Photo provided by Ben Scholl Photos
By Edward Kiesendahl
With district playoffs on the horizon the boys basketball team went into two important league matchups last week. The first of these two games was against West Scranton. West Side headed into the game winless in league play, but they had been in some close games with their opponents. This was a must-win for the Buckhorns for their playoff seeding. The game started quickly with the score being 17-16 in West’s favor at the end of the first quarter. Some stout defense from the Buckhorns held the Invaders to nine total points between the second and third quarters. This gave Paupack a seventeen-point cushion heading into the fourth. West Scranton would not go down without a fight though surging back to make it a seven-point game halfway through the fourth quarter. Many of their points came from Junior Guard, Nate Schimelfenig, who ended the game with 36 points. His impressive performance was not enough to pull off the comeback, and Wallenpaupack took the win 62-50. Paupack was led by strong performances from Justin Blanding with twenty-four points, and Nick VanBuskirk who scored twenty-one points.
While this was a great win for the team, they faced a much tougher task in Valley View next. The game was Valley View’s Coaches vs. Cancer night and before the game the school put together a genuinely nice ceremony. The game was not as nice for the Buckhorns though with a 67-35 loss. Nothing went right for Paupack, other than Blanding who still put up eighteen points. Next week the Buckhorns take on Delaware Valley away and Scranton at home. This week is a big one with the chance to take down bigger schools and move up in the playoff’s rankings.
