web1_BLOTTER.jpg

Man charged with aggravated assault after allegedly striking woman, police officer

WVC BOYS BASKETBALL STATISTICS

GAR&#8217;s Jerry Altavilla wouldn&#8217;t mind having the interim part of his head coaching title removed next season.&#8220;Yes,&#8221; Altavilla said. &#8220;I&#8217;m really enjoying it.&#8221;Altavilla was thrust into the top position just after Christmas. Paul Brown, GAR&#8217;s coach for 20 seasons, resigned after a Dec. 29 game at Allentown Allen due to health issues. He was also a long-time assistant at GAR as well as head coach at Dallas.Brown&#8217;s abrupt resignation caught the team by surprise.&#8220;We were in shock,&#8221; senior swingman Justin Crosby-Smith said. &#8220;Brown has been here 30-plus years. It was just all of a sudden. But I think coach Altavilla and coach (Len) Martin are going to get us to where we want to be.&#8221;Crosby-Smith, though, understood Brown needed to take care of himself rather than the team at this point.&#8220;It&#8217;s pretty shocking,&#8221; Crosby-Smith said. &#8220;But it&#8217;s for the best, it&#8217;s for him and I respect his decision no matter what.&#8221;Altavilla has been with the program 10 years, working up from the junior high level to the junior varsity and eventually becoming Brown&#8217;s assistant four seasons ago. Martin also knows the program well. He was a standout at GAR and has been a volunteer assistant.&#8220;I&#8217;ve been here long enough and I know the program,&#8221; Altavilla said. &#8220;Obviously, with coach Brown those were big shoes to fill. There was a transition period there with me and the players, but it&#8217;s going pretty good.&#8221;GAR has won four of five under Altavilla and is tied with Nanticoke atop the Division 2 of the Wyoming Valley Conference heading into Friday&#8217;s schedule.Altavilla hasn&#8217;t changed strategy much, which is probably a good idea considering the Grenadiers are inexperienced overall. Aside from his son Tino, Crosby-Smith, Dajon Rush and Marquan Kemp, there weren&#8217;t many other varsity minutes returning to the roster.&#8220;We&#8217;re running basically the same thing,&#8221; Altavilla said. &#8220;But I was the assistant for four years, so I&#8217;m dealing with them a little bit differently now. It&#8217;s gone very good. The kids have been excellent.&#8221;COACHES VS. CANCERThe Coaches Vs. Cancer fundraiser will be run next week at all boys and girls games in the WVC and Lackawanna League. Donations will be accepted at the game. Money is also raised through sales of items such as T-shirts. The local effort reached the $1 million mark in May.&#8220;That&#8217;s a huge number,&#8221; said Scranton Prep coach Andrew Kittel, the chairperson for the NEPA Coaches Vs. Cancer. &#8220;A million dollars is a lot of money, especially for a grassroots campaign that started up seven years ago. We really appreciated it. From a national standpoint, we&#8217;re the only Coaches Vs. Cancer campaign in the country that doesn&#8217;t have a Division I school in its backyard leading the way.&#8221;The fourth annual BasketBALL will be held May 14 in the ballroom at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. For more information, go to cvcbasketball.org.OTHER STATE CHAMPSA list of PIAA boys basketball state champions from District 2 ran last Friday with a story about the 1961 Nanticoke High team which won a state title. A caller pointed out there were other state champions.Four area teams won state championships in the Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association. The PCIAA was absorbed by the PIAA after the 1971-72 season after state representative Frank Stanley presented a bill to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives.The first local team to win a PCIAAA title was St. Vincent&#8217;s, of Plymouth. St. Vincent&#8217;s won the 1957 Class B title by defeating St. Casmir&#8217;s 76-65. Bob Mullery had 40 points for St. Vincent&#8217;s.St. Leo&#8217;s, of Ashley, defeated Pittsburgh&#8217;s St. Casmir&#8217;s 64-46 for the Class C crown in 1958.Bishop Gabriel&#8217;s, of Hazleton, won PCIAA state championships in 1966 and 1967.Bishop Gabriel&#8217;s topped Masontown Kolb Memorial 91-59 to win the 1966 Class C championship. The game was the last for Bishop Gabriel&#8217;s coach Digger Phelps, who would go on to coach Notre Dame from 1971-1991.Bishop Gabriel&#8217;s defeated Northeast St. Gregory&#8217;s 68-60 for the 1967 Class C championship. Bishop Gabriel&#8217;s had to survive a 67-66 overtime victory against Pittsburgh&#8217;s Bishop Canivan in the semifinals.Through various mergers, the old Catholic schools were folded into three new ones &#8212; Bishop Hoban, Bishop O&#8217;Reilly and Seton Catholic. Those three then merged along with Hazleton&#8217;s Bishop Hafey to form Holy Redeemer for the 2007-08 school year.RECORDS ARE DECEIVINGThe pre-WVC schedule isn&#8217;t always a good way to measure which teams will have success once the conference season kicks in.Meyers was 2-5 before embarking on its WVC Division 3 schedule. Since then, the Mohawks have won five in a row and hold a two-game lead in the division over Holy Redeemer entering their game Thursday against MMI Prep.Four of those losses were by three points or less, including a 44-41 loss to Abington Heights and a 57-56 setback to Holy Cross in double overtime. The Mohawks also loss 58-49 to Scranton Prep, which like Abington Heights and Holy Cross, is a traditional Lackawanna League power. They also lost 43-41 to perennial WVC power Crestwood.The only headscratcher was a 43-40 loss to Coughlin, which Meyers avenged during its holiday tournament.&#8220;All we wanted to do from the beginning of the season to now was to get better,&#8221; Meyers coach Pat Toole said. &#8220;People looked at our record and didn&#8217;t realize how good Scranton Prep is. Crestwood is phenomenal. We lost to Holy Cross on a halfcourt shot in double overtime. The only bad game we had was Coughlin. And Abington Heights, we had them beat here and they just knocked off Lower Merion.&#8221;<style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TTL011616GarNanticoke9.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">GAR interim head coach Jerry Altavilla directs his team during a game at Nanticoke last Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_TTL011616GarNanticoke9.jpg</photo0><caption0>GAR interim head coach Jerry Altavilla directs his team during a game at Nanticoke last Friday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>WVC Boys Basketball`Division`OverallDivision 1`W`L`W`LHazleton Area`6`0`11`3Crestwood`5`1`10`4Berwick`4`2`9`5Dallas`3`3`6`8Coughlin`2`4`7`7Wyoming Valley West`2`4`3`11Pittston Area`1`5`5`9Tunkhannock`1`5`5`9`Division`OverallDivision 2`W`L`W`LNanticoke`4`1`11`3GAR`4`1`7`7Lake-Lehman`3`2`5`9Wyoming Area`2`3`5`9Hanover Area`1`4`3`11`Division`OverallDivision 3`W`L`W`LMeyers`5`0`7`5Holy Redeemer`3`2`7`6Wyoming Seminary`2`3`8`5MMI Prep`1`4`5`9Northwest`0`5`3`9</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. Boys Basketball Notebook: GAR’s Jerry Altavilla enjoying time as head coach