Shields, Chandler carry Knights to title

Scranton's Jason Shields was named Most Valuable Player of the Lynett Memorial Tournament. (Zachary Allen Photo)

Posted: Dec 31, 2021

By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com

SCRANTON – The fact that Scranton made seven 3-pointers in the Lynett Memorial Tournament boys championship game Wednesday was not what mattered most.

That was only one more basket than Scranton Prep made from beyond the arc.

When the Knights hit those shots, however, made a difference.

Five of the seven 3s gave Scranton the lead, including the one Jason Shields made from the right wing to open the fourth quarter, putting the Knights ahead to stay in a 50-46 championship game victory.

The other two 3-pointers immediately led to the next basket putting the Knights back ahead.

Shields, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, had 7 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, plus the final basket of the third quarter.

“It means a lot, not just for me, but for the school,” Shields said. “We haven’t won one in a decade.

“Coming out here and getting to hang a banner means a lot for my coach (Tony Battaglia) and these guys in the locker room.”

Shields scored seven straight points beginning with his floating, elbow jumper with 15 seconds left in the third quarter, to give the Knights a 39-35 lead early in the fourth.

Although Scranton Prep kept fighting back and got to within two points three more times, the Cavaliers never caught up.

The Knights made one of two free throws three times late in the game, A.J. Dinterman made interior passes to set up layups by Paul Gammaitoni and Josh Williams and Arvel Chandler drove for another basket while holding off the Cavaliers.

The clincher came with 12 seconds left. Dinterman received the in-bounds pass from a difficult spot in the right corner coming out of a timeout with 14.6 seconds left. As he moved along the baseline, Dinterman spotted Williams and bounced a pass to him for an open layup on the left side.

“At the beginning they were playing harder; they had more energy than us,” Williams said. “But, we just had to keep pushing through it to get what we want.

“That’s what we did. Jason was hitting; Arvel was hitting shots. I just tried to do what I could over the course of the game.”

Up four, Scranton had fouls to give and used them twice to run out most of the remaining time before allowing a final shot.

Chandler made the all-tournament team by scoring 19 points and going 5-for-7 on 3-pointers.

“I was just ready to go today,” Chandler said. “We were struggling to score, which we usually do best, so I felt like I needed to hit those.”

Chandler’s 3-pointer from the right corner opened the scoring and sent the Knights on a 7-0 run.

Scranton Prep answered with its own seven-point streak to a 7-7 tie before Chandler’s next 3-pointer put Scranton back on top.

The Cavaliers took the lead from there. Kellen Casey made 3-pointers to end the first quarter and start the second, James Pettinato hit another and Andrew Ferguson drove for a three-point play and 19-14 lead 2:01 before halftime.

Chandler and Shields hit from opposite corners, with Shields connecting four seconds before the buzzer, for a 20-19 halftime lead.

Scranton Prep came out strong in the second half, taking its biggest lead during a third quarter in which all-tournament pick Robert Rossi scored 9 of his 20 points.

Rossi had half the points in a 10-point streak to the team’s biggest lead, 33-27, on a Matt Cobb 3-pointer with 2:35 left in the third.

Chandler’s 3-pointer started the 12-2 surge that put the Knights ahead to stay with another corner 3-pointer.

“They played us well,” Chandler said. “They slowed it down a lot, which worked out for them.

“Give them credit for how hard they played.”

Rossi also had 11 rebounds to complete a double-double. He was 6-for-11 from the floor, 2-for-3 on 3-pointers and 6-for-6 from the line.

Ferguson, who also had six rebounds and three assists, and Pettinato chipped in with seven points each.

Scranton, the No. 1 team in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams, improved the district’s best record to 5-0.

“This feels great,” Chandler said. “This means a lot to us.

“It’s a really big thing that we wanted for years and it means a lot to get it.”

Scranton Prep fell to 3-4 with the four losses coming to teams with a combined record of 16-3.

Holy Cross 42, Dunmore 38

Holy Cross went 5-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 40 seconds to hold off a Dunmore comeback in Wednesday afternoon’s third-place game.

The Crusaders were 1-for-4 on foul shots before the late success. Each of the three trips to the line restore a two-score advantage and kept the Bucks from having a late shot at the lead.

Gabe Gonzales, who led Holy Cross with 13 points and 13 rebounds, made both shots with 39.4 seconds left for a 39-34 lead.

Adriel DeNaples hit two for Dunmore with 28.4 remaining to close the gap to three.

Logan Tierney hit one of two with 19.2 left for a 40-36 lead.

Kevin Walsh, the game’s leading scorer, scored on a baseline drive for Dunmore with 6.9 seconds left.

All-tournament selection Hayden Hosie then clinched the win for Holy Cross with two more free throws with 6.1 seconds left.

Will Kittrell and Matt Lyons, a freshman who came off the bench to hit two 3-pointers, each scored 10 points for Holy Cross.

Hosie had six assists.

DeNaples, Dunmore’s representative on the all-tournament team, had 10 points.

The game was tight early with 10 lead changes and 4 ties.

Holy Cross opened the lead to 24-18 at halftime and 33-25 through three quarters.

MORE LYNETT TOURNAMENT COVERAGE

Boys semifinal coverage: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/HSGames/BoysLynettFinal.