WHITEHALL - Playing good defense and taking the ball to the hoop has been Palmerton’s winning combination all season long.

When the Blue Bombers have been able to execute in those two facets of the game, they have been very tough to defeat.

On Saturday, in the District 11 Class 3A quarterfinals against Panther Valley, Palmerton was once again efficient in those two areas, as it was able to get into the paint consistently on offense and kept the Panthers’ dynamic three-point shooting offense from getting hot. The result was a convincing 72-50 victory for the Bombers.

Palmerton didn’t waste any time imposing its will, getting out to a 21-9 lead after the first quarter.

Brayden Hosier caught fire in the first, hitting from both beyond the arc and finishing at the bucket. He scored the first seven points of the game for the Bombers and finished with 13 in the frame, shooting 6-for-8 from the field.

“We made a conscious decision coming in that we weren’t going to press that much, because we didn’t want to let them get free for three-point opportunities, that we were just going to play our half court defense and then look to run and get out in transition,” said Palmerton head coach Ken Termini. “Those four or five buckets we got by getting out in transition was huge for us early on in that first quarter.

“That got us out to a good start. And then Hosier, he played a great game on the biggest stage. He not only was able to score a ton, but he also did a great job of getting the ball to his teammates in good positions as well. He was awesome for us today.”

A hot start again for Palmerton upped its lead to 25-9 with 7:13 remaining in the half and the Bombers were able to continue to keep their foot on the gas to hold a 39-23 advantage at the half.

Hosier (21) and Machalik (10) combined for 31 of Palmerton’s 39 points in the first half, with the Bombers collectively shooting 17-for-31 from the field.

The Panthers’ offense just could not get in rhythm through the first two quarters of play as they shot just 3-for-12 from three-point range and committed 11 turnovers.

“We struggled converting around the basket and obviously our three-pointers weren’t falling, and we had seven first quarter turnovers. So that definitely put us in a little bit of a hole there early in the game,” said Panther Valley head coach Pat Crampsie.

“And then defensively, we felt really good coming in and we were prepared, but they just came out and made a lot of plays. Machalik and Hosier are two of the best players in their league and they showed that today. Credit to Palmerton today. But yeah, you add all that up and it equals just a disappointing afternoon for us.”

The Panthers did give it one last go in the third quarter to try and get back in the game as they cut the deficit to nine (46-37) with 1:38 to go in the frame after a Bradley Hood triple. But once again enter Hosier, who answered Hood’s make with a beautiful step back three from the left wing to put Palmerton back up double digits.

The Bombers would then finish the quarter strong with a spinning lay-in from Hosier as time expired to lead by 14 heading into the fourth.

Palmerton never let the Panthers get any sort of momentum going in the fourth, as they outscored them 19-9 the rest of the way.

A nice drive and drop off from Machalik to big man Zach Anthony with 48 seconds remaining would make it 70-48 and put the exclamation point on a dominant Bombers’ performance.

“We’re just really excited,” said Hosier. “We were hoping to get another shot at Executive with how that game went last year and we were able to come out today and take care of business and move on.

“This was a great win for us. Everyone that was out there for us contributed and played hard.”

MILESTONE … Matt Machalik, who came into the game needing 11 points to get to the 1,000-point milestone, surpassed that mark with a transition lay-up at the 6:47 mark of the third quarter.

LEADERS … Hosier finished with a game-high 32 points and Machalik added 19 for Palmerton. Chase Reph was big on the boards for the Bombers, collecting 11. Stephen Hood had a big day for PV, scoring 22 points, and Chase Weaver added 10.

NEXT UP … With the loss, PV finishes the season 13-10. Palmerton improves to 19-6 and will now face No. 1 seed Executive Education at Northampton at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

PANTHER VALLEY

Hadley 2-0-0-4, Buyce 0-0-0-0, Pascoe 1-2-2-4, Hoben 0-0-0-0, B. Hood 2-0-0-6, Orsulak 0-0-0-0, Fisher 0-1-2-1, Weaver 4-0-0-10, S. Hood 9-3-3-22, Goida 0-0-0-0, McAndrew 0-0-0-0, Jones 0-0-0-0, Penberth 0-0-0-0, Gardner 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 19-6-7-50.

PALMERTON

Machalik 7-5-6 -19, Sebelin 1-0-0-2, Robinson 3-0-1-6, Reph 1-2-2-5, Rumfield 0-0-0-0, Leister 1-0-0-3, Serfass 0-0-2-0, Grammes 0-1-2-1, Hosier 13-2-5-32, Steinmentz 0-0-0-0, Stahler 0-0-0-0, Z. Anthony 2-0-0-4, L. Anthony 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 28-10-18-72.

Panther Valley 9 14 16 9 - 50

Palmerton 21 18 14 19 - 72

Three-pointers: Panther Valley - B. Hood 2, Weaver 2, S. Hood 1, Kokinda 1; Palmerton - Hosier 4, Reph 1, Leister 1.