By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
THROOP – Scranton Prep sent 24 straight teams home from the District 2 boys tournament disappointed.
Most have absorbed worse defeats, but not many held on to the loss as tightly as the Mid Valley team that fell in last year’s Class 4A championship game.
“As soon as we lost that game, I dedicated my whole offseason to wanting to beat Prep,” said Ricky Vinansky, who scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds Saturday night when the Spartans avenged that loss with a 66-48 semifinal victory on their home court. “I never wanted to have that feeling again.”
Although Scranton Prep was not on the Mid Valley schedule while the Spartans were winning the Lackawanna League Division 3 title, Vinansky and his teammates knew the Cavaliers were out there if the success was eventually going to extend into the postseason.
With COVID adjustments limiting the state tournament field a year ago, the loss to Scranton Prep ended the season for a promising, young Mid Valley team.
The win in the rematch sends Mid Valley (21-4) back to Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza for its second straight championship game appearance, but also clinches a berth in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state tournament, which has returned to its standard, 32-team format.
Scranton Prep, which had its streak of seven straight district titles end, still gets a chance to bounce back and claim the district’s third state berth in Class 4A when it hosts Nanticoke Wednesday night.
Gabe Tanner added 18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals as Mid Valley advanced to face top-seeded Dallas, the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 and overall champion, in Friday’s 8 p.m. final.
Danny Nemitz added 13 points and 6 rebounds while Cameron Riccardo had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals.
Mid Valley overcame a 1-for-18 start from the floor when its defense and rebounding the kept the Spartans within striking distance until they could run off 46 points in less than 13 minutes to end the game.
“We really struggled to score at the beginning of the game,” said coach Mike Abda, whose Spartans trailed, 6-2, two minutes into the second quarter. “I think that was a little bit of jitters and credit to Prep as well.
“Once we settled down in the second half, we were OK, but I think our defense weathered the storm and kept us where we needed to be until we figured it out on offense.”
The Spartans never trailed by more than four points.
Mid Valley had scored just six points before Nemitz put up eight in the last 3:09 of the half, creating the first lead on a 3-pointer, then putting the Spartans ahead to stay on two free throws with 2:28 left.
“Defense is our backbone,” Vinansky said. “Getting a couple stops and being able to push the ball up and down got our offense going.
“Knowing that they can’t really run with us is where we got it all started.”
Following the 1-for-18 start, the Spartans shot better than 60 percent from the floor the rest of the way, including 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) in the fourth quarter.
Nemitz had two 3-pointers in the late second-quarter run, then Mid Valley never attempted another as its offense produced off transition and free throws.
Mid Valley scored 34 points while going 14-for-20 from the line in the fourth quarter.
Vinansky made all eight of his free throws, including six in the second half. Tanner was 4-for-4 at the line, all in the second half.
While the offense was heating up, the Spartans held the Cavaliers without a field goal for the first 4:07 of the third quarter and limited them to 27.5 percent shooting (14-for-51) for the game.
“We pride ourselves on defense,” Abda said. “We work on defensive fundamentals every single day from the first practice and we’re still working on them here at the end of the year.
“We felt pretty good and pretty confident that we could at least contain them. We went out there and played to our strengths.”
Andrew Ferguson led Scranton Prep (14-9) with 11 points. Matt Cobb had 10 points and 7 rebounds. Robert Rossi matched Vinansky for the game lead with 13 rebounds.
