By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
DUNMORE – When the flow of the game required it, Gabe Tanner displayed the athleticism and aggressiveness to be the game’s dominant force in the paint.
When the battle for the Lackawanna League Division 3 boys lead morphed from a defensive struggle for three quarters into a shooting contest in the fourth quarter, Tanner was able to slow down, take a deep breath and calmy hit a series of free throws.
Tanner scored 17 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and hit his last nine foul shots while leading Mid Valley to its eighth straight victory, turning back host Dunmore, 47-40, in a game between ranked teams.
“He’s tough inside,” Mid Valley coach Mike Abda said. “He hits his shots. He makes his free throws; he was 11-for-12.
“He’s certainly a luxury to have and he can play any spot we need him.”
Dunmore scored eight more points in the fourth quarter alone than it had in the first three quarters combined. The Bucks cut a 13-point deficit to two before the Spartans went 11-for-14 from the line in the final 3:26.
Instead of going after the ball coming off the boards, Tanner handled it more and hit six of the late free throws.
“We hit our free throws and we were really clutch,” Tanner said. “And, on the defensive end, my team was awesome.”
Through three quarters, the Spartans held the Bucks to 16 points, 0-for-9 from 3-point range and 25 percent shooting overall.
“I thought we bottled them up really well until the fourth quarter,” Abda said.
Mid Valley, the No. 6 Big School team in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams, improved to 4-0 in the division and 11-2 overall. Dunmore, the second-ranked Small School, is 3-1 and 7-5.
“That’s another good road win for us,” said Tanner, whose team was coming off an overtime victory at defending champion Riverside to set up Monday’s first-place battle. “Now, we just have to keep it going.
“We have five of our (remaining) eight league games at home and we have to keep it up.”
Ricky Vinansky made his last six shots from the floor and finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Danny Nemitz added nine points, six rebounds and four assists.
Adriel DeNaples led Dunmore with 21 points, but fouled out on a technical foul with 1:24 left.
Zach Cruser added nine points while Kevin Walsh had six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Tanner led Mid Valley to a 34-21 rebounding advantage.
“They’re a very good 3-point shooting team and sometimes long shots equals long rebounds,” Abda said. “That was the emphasis coming in – make sure we have everyone tagged when that shot goes up and we’re boxing out. That can lead to some transition opportunities.
“It was really important for us to keep them off the boards.”
The message clearly got through.
“Coach emphasizes boxing out – all five guys boxing out when the shot goes up,” said Tanner, who more than doubled his season average for rebounds. “If you looked, all five guys were boxing out and someone was screaming ‘shot’ when the ball went up.”
The advantage was 28-15 through three quarters, translating almost exactly to the scoreboard where the Spartans had built a 29-16 lead.
Mid Valley entered the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run, but DeNaples quickly changed things. He had a personal eight-point streak in the first 1:25 to start a 13-2 Dunmore run in which the Bucks were 3-for-3 from long distance with two bombs by DeNaples and another by Nico Ruggiero.
“The DeNaples kid went off in the fourth quarter and really didn’t need a lot of space to do it, which was impressive,” Abda said.
Ruggiero’s 3-pointer pulled Dunmore within 31-29 with 5:16 left.
Tanner put Mid Valley back in control with eight points in the last 4½ minutes, beginning when he converted a shot while hanging in the lane.
Nathan Sadaka hit a 3-pointer from the left corner for Mid Valley before DeNaples answered from the left wing to cut the margin to four for the final time.
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