PIAA basketball playoff games postponed Tuesday and Wednesday

Winter Storm Stella hadn’t even reached Pennsylvania on Monday afternoon when the incoming storm sent the state into scramble mode.

With accumulation totals fluctuating almost by the hour and a state of emergency declared for the eastern part of PA, the state basketball tournament and state swimming and diving championships scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday were postponed. The decision has affected the schedule for both events in the second half of the week.

An official PIAA release sent out Monday afternoon announced that the state diving championships would be moved to March 25 and 26 at Bucknell University. Class AA diving will compete on March 25 and Class AAA will take place on March 26.

No swimming events will be held prior to Thursday, March 16. The championship meet will take place at Bucknell with the AA competition taking place Thursday and Friday and AAA competition taking place Saturday and Sunday.

The second round of the PIAA basketball tournament, which was split between Tuesday and Wednesday, has been pushed back and all second round games will now be played on Thursday, March 16. The quarterfinal round, originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday, has also been condensed and all quarterfinal/third round games will be played on Saturday.

With different projected snowfall totals across the state, plus already announced closures on the eastern side of Pennsylvania, there was no other way to keep the tournament on schedule. The state finals are slated to be played March 24-26 at the Giant Center in Hershey and the arena’s usual tenant, the Hershey Bears, have a home game scheduled the next week on Saturday, April 1.

The PIAA had originally stated it was going to make a decision on Tuesday’s games by 11 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Thursday’s revised basketball schedule will likely feature a number of tripleheaders due to site availability and matchups.