NTL BOYS' BASKETBALL: YOUTHFUL NEB POSTS STRONG 2024-2025 SEASON (2025-03-19)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
A young NEB boys’ hoops team showed a lot of growth in 2024-2025, coming up just short of another NTL Small School title, a district final berth, and a state playoff berth.

“Overall we had a good season,” said NEB coach Paul Burgert. “I’m proud of the boy’s efforts. Each year you have to go through some adversity, and we had our share. I thought the guys did a good job of pushing through it. We were playing some of our best basketball down the end of the season, and that's all you can really ask. Unfortunately we came up a little short in the district semi-final and consi-game, but we gained some good experience from those games. We will have a lot of that experience coming back, so depending on the type of work we put in this off season, we could be a tough out next season.”

The Panthers went 14-8 on the year, taking third in the district, and second in the NTL Small School standings.

After opening with a loss they rattled off five straight wins. They beat Meadowbrook (72-27), and NPL (61-55) to take the Montgomery tournament title. 

They got their first win over Wellsboro (49-40) in a generation, then defeated Wyalusing (62-29), and Blue Ridge (69-57).

After a pair of losses they beat NPL (50-47) again, then followed up with wins over Benton (80-11), and Canton (63-52).

A tough loss to Sayre (58-33) was part of that adversity, but they came back with wins over CV (78-55), Williamson (95-65, 89-29), twice, to stay in the divisional title hunt.

Losses to NPM (74-49), and Athens (50-45) put them behind the eight ball. A win over CV (82-61) essentially set up a winner-take-all for the NTL Small School title game with NPL, at home, but their OT rally came up short (57-53). 

A loss to Towanda (52-37) followed, but they ended the season with wins over Canton (58-46), and Sayre (55-46) to make the NTL Showcase.

They fell to Troy in the semifinals, but bounced back to roll past Montgomery (68-43) in the district opener.

The Panthers would lose back to back OT heartbreakers to Muncy (55-49), and Sayre (66-60) in the district playoffs.

Cooper Brown (16 PPG) led NEB while they got big contributions from Eli Stanton (8 PPG), Tanner Herb (10 PPG), and freshman Clay Wilks (6 PPG).

“As for our one senior this year, Tanner Herb did an excellent job,” Burgert said. “His career is truly a great example of hard work and sticking to it. We will miss him greatly next year, both his on court contributions and his character off it.”

Herb was the only senior, and while his effort and shooting will be missed, they have plenty returning to turn some of those tough OT losses into wins next season.

Print Friendly Version