By Tom Robinson, NEPASportsNation.com
CLARKS SUMMIT – Abington Heights held North Pocono to 10 points while dominating on the boards in the second half to pull away from the visiting Trojans for a 47-24 victory in the District 2 Class 5A boys basketball semifinals Feb. 24.
The Comets went with a triangle-and-two to take the perimeter game away from the Lackawanna League Division 2 champions.
Mason Fedor led the effort on the boards.
The Comets limited the Trojans to 22 percent from the floor and when either team missed, the bulk of the rebounds were pulled down by the Comets.
Abington Heights led 18-4 in offensive and 45-19 in total rebounds. Fedor handled the offensive end with 8 of his 12 rebounds while Robby Lucas took care of the defensive end with 9.
“We want to be a tough team and a lot of times we’ve just been going through the motions,” Abington Heights coach Ken Bianchi said. “We said we wanted every loose ball. In first quarter, I think they got every one of them.
“We talked about it at halftime and I think we played much better.”
Fedor played just 3:26 of the first quarter before sitting the rest of the half with two fouls. He was scoreless at that point with two rebounds.
“Sitting the whole first half was tough,” Fedor said. “I knew I had to come out and do my part down low in the second half.”
Fedor’s part was to score all 10 of his points and grab 10 of his 12 rebounds after halftime.
Will Marion also scored 10 points and dished out 4 assists.
Lucas scored eight points and made four steals.
North Pocono’s Chris Walsh also scored 10 points, along with grabbing 5 rebounds and blocking 3 shots.
Abington Heights missed its first nine shots, but trailed just 4-2 at that point.
The Comets held the Trojans scoreless for 5:40 and without a field goal for 8:16, long enough to overcome their own offensive struggles on the way to a 10-4 lead.
“The score was 5-4 after the first quarter and it wasn’t because anyone was holding the ball,” Bianchi said. “We haven’t been shooting the ball well the last four or five games.”
Abington Heights opened a 10-point lead before Walsh did all the scoring in a 7-1 run over the last 1:56 to pull North Pocono within 18-14 at the break.
Already in control on the boards, the Comets pounded the Trojans in the first seven minutes of the second half. They grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in that time and 14 of the 16 total.
Twice during the time, the Comets scored by getting four shots through repeated offensive rebounds. Another time, the rebounds got them three shots.
