NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: YOUTHFUL NEB TAKES TAKES STEP FORWARD THIS SEASON (2023-03-18)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
Northeast Bradford boys’ basketball had an up-and-down season, with a young squad taking a step forward, but not quite getting all the goals they set out for.

“Overall, we had a pretty good season as we more than doubled our win total from a year ago (from 4-9),” said coach Paul Burgert. “However, we definitely felt a twinge of disappointment knowing we left a few wins out there that we could have had.”

The Panthers started the year 1-3 but then won three straight, including a big 49-45 win over Sayre just before Christmas Break.

They would go 1-2 after that, dropping two close games to Canton (50-40) and CV (46-45), but then won two straight, including a 54-41 win over NPL.

That was followed by a tough skid, going 2-8 to finish out the season.

In districts, though, they gave top seed St. John Neumann a tough fight on the road, 56-42.

“We had some real solid performances, and I thought we definitely showed more of what we were capable of in our playoff game at St. John Neumann,” said Burgert. “For water reason, we just couldn’t find consistency in certain areas, and it came back to bite us multiple times.”

Josh Stanton (9.4 PPG) and Brayden Miller (9.5 PPG) led the Panthers, with Miller, in particular, having a 36-point outing in a loss at Sayre.

They also got contributions from Cayden McPherson (8.3), Joe Stanton (8.0), Dillon Donnelly (6.4 PPG), and Drew Beers (4.4).

“Moving forward, we have a bunch of guys coming back next year as we only had one senior,” said Burgert. “We have some good young talent to mix with our older guys. Hopefully, the boys are motivated to put in some time in the off season as we should be able to improve upon the nine wins from this year.”

The one player not coming back is Joe Stanton, who brought a high level of hustle and defense to the team.

“There are some shoes to fill with losing him,” Burgert remarked. “He’s a heck of a young man, hard worker, and really became our engine, so to speak. Joe had many huge games where he’d fill the stat sheet. He wasn’t a big time scorer, but man, he did a little bit of everything, including leading us in rebounding. He came such a long way as a basketball player over these past four years, and that’s a testament to him, and his work ethic. Joe will be missed greatly.”