The EPC Tournament brackets are set, and district playoff teams are pretty much solidified.
On the girls’ basketball side, Pocono Mountain West finished undefeated in divisional play, which not only guaranteed their spot in the district playoffs, but it was enough for the Panthers to get into the 8-team conference tournament as the 7-seed.
Led by Pocono Record Player of the Year Emma Campusano and new(ish) coach Daniell Palazzi, West has a lot of momentum going into the postseason, especially districts.
Pocono Mountain East is technically still alive for district playoffs, but to get in, Pottsville will likely have to lose its final two games for the Cardinals to swap places with them. Regardless of the result, Ben Battle’ done a good job in his second year, and with no seniors on this year’s roster, East could look to take a step next season.
On the boys’ side, West enters the EPC Tournament as a 3-seed, and they will host 6-seeded Liberty inside Brad Pensyl gymnasium. The Panthers had to come back against the Hurricanes for a regular-season victory, and that was without Brady Behr.
Of all the matchups in the EPC quarterfinals, that might be the most intriguing one.
There aren’t any other teams in the conference tournament, but Pocono Mountain East and Stroudsburg will also compete in the 6A district playoffs, and it’ll likely be against each other.
Both teams are led by their point guards – Dominic McManus for East and Tae El-Bassiouni for Stroudsburg. The teams are No. 8 and 9 in the power rankings, respectively, so it’ll likely be a play-in game for the opportunity to face the top seed in the class.
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