City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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STEELTON — No one should have been surprised.

Yet even though Steel-High strolled confidently into Benkovic Gymnasium with a pair of new starters and a fresh set of reserves, the Rollers merely turned to several old standbys to set the tone while the youngsters soaked it in.

And when a back-and-forth contest wheeled into the decisive home stretch — with the result hanging from Benkovic’s well-worn rafters — those crafty veterans who celebrated last season when the Rollers captured a surprising District 3-AAA crown were right there to close the door on a satisfying season-opening win.

Jaqui Jenkins poured in 26 points and undersized yet determined low-post threat Jaron Grayer popped a double-double (22 points, 10 rebounds) as Steel-High turned back Trinity 65-59 in a Mid-Penn Capital Division scrap Tuesday night.

Malachi Young, the third of Steel-High’s three returning starters, tacked on eight points. And it was the 5-8 sophomore lead guard who ignited the Rollers’ successful late stretch at the line by bagging a pair of freebies with 65 seconds showing on the clock with Rick Binder’s scrappy bunch (1-0) clinging to a one-point lead.

More on that in a moment.

Austin Gilbertson cranked out a double-double (15 points, 10 assists) of his own for the visiting Shamrocks (1-1). Sean Good tacked on 14 points for Larry Kostelac Jr.’s club, while Mount St. Mary’s recruit Jack Vukelich finished with 12.

The 6-11 Good and 6-9 Vukelich, who sported a significant height advantage on the significantly smaller Rollers, each snared eight rebounds as the ‘Rocks outboarded Steel-High by a 36-24 margin.

What really pestered the Shamrocks, especially since both sides shot similarly from the floor, were their 25 turnovers.

And Steel-High’s ability to make plays when it needed to — particularly late — was another reason why a youthful Trinity side (two seniors) made the short jaunt back to Harrisburg’s West Shore lugging a road loss.

Plus, the Rollers committed just eight miscues.

Regardless of the outcome, however, it was a terrific early-season confrontation between the No. 8 team (Steel-High) in City of Basketball Love’s preseason Class AAA rankings and the No. 4 side (Trinity) in Class AA.

For those keeping track, the rematch will occur on Jan. 12 at Trinity.

That scrap, however, can wait.

“We played excellent,” gushed Jenkins, who canned three of Steel-High’s four rips from beyond the arc. “I didn’t really see us coming out like that.

“We played as a team — this was the first time for all of us as a team, except for me, Malachi and Jaron — and we came out as a team. We made our free throws. We made some decent plays. And we came out with the win.”

“Man, this was a crazy night for the first game. Coming in, we’ve got some new kids, and I wasn’t expecting us to play as well as we did,” echoed the 6-0 Grayer. “They talk about Trinity being tall, being the best team in the league, 6-10, 6-8.

“Sounded intimidating coming in, but we just came out, boxed out, played hard. It was a tough, physical game and free throws won it down the stretch.”

Just 8-for-18 from the stripe for nearly 31 minutes, Binder’s Rollers spent the final 65 seconds converting seven of their final eight freebies.

• Young knocked down the aforementioned pair to make it 58-55.

• Following Good’s easy layup moments later — Gilbertson’s ninth dime was dropped on that play — Jenkins canned two more with 47.7 ticks showing to restore Steel-High’s tenuous lead to three points (60-57).

• Gilbertson tried to tie it with a 3-pointer from the left wing, but his shot caromed off the iron, splashed high in the air and hit the support above. That set up another two-shot look for the 6-0 Jenkins, who calmly knocked down both.

• Vukelich, off a Gilbertson dish, bagged a slick turn-around jumper from the foul line to make it a three-point game, but Jenkins responded by slicing into the paint and finding Grayer for a deuce that had the Rollers faithful giddy.

• Ibrahim Morris-Togans closed out the scoring with 2.3 seconds showing, bagging the back half of his two-shot look to give Steel-High its final margin.

“We have a lot of weapons, and I think we showed that,” said Kostelac, whose Shamrocks collared their second consecutive District 3-AA title last season. “But we’re young and I have to remind myself that there’s a lot of sophomores and juniors out there. … Bottom line is we have to get better.

“I thought [Gilbertson] played a heck of a game. I thought Sean was good, I thought all of our guys did some nice things, I really did. They had their moments, but they also had their moments where we threw the ball around.

“When you have [25] turnovers, you should not be in the basketball game,” Kostelac admitted. “Typically, when you have [25] turnovers down here, you get beat by 25 or 30 points — and we were in position to win the game. It’s something to build on. It’s a good, long year and we’ve got to bounce back.”

While Steel-High opened by scoring the game’s first five points, a tight-fisted game that featured 10 lead changes and a handful of ties also included a number of sizable momentum swings as the 32-minute exercise played out.

Up 33-32 at halftime, the Rollers began the second half with another 5-0 burst, zipping to a 38-32 advantage only to see Trinity fight back. And when Kostelac’s Shamrocks picked up a trey from Marcus Hall in the opening moments of the final quarter, Trinity was holding a 49-42 lead that forced the Rollers to call time.

Persistent within its active 3-2 zone, Steel-High was able to hold the Shamrocks scoreless for the next four minutes. Meanwhile, at the other end of the floor, the Rollers were constructing an 8-0 run behind a pair of Grayer scores.

“We had to show them how we play,” Grayer said, referring to Steel-High’s newcomers Morris-Togans, Jelani Isom and Jayshon Ramsey. Same for senior Ty Little, who joined the Rollers late last season.

“We play a high-tempo, intense type of offense and defense. So us being the veterans, we had to come out and we wanted to try to set the same tempo from last year and show them how we play so they can adjust to our style of play.”

And since that adjustment and Binder’s tinkering will consume more time, the Rollers will need Grayer, Jenkins and Young to continue to lead the way.

“I feel like me and Jaron are the main scorers on the team this year,” Jenkins said. “We have to put points up on the board. We have to set an example.”

Particularly late in tight, undecided affairs when games typically are decided at the free-throw stripe.

“Just like last year when we played McDevitt [in the District 3-AAA final],” recalled Jenkins, who came over from Bishop McDevitt prior to last season.

“We needed them in the stretch and we got them.”

“You’ve got to make open shots and you’ve got to make foul shots,” Kostelac lamented. “We didn’t do that consistently. To their credit, they took advantage of it.”