City of Basketball Love

Tom Robinson (@tomjrobinson)​​​​​​​
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BETHLEHEM – The Scranton Prep boys basketball team is making its second trip ever to a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state semifinal in Larry Reagan’s first season as a varsity head coach.

Brycen Martin, Packy Doherty and Daniel Santaniello all made a series of clutch shots Friday night and the Cavaliers took advantage of holes in an injury-decimated Neumann-Goretti lineup to knock out the nine-time state champions 76-75 in a quarterfinal game at Freedom High School.

The Cavaliers (19-9) have already beaten the fourth-place and first-place representatives out of District 12, going into Monday night’s semifinal with District 12 No. 3 representative Archbishop Carroll (20-8). Archbishop Carroll defeated Allentown Central Catholic 60-42 Friday night. One more Scranton Prep win would send the team to its first-ever PIAA final.

“It did take a little time to gel,” Reagan said of his team, which is on a nine-game winning streak after surpassing 70 points for the fourth time in the last five playoff outings. “We have some guys in different roles that they were in in years past.

“It took some adjustments, but it winds up being easier to adjust when you start seeing success. These guys started seeing it toward the end of the season.”

Martin, the team’s leading scorer over the course of the season, led the way with 26 points. He was 9 for 17 from the floor, including 3 for 8 on 3-pointers.

“Every team wants to play their best basketball coming down the stretch,” Martin said. “That’s exactly what we’ve been doing.”

Doherty, the team’s top scorer during the state tournament, came off the bench to score 18 points in 10 first-half minutes without missing a shot. He added two free throws for a four-point lead with 4.8 seconds left, giving the Cavaliers the leeway they needed to survive a 3-pointer by Torrey Brooks with 1.1 remaining.

Santaniello’s 15 points complemented Doherty hitting all four of his second-quarter, 3-point attempts and Martin adding two timely 3-pointers in the second half. Santaniello made four straight second-half shots on two drives, a basket from in the lane and another from the perimeter.

“Santaniello had a couple of takes against (Larenzo Jerkins) where they were starting to press and they had some success turning us over a little bit,” Reagan said. “We used Dan as kind of a pressure release. He made two or three plays going to the rim.

“The Jerkins kid is a terrific athlete and a very good defender who is going to have a great career at West Chester. Dan was able to get him in space and get a step and they couldn’t really help because we had guys who were hitting shots. That really turned the momentum.”

There were many momentum turns in a game that featured 10 lead changes and 10 ties.

Jerkins created early surges by the Saints while scoring 16 of his 25 points in the first half. He also had 12 rebounds, eight of them offensive.

Stephon Ashley-Wright scored 18 of his 20 points in the last 9:33, starting when he connected on a three-point play and a four-point play in succession for the last Neumann-Goretti lead 53-52 late in the third quarter. Wright also had seven rebounds and five assists.

Torrey Brooks added 17 points, but still the Saints (24-4) did not have enough firepower or enough defense to extend their season.

“We got beat off the dribble all night long,” Neumann-Goretti coach Carl Arrigale said. “Granted we had three sophomore guards out there running around, but by this time of the year they’ve played enough minutes.

“ … We just could have done a better job overall.”

St. Joe’s commit Khaafiq Myers missed the end of the season with a knee injury. Matt Guokas joined the injured list with a concussion.

Hofstra-bound Amir Williams was “playing with one arm,” according to Arrigale, who did not plan on using Williams before putting him in for the first time with the Saints trailing by six late in the third quarter.

“(Scranton Prep) did a nice job,” Arrigale said. “They played well. They made some shots and took advantage of a lot of stuff.

“We had just as good a team in sweatsuits (not in uniform). I want to give them credit, but it’s been a rough month and a half for us.

“It’s been something new every day. We found out after last game that Matt had a concussion. He had been playing 30-32 minutes a game.”

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By Quarter
Scranton Prep 14 | 28 | 13 | 21 || 76
Neumann-Goretti 14 | 22 | 19 | 20 || 75

Scoring
Scranton Prep: Brycen Martin 26, Packy Doherty 20, Dan Santaniello 15, Ambrose Rossi 9, Kellen Casey 4, Jordan Odom 2.

Neumann-Goretti: Larenzo Jerkins 25, Stephon Ashley-Wright 20, Torrey Brooks 17, Deshawn Yates 8, Amir Williams 3, D.J. Clark 2

~~~

PIAA 4A Boys

Quarterfinals (Fri. March 15)
2-1 Scranton Prep 76, 12-1 Neumann-Goretti 75
12-3 Archbishop Carroll 60, 12-2 Engineering & Science 42
7-2 Hampton 60, 3-1 Eastern York 54
7-1 Lincoln Park 89, 7-5 North Catholic 74

Semifinals (Mon., March 18)
2-1 Scranton Prep vs. 12-3 Archbishop Carroll
7-2 Hampton vs. 7-1 Lincoln Park

Championship at Giant Center (Thu., March 21)
TBD, 8 p.m.