DUNMORE – Gabe Tanner scored 22 points and sparked a decisive second-half run Saturday night to rally Mid Valley past Holy Cross, 43-35, in a playoff for the Lackawanna League Division 3 boys championship at Dunmore High School.
Tanner had eight points during an 18-3 run from late in the third quarter into the game’s final minute.
The 6-foot-4 sophomore forward/guard started the Mid Valley response after Kaeden Carr and Hayden Hosie hit consecutive 3-pointers to move Holy Cross in front, 27-23, with 2:30 left in the third quarter.
Tanner scored, then Mid Valley got four shots on the final possession of the third quarter, resulting in a Danny Nemitz tip-in at the buzzer to send the game into the fourth quarter tied at 27-27.
Mid Valley made it seven straight points to move in front, then Will Kittrell made one of two free throws to keep Holy Cross within 30-28 midway through the fourth.
That’s when Tanner came around a Cameron Riccardo screen on the left wing, stepped back and drilled a 3-pointer for a five-point lead with 3:56 to go.
Mid Valley’s defense took it from there. The Spartans held the Crusaders without a field goal from Hosie’s 3-pointer with 2:30 to go in the third quarter until Carr hit one with 26 seconds left.
By then, Mid Valley had put the game away, opening a 41-30 lead.
Nemitz went 5-for-6 from the line while adding nine points for Mid Valley, which has won six straight to improve to 19-4 overall and head for the District 2 Class 4A playoffs as the second seed.
Both teams went 10-2 during the Division 3 season, causing the need for the only playoff in any of the eight Lackawanna League boys or girls divisions this season.
Holy Cross (17-6) had gone nearly six weeks without a loss during a 13-game winning streak that included winning the rematch in its season home-and-home series with Mid Valley.
Logan Tierney led the Crusaders with 10 points, including 8 in the first half, which ended with Mid Valley in front, 18-17.
Hosie added nine points and Carr had seven.
Tanner had six points in the first 5:29 to give Mid Valley its first lead, 6-4. He also scored six points each in the second and fourth quarters.
Tierney and Hosie each had four points in the first quarter to help the Crusaders to a 10-8 lead. Hosie had the last four points of a six-point streak to a 10-6 lead.
Nemitz scored to end the first quarter, then Tanner had the first four points of the second quarter as Holy Cross went 5:10 without scoring.
The game was tied four times in the second quarter.
The Carr and Hosie 3-pointers capped an 8-0 run in the middle of the third quarter that started with a Gabe Gonzales basket and turned a four-point deficit into a four-point lead for the Crusaders.
Holy Cross is the top seed for the District 2 Class 2A tournament, which it had to miss last season because of COVID cases within the program.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was created from the coverage by freelance reporter Ben Magnotta.
