The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association state basketball tournament season opened Friday night with 94 games around the state.
None of the other 187 teams in action could match the point total put up by the unbeaten Abington Heights Comets.
Will Marion scored 31 points and dished out five assists to lead the way as Abington Heights ran over Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School from the Philadelphia suburb of Drexel Hill while rolling to a 91-64, home-court victory in a Class 5A boys first-round game.
The 27 points also represented the largest margin of victory in any of the 16 Class 5A boys games.
Ryan Nealon added 24 points to help Abington Heights improve to 25-0.
Mason Fedor scored 14 points while grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking five shots for the Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 5A champions.
Robby Lucas gave the team a fourth double-figures scorer with 12 points. He also had eight rebounds and three assists.
All four players average in double figures for the season.
Marion got there in the first quarter. He scored 10 points and Lucas added seven to get the Comets out to a 22-12 start.
The lead swelled to 39-23 at halftime after Marion scored eight points and Nealon seven in the second quarter.
Korey Francis scored 10 of his team-high 20 points for Bonner-Prendie, but the Comets still outscored the Friars 31-23 in the fast-paced third quarter.
Marion and Nealon each scored 10 points in the quarter.
Nealon hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter, three in the second half and four total.
After being held scoreless in the first half, Fedor scored seven points each in the third and fourth quarters.
Deuce Kentner, a 6-foot-7 forward with Division I scholarship offers, added 16 points for Bonner-Prendie. Kevin Rucker Jr., a 1,000-point career scorer, added 15.
The Friars, the fourth-place team out of District 12, finished 11-14.
Abington Heights advances to Tuesday’s second-round game against District 11 runner-up Whitehall on a neutral court. Whitehall (17-9) defeated Phoenixville 62-46 Friday night.
Elsewhere Friday night, Packy Doherty came off the bench to hit nine 3-pointers and score 40 points as Scranton Prep also won big at home, beating Fleetwood 79-52 in Class 4A boys.
Doherty was 13-for-17 from the floor, 9-for-11 on 3-pointers and 5-for-5 from the line.
UP NEXT
District 2 champion Scranton Prep (17-9) will play District 12 fourth-place finisher Overbrook (13-13) Tuesday at Easton Middle School at 6 in the first game of a doubleheader that also features the Valley View boys against Eastern York.
Abington Heights-Whitehall is a single game Tuesday at 7 at East Stroudsburg South.
Most Popular
Comments / 0