Pictured above: Abington Heights guard Ryan Nealon
OPENING DAY
The Lackawanna League Division 1 season gets underway Tuesday with Abington Heights at Scranton and West Scranton at Scranton Prep, along with Valley View at Wallenpaupack in a Division 1-2 crossover that is part of the standings.
SCHEDULE AND FORMAT
Division 1 teams play a 13-game Lackawanna League schedule – 8 games from a home-and-home series with each of the 4 divisional opponents, plus a crossover game against each of the Division 2 teams.
2021-22 STANDINGS
Scranton 11-2, Abington Heights 9-4, Scranton Prep 9-4, Scranton 4-9, Valley View 4-9.
RANKED TEAMS
Abington Heights is ranked first, Valley View second and Scranton Prep fourth among Big School boys teams in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Basketball Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
TOURNEY CHAMPS
Two division teams prepared for the start of the league season by winning prestigious tournament titles last week.
Scranton Prep won the 71st Lynett Memorial Tournament title at Lackawanna College.
Valley View won the title of the 50th Pete Turonis/NBT Bank Classic where the four teams in the field had a combined 23-2 record going into the event.
CLASSIFICATIONS
Scranton is a Class 6A team.
Abington Heights and West Scranton play in Class 5A.
Scranton Prep and Valley View are in Class 4A.
Valley View has moved down after spending the last two seasons in Class 5A.
RETURNING STARS
Ryan Nealon and Matt Show from Abington Heights were both first-team division all-star choices last season by NEPABasketball.com, which is now part of NEPASportsNation.com. Show, also a second-team, all-District 2 choice, played less than half a game at the start of this season before going out with a knee injury.
West Scranton’s Tristan Lee and Valley View’s Eli Yusavage, both second-team choices, also return.
GETTING STARTED
Current non-league records for division members: Abington Heights 7-0, Valley View 7-1, Scranton Prep 5-2, West Scranton 5-4, Scranton 3-4.
ANALYZING THE RACE
NEPASportsNation.com editor Tom Robinson breaks down the race as follows:
Even in a strong division that usually has some great battles at the top, Abington Heights’ early-season play makes the Comets look very difficult to beat.
If they can’t keep up with the Comets, Valley View and Scranton Prep could very well be waging a great battle for the top seed in District 2 Class 4A at the same time they fight for second place.
Scranton lost a lot to graduation, but the Knights showed during the Lynett Tournament that they can still be dangerous.
If it can’t get past its city rival or one of the other teams, West Scranton will be the best last-place team in any of the six divisions within District 2.
Projected order of finish: 1, Abington Heights; 2, Valley View; 3, Scranton Prep; 4, Scranton; 5, West Scranton.
LOOKING AHEAD
Abington Heights enters league play having defeated its four District 2 opponents by an average of 44 points.
Just how good the Comets are may be determined when they follow up a game against defending champion Scranton in the league opener by hosting Scranton Prep and Valley View back-to-back Jan. 6 and 10.
