The perfect Abington Heights boys basketball season was on the verge of ending one game short of the team’s most-anticipated matchup.
The Comets found a way to escape a 13-point hole late in the third quarter and a five-point deficit past the midway point of the first of two overtime periods.
Robby Lucas and Ryan Nealon hit 3-pointers and Mason Fedor converted a three-point play in a span of three overtime minutes to fuel the last of the comebacks as Abington Heights defeated Whitehall 76-70 Tuesday night in a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 5A second-round game.
The win sends the Comets into Friday’s 6 p.m. game against defending state champion Imhotep Charter at Bethlehem Freedom High School.
Since Abington Heights won its state championship in 2018, Imhotep has claimed three of the four Class 5A titles. When they met in the same round a year ago, Imhotep won 65-38 as part of a state title run in which it defeated opponents by 52, 36, 27, 22 and 38 points.
Imhotep remains immensely talented. The District 12 champions are 26-3 and have won their first two state games by a total of 61 points, but Abington Heights (26-0) has more experienced players back from the last meeting.
The Comets almost did not get another shot.
They pulled out the win with all five starters scoring in double figures and a defense that turned up the heat with constant trapping in a frantic effort to fight from behind.
Each of the five starters scored during a 13-0 run to end the third quarter and start the fourth. That run created the first of seven lead changes that went along with seven ties over the game’s tense and hectic final 14 minutes, which included the two, four-minute extra sessions.
Lucas finished with a team-high 21 points while Nealon had 20, including 15 in the fourth quarter and overtimes. Fedor and Will Marion each scored 12 and Jordan Shaffer had 11.
A.J. Hines led Whitehall with 23 points. Luke Keppel and Talon Dogmanitis had 12 each and Ethan Ringenberger had 10.
Hines had eight points in the first quarter, which ended in a 13-13 tie and closed the half with 14 as the Zephyrs took a 28-24 lead into the break.
Abington Heights managed just two points for more than five minutes to begin the second half and Whitehall opened its biggest lead at 39-26.
Fedor, with a drive in transition, and Marion, with a 10-foot, pull-up jumper in the lane, got the offense started.
Then, the team’s defensive pressure kicked in and combined with offensive board work to produce the 13-point streak for a 43-42 lead.
Marion made an off-balance scoop shot while being fouled and Lucas hit a 3-pointer for the last five points of the third quarter.
The Comets grabbed the first six rebounds of the fourth quarter and Fedor twice fed offensive rebounds out to the arc where Shaffer and Nealon buried 3-pointers. In between, Nealon set up a Fedor score in transition.
Eight of the first 10 Abington Heights points of the quarter were the result of offensive rebounds and the other basket came when a Lucas defensive rebound and outlet got Nealon and Fedor started on the fastbreak.
Nealon’s 3-pointer put Abington Heights ahead for the first time in the half, but Whitehall still had the Comets in trouble before the game was over.
The Zephyrs had shots at the win to end regulation and the first overtime – missing on a contested 3-point try and then a drive that produced a hurried, reaching layup attempt.
Abington Heights finished with 10 baskets from beyond the arc, including five in less than six minutes late in regulation and two more in overtime. Shaffer and Nealon hit back-to-back, 3-pointers for a tie and the lead with 3:07 and 2:28 to play in the fourth.
Nealon then had a hand in the first 15 Abington Heights points of overtime. He scored nine and assisted a 3-pointer by Lucas and a three-point play by Fedor. It was Nealon’s drive with 42 seconds left that accounted for the last points of the first overtime, forcing the tie which made another necessary.
The Comets scored the game’s last nine points to recover from Ringenberger hitting a 3-pointer to begin the scoring in the second overtime.
Fedor’s three-point played for a 70-70 tie with 2:44 left. Lucas hit one of two free throws for the lead with 2:16 left.
The Zephyrs then held the ball for almost 90 seconds while down a point.
Fedor jumped out to create a trap above the top of the key and tipped the ball loose. Lucas came up with the steal and drove for a 73-70 lead with 45 seconds left.
Playing with four fouls since the midway point in the fourth quarter, Fedor was able to keep up the aggressive defense. His diving steal led to Marion’s two free throws with 26.6 seconds left.
Marion’s defense then took away all the options for an airborne Whitehall player, leading to a weak toss well short of the rim that Fedor controlled. Fedor hit one of two free throws with 14.7 seconds left to complete the scoring.
Fedor also finished with eight rebounds.
CLASS 4A
Scranton Prep will play in the second game of Friday’s PIAA state quarterfinal after beating Overbrook from Philadelphia 72-61 Tuesday at the Easton Middle School.
Sophomore Packy Doherty followed up his 40-point effort in the first round by coming off the bench to again lead the Cavaliers in scoring with 20 points. Doherty made four 3-pointers, giving him 13 in two state playoff games.
Scranton Prep will face Neumann-Goretti (24-3) in Friday’s 7:30 game.
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