The Panther Valley Tip-Off Tournament marks the official start of the high school basketball season.

Unofficially though, it's a sign that the Holidays are right around the corner.While Christmas time can be considered a "season of giving," Marian gave Mahanoy Area all they could handle for the first 20 minutes of last night's season-opener. Then, in the final 12 minutes, the Colts gift-wrapped the Golden Bears the game.With a 44-38 victory over Marian, Mahanoy Area advanced to tomorrow night's Tournament Championship against Jim Thorpe (a 54-31 winner over Panther Valley), while the Colts will square off against the host Panthers in the consolation game starting at 6:00."I thought we did some really good things for the majority of the game and we did exactly what we wanted to do," stated Marian head coach John Patton. "We were patient, we got good shots, and our inside guys played well. We dictated things in our favor and got a lead, and then we let them back in the game ... twice!"After Mahanoy Area (1-0) raced out to a 10-5 lead, the Colts stormed back by going on an 11-0 run to take a 16-10 lead with five minutes left in the first half.However, the Colts proceeded to shoot 2-for-8 from the field, while Mahanoy Area converted six of its next eight shots to take a two-point halftime lead (23-21).Once again, Marian seized momentum by starting the third quarter on an 8-2 run. And then, just like in the first half, Mahanoy Area used a 14-3 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to take a 39-33 lead – a lead they would never relinquish.During the span, Mahahnoy Area's Matt Yedsena connected on three consecutive three-point plays (in 2:40) to bring the game back in favor of the Golden Bears."The first half was a little shaky, but our defense kept us in it," stated Mahanoy Area head coach Scott Hudson, who picked up his first win after taking the reigns from longtime head coach Mickey Holland. "Our goal is to give up 40 or less points a game and we did that tonight."Matt Yedsena picked up two early fouls and didn't play much in the first half, which really limited us offensively. However, in the second half, he gave us that spark we were looking for with some big shots down the stretch."While the Colts (0-1) controlled the offensive glass and held on to the basketball to gain their leads, their momentum stalled with empty possessions and turnovers, many of which came in crucial moments of the game. After Marian took a 30-25 lead midway through the third quarter, the Colts shot just 3-for-12 the rest of the game and committed nine of its 15 turnovers in the final 11 minutes of play.Mike Vercusky led Marian with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Matt Yedsena paced the Golden Bears with 15 points."It's a learning process. Obviously, the result isn't what we were looking for, but we saw some good things tonight," concluded Patton. "Now, we need to do those things consistently over the course of an entire game, instead of just for portions of a game."MAHANOY AREAYedsena 6-1-1-15, Luddy 1-0-0-2, Styka 2-1-2-6, Wronski 3-0-0-8, Miller 1-2-2-4, Joseph 3-3-6-9, Price 0-0-0-0. TOTALS:

16-7-11-44.MARIANKarnish 1-0-0-2, Woitko 0-0-0-0, Vercusky 6-1-1-13, Puza 0-0-0-0, Karchner 0-0-0-0, Paisley 0-0-0-0, Kuczynski 2-0-2-4, Cortese 0-0-0-0, DeAngelo 3-1-2-7, Mohammad 1-0-0-3, Wesner 3-0-0-9, Plesh 0-0-0-0, Weber 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 16-2-5-38.Mahanoy Area

10 13 10 11 - 44Marian

12 9 9 8 - 38Three-Pointers: Mahanoy Area - Yedsena 2, Wronski 2, Styka 1; Marian - Wesner 3.