CLASS AA BOYS

SEMI FINAL ROUND

No. 4 Marian vs. No. 1 Minersville

TIPOFF: Wednesday Feb. 24 at Martz Hall, 7:30 p.m.

COACHES: Marian - John Patton; Minersville - Clifford Woodruff

RECORDS: Marian (11-11); Minersville (19-4).

LEADING SCORERS: Marian - John Woitko (Sr. 11.27), Brandon Mohammed (Jr. 9.06), Josh Inama (Jr. 8.35), Ethan Kuczynski (Sr. 8.09); Minersville - Chris Lehsko (Sr. 15.4), David Graham (Sr. 13.4).

GAME NOTES: Minersville and Marian faced off back on Jan. 8 at Minersville with the Miners winning by a 64-52 score. The Colts were missing Mohammed in that contest. Inama led the team with 16 points in that game, while the Miners received 22 points from Graham ... The Colts will be missing a big piece against the Miners once again as leading scoring John Woitko has been ruled out due to an ankle injury. Woitko has reached double figures in points in 11 games this season and had seven the first time the two teams met. He also has hit 47 of Marian's 84 three-pointers this season and was the team's leading free-throw shooter at 84.1 percent ... The Colts will need to know where Minersville senior guard Leshko is at all times. Leshko is the leading scorer for the Miners and is deadly from beyond the three-point mark. He has 60 three-pointers on the season ... The Colts will be looking to get off to a good start against the Miners having lost three straight games heading into this matchup ... Marian is winless against the rest of the Class AA playoff field, having lost once to Minersville and Williams Valley and three times to Mahanoy Area. The Colts finished 8-5 in league play ... This is the 11th straight year the Colts have reached the district playoffs. Their last district playoff win came in 2013 against Shenandoah, while their last win in the semifinals came in 2011 against Moravian Academy ... Minersville finished 13-0 in league play this season, winning the Schuylkill League Division 2 crown. The Miners lost to Blue Mountain, 63-55, in the league semifinals. Their other losses this season came against Shamokin, North Schuylkill and Jim Thorpe ... The winner of Wednesday's game not only will play for a district title but also advances to the state tournament. Since 2004, Marian has played in states five times (2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011) ... Of Marian's 11 wins this season, two (Lourdes and Shenandoah) have come against teams with winning records ... Six different Colt players have been their leading scorer in a game this season. They include Mohammed, Woitko, Inama, Kuczynski, Ryan Karchner and Aaron DeAngelo ... Between Dec. 16 and Feb. 1 Marian had a record of 10-3 ... The Colts were 5-5 at home, 6-5 on the road and 0-1 on a neutral floor ... Marian gets to the foul line an average of 16.6 times per game, second only to Northwestern (17.6) among Times News teams. The Colts, though, have shot 100 more free throws than their opponents, which is tops in the area.

QUOTEABLE: "We have to really lock down Leshko and also do a better job than we did last time on Graham. That will really be our focus defensively. Offensively, we've played a lot of guys this year and we have kids capable of having big offensive games. We're going to need them to step up for us with Woitko being out." - Marian head coach John Patton.