LJ Tucker drained four first-quarter 3-pointers and finished with 21 points as Lewisburg built a 20-point lead and cruised to a 70-54 first round Class AAAA state tournament win against Big Spring. The Green Dragons (22-4) won their 17th straight game and will play District 1 champion Pope John Paul in Tuesday’s second round at a time and place to be determined.

Tucker’s early flurry helped Lewisburg built a 24-4 point advantage that grew to 24 entering the fourth quarter. All five starters reached double figures and Nazir Meredith was a force on the glass with 16 rebounds and 10 points. Freshman point guard Cortland Michaels also nearly had a double-double, totaling 12 points, nine assists and three steals.

Cooper Mowry (13) and Rebira Jemana (10) combined for 23 points in their final home games. Lewisburg, the District 4 champion, won its first state tournament game since 2022 and has made an eight-win improvement from last year.

Isaac Erlandson concluded a strong breakout sophomore season with a career-high 20 points, but Montoursville was unable to rally from a six-point halftime deficit and dropped a first round, 58-44 contest to 2026 Final 4 participant Valley View. The Warriors (18-8) made their first state playoff appearance in six years and won their first two playoff games since 2021 while starting three sophomores.

The Warriors trailed 25-19 at halftime but Valley View outscored it by eight in the second half to pull away. Erlandson went 10 of 12 at the foul line and seniors Shea Ulmer, Kingston Fisher and Brennen Imbro will graduate after helping the Warriors make a seven-win improvement this season.

North Penn-Liberty hung tough with Class A state title contender York Country Day and trailed by just four at halftime before the District 3 runners-up erupted in the second half and pulled away for a 68-41 win. Landon Mattern scored 12 points for North Penn-Liberty (16-11) and Evan McTish had 11 points with eight rebounds. Conner Lewis added seven points and seven boards. The Mounties reached a second straight district final and state tournament despite graduating three starters from last year’s team.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Lewisburg 70, Big Spring 54

(PIAA CLASS AAAA PLAYOFFS)

BIG SPRING (54)

Landon Sallie 12 7-12 33, Nathan Barnowski 1 0-0 2, Joven Strine 3 3-4 9, Jaedon Zargoza 3 2-2 8, Gavin Wenger 0 2-2 2. Totals 19 14-20 54.

LEWISBURG (70)

Cortland Michaels 4 3-4 12, Cooper Mowry 5 0-0 13, LJ Tucker 8 0-0 21, Nazir Meredith 4 2-4 10, Rebira Jemana 3 4-5 10, Jack Siegel 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 9-12 70.

Big Spring 6 12 15 21–54

Lewisburg 24 13 20 13–70

3-point goals: Big Spring 2 (Sallie 2); Lewisburg 9 (Tucker 5, Mowry 3, Michaels).

Records: Lewisburg (22-4).

Valley View 58, Montoursville 44

(PIAA CLASS AAAA PLAYOFFS)

VALLEY VIEW (58)

Michael Muto 6 5-6 20, Jagger Roe 4 7-9 15, Brody Cunningham 0 1-2 1, Noah Symuleski 4 2-4 12, Aiden Plotkin 1 0-0 2, Cash Roe 4 0-0 8. Totals 19 15-21 58.

MONTOURSVILLE (44)

Cam Cintron 1 0-0 2, Jay Houseknecht 1 0-0 3, Isaac Erlandson 5 10-12 20, Shea Ulmer 1 0-0 3, Brennen Imbro 2 1-2 5, Elijah Eck 3 0-0 7, Kingston Fisher 1 2-2 4. Totals 14 13-16 44.

Valley View 11 14 17 16–58

Montoursville 9 10 14 11–44

3-point goals: Valley View 5 (Muto 3, Symuleski 2); Montoursville 3 (Houseknecht, Ulmer, Eck).

Records: Montoursville 18-8. Valley View 20-6.

York Country Day 68, North Penn-Liberty 41

(PIAA CLASS A PLAYOFFS)

NPL (41)

Brody Grinnell 2 0-0 4, Conner Lewis 3 1-2 7, Luke Kreger 2 1-2 5, Sudan Benner 1 0-0 2, Evan McTish 5 1-4 11, Landon Mattern 5 0-0 12. Totals 18 3-8 41.

YCD (68)

Ryan Maus 9 1-2 22, Branson Kennedy 2 1-4 5, Elijah Slaughter 6 1-1 14, Johnson Ilonga 2 4-6 8, Isaiah White 8 3-6 19. Totals 27 10-19 68.

NPL 11 13 9 8–41

YCD 14 14 25 15–68

3-point goals: North Penn-Liberty 2 (Mattern 2); YCD 4 (Maus 3, Slaughter).

Records: York Country Day 22-4. North Penn-Liberty 16-11.