The NEPA Elite Coyle 17U boys team combined a big comeback and a comfortable win Saturday into another pool championship at a Hoop Group event.
NEPA Elite defeated WeR1 Select, 68-57, and Team Speights SWFL-HGSL to win the title of the 17U Division Pool T in the Summer Jam Fest at Spooky Nook Sports in Manheim, Lancaster County.
The first-place finish in the three-team pool follows up a first-place finish out of four in the pool at the Atlantic City Jam Fest Friday and extends the team’s winning streak to five games since losing in the final second in a Hoop Group Showcase League game Wednesday night in Atlantic City.
Jason Shields, Ethan Meuser and Justice Shoats played significant roles in both Saturday wins.
Shields kept up the offensive production after hitting seven 3-pointers and scoring 28 points in the last game in Atlantic City Friday. He made six 3-pointers for 18 points against WeR1 and had another 20-point game against Team Speights.
Meuser had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in the first game and reached double figures in both points and rebounds while blocking 5 shots in the second.
Shoats, who had a pair of 12-point games, had 8 assists against Team Speights.
Austin Finarelli and Shoats had eight points each in the first half when WeR1 took a 32-21 lead.
Shields and Meuser led NEPA Elite back, then Arvel Chandler hit a pair of 3-pointers in the last three minutes to help complete a comeback in which it outscored WeR1, 47-25, in the second half.
Chandler and Shields are also high school teammates at Scranton.
Meuser is a recent Wyoming Seminary graduate who is headed to The Hill School, a prep school in Pottstown.
Shoats is from Holy Redeemer and Finarelli is from Dallas.
The Coyle team wraps up play at Spooky Nook with a 9:15 a.m. Sunday crossover game against Expressions Select.
A recap of the other NEPA Elite boys teams for the day at Spooky Nook:
Wignot 17U (0-2)
The Wignot team lost two straight in the 17U Nook bracket.
It lost to New York Finest, to fall into the losers’ bracket, then lost to SHA Elite White, 69-49.
NEPA Elite has one consolation game left Sunday at 2 p.m. against 6th Boro Hoops.
Van Zelst 16U (1-1)
The Van Zelst team competed for the 16U Spooky Championship in a bracket format.
NEPA Elite won in the first round, 58-49, over New Jersey Prospects, then lost to Team Spartans National-HGSL, 76-54, to fall into a Sunday 3:10 consolation game against SJ Hoops Elite-HGSL.
Danny Nemitz scored 26 points and dished out 5 assists as NEPA Elite led throughout its win over New Jersey.
Gabe Gonzales pulled down 20 rebounds while scoring 10 points.
Eli Yusavage added eight points and seven rebounds.
Nemitz is from Mid Valley, Gonzales from Holy Cross and Yusavage from Valley View.
Miller 16U (1-1)
The Miller took finished second in the three-team 16U Steel Division Pool B.
NEPA Elite defeated DBA Elite-DeBlasio, 56-43, then lost to Winchester Rising Stars, 65-43.
It plays a 16U Steel Division consolation game Sunday at 8 a.m. against Grindhouse Hoops.
Joyce 15U (0-2)
The Joyce team dropped two games by a total of seven points in the 15U Platinum Division, which was played as a bracket competition.
WeR1-UAA defeated NEPA Elite, 50-44, to send it into the first-round losers’ bracket when it lost to Philly Pride Gold-HGSL, 75-74.
NEPA Elite concludes with another losers’ bracket game against Massachusetts Wolves Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
