City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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HARRISBURG -- As impressive as Abington Heights’ 13-0 start to the season had been, it was still lacking a measure of validation.

Not that the Comets’ success is surprising--this is, after all, a program that won 22 games a year ago, and 26 the year before that, and 27 before that. That’s standard operating procedure for head coach Ken Bianchi, who’s won more than 700 games between stops at Scranton Tech, West Scranton and now Abington Heights, where he’s finished above .500 in each of his 20 seasons there, this one included.

But now Abington Heights is back in the PIAA’s AAAA classification, pitting them against the biggest schools from around the state as they hoped to repeat last year’s District 2 title and second-round appearance in the state tournament.

No better way to show they belong there than knocking off one of the most notable names in that classification: Lower Merion, which they did in a 63-55 victory at Harrisburg High School on Sunday afternoon.

“I don’t know if we proved it, because we didn’t make foul (shots) and we turned the ball over a few times at the end--but it was a little bit of a measuring stick, we wanted to come down and play outside of our area just to see what it was like,” Bianchi said. “And we were happy, very happy with the outcome.”

Indeed, the Comets struggles at the foul line (10-for-23, 43.7 percent) are something they’ll need to rectify before district and state playoffs.

But there’s a lot to like about this Abington Heights squad, starting with its powerful front line. Senior forward Tim Toro was easily the best player on the court in the Lower Merion game, collecting 18 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals.

While he said his recruiting interest right now is primarily Division II (West Chester, East Stroudsburg) and Division III (Susquehanna, Marywood) schools, a few more performances like that will have some Division I programs checking out Toro, a mobile 6-8 forward with a high motor.

Even more intriguing is Toro’s frontcourt mate, 6-10 junior Seth Maxwell, who had 16 points in the win over Lower Merion, including a few catch-and-finishes right around the rim. The younger brother of current Liberty freshman Evan Maxwell, who also played at Abington Heights from 2011-15, Seth is quickly developing into his athletic frame.

“I think at this stage, probably Seth is a little bit ahead of where his brother (was),” Bianchi said. “(Evan)...during the summer of his junior year, really hit the weights hard, got strong. Now Seth has this year to work on the weights, he’s a little bit better shooter at this stage than his brother was, but we’ll see.”

But perhaps the hidden gem in northeast Pennsylvania right now is the youngest of the Comets' three double-digit scorers against LM. Sophomore guard Jackson Danzig went for 18 points of his own on 6-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range.

The youngest son of Scranton University men's basketball coach Carl Danzig, Jackson is a 6-foot-4 shooting guard with a great catch-and-shoot ability, and he's starting to put the rest of his game together. After spending his freshman year bouncing between varsity and JV, seeing only a few minutes at the higher level,

"Physically, I've gotten stronger," he said. "I’ve grown a couple of inches, two-to-three, so now I’m just bigger, faster, stronger.”

"He’s got a lot of potential," Bianchi added. "He’s long, he’s athletic, he can shoot."

Both of Jackson's older brothers went on to play under their father at Scranton: Ross--now an assistant at Abington Heights--from 2011-15, and Ethan, currently a sophomore on the Royals.

Playing with those two growing up certainly helped Jackson toughen up mentally as well as physically.

"Took a lot of beatings from the older guys," he said. “A lot of losses.”

Their father, who's been at Scranton. for 14 years, has won more than 270 games at the Division III school and made eight trips to the NCAA Tournament, including each of the last two years.

“Scranton’s basically like my second home, I can go there whenever I want just to shoot around," Jackson said.

With those three, plus capable seniors like starting point guard Jordan Hollander and starting shooting guard Colin Klingman surrounding that trio, expectations are high for Abington Heights. Now they've got some thing of a measuring stick against District 1, and while not perfect, it's a positive sign.

"We know we have to get better, that’s the thing," Bianchi said. "'You don’t stay the same,' we tell them. You either get better, or you get worse. We have to work hard to get better.”