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Boys 5A Recap: Abington Heights 61, Pocono Mountain West 56
 

Boys 5A Recap: Abington Heights 61, Pocono Mountain West 56

Written by: Jon K on March 16, 2023

 

 

March 15, 2023

 

Abington Heights Advances to Boys 5A Quarter-Finals

 

Abington Heights 61, Pocono Mountain East 56

 

HAZLE TOWNSHIP – When Pocono Mountain West trimmed the Abington Heights lead to a single point early in the second half, the inside-outside combination of Mason Fedor and Ryan Nealon righted things for the Comets with back-to-back three point plays.  And in the closing moments of the game, when the Panthers gathered late momentum and trimmed the gap to two points, the duo again maintained just enough offensive push to secure a hard-fought (and very entertaining) 61-56 win advancing to the Boys 5A Quarter-Finals on Friday night against national powerhouse Imhotep Charter.

 

Abington Heights and Pocono Mountain West, two public schools that are perennial district contenders, got together on Wednesday evening after snow  postponed the entire local state of Tuesday playoff games.  Despite these two schools being separated by only 37 miles, the two programs don’t get together on an annual basis.  And that should change as it would be a tremendous non-league matchup, quite beneficial for these March playoff runs. 

 

This one started out with Pocono Mountain West playing very tight defense.  Abington Heights responded with outstanding ball movement, getting a corner triple from Will Marion to take a 3-0 lead a minute into the contest.  The Panthers grabbed a 4-3 advantage with scores by De’von Smith (nifty scoop layup) and putback by 6-5 sophomore Adrian Brito.  It would be the start of a back-and-forth period as the triples began to reign.  Patrick Walsh connected for AH followed by treys by Devin Artis and Julian Pagan from the corner giving PMW a 10-6 edge midway through the stanza.  Mason Fedor then went on a 4-0 spurt to tie the game with a drive to the basket plus a pair of later free throws.  The Panthers bounced right back as Jayden Huggins and Pagan again gave the Panthers a four-point cushion, 14-10.  Will Marion connected on his second triple of the game before Ethan Sakwa converted a pair of free throws making it 16-13 approaching the one-minute mark.  Abington Heights then got layups from Zach Brister and Marion to give the Comets a 17-16 lead heading into the second period.  This one was even better than advertised.

 

The Comets began the second quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 24-16 lead through five minutes of play.  The Panthers, scoreless through that point, then took advantage of some AH miscues to pull within five points (31-26) at halftime.  Nealon got the Abington Heights run going with a floater off a missed shot.  Marion then added a triple before Robby Lucas calmly sank a shot from near the charity stripe.  The Comets were moving the ball around with precision and hitting the open shots.  After missing a chance to go up by double-digits from the foul line, the Comets began to turn the ball over.  Pocono Mountain West took the opportunity to rally as a Brito layup and Sakwa putback cut it to 24-20 at the 2:45 mark.  Roman Cutrufello converted a pair of free throws for AH before both teams exchanged baseline scores (Jonathan Mateo for PMW and Lucas for AH).  The final minute of the first half provided plenty of drama as a traditional 3-point play by Nealon gave them their largest lead of the game (31-22) before the Panthers clawed back with a pair of scores, by Brito and Sakwa at the buzzer, cutting the deficit to 31-26 at the break.    

 

Adrian Brito made his presence known throughout the third period.  A 3-point play just 17 seconds into the frame and another score by the talented sophomore cut it to 31-30.  Fedor then made a strong drive to the hoop and converted the ensuing free throw to douse the PMW rally.  Kyon Cole and Lucas traded scores before Nealon connected on a (long) clutch triple, extending their advantage to 39-32 at the 5:21 mark.  Brito and Coles again scored on drive by PME wrapped around a driving score by Lucas trimming it to 41-36.  Enter Nealon once again with a triple to make it 44-36.  Pagan would convert a pair of free throws before Fedor scored on a fast break at the 3:00 mark (46-38).  After Brito connected on a trey (his 9th point of the frame), the Comets got another pair of triples (by Marion and Lucas) wrapped around a putback by Artis to send Abington Heights into the final quarter with a 52-43 lead.

 

Nealon got the final period started with a score giving the Comets a double-digit lead, 54-43.  Pagan nailed a triple at the 7:06 mark followed by Fedor feeding the ball to Nealon for a score.  After Pagan converted a free throw at the 4:42 mark (56-47), the Comets committed back-to-back turnovers and PMW cashed in on both opportunities.  The first was a Pagan triple cutting it to 56-50 at the 4:34 mark and the second was a trey by Coles a minute later making it a one possession game at 56-53 as PMW was on a 10-2 run.  The Comets got the ball to Fedor and he scored making it 58-53 with 1:57 remaining in the game.  The shooting barrage continued as the Panthers cut it to 58-56 as Mateo connected on a triple with 1:25 left.  Another AH turnover had everyone in the gym on the edge of their seat but resulted in a miss for PM West with 1:05 left.  Nealon scored on a layup with 48 ticks left and then made a free throw with 21 seconds left after the Comets intercepted a pass.  The Panthers allowed the clock to expire after another miss as Abington Heights celebrated their Boys 5A Second Round victory.

 

Abington Heights got balanced scoring, placing four players into doubles led by Ryan Nealon with 18 points and Will Marion with 14 points.  Mason Fedor and Robby Lucas each netted 11 points.  The Comets connected on 8 triples (four by Marion) and converted 7 of 10 free throws.

 

Pocono Mountain West was paced by Adrian Brito with 15 points and Julian Pagan with 14 points.  The Panthers connected on 7 triples (four in the final quarter) and were 5 of 7 from the charity stripe.

 

Abington Heights (23-4) advances to Friday’s Boys 5A Quarter-Final matchup against District 12 Champion Imhotep Charter (27-3) to be played at the Easton Middle School at 7 pm.  

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