Pittston church planning spaghetti dinner

COMMENTARY: BETTY ROCCOGRANDI “Kids for cash?” Phrase doesn’t fit crime

First Posted: 3/7/2014 EXETER &#8212; There&#8217;s nothing like the real thing. Pittston Area discovered that Friday night against Bishop McDevitt.
McDevitt broke from the gates at full gallop and never let up, routing the Patriots 77-42 in a PIAA Class 3A boys basketball first-round game at Wyoming Area High School.
District 2 runner-up Pittston Area (18-9) prepared for what was coming &#8212; an all-out, full-throttle tempo from the D3 third seed Crusaders (27-2). It dumped the Patriots into a 10-0 hole to start the game.
&#8220;In practice all week, we worked against their 1-3-1,&#8221; Pittston Area coach Alan Kiesinger said. &#8220;The personnel, it&#8217;s a little bit different when you get on the floor. But we didn&#8217;t always do what we worked on all week.
&#8220;We really wanted to be really patient and we weren&#8217;t. We took the first open shot. And they give a lot of open shots. They kind of suck you in with that. They give you open looks and if you&#8217;re not making them, you&#8217;re in trouble.&#8221;
The Patriots shot 3-of-25 in the first half, including 1-of-15 from three-point range. And, yes, that led to trouble. Plenty of trouble.
McDevitt had its transition offensive working to near perfection, leading to a 39-11 halftime lead. Dyllon Hudson-Emory, the Crusaders&#8217; 6-foot-6 senior forward, punctuated the first-half onslaught with three consecutive dunks in the final two minutes before intermission.
&#8220;You get sucked into it because they give you open shots,&#8221; Kiesinger said. &#8220;They&#8217;re really not a good defensive team. I hope he doesn&#8217;t read our papers, but they just aren&#8217;t. They force you to play fast by giving you open looks because they figure they&#8217;ll just outscore you.&#8221;
That, McDevitt coach Jeff Hoke said, is pretty much the way it works. Open looks are fine as long as they are permitted during a frantic pace. It has led to the Crusaders scoring 80 or more points 13 times, including a 104-point game.
&#8220;Well, we try not to,&#8221; Hoke said. &#8220;They&#8217;re open looks &#8230; but they&#8217;re not in rhythm. They were a little nervous on the open ones. We thought they would come in a little nervous. When we&#8217;re flying at the ball, it isn&#8217;t as easy as you think it is when you&#8217;re stepping in when you&#8217;re open.
&#8220;No, we didn&#8217;t want to give them open looks. But we were OK giving them hurried looks.&#8221;
Mason Gross and Tyler McGarry, the Patriots&#8217; top two scorers, combined for one field goal through three quarters as the deficit ballooned to 58-23 entering the fourth. The Patriots scored just seven baskets through three quarters. By contrast, Hudson-Emory had nine on the way to a game-high 24 points.
Gross, one of four seniors in the starting lineup, finished with 16 points. James Emmett had seven, while Hassan Maxwell and Mike Schwab added six each.
&#8220;They were here the second year I was the head coach,&#8221; Kiesinger said. &#8220;They were all in ninth grade and they were all pulled up to the varsity team as freshmen. They are the complete reason we were here. It&#8217;s nothing else. They listened all year, they believed in the system.&#8221;
McDevitt will play D11 champion Allentown Central Catholic (28-0) in the second round on Tuesday.
***
Bishop McDevitt 77, Pittston Area 42BISHOP McDEVITT (77) &#8212; Caleb Barwin 1 2-2 5, Milik Gantz 4 0-1 8, Dyllon Hudson-Emory 9 5-6 24, Justin McCarthur 4 1-2 12, Donte Vaughn 1 2-2 5, Mark Ray 2 0-0 5, James Williams 2 1-2 5, Reggie Hopkins 3 0-0 7, Bryce Hall 0 0-0 0, Nick Gemmell 0 0-0 0, Chad Cortez 0 0-1 0, Tyler Stoner 1 0-0 2, Joe-Joe Headen 2 0-0 4, Pat Corrigan 0 0-2 0, Alex Marsico 0 0-2 0. Totals 29 11-20 72.
PITTSTON AREA (42) &#8212; Mike Schwab 1 4-4 6, James Emmett 2 1-2 7, Hassan Maxwell 3 0-0 6, Tyler McGarry 1 0-0 3, Mason Gross 4 7-9 16, Mike Delaney 1 0-0 2, Carmen Lobrutto 1 0-0 2, Kyle Gattuso 0 0-0 0, Steve Lee 0 0-0 0, Brandon Wynn 0 0-0 0, Brandon Zafutto 0 0-0 0, Ryan Hannon 0 0-2 0, Dylan Osticco 0 0-0 0, Jordan Black 0 0-0 0, Joe Delucca 0 0-0 0, Bobby Neishman 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 12-17 42.
Bishop McDevitt`16`23`19`19`&#8212;`77
Pittston Area`4`7`12`19`&#8212;`42
Three-point goals &#8212; BM 7 (Vaughn, McCarthur 3, Hudson-Emory, Ray, Hopkins); PA 4 (Emmett 2, McGarry, Gross).

McDevitt runs past Pittston Area