsport has had many players produce points this season but who does so can come and go. Defense can be controlled all the time and Williamsport has embraced that mentality, using it to win its most games in a season since 2017.

The Millionaires have held 14 teams to fewer than 50 points this season and are 11-1 when doing so, winning 11 straight games when reaching that goal. Last Saturday also was the third time in four games, Williamsport held a team to fewer than 40 points.

“Defense travels,” Taylor said. “Our defense definitely traveled (Saturday).”

Because it did, Williamsport is traveling to Mohegan Sun again. Williamsport has yearned for this opportunity since Scranton beat it, 48-39, in last year’s championship. The Millionaires led that game by nine in the first half before Scranton took over in the second half. The Knights (22-2) are the top seed, Jason Shields averages 21 points per game and they have most of their nucleus back from last year.

Scranton is an outstanding team, but this is exactly why Williamsport schedules the way it does. The Millionaires have several big wins this season and it was all about building toward this moment.

“They remember how big the game was last year and that’s all they talk about, getting back to the arena and playing Scranton again because they sent us home,” Taylor said. “They played a very good game and now it’s a case of let’s see how much we’ve learned. District 2 is tough and we feel like we can make some noise if we can get out of it, but Scranton is in the way so, we have to try an right some wrongs from last year.”

Williamsport certainly did that against Hazleton.

BACK AGAIN: When St. John Neumann defeated North Penn-Liberty in last year’s District 4 Class A championship, many might have thought that was the Mounties’ last shot at history for a while. Four starters were graduating from the most decorated team in program history, so future success seemed far from a certainty.

And yet here the Mounties are again. North Penn-Liberty has a new look and is playing a different style this season but the results are the game and it finds itself again playing Neumann for the championship. The Mounties (15-8) earned their way there in impressive fashion last week, defeating Sullivan County, 47-25, and No. 2 seed Northumberland Christian, 54-33.

Neumann earned its spot opposite North Penn-Liberty after surviving a scare from Lourdes and winning its semifinals, 77-64.

“We had a chip on our shoulder. All season we’ve felt like we’re in every game,” guard Derek Litzleman, last year’s lone returning starter, said after the Sullivan win. “We’ll play against any team. I think coming into districts we’ve been playing well.”

“I’m really proud of these guys because we introduced a whole new system and they bought in and they’ve grown a lot,” North Penn-Liberty coach Brian Litzelman said. “It tested their work ethic.”

North Penn-Liberty has aced that test and grown better throughout the season. The Mounties squeezed the juice from consecutive offenses last week and have surrendered just 39 points in the last six quarters. Combine that with a balanced lineup featuring four players averaging 9.5 points or more per game and North Penn-Liberty has become a formidable team.

Noah Shedden, Devin Bradley, Hunter Thompson and Kyle Davis all produced double-digit performances last week. Derek Litzelman leads the team in scoring, highlighting that if one player is slowed, another often is there to do damage.

This is an unselfish team which does not care who is scoring either. It’s all for one and one for all. Because of that, North Penn-Liberty is aiming for its first district championship and state tournament bound for a second time in three years.

“I just tell them we need to keep working in practice, watch the other team on film, know their tendencies and play our game,” Derek Litzelman said. “We play together all the time. We have great chemistry every game.”

MOVING ON: Muncy is headed to its first District 4 Class A final after exacting revenge on Sayre and defeating Northwest in playoff games last week. Just like last year, Muncy (19-5) earned the top seed but did not let history repeat itself, paying Sayre back an defeating it in the quarterfinals, 57-38. The Indians then shook off a slow start and downed Northwest, 63-51, to earn the program’s second district championship appearance since 2004.

Muncy has won seven straight games and will play defending champion Wyalusing in the final. The Indians also are state tournament-bound and again received strong contributions throughout the rotation in both wins. Muncy played tough defense against Sayre, used a 27-point second quarter to take control against Northwest and prevented either team from rallying in the second half, finishing each game strong.

Loudon Boring brilliantly ran the offense against Northwest, dealing 10 assists and Gio Persun added five. Ross Eyer (20 points, 10 rebounds) collected his 22nd double-double in the Northwest win and, even when Eyer was contained against Sayre, Muncy kept clicking with players like Noah Confer stepping up.

The 19 wins are the most by a Muncy team since 2004. The Indians have been eyeing this opportunity since last season ended and schedule tough bigger school teams like Class AAAA Mifflinburg and Montoursville, as well as 3A Southern Columbia. Even if they took defeats in those games, they helped prepare Muncy and now it is where it wants to be, playing for the district’s biggest prize.

Players of the Week

Branson Eyer, Muncy

and Noah Shedden,

North Penn-Liberty

Eyer is one of the area’s premier defensive players, but he also has an excellent offensive skill set and was a force in both Muncy wins. The junior guard scored a career-high 28 points against Sayre, 18 against Northwest and added 12 rebounds, six assists and nine steals. Shedden is playing the best basketball of his high school career at the perfect time. He produced double-doubles in both games and was tough inside on both ends. Shedden scored a career-high 19 points against Sullivan, helping North Penn-Liberty erase a five-point second-quarter deficit. In two games he totaled 37 points, 25 rebounds, and six steals.

Dr. Masse’s Top 5: 1. Williamsport (18-5); 2. Loyalsock (21-4); 3. Lewisburg (20-5); 4. St. John Neumann (21-3); 5. Muncy (19-5).