HS BASKETBALL: Sechleer leads Crestwood to McGrane title

WILKES-BARRE – Crestwood took a little longer than normal to come out of the locker room at halftime.

If head coach Mark Atherton didn’t get his point across there, he called another timeout three minutes into the third quarter after Holy Redeemer hit back-to-back 3-pointers.

“I just didn’t think we were defending real well. We were in too much of a run-and-jump situation,” Atherton said. “We weren’t rotating. I wanted to make sure we knew the rotations, but I know that we knew them.”

The alarm clock must have sounded at that precise moment.

Ryan Sechleer scored 11 of his game-high 16 points in the third as the Comets used a 17-5 run to score a 44-41 come-from-behind victory over the Royals in the championship of the 58th annual CYC McGrane Tournament at the Wyoming Valley CYC Friday night.

For his efforts, Sechleer was named as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“Winning an MVP, it feels great. I can’t ask for anything more,” he said.

And about that halftime talk?

“It wasn’t a fun talk, that’s for sure,” Sechleer said. “Basically, we knew that we had to play better. They wanted it more in the first half. We needed to pick up our energy.”

Crestwood couldn’t have asked for a better start, canning four 3-pointers in the first quarter to open a comfortable, five-point lead.

The second quarter was probably the reason for the longer-than-normal halftime speech.

Redeemer seemingly won every 50/50 ball, pulled down several offensive rebounds, and found themselves with wide-open looks. The Royals held Crestwood to just three points in the period, and Brayden Sock drained a open trifecta from the right wing in the final seconds to give the Royals a 20-17 lead at the break.

“I am proud of guys with the effort and the way we played tonight,” Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. “We talked about at halftime how they were going to come at us, and make a good push. We went a little colder in the third quarter, but we were able to get right back at it in the fourth.”

Again, it was lapses on defense that allowed Redeemer (4-6) to jump up by double digits early as Sock and Evan Lacari hit back-to-back wide-open 3-pointers, and a layup in transition by David Popson gave the Royals a 28-17 lead early in the third.

“I think the best part about our guys is we never panicked,” Atherton said. “We just kept playing and believing that what we were doing was going to work, and we had to trust that some shots were going to fall. Redeemer is a pretty good team, and they have some size and guys who compete hard. I’m real proud of our guys.”

That’s when Sechleer got going.

Ayden Agapito’s baseline dunk ignited the Comets’ bench, and Sechleer got hot – hitting 4 of 5 from the floor in the third as Crestwood (7-4) rallied all the way back to take a one-point lead into the final eight minutes.

Redeemer, though, held the one-point edge with four minutes left before a pair of timely assists put Crestwood ahead for good.

The first came from Agapito, who drew a double in the lane before dishing off to Gio Barna for the wide-open layup to put the Comets ahead for good. And it was a Sechleer assist to Agapito that gave his team a 42-38 lead with 1:29 left.

“I think we needed to pick up the energy in that third quarter, and once we saw one go through, I think we were fine,” Sechleer said. “We have a great coach, and he’s always making sure that we are focused. It was a good game, but we had to push through.”

The Royals had a chance to win it at the end, but a straight-away 3-pointer came up just a bit short.

“Crestwood did a really good job of guarding that play. We tried to execute coming out of that timeout, and we got ourselves a three. It was right on line, but just a little short,” Guido said. “They are really good, and they make you pay for any mistakes. Credit to those guys because they hit some big shots down the stretch.”

Hanover Area 48, Lake-Lehman 33: At Wyoming Valley CYC, Noah Dewey scored a game-high 15 points and Jayden Coleman scored eight to lead Hanover Area over Lake-Lehman in the consolation game of the McGrane Tournament.

Gernard Williams added seven points for Hanover Area, while Kairi Craft finished with six.

Hunter Palka led Lake-Lehman with 10 points. Alex Smith and Ben Dowling each scored seven.

Berwick 40, Nanticoke Area 36: At Nanticoke Area, Kaden Hickman scored 11 points, while Julian Howie and Brady McCabe each scored seven to lead Berwick to a nonleague victory on Friday night.

Mathias Mitchell led Nanticoke Area with 14 points. Ethan Ball added nine.

Woodson, Va. 68, Wilkes-Barre Area 55: At William Allen High School, Theo Burke scored 18 points and Kaylen Chilton scored 17 to lead Woodson High School out of Virginia to a win over Wilkes-Barre Area in the William Allen Tournament.

David Jannuzzi led Wilkes-Barre Area with 20 points. Mike Keating finished with 15, and Jordany Rodriguez had nine.

Wilkes-Barre Area will play Thomas Edison on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 in the consolation game.

Northwest 50, Pittston Area 48: At Old Forge, Ryan Miner scored a team-high 16 points and Josh Miner scored 12 to lead Northwest over Pittston Area at the Anthony “Badger” Marseco Tournament on Friday.

Jace McCoy and Tucker Crawford each scored eight points for Northwest.

Silvio Giardina led Pittston Area with 17 points. Lucas Lopresto scored nine, Aiden Lynn had eight and Matt Walter finished with seven.

Old Forge 60, Wyoming Area 46: At Old Forge, Cameron Parker scored 21 points, Logan Fanning added 13 and Old Forge defeated Wyoming Area at the Anthony “Badger” Marseco Tournament on Friday.

Luke Kopetchny scored 22 points to pace Wyoming Area.

Reading 85, Wyoming Valley West 44: At Reading, the hosts jumped out to a 16-point lead after one quarter to roll past Valley West in the semifinals of the Reading Tournament.

Lemar Weatherspoon scored 11 points to pace the Spartans, while teammate Camrin Shovlin added 10.