Posted on March 31, 2018 by bradleyahuebner
Left: The scramble for the final rebound plays out as a foul is called with one second remaining. Below, game managers sweep up the Hershey Kisses that fans threw on the court, which led to a technical foul and an overtime period.
As players grappled for a stray rebound in the final seconds of the PIAA 5A boys semifinal Monday at Freedom High, Pennsylvania’s winningest boys coach could feel the excitement of finally making it to Hershey.
Despite winning 776 games, Ken Bianchi, the Abington Heights coach, had never been to a state final. And as his players battled for the final loose ball near the basket opposite him, hitting the floor with Bonner-Prendergast players, the noisy crowd erupting behind him, he could hear and see celebratory kisses pelting the court.
Over his white hair they flew in clusters.
So many silver-wrapped treats that a local head coach went to the closet and pulled out a broom to sweep them away, sensing the danger of their intrusion.
The game hadn’t ended. With a second remaining, the referees had whistled a foul against Abington Heights.
Leading 48-45, the Comets would still prevail.
“There will be two foul shots and then the technical foul shots,” the referee informed the official scorer.
Bianchi’s chance to coach in Hershey was about to be wiped away by overzealous fans supporting their school.
Bonner-Prendergast junior Mike Perretta calmly sank both free throws. His coach, Jack Concannon, waved for him to stay out there and shoot the technicals, too.
Perretta, who hadn’t scored since his three-pointer opened the scoring back in the game’s first minute, made the first to tie the game at 48. Standing alone at the foul line, he missed the last, the potential game-ender, the ball touching two sides of the rim.
Because of the technical foul, however, the Friars would get another shot at victory with a second left. They inbounded the ball to Donovan Rodriguez, who shot a clean three-pointer from beyond the top of the key.
Online, it hit the front rim and fell short. Overtime.
George Tinsley took it from there for Abington Heights. The junior had missed much of the second half with four fouls, but the Jimmy Chitwood look-alike opened overtime by seeing his 15-footer rim out. Then he stole a pass and turned it into two free throws. A hard drive and left-handed finish gave the Comets a 52-48 lead with 35 seconds left.
Junior Jack Nealon, who’d been hounding B-P star Isaiah Wong (22 ppg., recruited by Villanova, Miami, UConn, Temple and others) throughout the second half despite giving up four inches, sank two more free throws for a six-point lead with 20 seconds remaining. Rodriguez canned a three-pointer to halve the lead to 54-51 with 11.7 seconds remaining.
As game managers made repeated pleas to refrain from throwing anything onto the court, Jackson Danzig added two more free throws and Abington Heights finished off the Friars, 56-51.
The Comets advance to face Mars, a one-point winner over Milton Hershey in the other PIAA 5A semifinal. The Fighting Planets (not made up) return to the finals for the second time in three years. They feature Notre Dame-bound Robby Carmody (22 points, 10 rebounds), Pennsylvania’s Gatorade player of the year.
“I thought I’d get to Hershey,” said Bianchi, “but I didn’t think this team would do it. We’ve had some real powerhouses and we always seemed to stumble.”
Bianchi saw potential in this team back in the fall. With senior Danzig–who scored 38 points and hit eight three-pointers in the quarterfinal win–and juniors Trey Koehler and George Tinsley back, he’d have three reliable scorers.
Koehler hit for 31 points in the third game of the year against Williamsport. But his sore left foot, injured when the wide receiver was tackled during football season, felt worse each week.
“Finally I went to the doctor and he told me I had a stress fracture,” Koehler said Monday, still on crutches, still wearing a protective book. He hopes to return for his senior basketball season.
Bianchi had his center, a 6-1 senior, until the player needed to miss practices over Thanksgiving. Bianchi filled in with 6-foot-4 sophomore Mike Malone, a defensive end from football who hadn’t played JV or varsity basketball. Malone provided a muscular backline for post defense.
Bianchi used Nealon (14 points, 7-7 free throws) and fellow junior Corey Perkins in the backcourt. More than anyone, they were the wildcards.
