Preview: Tamaqua Blue Raiders vs. North Schuylkill Spartans
The Tamaqua Blue Raiders will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against the North Schuylkill Spartans at 7:00 p.m. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Tamaqua suffered their biggest defeat since December 11, 2023 on Thursday. Their rough 76-54 loss to Blue Mountain might stick with them for a while. While losing is never fun, Tamaqua can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 388th, while Blue Mountain is ranked 94th).
Despite their loss, Tamaqua saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Cooper Ansbach, who scored 11 points along with nine rebounds and five assists, was perhaps the best of all. Ansbach is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down eight or more in the last four games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Connor Dillon, who scored 17 points.
Tamaqua struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only two offensive rebounds. That's the fewest offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, North Schuylkill struggled with three-point shooting accuracy on Thursday (Pottsville was 66% better) and sadly the final score reflected it. North Schuylkill was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 49-48 to Pottsville.
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Jack Keiter, who scored 17 points along with seven rebounds and two steals. He has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Zane Zulkowski was another key contributor, scoring 15 points along with five rebounds and three blocks.
Tamaqua's loss dropped their record down to 7-7. As for North Schuylkill, their defeat dropped their record down to 9-5.
Tuesday's match is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Tamaqua have been dynamite from deep this season, having nailed 39.1% of their threes per game. However, it's not like North Schuylkill struggles in that department as they've nailed 45.4% of their threes per game this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Tamaqua came up short against North Schuylkill in their previous meeting back in December of 2023, falling 58-49. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Zulkowski, who scored 25 points along with eight rebounds and two steals. Now that Tamaqua knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
