Cameron Parker was honored before Thursday’s Old Forge game for scoring his 1,000th career point in the previous outing.
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The celebration of a milestone reached three nights earlier added to the atmosphere of an intense rivalry night at Old Forge.
When it was over, the host Blue Devils fell just short as Riverside pulled out a 63-61 victory Thursday to improve to 11-1 in Lackawanna League Division 2 and 19-1 overall.
Old Forge ultimately fell short in its upset bid, but the Blue Devils pushed the Vikings to the limit on a night when they honored senior Cameron Parker in a pregame ceremony.
Parker had reached 1,000 points Monday night on a 3-pointer late in the third quarter at Western Wayne. He had 18 in the 71-36 rout of the Wildcats.
Monday’s game was decided early.
Thursday’s went down to the final seconds.
Nico Antoniacci’s 3-pointer with 32 seconds left broke a 58-58 tie.
Parker made two free throws to pull the Blue Devils within a point, but Antoniacci answered with two.
After Parker was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 2.5 seconds left, he made one of the three tries.
Antoniacci, a sophomore who averages 30 points and is already over 1,000 for his career, led the Vikings with 24 points.
Brayden Rose, a junior who recently reached 1,000, added 20.
Ryan DeMarco led Old Forge with a career-high 26 points. Arthur Askew added 14 points.
Fanning chipped in nine points and 13 rebounds while Parker had seven points.
In the win over Western Wayne, Fanning had 20 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks. Camren Krushnowski had 15 points while DeMarco had five assists and five steals.
The Blue Devils scored 49 points in the first half and coasted from there.
Old Forge is 8-4 in the division and 13-6 overall. It continues to lead the race for the top seed and a quarterfinal bye in the District 2 Class 2A playoffs.