Always the disciplined offense would run always through Tinsley and Danzig.
Until, of course, Tinsley picked up his third foul late in the first half, his team trailing 28-23.
Nealon stepped up, as he’s been doing all year, to secure a three-point play. So notorious for sticking with five-man rotations, Bianchi could hear the other coaches hollering “he doesn’t have any subs” as the Comets accumulated fouls.
He trusted in his other starters and learned to rely on his bench.
Said Bianchi, “I didn’t know what to do with Jack Nealon at the start of the season, but he just kept getting better and better every week.”
When Wong baited a referee into calling a foul on a three-pointer by falling after he shot, he closed the first half with three straight points for a 31-27 lead. Wong had 15 of the Friars’ 31. Bianchi used halftime to review their emphasis on Wong.
“Our gameplan was to shut him down,” said Perkins, who started on Wong until he ran into foul trouble. “At halftime coach re-emphasized why we needed to stop him above everything else.”
What makes Wong special?
“He does everything,” said Perkins. “He drives, he shoots, he plays great defense. He can do everything.”
By denying the 6-3 guard the ball, and no longer switching out on him for mismatches in the 2-3 matchup zone, the Comets held him to four second-half points.
Wong didn’t score at all in overtime.
Abington Heights (26-3) turned to Danzig in the third quarter when Tinsley picked up his fourth foul 30 seconds in on a dubious charge call. Posting up near the top of the key to orchestrate the offense as a passer, shooter or driver, Danzig scored six straight points to give his team a 35-32 lead.
When Tinsley finally returned in the fourth, his team leading 37-36, he made an immediate impact. Nealon air-balled a three-pointer. Tinsley read it and broke for the basket and the dying shot. He caught the ball in the air and pushed it in for a 39-36 lead.
“I wanted to be part of the win and help my team,” said the 18-points-per-game scorer who sat and watched before returning to reach his scoring average. Tinsely stayed calm, typical for an A student being recruited by the Patriot League as a 6-foot-5 wing. “We’ve been trying to do this (get to Hershey) for a long time. Last year we got to this same point on this same court and lost to (eventual state champion) Archbishop Wood.”
The man Tinsley had been guarding, 6-9 junior center Tariq Ingraham, completed a three-point play that punctuated his personal streak of seven straight points for B-P (25-5).
Danzig came to life. After missing all four three-pointers in the first half, he swished one with under five minutes remaining for a 42-39 lead.
Then Perkins picked up his fourth foul guarding Wong, who then buried two free throws. A minute later Wong earned his fourth.
Abington Heights played keep-away, drawing B-P out near half-court in their spread set. Nealon drove through traffic and fed Malone for a layup and a 44-41 lead.
Wong (team-high 18 points) and Nealon alternated deuces to make it 46-43. Ajiri Johnson, a 6-8 center headed to Rider, then missed a put-back dunk that might have reversed momentum. He caught the ball cleanly and grabbed the rim, but the ball caromed off the back iron and out.
Rodriguez canned two free throws for the Friars, then Nealon answered with two for the Comets, setting up the final madness, the pre-emptive celebration that almost spoiled a state title bid.
Bianchi’s boys have won at least 22 games in 11 of the past 12 seasons.
BONNER-PRENDERGAST
Mike Perretta 1 3-4 6, Tariq Ingraham 4 4-5, 12, Isaiah Wong 5 7-10 18, James Welde 1 0-0 3, Donovan Rodriguez 1 4-5 7, Ajiri Johnson 1 2-4 4. Totals: 13 20-28 51.
ABINGTON HEIGHTS
George Tinsley 7 3-3 18, Corey Perkins 0 2-2 2, Mike Malone 3 0-0 6, Jackson Danzig 4 5-6 15, Jack Nealon 3 7-7 14, Drew Nealon 0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 17 18-20 56.
The Comets’ Jackson Danzig is a prolific scorer and pure shooter.
