The last official high school basketball games of 2021-22 were played six weeks ago, but the sport gave Scranton senior Jason Shields two reasons to celebrate in less than 48 hours during the weekend.
Shields, who committed to a full athletic scholarship to Jefferson University Friday afternoon, was named all-state early Sunday morning, making the second team when Pennsylvania Sports Writers announced the Class 6A boys selections.
The selection of Shields on the final team announced makes it a total of nine players and one coach from District 2 to be honored from the latest season.
Shields is the only one from Class 6A, the largest enrollment category in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.
With Shields leading the way, Scranton repeated its Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2-4 Class 6A Subregional titles and advanced to the PIAA state quarterfinals before ending its season with a 23-3 record.
Shields averaged 21.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.5 3-pointers. He set school records with 10 made 3-pointers and 43 points in a subregional semifinal rout of Wilkes-Barre Area.
The other three all-staters were from District 2’s three state semifinalists – Austin Finarelli from Dallas and Justice Shoats from Holy Redeemer as second-teamers in Class 4A and 3A along with Joe Macciocco from Old Forge as a third-team pick in Class 2A.
Pittston Area’s Jeff Gregory was state Coach of the Year in Class 5A girls.
District 2 had four girls repeat first-team honors – Moriah Murray and Ciera Toomey from Dunmore in Class 4A; Kylie Lavelle from Riverside in Class 3A; and Kaci Kranson from Holy Cross in Class 2A. Kaeli Romanowski made the third team in Class 3A.
All nine players selected either played for NEPA Elite last year or are playing for the AAU club out of Riverfront Sports in Scranton this year.
More detailed all-state coverage, including a story with quotes from Shields, are available on our partner website, www.NEPABasketball.com.
MORE ALL-STATE COVERAGE
Shields story: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateBoys6A.
Class 6A boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllState6ABoysSide.
Class 5A boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateClass5ABoys.
Finarelli story: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateBoysClass4A.
Class 4A boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateBoysClass4ASide.
Shoats story: https://nepabasketball.prestosports.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateClass3ABoys.
Class 3A boys: https://nepabasketball.prestosports.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateBoysClass3ASide.
Macciocco story: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateBoysClass2A.
Class 2A boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateClass2ABoysSide.
Class A boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateBoysClassA.
Non-PIAA boys: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateBoysNonPIAA.
Girls: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateGirls.
Girls List: https://nepabasketball.com/2021-22/All-Stars/AllStateList.
