By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
SCRANTON – An up-and-down season by Scranton Prep boys standards has included some up-and-down games.
With a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 4A state tournament berth on the line, Wednesday night was no exception.
Even in a game-ending surge to rally for the win, Andrew Ferguson fit that description.
Ferguson finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists as Scranton Prep outlasted visiting Nanticoke, 52-45, in the District 2 third-place game.
“I’m proud of our guys and the resilience they showed,” Scranton Prep coach Andrew Kettel said. “They’ve continued to show that all season long because we’ve had ups and downs both over the season and within games.”
Ferguson missed his last four free throws, but still had five of the points in the 11-3 run from Nanticoke’s last lead to the final buzzer.
The Cavaliers recovered from missing their first 14 shots while the Trojans were putting together the first 15 points of the second half.
“We wanted to defensive rebound and get out in transition and we did that,” Nanticoke coach Zach Pientka said.
In doing so, the Trojans went from trailing by 13 three times in the second quarter to leading by three twice in the second half.
“It’s the story of our season,” Kettel said. “We played a great first half. We talked about some things at halftime that unfortunately we didn’t execute in the third quarter.
“We knew that they had a run in them. … They made that run and we survived it and made a final run in the fourth quarter to close out the game.”
Ferguson tied the game, 42-42, by hitting one of two free throws with 5:30 left. He broke the tie with an elbow jumper 34 seconds later, then assisted Matt Cobb for a basket in transition.
Kepp’s 3-pointer with 1:59 left cut the deficit to one, but it was the only Nanticoke score in the final 5:52.
Ferguson, James Pettinato and Robert Rossi each hit two free throws in the final minute to finish off the win.
Pettinato also scored 12 points and made 3 steals. Cobb had 10 points.
Rossi matched Ferguson with 12 rebounds and also made 3 steals.
Nanticoke’s Payton Kepp had seven points while Chris Johnson and Gavin Turak had four each in the 15-point streak to start the second half.
At the same time, Scranton Prep was going 0-for-14 from the floor, 0-for-4 on 3-pointers and 0-for-2 at the line while turning the ball over twice.
Kepp finished with 16 points. Chris Johnson had 10. Jaidyn Johnson chipped in eight points, nine rebounds and six blocked shots. Owen Brown dished out five assists.
Scranton Prep (15-9) advances to play at the District 3 runner-up March 8 in the first round of the state tournament. The Cavaliers will face either Berks Catholic (22-4) or Middletown (20-3).
Nanticoke finishes 14-12 after starting the season 1-7.
