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H.S. Girls Basketball: Amato, Boutanos lead Valley West in playoff opener

<p>EXETER &#8212; A miracle. That&#8217;s what GAR needed with 0.5 seconds left Thursday night to prevent the program&#8217;s extinction.</p><p>The fact that the Grenadiers even had a chance at one was a reflection of all the valiant battles the school&#8217;s boys basketball program had fought throughout the years.</p><p>But as the program&#8217;s final shot &#8212; a desperation 3-point by Curtis Smith &#8212; sailed wide right the chapter was closed. Western Wayne 66, GAR 63 in a District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School.</p><p>GAR finished its final season at 15-9. The school&#8217;s athletic programs will merger with the other Wilkes-Barre schools &#8212; Coughlin and Meyers &#8212; for the 2019-20 scholastic year.</p><p>&#8220;Thirteen (years) all together with my years with Paul (Brown),&#8221; said GAR coach Jerry Altavilla, a former player and assistant coach who took over the program just after Christmas in 2015 when Brown abruptly resigned. &#8220;It&#8217;s a tough experience to play the last game.</p><p>&#8220;I told the kids it&#8217;s very special to be part of GAR basketball. A special experience for me and the kids because it was a very unique situation that you&#8217;ll probably never see again.&#8221;</p><p>GAR appeared headed for the inevitable as it fell behind 56-45 with five minutes left. Western Wayne (13-10), though, inexplicably went away from 6-foot-7 1,000-point scorer Zach Rovinsky. Rovinsky was destroying GAR inside on the way to a 35-point, 19-rebound night.</p><p>The Grenadiers took advantage and Jared O&#8217;Day&#8217;s 3-pointer knotted the game 57-57 with 2:21 remaining.</p><p>However, the Wildcats regained their composure. A pair of free throws by Rovinsky with 4.6 seconds left gave Western Wayne a 66-61 lead and should have sealed GAR&#8217;s fate.</p><p>It didn&#8217;t.</p><p>GAR guard Will Johnson dribbled down court, but instead of allowing him to take an uncontested 3-pointer which surly would have resulted in the clock expiring Western Wayne fouled him at 0.5 seconds.</p><p>Johnson made the first two free throws and purposely missed the third, sending it hard off the rim. The line drive rebound headed to the backcourt where Smith grabbed it on one bounce and chucked up the historical final shot.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t even know what to say about it,&#8221; said a dejected Johnson, who closed out his career with a 31-point effort. &#8220;We dug ourselves in a hole in the beginning, but we fought back and gave it our all. Things just didn&#8217;t go as planned.&#8221;</p><p>O&#8217;Day and Shawn Adamson scored 10 each for GAR, which was without starting guard Tyler Young. Curon Smith added nine points. Adamson added nine rebounds in place of Young.</p><p>Western Wayne moves to the semifinals where it will play Scranton Prep (20-3) on Saturday. Prep ended Meyers&#8217; season with a 61-39 victory.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class 4A Quarterfinals</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Western Wayne 66, GAR 63</strong></p><p><strong>WESTERN WAYNE (66) &#8212;</strong> Dahlton Frisbie 6 6-9 19, Zach Rovinsky 15 5-10 36, Kobe Sauter 1 0-0 2</p><p>Zane Janiszewski 1 0-0 2, Rob Carey 0 0-0 0, Tom Chernasky 3 0-2 6, Matt Henneforth 0 1-2 1. <strong>Totals 26 12-23 66.</strong></p><p><strong>GAR (63) &#8212;</strong> Will Johnson 7 16-22 31, Shawn Adamson 3 4-4 10, Jared O&#8217;Day 3 1-2 10, Curtis Smith 1 0-0 2,</p><p>Curon Smith 3 3-6 9, George Placecio 0 0-1 0. <strong>Totals 17 23-32 61.</strong></p><p><strong>Western Wayne``19`11`17 &#8212; 66</strong></p><p><strong>GAR`11`21`8`23 &#8212; 63</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals &#8212;</strong> WW 1 (Frisbee). GAR 4 (Johnson, O&#8217;Day 3).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">GAR&#8217;s Shawn Adamson, left, tries to deflect an inlet pass to Western Wayne&#8217;s Zach Rovinsky in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. Rovinsky finished with 35 points and 19 rebounds. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-GAR-WesternWayne_2.jpg</photo0><caption0>GAR&#8217;s Shawn Adamson, left, tries to deflect an inlet pass to Western Wayne&#8217;s Zach Rovinsky in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. Rovinsky finished with 35 points and 19 rebounds. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-GAR-WesternWayne_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">GAR&#8217;s Shawn Adamson walks off the floor for the final time in a Grenadier uniform after GAR lost to Western Wayne 66-63 in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-GAR-WesternWayne_3.jpg</photo1><caption1>GAR&#8217;s Shawn Adamson walks off the floor for the final time in a Grenadier uniform after GAR lost to Western Wayne 66-63 in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-GAR-WesternWayne_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">GAR&#8217;s Will Johnson drives the lane against Western Wayne&#8217;s Dahlton Frisbie and Kobe Sauter in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/web1_TTL022219HSBB-GAR-WesternWayne_1.jpg</photo2><caption2>GAR&#8217;s Will Johnson drives the lane against Western Wayne&#8217;s Dahlton Frisbie and Kobe Sauter in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area High School in Exeter on Thursday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Grenadiers fall to Western Wayne in school&#8217;s final game</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

H.S. Boys Basketball: GAR falls to Western Wayne in school’s final game