In order to arrive at 1,000 points Monday night, Scranton’s Jason Shields needed to exceed his season scoring average while playing on the road against another defending champion.
Shields took the steady approach to churning out the points he needed to reach the milestone, then kept going, pumping in a game-high 30 to keep the Knights unbeaten with a 57-43 victory at North Pocono in a Lackawanna League Division 1-2 boys crossover between last season’s two champions.
Starting the night 24 short of the mark, Shields scored at least 6 points in each quarter. He got to an offensive rebound and banked in a shot from the middle of the lane to give his team a 46-32 lead while joining the 1,000-Point Club with 7:12 remaining.
North Pocono made things tough on Scranton early.
Despite 10 points by Shields, the first quarter ended in a 14-14 tie.
The Trojans then scored the first seven points of the second quarter for a 21-14 lead.
Scranton answered with 10 straight to move in front and made it to the half with a 29-25 lead. Shields hit two 3-pointers during the quarter to give him 16 points at halftime.
The Knights held the Trojans to two field goals in the third quarter while Shields scored six points and Arvel Chandler added four to open the lead to 44-32.
After reaching 1,000 on the first basket of the fourth quarter, Shields wound up scoring eight in the quarter.
Josh Williams added 9 points and 12 rebounds.
Rykeese Cenard, who had five points in the second quarter, hit 3-pointers in the second and fourth quarters and finished with eight points.
The Division 1-leading Knights improved to 4-0 in the Lackawanna League and 10-0 overall.
North Pocono, which played without leading scorer Ryan Ruddy and fellow starter Noah West who suffered injuries in Saturday’s win at West Scranton, slipped to 4-2 and 10-3.
A.J. Nemitz led the Trojans with 11 points. Billy Pabst hit three first-half 3-pointers and finished with 10. Kyle McCullough and Thomas Thurber scored eight each.
