Sentinel photo by SAM BAUMGARDNER Mifflin County junior Lucas Hartung goes for the basket against State College seniors Spencer Neilson and Michael Powell Thursday evening during the District 6 Class 6A Championship Game at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson.

CRESSON — On Thursday night, No. 1 State College squared off with No. 2 Mifflin County in a game where the Little Lions held the lead the whole game. State went on to capture the District 6 Class 6A Championship by topping the Huskies (13-11), 53-45, and claiming their fifth straight District 6 title.

State College boys basketball (12-11) was led by strong performances from Micah James and Spencer Neilson. James and Neilson would both have double-figure performances. James would have 16 points while Neilson would finish the night with 17 at Mount Aloysius College.

Despite the slow start from both sides, Mifflin County was able to get production from Carson Franklin early, leading to early scoring opportunities for Franklin, who put together a 5-for-10 effort on field goals, totaling 11 points off the bench. Mifflin County, just like State College, had two players in double figures as Zach Keller led the way with 12 points.

Little Lions head coach Brian Scholly said, “Our foundation is team defense and the guys have really bought in all year to doing that and we’ve talked about it again every practice game. We get to play defenses that work to be able to play our best. I’m just really proud of the way every guy got on the floor, really committed to playing their role and playing team defense and we’re fortunate enough to get enough stops.”

It was the rotating parts of State College that really gave the Little Lions the edge early, helping lead to early success. Mifflin County was limited from deep going 3-for-17 and overall from the field were held to 40.4 percent going 19-for-47 as the Little Lions held Jack Curry and the rest of the team in check.

State’s Micah James said, “My mindset going into it is just to kill everything in front of me. I have to continue to keep that mindset throughout the playoffs. We knew we had to step up with Nick Carr down, everyone in their own individual way and I took that one myself. So, I knew coming into this game I had to score more.”

Mifflin County would make a late push as they would get defensive production from Luke Bender on the defensive boards to cut the game within three but the Little Lions would pull away again outlasting the Huskies.

The Lions will head to the state playoffs as the Huskies’ season comes to a close. This was Mifflin County’s first winning season since 2013-14.

“The program would like to wish seniors Josh Hartzler, Evan Strohecker, as well as managers Addie Fultz and Bailey Neff the best and thank them for everything they have done for the program, as all four have bright futures ahead,” Huskies assistant Adam Sheetz said.

“We now enter the offseason with a bunch of underclassmen as the boys look to climb the mountain again next season.”