NTL BOYS BASKETBALL: NEB HOLDS OFF LATE MUNCY RALLY TO WIN FIRST DISTRICT TITLE IN 35 YEARS (February 26, 2026)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
MONTOURSVILLE — For the past decade it looked like NEB boys were condemned to the existence of District IV boys basketball’s version of Tantalus - close to a title but always seemingly out of reach. That all changed on Wednesday as the Panthers were able to finally quench their championship thirst by the narrowest of margins, 34-33, over Class AA nemesis Muncy.

“It’s one of the best feelings in the world,” NEB senior Eli Stanton said about winning the program’s first District IV title since 1991.

The trip there has been earmarked by heart break. Just before Covid they had three straight years of being runners-up, then after Covid they’ve lost two close semifinal games, one to eventual champions Wyalusing’s, and last year to these Indians in overtime.

“It’s a huge monkey of my back, personally, because I lost one when I was coaching the girls, so I’m 0-4 in these games,” said NEB coach Paul Burgert. “And this one’s special because of the group of kids. They’re such a great group of kids, and, of course, my son being a part of it, on top of it…I’m speechless.”

The whole team has a father-son theme going on as all four coaches - Burgert, and his three assistants - have sons on the team.

“That’s why I asked them to come on, because I always respected their basketball IQ, and I knew that their boys were coming up,” said Burgert. “It’s great to have them.”

The connection goes even deeper than that. Assistant coach Matt Wilks was on the 1991 team that beat Loyalsock for the Class A title that year, and now his son, Clay Wilks, helped NEB to their next title 35 years later.

“It makes me really happy,” Clay said about being able to follow in his father’s footsteps. “My whole life is just to make him proud, and I think tonight we accomplished that.”

Last year’s team rallied to send that semifinal into overtime before falling to Muncy, this year’s squad nearly watched the Indians do the same to them.

“”They just play so hard, and they’re so well coached,” Burgert said about Muncy. “When you get to play them on this stage, it’s going to be tough, and it’s going to be a battle. No matter the personnel change this year - they were zone than man - but the effort and the intensity when you play them is always the same.”

And, despite blowing teams out in their first two playoff games, NEB knew it was going to be their defense that was going to get them over the top at some point this postseason.

The Indians held the ball for long stretches as they did their best slow down NEB’s fast break attack that buried Sayre and East Juniata.

“My biggest concern was to stay focused defensively, because we’ve kind of hung our hot on our defense this year, but teams usually aren’t that patient, and you can start to have breakdowns on defense,” remarked Burgert. “Which we didn’t. We just defended so well today.”

Offensively it was a team effort, led by Eli Stanton’s 11 points, five boards, three assists, and two steals.

“Eli knows one speed, and that’s about 200 miles an hour,” said Burgert. “He gets so ramped up. There’s no one that wants it more, and sometimes that can be a problem for him - he’s just going so fast he can’t help himself, but he was keyed up for this one tonight.”

Wilks added nine points on 4-for-7 shooting, to go with 10 boards, and two steals, as Cooper Brown had eight points, shooting 4-for-6 inside the arc, to go with four boards.

Mac Burgert and Dayton Russell netted three points each, as Burgert handed out four assists, while Russell finished with five boards, and two steals.

Coach Burgert’s focus on defense and sharing the ball resonated with the team.

“We just have to be connected on defense, and pass the ball around,” Brown said about their preparation. “Don’t be selfish.”

They struggled with turnovers, finishing with 20, and shot only 1-for-13 from beyond the arc.

That’s why it was a good day for them to put the clamps on as the Indians only had one double-digit scorer in Dominic Guardini, who finished with 10 points.

“It definitely made us work a lot harder,” said Brown. “It paid off.”

Jaxton Frantz netted eight points, Kiran Lisembee notched seven, Nixon Lamper added four, with Nathan Rogers, and Dylan Mausteller scoring two points apiece.

Guardini hit two 3-balls in the contest - the first bucket of the game, and the last - giving the Indians a 3-0 lead.

NEB would answer with a Stanton lay-up, followed by a Burgert jumper for a 5-2 lead.

