CI's 26th district championship and win #1052. Any good PIAA BB stories, please post. Sock should be tough to beat in AAA, as will Troy.
Victory secured; Nate Bauman dribbled toward the arc as the final seconds ticked off the clock. The buzzer going off made it official and Loyalsock again became District 4’s best Class AAA team.
Cue the big celebration. Or maybe not. Players simply jogged toward the sideline and lined up for the post-game handshakes.
True, Loyalsock has rolled out district championships like they come off an assembly line, but the business-like setting still seemed striking. Maybe they are just good actors who hide their emotions well.
They certainly are outstanding basketball players.
Loyalsock proved it again Saturday at Montoursville, putting together a marvelous collective performance, handing Troy its first loss this season and capturing the district championship, winning 67-57. Gage Patterson scored 17 points, Ethan Nagy (14 points, 10 rebounds) collected a double-double and every Lancer efficiently did his part as Loyalsock (25-1) won its fifth district crown in six years while giving coach Ron Insinger his 26th in 50 years of coaching.
“We were talking about this at practice the other day, that us at Loyalsock take winning for granted. It’s obviously nice to win but it’s hard to win,” Nagy said. “It’s a good feeling. It might now show that we’re excited but we’re definitely excited.”
As they should be. Outsiders might view Loyalsock winning as a given but everything must be earned the hard way in sports. There is a price to be paid for glory and all that relentless work spent since finishing third in District 4 last March helped Loyalsock experience it again Saturday.
Ascending back on top of that throne was especially important to this senior-laden group. The work continues next Saturday when Loyalsock hosts Mid Valley in the state tournament but reclaiming that district championship sure felt good. That goes double when it came against a defending champion who entered the game 26-0 and had not lost a District 4 game since mid-February of 2023.
“It feels amazing. Coming into last year there were some high expectations, but we came up a little short. Getting to this full circle point and having a great season overall means a lot,” Patterson said. “The job is not finished. There’s a new standard at our school, so we have our eyes held high, but we know this is a great steppingstone.”
Loyalsock took a lot of steps on that district championship journey and won its 23rd straight game, doing so while navigating a challenging regular-season schedule before capturing the HAC Tournament championship. The Lancers blew out a lot of teams during the regular season but have shown in consecutive hard-fought playoff wins against Warrior Run and Troy that they have the poise and toughness to win the close ones, too.
That shined through during the second half as Loyalsock stormed back after Troy took a six-point third quarter lead. The Lancers erased that deficit in just 72 seconds and never trailed again, going up by 13 in the closing seconds, while making 13 of 21 second-half shots.
“It’s the whole mentality that it’s our last district championship we get to play together,” Nagy said. “The thought that it was our last one kind of hyped us up.”
“Every team has its own personality, and every team is different. You’re just happy for the kids because that’s what it’s all about,” Insinger said. “I’m thrilled for these kids who can walk away being district champs because we talked about it all season.”
Insinger is now in his 70s but his teams producing so many championships keeps him feeling young. Loyalsock became a power soon after Insinger took over in 1974 but has gone into overdrive during the 21st century with Saturday making it 14 district crowns since 2001.
“Someone asked me if winning district titles gets old and I said the only thing that gets old is my body,” Insinger said as he laughed. “I couldn’t be prouder of them. They’ve put a lot into this.”
Victory secured; Nate Bauman dribbled toward the arc as the final seconds ticked off the clock. The buzzer going off made it official and Loyalsock again became District 4’s best Class AAA team.
Cue the big celebration. Or maybe not. Players simply jogged toward the sideline and lined up for the post-game handshakes.
True, Loyalsock has rolled out district championships like they come off an assembly line, but the business-like setting still seemed striking. Maybe they are just good actors who hide their emotions well.
They certainly are outstanding basketball players.
Loyalsock proved it again Saturday at Montoursville, putting together a marvelous collective performance, handing Troy its first loss this season and capturing the district championship, winning 67-57. Gage Patterson scored 17 points, Ethan Nagy (14 points, 10 rebounds) collected a double-double and every Lancer efficiently did his part as Loyalsock (25-1) won its fifth district crown in six years while giving coach Ron Insinger his 26th in 50 years of coaching.
“We were talking about this at practice the other day, that us at Loyalsock take winning for granted. It’s obviously nice to win but it’s hard to win,” Nagy said. “It’s a good feeling. It might now show that we’re excited but we’re definitely excited.”
As they should be. Outsiders might view Loyalsock winning as a given but everything must be earned the hard way in sports. There is a price to be paid for glory and all that relentless work spent since finishing third in District 4 last March helped Loyalsock experience it again Saturday.
Ascending back on top of that throne was especially important to this senior-laden group. The work continues next Saturday when Loyalsock hosts Mid Valley in the state tournament but reclaiming that district championship sure felt good. That goes double when it came against a defending champion who entered the game 26-0 and had not lost a District 4 game since mid-February of 2023.
“It feels amazing. Coming into last year there were some high expectations, but we came up a little short. Getting to this full circle point and having a great season overall means a lot,” Patterson said. “The job is not finished. There’s a new standard at our school, so we have our eyes held high, but we know this is a great steppingstone.”
Loyalsock took a lot of steps on that district championship journey and won its 23rd straight game, doing so while navigating a challenging regular-season schedule before capturing the HAC Tournament championship. The Lancers blew out a lot of teams during the regular season but have shown in consecutive hard-fought playoff wins against Warrior Run and Troy that they have the poise and toughness to win the close ones, too.
That shined through during the second half as Loyalsock stormed back after Troy took a six-point third quarter lead. The Lancers erased that deficit in just 72 seconds and never trailed again, going up by 13 in the closing seconds, while making 13 of 21 second-half shots.
“It’s the whole mentality that it’s our last district championship we get to play together,” Nagy said. “The thought that it was our last one kind of hyped us up.”
“Every team has its own personality, and every team is different. You’re just happy for the kids because that’s what it’s all about,” Insinger said. “I’m thrilled for these kids who can walk away being district champs because we talked about it all season.”
Insinger is now in his 70s but his teams producing so many championships keeps him feeling young. Loyalsock became a power soon after Insinger took over in 1974 but has gone into overdrive during the 21st century with Saturday making it 14 district crowns since 2001.
“Someone asked me if winning district titles gets old and I said the only thing that gets old is my body,” Insinger said as he laughed. “I couldn’t be prouder of them. They’ve put a lot into this.”