Bucktail caps off historic night with district championship, 57-49 over Galeton
By Bees O’Brien
WELLSBORO- It was 35 years ago this week that Bucktail last had the chance to hoist up the big, blue district championship trophy. On Wednesday night in Wellsboro, the Bucks did it again.
An absolute, total team effort would lift Bucktail past a brilliant and skilled Galeton Tiger team that would never give up. Brody Pentz picked up where Braylon Fantaski left off in the semifinal win by scoring a game-high 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to propel the Bucks back to the elite in PIAA District 4 1A boys basketball with a 57-49 victory.
Galeton, who’s been the tournament darling collected back-to-back upset wins over Cowanesque Valley and NP-Liberty to reach the championship game gave Bucktail more than they could handle. The Tigers jumped out to a 7-4 lead after one quarter.
Pentz scored all four of the Bucks’ points in the frame and it was a sign of things to come for the Bucktail junior.
Once the Bucks shook off early game jitters, they would get into an unstoppable rhythm. Pentz would tie things up at 9-9, but Galeton would counter every Bucktail basket.
Bucktail trailed 15-14 when Braylon Fantaski eluded Braiden Cimino with a spin move and sink a basket to give Bucktail the 16-15 lead. In doing so, Fantaski would eclipse the 1,000-point mark for his career.
A Gary Whipp bucket before the half would give Bucktail the 20-19 halftime lead.
Pentz would continue to dominate the Tigers, thanks in part from big screens from Johnny Green. Green would open up space for Pentz to go to work in the third and did he ever.
Pentz would score 13 of Bucktail’s 20 third quarter points, but none were as big as his strong inside move that gave Bucktail the 27-23 lead. This back would see Pentz go over 1,000 points in his career.
The Bucks used a 20-16 third quarter to hold the 40-35 lead going into the final quarter of play.
With 3:06 left to play, Fantaski would swipe a steal on an inbounds attempt by Galeton to make it 49-43 in favor of the Bucks. Pentz would get another big Bucktail turnover on a steal with 1:20 left to play. Pentz was fouled after the made shot and completed the three-point plat give Bucktail their biggest lead of the game at 55-44.
Bucktail would sink a pair of free throws in the closing second to ice the game and give the program their third district championship. The previous two were in 1986 and 1989 when Bucktail played in District 6.
Pentz’s 34 and 11 night was his 16th double-double of the season. Fantaski finished a solid night for the Bucks by scoring 15 points and grabbing 8 rebounds. Johnny Green scored just two points, but the senior collected 8 big rebounds.
“From day one I told them if they play there game, there is nobody in our league or district that can beat us.” Said first year head coach Travis Fantaskey “The second half of the season they started to pick up the intensity and played like a team. They started to believe in themselves and boom we are district champs. Everybody forgets about the Bucks….. Fear the deer.”
Bucktail, now 14-11 will turn their attention to the PIAA 1A state tournament towards the end of next week and will likely host a first round game at Bucktail. The Bucks will meet District 3 fourth place finishers, which will be either Lancaster Christian (16-8) or High Point Baptist (15-7). Galeton’s season is far from done too. The Tigers will meet the losers of the District 2/11 subregional title game between Notre Dame East Stroudsburg and MMI Prep.
Norry Christian won the D4 1A Consolation game over NP-Liberty 75-48 to lock up the final District 4 bid.
Galeton 7 12 16 14 = 49
Bucktail 4 16 20 17 = 57
Bucktail (57)
Pentz 13 8-16 34, Steele 1 0-0 2, Mason 0 1-2 1, Fantaski 5 4-4 15, Whipp 1 1-2 3, Green 1 0-0 2, Pick 0 0-0 0, Totals- 21 14-24 57
3FG- 1 (Fantaski) Rebounds- 36 (Pentz 11, Fantaski 8, Green 8) Assists- 7 (Pentz 4) Steals- 6 (Green 2) Blocks- 1 (Steele)