A Brown jumper made it 7-3 with just under four minutes left in the first quarter.

Lamper came back with a lay-up, but a second Brown jumper put NEB up 9-5.

Muncy, though, answered with three straight buckets to take an 11-9 lead to end the frame.

The Panthers started the second much like Muncy ended the first, opening with a Russell jumper to knot things up.

A Stanton free throw gave them a 12-11 lead, then Brown found Wilks for a lay-up to give them a 3-point lead.

The Panthers kept rolling as Wilks had another basket, followed by a Stanton lay-up to push their lead to 18-11 with 3:20 left in the half.

Muncy would rally with a 5-0 run, but Brown had the final say, hitting a jumper for a 20-16 lead at the break.

“It was great for him,” Burgert said about Brown hitting jumpers early. “He got going early, and we just couldn’t find him like we had - he should have had more opportunities early. We were a little timid on moving the ball.”

The Indians opened the third quarter with a 4-0 run to knot the game up, but a Brown basket put NEB back on top 22-20.

Stanton then added an And-1 for a 25-0 lead, while a Russell free throw extended the advantage to six points with 2:21 left in the third.

Much like in the second quarter the Indians would rally, scoring four straight to make it a 2-point game.

A Stanton lay-up pushed it back to 28-24, but Muncy got a bucket Lamper to make it a 2-point game going into the fourth.

Despite holding the lead it was a frustrating quarter for the Panthers as they missed six lay-ups and went 2-for-6 from the charity stripe, leaving easy points out on the floor.

Still, it was good for them to see Stanton starting to find the seems in the Muncy defense on his drives.

“I just had to lock in,” remarked Stanton. “It’s all I could do, I couldn’t make a shot, so I had to take it to the rack.”

Muncy opened the fourth with a 4-0 spurt to take a 30-28 lead, but a free throw from Wilks cut it to 30-29.

Then, about halfway through the fourth quarter, Burgert hit Wilks with a no-look pass, and the big man finished to put NEB back up 31-30.

He added another basket a couple minutes later for a 33-30 advantage with 2:45 left to play.

“My mindset was just get the ball in the hole as much as I can when they pass it to me,” Wilks said. “And just keep rebounding and putting it back.”

After a Muncy miss Stanton would go 1-for-2 from the line for a 34-30 game with 1:55 on the clock.

That’s when the two teams dug in defensively, trading empty possessions until seven seconds left when Guardini hit his second 3-ball of the game to cut the deficit to one.

NEB drew up a long throw to Stanton to relieve the Muncy pressure, but it went of his finger tips, and out of bounds at the other end.

The Indians would get one more good look but couldn’t convert, and the ball bounced away as the buzzer rang, signaling the Panther party at mid-court.

“I knew we could do it,” Brown said about getting that last stop.

That’s not to say NEB wasn’t worried.

“I was really nervous,” Stanton said about it coming down to one play. “I just had to not get in my head, and just play hard.”

Wilks felt the tide change in the second half as the fouls began to pile up on Muncy. The Indians finished with 14 fouls in the game, and saw Lisembee foul out.

“I feel like they were getting in their own heads more, and they were just demoralized,” said Wilks.

At one point Muncy tried going small get Wilks out of the game, and Burgert was impressed with how well his 6-foot, 5-inch big man was able to stay in front Muncy’s guards.

“The big thing with Clay is, when they went all guards, can he hold up defensively,” Burgert said. “Because we played pretty much all man, and he did. That’s what will get overlooked, but Clay held up defensively, and then inside on offense, when they went small, they just couldn’t step him.”

NEB will be able to host a state game now, which will be played on Saturday, March 7 against an opponent to be named later.

Even as they move forward, though, Burgert can’t help but look back to all those near misses.

“I would like to throw a shout out to all the players I’ve coached in the 11 years that I’ve been here,” he said. “They put in the work, and we were so close, and we had so many heartbreaks. There’s a part of me that feels like this is all for them, too, and all the players that I’ve been fortunate to work with, they were with us tonight.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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