Sam Balliet, left, shoots over Ethan Ghannam during the first half of the All-Star game.
Fred Adams | For Sunday Dispatch
Pittston Area’s J.J. Walsh, left, shared team Most Valuable Player honors with Hazleton Area’s Josian Guerra in Friday night’s Moses All-Star Classic victory.
Tom Robinson | For Sunday Dispatch
PLAINS – One Pittston Area player started the game-winning play and Team Toole found the right Patriot to end it.
J.J. Walsh hit the game-winning 3-pointer with six seconds left Friday night to bring an exciting conclusion to the boys game of the 53rd annual Dr. George P. Moses Senior All-Star Classic by lifting Team Toole to a 121-119 victory over Team Guido.
The Guido, coached by Holy Redeemer’s Paul Guido and Dallas’ Mark Belenski from the conference’s two PIAA state semifinalists, had possession with a late one-point lead in the game for graduating Wyoming Valley Conference players.
When the ball got loose in the lane, Ethan Ghannam was there to scoop it up with 15 seconds left. Ghannam sent the ball ahead to Nanticoke’s Chris Johnson and Team Toole was off and running.
Johnson found Walsh, who had more late game-winning shots in his high school career than any player on the floor at Wilkes-Barre Area High School.
Walsh delivered from the right wing.
“Ethan got the ball, then I think Chris found me,” Walsh said. “I’d been hitting them all night, so it was good that he found me. It felt good going off the fingers.”
Walsh went 4-for-5 on 3-pointers in the second half and 6-for-8 from long distance in the game to finish with 22 points, tied for second-most in the game with Team Guido Most Valuable Player Justice Shoats from Holy Redeemer.
Hazleton Area’s Josian Guerra scored 32 points to share Team Toole MVP honors with Walsh. Following a timeout, Guerra stole the in-bounds pass in the backcourt and dribbled out the remaining time to secure the win.
Walsh got to play one more time for his father, Pittston Area assistant John Walsh, who assisted Toole in the retiring Wilkes-Barre Area coach’s final game.
“It was fun, especially because we had the four seniors,” said J.J. Walsh, who was joined by Ghannam, Dom Jannuzzi and Jack Locker from Pittston Area’s District 2 Class 5A championship team. “It was good to play with them again and nice to have a win to cap off the season.”
Walsh and Jannuzzi were the winning team’s most effective 3-point shooters on a night when the rest of Team Toole went 6-for-32 from long distance while Team Guido struggled through a 9-for-37 effort.
The Pittston Area combination was 9-for-13 with Jannuzzi going 3-for-5 to account for all nine of his points.
Walsh also had five rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
Jannuzzi, who joined Walsh in the starting lineup, had seven defensive rebounds, shared the team lead with four assists and made two steals.
Ghannam contributed seven rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block.
Locker had four points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Wyoming Area’s Evan Melberger joined the Pittston Area players on the winning team. Melberger made one of his two 3-point attempts to finish with five points, three rebounds and an assist.
In addition to players from Pittston Area, Wyoming Area and Hazleton Area, the winning team also had players from Wilkes-Barre Area, Nanticoke, Hanover Area, MMI Prep and Berwick.
Guerra went 15-for-22 from the floor, along with grabbing nine rebounds, dishing out four assists and leading the team with three steals.
Shoats was 11-for-19 for Team Blue. He also had four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
