Jason Shields scored 22 points and Arvel Chandler added 16 Friday night when Scranton defeated visiting Crestwood, 69-64, Friday in an Opening Night showdown of the winners of last season’s biggest division and district championships locally.
A.J. Dinterman added 14 points for the Knights, who opened the season as the top-ranked Big School in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
Scranton won last season’s Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 6A titles.
Crestwood, last season’s final Big School No. 1, won Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 and District 2 Class 5A titles, but graduated its entire starting lineup.
Drew Sechleer, a transfer from MMI Prep, led the way with 19 points in his first Crestwood game. He hit five 3-pointers.
Zayne Dunsmuir added 12 points and Bryce Vieney 10 in the loss.
Crestwood led, 20-17, after one quarter, but Scranton moved in front midway through the second quarter and maintained a narrow margin most of the rest of the way.
Scranton went 14-for-19 from the foul line where Crestwood missed all seven of its attempts.
In other non-league games:
North Pocono 65, Nanticoke 41
A.J. Nemitz hit four of his five 3-pointers and scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half to help host North Pocono pull away.
Nemitz, Chris Walsh and Tommy Quinn all hit 3s in the first quarter to get the defending Lackawanna League Division 2 champion Trojans out to a 17-11 lead.
North Pocono held Nanticoke to four second-quarter points while taking a 26-15 halftime lead.
Nemitz hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 of North Pocono’s 16 third-quarter points to keep the Trojans in control, 42-33.
Walsh and Nemitz had seven points each and Ryan Ruddy went 4-for-4 from the line while adding six in the fourth quarter.
Ruddy finished with 17 points and Walsh had 16.
Payton Kepp led Nanticoke with 11 points.
Scranton Prep 48, Wilkes-Barre Area 39
Robert Rossi scored 20 points to lead Scranton Prep to the home victory.
Samir Hill had 10 points to lead the Wolfpack, including 5 in the first quarter which ended in a 12-12 tie.
Rossi had nine points in the first quarter, then the Cavaliers outscored the Wolfpack, 29-18, for a 41-30 lead.
After Matt Cobb scored 6 of his 13 points in the second quarter, Noah Sorenson had 7 of his 11 in the third quarter for Scranton Prep, last season’s District 2 Class 4A champion.
Tunkhannock 56, Wyoming Seminary 28
Ben Chilson scored 26 points to lead Tunkhannock past the defending Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 champions.
Valley View 61, Lakeland 35
Eli Yusavage scored all 15 of his points in the first half for Valley View, which ran away from visiting Lakeland early.
Taheed Jewell fueled the fast start with 9 of his 13 points in the first quarter.
Valley View led 23-4 after one quarter with the help of nine points from Jewell and extended that to 36-9 with 3:30 left in the half.
Yusavage had 11 points in the second quarter.
The Cougars led 47-18 at halftime and 55-21 after three quarters.
Mid Valley 72, Montrose 25
Ricky Vinansky scored 22 points and helped spark a streak of 24 straight first-half points that led Mid Valley to the home-court romp.
Montrose led 7-6 before Vinansky scored on an offensive rebound to start the streak that included the last 10 points of the first quarter and the first 14 of the second quarter.
Vinansky’s three-point play 20 seconds in opened the second-quarter scoring. He added another three-point play and both Gabe Tanner and Danny Nemitz hit 3-pointers as the Spartans opened the lead to 30-7 with 3:54 left in the second quarter.
The Spartans poured it on in the third quarter.
Vinansky had consecutive baskets, on a putback and off a Tanner assist, to make it 50-15 midway through the third. He grabbed two more offensive rebounds for a basket and an assist to push the advantage to 55-17 before sitting down for the night with 3:10 left in the third.
Tanner finished with 11 points.
Wyoming Area 58, Lackawanna Trail 27
Dane Schutter scored 24 points to lead the win by Wyoming Area, which finished preseason practice and played the opener with assistant Ian Gilmartin running the team while head coach Anthony Macario completed a COVID quarantine.
Schutter scored 20 of his points in the first half to help the Warriors open a 34-13 lead and also drew praise from Gilmartin for his shot-blocking effort.
Wyoming Area had four players chip in with between six and eight points.
“There wasn’t really any extra work in making any kind of decisions because we’re usually on the same page on that stuff,” Gilmartin said of working with Macario. “We talk extensively. Even on off days, we talk on the phone or have text conversations going, figuring out what we’re going to do.”
West Scranton 73, Dunmore 53
West Scranton outscored host Dunmore in every quarter on the way to the comfortable victory.
Holy Cross 61, Mountain View 38
Holy Cross rolled to the win at Mountain View, which is coached by former Crusader Joe Gibbons.
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Riverside-Wyoming Valley West game story: https://nepabasketball.prestosports.com/2021-22/HSGames/BGameRiverWVW.
Tournament and challenge games still to come in a separate roundup.
