By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
SCRANTON – Pittston Area and Susquehanna relied on long stretches of defensive dominance Dec. 17 to in the first two games of the third Conference Challenge at Lackawanna College Student Union.
The Patriots held North Pocono to 2 points for more than 10 minutes to start the game, then 4 points for 11:28 at the end to rally for a 36-33 victory in the nightcap.
Susquehanna ran off 19 straight points while holding MMI Prep scoreless for an 11:13 stretch of the second half on the way to a 41-11 rout in the opener of the two-day, four-game event.
Pittston Area 36, North Pocono 33
North Pocono had scored 65 and 56 points while winning its first two games.
The Patriots limited the Trojans to 28 percent shooting, including 10 percent (2-for-20) from 3-point range.
Pittston Area still needed a comeback, which J.J. Walsh, Anthony Cencetti and Dominic Jannuzzi provided in the final minute.
Walsh hit a jumper from the right elbow with 23 seconds left for a 34-33 lead. Cencetti then made a steal and went to the basket where Jannuzzi rebounded his miss and drew a foul, which he converted with two free throws with 6.6 seconds left.
“It’s a nice win for us in that we came rallying back,” Pittston Area coach Al Semenza said. “We didn’t play very well.
“We have a long way to go if we’re going to be a good basketball team.”
The Patriots had a long way to go to pull out the win.
North Pocono used a 21-4 run – 5-2 to end the first half and 16-2 to begin the second half – to open the game’s biggest lead, 29-18.
Pittston Area managed an 18-4 advantage the rest of the way.
“Whenever you’re down and you rally back, it’s important for confidence,” Semenza said. “Hopefully, we can build on it.”
Ethan Ghannam led the defense with four blocked shots while joining Walsh and Cencetti with two steals each.
Januzzi led the offense with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Ghannam had six points and nine rebounds, seven of them defensively.
Walsh chipped in seven points, five rebounds and three assists.
Ryan Ruddy had 10 points to lead North Pocono. The Trojans played the game without Chris Walsh, one of three players who had shared most of the offensive responsibilities in the first three games.
Billy Pabst had nine points and five rebounds. Kyle McCullough added seven points and seven rebounds.
A.J. Nemitz had three steals.
Susquehanna 41, MMI Prep 11
Colton Stone scored 15 points and grabbed 5 rebounds to lead Susquehanna, which held MMI Prep to just four second-half points.
Spencer Beamer added 14 points and 4 assists.
J.T. Burke led the defensive with four steals and two blocked shots.
Stone’s nine points helped the Sabers to an 11-2 lead after one quarter.
The 19-point streak opened a 36-9 lead in the fourth quarter.
The streak was highlighted by Beamer getting consecutive layups off steals by Burke and Craig Slocum, then Stone hitting 3-pointers to end the third and start the fourth quarter.
