H.S. Boys Basketball: McGarry’s late 3 lifts Patriots over Comets in D2-4A opener

WRIGHT TWP. — On a night when Pittston Area’s biggest offensive plays had been the result of extra time and effort, the most important basket came about quicker than expected.

Pittston Area broke a timeout with 25.6 seconds left and eight seconds later, Paul Jordan McGarry nailed the 3-pointer from about 22 feet to lift the sixth-seeded Patriots to a 43-41 upset of host and third-seed Crestwood in a Class 5A boys quarterfinal as the District 2 basketball playoffs got underway Tuesday.

The Patriots trailed for less than a minute total the entire game, but were down going into their final possession.

McGarry, who went 3-for-4 from long distance in the fourth quarter after being 1-for-8 in the first three, saw an opening and took it.

“I’m thinking the next one’s going in every time,” McGarry said.

There was no hesitation on the winner.

“I just told him that what I’m most proud about is that he took three shots that I don’t think hit anything in the gym and he came back and, when it was crunch time, he came up with some big shots,” Pittston Area coach Al Semenza said. “The last one was just amazing. I wish I could say I drew it up that way, but I didn’t.”

Crestwood got the ball into the low post on the other end, but Pittston Area collapsed to make the shot difficult, then battled for the loose rebound until Matt Walter tipped it out of bounds as time expired.

Walter also led the Patriots with 16 points, including going 5-for-6 and hitting two 3-pointers for 12 points while the Patriots were building the lead as high as 12 twice in the first half.

Ciaran Bilbow grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to help Pittston Area to a 32-25 advantage on the boards. Only seven of the team’s rebounds came on the offensive end, but three of those led to open 3-pointers. Pittston Area made seven triples compared to just one by Crestwood.

Bilbow got on the floor a minute into the game to control an offensive rebound and send it to Lucas Lopresto, who found Silvio Giardina for the game’s first three points. Bilbow hustled nearly into the Crestwood bench early in the second quarter to save a rebound to Lopresto, who reversed it to Walter for an open 3-pointer and 19-8 lead.

“We have great shooters all around, so if I get it to one of my guys, I know there’s a good chance we’re going to hit it,” Bilbow said. “So, just to work that hard to get the ball back to get an extra shot and it goes in, it’s better than me making a shot.”

Crestwood scored the last four points of the first half and outscored Pittston Area 13-6 in the third quarter to get within 30-29.

But McGarry supplied the first six points of the fourth quarter on two 3-pointers. The first came when Giardina kept an offensive rebound alive, allowing Lopresto to eventually track it down in the backcourt and find McGarry open on the opposite side.

Crestwood answered with a 10-2 run. Derek Johnson and Matt Sklarosky got to the basket to give the Comets their only leads in the last 1:30.

Lopresto had seven assists and Giardina five for Pittston Area, which will play at second-seeded Dallas in Thursday’s semifinals. The Patriots (10-13) have won five straight after losing 10 of their previous 11.

Chaz Wright had 11 of his team-high 15 points in the second half for Crestwood. Johnson had 10 points while Ayden Agapito added seven points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

District 2 Class 5A quarterfinals

Pittston Area 43, Crestwood 41

PITTSTON AREA (43) –Lopresto 2 0-2 4, Giardina 2 2-4 7, Walter 7 0-0 16, McGarry 4 0-0 12, Bilbow 2 0-2 4, Lynn 0 0-0 0, Barnic 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 2-8 43.

CRESTWOOD (41) –Czapla 2 0-0 5, Johnson 3 4-4 10, Sklarosky 2 0-2 4, Wright 7 1-7 15, Agapito 3 1-1 7, Sechleer 0 0-0 0, Porro 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-14 41.

Pittston Area`14`10`6`13 — 43

Crestwood`6`10`13`12 — 41

Three-point goals – PA (McGarry 4, Walter 2, Giardina), CRE 1 (Czapla).