By Tom Housenick
BETHLEHEM -- Lewisburg's first state playoff basketball win is going to have to wait at least another season.
But a lot can be said about character, heart and the respect the Green Dragons have for their coach, John Vaji.
All were on display throughout Saturday afternoon's PIAA Class AA boys opener against District 11 champion Notre Dame-Green Pond.
The Crusaders blew the Dragons' doors in for two quarters, and then watched as Vaji's crew nearly overcame a 19-point deficit.
Andrew Kohler made one free throw and teammate Joey Giangiobbe drained a pair in the closing moments and Notre Dame withstood a furious Lewisburg rally to pull out a 38-35 victory at Freedom High School.
"We came out and really took it to them," Giangiobbe said. "Then they came at us in the second half. I'm sure their seniors said that there was nothing to lose, to leave it all hang out there.
"We were lucky to gut it out in the end."
Notre Dame (23-4) faces the Imhotep/Hanover winner in Wednesday's second round at a site and time to be announced. Lewisburg's season ends at 17-10.
The Green Dragons, down 19 to start the second half, roared back to tie the game on Jay Mathias' three-pointer with 3:40 left in the game.
But Lewisburg missed its last six shots and a front end of a 1-and-1 and never scored again.
Notre Dame managed just those three free throws in the fourth quarter, but it was just enough.
"Our kids deserve credit," Vaji said. "They never quit. That's been the story of our season. They've faced a lot of adversity with injuries and tough losses, but kept fighting back."
There was a lot to come back from in this one.
The Crusaders smothered the Dragons with their man pressure, forcing the District 4 third seed into 21 percent shooting in the first two quarters. Only Kyle Ranck and Shakiel Rice scored for Lewisburg in the opening half.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame picked apart Lewisburg's zone, shooting 47 percent from the field en route to a 29-10 halftime cushion.
Vaji must have had one heckuva halftime speech, right? He must have popped a few blood vessels and challenged his players' manhood, for sure.
Not quite.
"We didn't rant and rave," Vaji said. "We stayed calm and just told the kids to play every second, every minute as hard as they could.
"We made some shots, and that really picked up our energy level. There was more excitement. We switched to a man defense because (Notre Dame) really hit a lot of shots against our zone. And the kids didn't give up."
Lewisburg scored the first eight points of the third quarter to get within 29-18. The Dragons scored the last five points of the third and the first nine of the fourth to get even.
Then everything worked against Lewisburg. Ranck and Rice each picked up his fourth foul. Ranck, who had a game-high 15 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 2:59 left in the game that would have given Lewisburg its first lead.
After Kohler made one free throw with 2:47 showing for a one-point Notre Dame lead, Zack Vaji missed a running baseline jumper.
Giangiobbe then made two freebies to push the cushion to three points, 38-35, with 1:41 left.
Ranck and Cam Cassels each missed two shots and Jay Mathias came up empty on one in the final seconds for Lewisburg.
"We didn't panic," Vaji said. "We didn't make shots, but we had enough basketball sense to get the ball back outside (in the closing seconds) to get the ball to one of our three-point shooters.
"The shot just didn't fall."
After taking a timeout with 17 seconds left, Lewisburg got a quick look on Mathias' drive but he missed.
The Dragons tapped out the rebound to Cassels, who had 44 three-pointers this season. His trey with three seconds left hit inside the back part of the cylinder and rimmed out.
Notre Dame owned a 35-25 rebounding edge, including eight by Kohler and seven by Giangiobbe, who also had six assists. Ranck and Rice each had five boards for Lewisburg, which committed just seven turnovers despite the constant ball pressure.
The Crusaders hurt themselves with 16 turnovers and six missed free throws in 12 attempts.
"(Lewisburg) went man, which is exactly what we wanted with our motion offense," Notre Dame coach Pat Boyle said. "Give them a lot of credit, they took it to us. We got good shots, but we missed layups and free throws.
"Hopefully, our kids will learn from this and react better the next time they're in this situation."
Lewisburg played without junior starter Steve Normington, who was out of the area.
