NTL BOYS BASKETBALL: NEB USES FAST START TO ROLL PAST EAST JUNIATA AND INTO D4 FINAL (February 22, 2026)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
WILLIAMSPORT — Last year the District IV, Class AA semifinals were heartbreak for the NEB boys basketball team. This year it was nothing but smiles as they exploded for a 74-56 win over East Juniata to advance to the finals, and punch their ticket to the state tournament.

“To get this win feels really good,” said NEB senior Eli Stanton. “The first time I’ve ever been to a district final, so it’s a great feeling.”

The Panthers jumped out to a 24-9 first quarter lead, which set the tone for the rest of the game.

“It was really fueled by our defense,” NEB coach Paul Burgert said. “We just really worked on our pressure and getting after them. We thought maybe that we could jump on them early, and our defense led to our offense.”

Four different Panthers hit double figures on the day led by Clay Wilks’ double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Cooper Brown and Mac Burgert had 14 points each, as Brown added four boards, and three assists, while Burgert handed out six assists to go with two steals.

Daniel Barrett had the hot hand for the Panthers, hitting three 3-balls on the day to finish with 13 points.

“I was feeling myself, honestly,” said Barrett. “I just shot with confidence, no hesitation.”

Stanton finished with eight points, five assists, and four steals, as Nate Gross had five points, and Dayton Russell chipped in with four points, four boards, and two steals.

East Juniata hit 11 3-pointers on the day, led by Wrett Smith’s five to finish with 17. Sam Kopacki had 21 points to lead EJ as Meyer Ramsey netted seven.

“Some of those three were open, some of them we were challenging,” said Burgert. “I mean, those guys went off like a heater, I felt like we were playing the 2014 Golden State Warriors or something.”

Jaden May notched five, with Eric Nipple, and Silas Strickhouser getting three points each.

Stanton got the first bucket for NEB with a steal and lay-up for a 2-0 lead.

A Kopacki 3-ball put EJ up 3-2 at the 6:30 mark, it would be their only lead of the game.

The Panthers struck back with seven straight points, kicked off by a Barrett 3-pointer. Brown added a put back, and Burgert added a lay-up for a 9-3 lead.

After a Strickhouser basket ended the run NEB started a new one, this time scoring nine straight. Wilks had a lay-up, followed by a Burgert 3-pointer for a 14-5 lead. Wilks would add a put back, followed by a Brown jumper saw NEB game an 18-5 advantage.

EJ would get a 4-0 run, but NEB finished the final minute with a 6-0 spurt as Stanton had a lay-up, followed by back to back buckets from Russell.

Stanton would finish with three assists and three steals in the frame.

A Stanton to Barrett back to Stanton give-and-go would put the Panthers up 26-9 30 seconds into the second quarter.

That started a back and forth that saw the score get to 29-13 with 6:25 left in the opening half.

Wilkes then went on a 4-0 run himself to run the lead to 20 points halfway through the quarter.

That’s when NEB hit an offensive malaise allowing East Juniata to rally with six straight points to cut it to 33-21 with 1:42 to go in the second quarter.

A pair of Brown free throws ended that run, followed by a Wilks lay-up pushed the lead back to 37-21 with 30 seconds left.

The two teams traded 3-balls, with Barrett hitting his at the buzzer, for a 40-24 halftime score.

“If we move the ball we’re very hard to stop offensively,” said Burgert. “Sometimes we get a little too dribble, and we don’t get the ball moving, and we kind of fell into that trap.”

Barrett opened the third quarter with a 3-ball to make it a 19-point lead again for NEB.

After a Kopacki free throw a Brown bucket pushed the Panther advantage back to 20 points, 45-25.

A May 3-pointer was followed by buckets from Barrett and Wilks to give NEB their biggest lead of the game, 49-28.

Back to back 3-pointers from Smith and Kopacki was a sign of things to come in the fourth as EJ cut the deficit to 49-34.

NEB had the final say, though, with four seconds left Burgert lobbed it to Gross off an inbounds play for the lay-up to make it 51-34 Panthers going into the fourth.

In the final frame East Juniata hit six 3-pointers, netting 22 points in all, and NEB still out scored them by one.

Nipple opened the fourth with a 3-ball, but Stanton and Wilks came back with back to back lay-ups for a 55-37 score.

A Kopacki jumper followed, but another lay-up from Wilks, followed by a Brown free throw made it 58-39 with 5:40 to play.

Smith then hit the first of his three 3-balls for EJ, while Brown countered with a mid-range jumper of his own.

Another EJ bucket mad it a 16 point game with just over five minutes to play. That’s when Burgert went on a 5-0 run of his own to extend the lead back to 19 points.

Ramsey would bag a 3-pointer, only for Brown to strike back with a runner. Smith then hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter for a 17-point game with 3:34 left.

A Brown free throw followed by a Burgert lay-up pushed the lead back to 20 points with just under three minutes to play.

The two teams traded points the rest of the way - EJ hit two 3-pointers, while NEB went 4-for-4 from the free throw line - for an 18-point NEB win.

“It was getting a little annoying,” Stanton said about East Juniata’s shooting spectacle in the fourth. “We just had to step up our defense.”

The Panthers, though, were able to counter by getting the ball inside seemingly at will, either with a drive, or throwing it in to Wilks in the post.

“We know we had to keep scoring the way they were shooting,” Barrett said. “We just kept finding each other, finding the open man, driving and kicking, and playing together.”

They’ll be playing Muncy in the finals at a time, place, and date to be determined. The Indians had a lopsided game of their own, rolling past Line Mountain 64-25.

After falling to Muncy in the semifinals a year ago NEB believes they’re prepared for the Indians.

“It just gives us extra confidence,” said Stanton. “We already know what to do, just play hard, and do what we practice.”

As for Burgert, they’ll going to focus on defending the 3-point shot, among other things, as they get ready for the title game next week.

However, he believes their best asset is the fact that they don’t have one player teams can key on, expressed by the fact that they not only had four players in double figures on Saturday, they’ve had seven different players lead them in scoring during the season.

“We keep telling them that most teams don’t have that,” said Burgert. “We have a lot of guys that can produce, and we’ve just got to move the ball, and find the open man.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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