POTTSVILLE - The Marian boys’ basketball team made one fatal mistake - it started the bus too early.

Marian had a double digit fourth-quarter lead over Minersville and Dame Fortune seemed to be sitting on its bench.

But before the Colts could get out of the Martz Hall doors and board the bus for a celebratory ride home, the Miners ruined their plans.

Minersville broke Marian’s heart - and lived to play another day - with a 54-49 District 11 Class 2A quarterfinal round victory on Friday night.

The win sends the Minersville (15-8) into Tuesday’s semifinal round while Marian suffered a season-ending curtain call at 14-10.

None of that seemed likely when the Miners trailed 39-26 midway through the third quarter and still found themselves behind 43-33 entering the final period.

“I really don’t know how we pulled that out, we were really out of sorts in that third quarter,” said Minersville coach Dave Mullaney.

In actuality, however, it was easy to figure out how the Miners did it - they won the fourth quarter turnover battle.

After numerous miscues in the first three quarters, Minersville didn’t commit a single turnover in the fourth quarter, while forcing seven Marian turnovers.

The Miners also got a huge boost from two sophomores and a freshman – Bradley Kostishak, Logan Hutsko and Shazier Bethea.

“I thought Logan Hutsko came in a made a lot of big plays for us,” Mullaney said.

Hutsko poured in six of his eight points in the final quarter, Bethea netted all seven of his points in the quarter, and Kostishak tallied five of his seven points in the frame.

All three players came up especially big in the final three minutes.

Marian’s comfort zone started to unravel moments after senior Frankie Valente got a picture perfect assist from classmate Chris Chambers to give Marian a 47-40 lead with 3:44 to play.

But Kostishak and Bethea answered for the Miners to cut the margin 47-44. And when Hutsko snuck inside for an easy bucket, Marian was teetering on the wrong side of momentum.

Slick Marian junior guard Julius Currie temporarily halted the slide when he got loose for an inside bucket with 2:00 to play to make it 49-46.

But it turned out to be false hope for the Colts as Minersville scored the game’s final eight points.

Hutsko had the night’s most important basket when he rebounded a missed free throw and converted a bucket for a 50-49 Miners’ lead.

The Colts missed three straight shots in the final minute with Minersville converting two of them into uncontested layups that sealed the outcome.

“We didn’t take care of the ball down the stretch - something we’ve been preaching all year,” said Marian coach Scott Murphy. “Give them credit, their defense beat us up a little bit.

“Minersville played a very good first quarter, but we handled the middle two quarters and were in control.”

Unfortunately, Marian may have turned the keys on the bus too early.

QUICK START ... Minersville bolted out of the gate to a 13-0 lead behind super frosh Dante Carr, who slammed home a dunk in the opening minutes, and finished the night with a game-high 17 points.

HIGH-SCORING COLTS ... Valente led Marian with 15 points. Currie added 12.

THE REAL DEAL … Despite being just a freshman, Carr is already one of the top athletes in the Schuylkill League. At 6-5, he soars like a gazelle and is as smooth as fine silk. He was also standout quarterback during football season.

VERY ACTIVE … Jesse Rodino had a strong performance for the Colts. The junior is a moose and played very well in the paint, grabbing a team-high eight rebounds..

BIDDING ADIEU … Six seniors played their final games for Marian - Joe Walko, Yohan Vizcaino, Isaac Ferrera, Jake Bobish, Valente and Chambers.

MARIAN

Ramirez 2-3-4-8, Chambers 1-0-0-2, Je. Rodino 4-0-0-8, Bobish 0-0-0-0, Tom 1-0-0-2, I. Ferrera 0-0-0-0, Walko 1-0-0-2, Currie 5-0-1-12, Valente 5-3-4-15. TOTALS: 19-6-9-49.

MINERSVILLE

Hutsko 3-2-4-8, Urquiza 0-0-0-0, Meade 3-1-1-7, Bethea 2-1-1-6, Yourey 2-2-3-7, Kostishak 3-1-2-7, Eisenhart 1-0-0-2, Carr 7-3-3-17. TOTALS: 21-10-14-54.

Marian 9 18 16 6 - 49

Minersville 15 7 11 21 - 54

Three-pointers: Marian - Currie 2, Valente 2, Ramirez 1; Minersville - Bethea 1, Yourey 1.