The end of the season is a bitter pill to swallow for any student-athlete associated with scholastic sports, and the Whitehall boys basketball team felt all those emotions once the final horn sounded in the opening game of the district playoffs.

After finishing the season with consecutive victories to catapult them into the District XI playoffs, the Zephyrs were halted by visiting Pocono Mountain West in their quest to advance through the 6A brackets in search of a championship.

The two teams were facing off in the 8-9 game with Whitehall earning home court as the higher seed. Whitehall entered the contest winners of three of their last four games, while the Panthers were riding a four-game winning streak. It had all the earmarks of a good, competitive game which was also underscored by a previous meeting which Whitehall won in early January.

The Zephyrs started out strong, scoring 19 points in the first quarter. That gave them a 12-point edge once the initial period came to a close. They continued their strong play in the second quarter, notching 11 points, but PMW was able to shave three points off the lead and trailed the Zephyrs by nine points heading into the break.

But that lead shrank once the second half began as Whitehall managed only 19 points in the final two quarters. The Panthers seized the opportunity, drilling into Whitehall’s lead closing the gap to just three once the fourth quarter got underway.

That’s when the Panthers started to creep closer, with the pivotal play coming with 43 seconds remaining when Christian Fermin scored on a put-back layup to give PMW its first lead, 50-49. Later, Justin Smith iced the game at the line as the visitors wound up scoring 21 points in those final eight minutes to defeat the Zephyrs 51-49. The win put them in the quarterfinals where they played top-seeded William Allen, losing 80-48.

Head coach Jeff Jones said that some costly turnovers with two minutes remaining led to some layups which were difficult to defend. Moreover, the in the final four minutes of the game, the Panthers outscored the Zephs 16-2.

Jones said that the Panthers did a good job of applying defensive pressure down the stretch.

He said that the stark reality of the season coming to an end is never easy to grasp after the emotions of a game. It was the end of the run for this 2019-20 team.

“This was the last time that they would be together as a group,” said Jones. “Anytime that happens, it’s a difficult thing.”

The Zephs got scoring punch from Tyler Holubowski and Tommy Buskirk. Buskirk finished with a team-high 18 points, while Holubowski netted 17. Shyhiem Foster added six points, while Dylan McGinley had four, and Luke Gilbert and Ian Werner each finished with two.

The Zephs will lose seniors Holubowski, McGinley, Joe Lisicky, Marcus Hamscher, Marc Augustin and Lucas Souders. Jones said that it was a great group that really served as a strong foundation the entire year.

“The leadership that this group provided will be hard to replace,” said Jones.

The work now begins to build toward next season, and given the example set by the departing senior group who made it their mission to get into the postseason, answering the challenge that final week to ensure a berth, the returning players will have a great model to follow.