Spring-Ford sinks Scranton in PIAA 6A boys’ basketball first round

By Joby Fawcett
Scranton Times-Tribune

SCRANTON — As the ball ascended, it appeared on target, but when it fell just short, Scranton was left heartbroken.

Tony Battaglia did all he could in those waning seconds, but his desperation long 3-point attempt in a frantic final seconds from about 30 feet didn’t go.

Spring-Ford, which fought back from a double-digit deficit in the first quarter, raced off the court with a 55-52 win over the Knights in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A boys basketball tournament on Saturday afternoon.

Jacob Nguyen scored 19 points to lead Spring-Ford; Matt Zollers scored 18 points and had nine rebounds, three steals, and three blocks to lead the Rams (21-6); the ninth-place team from District 1 advances to Wednesday’s second round. Scranton, the District 2 champion, ends with a record of 20-5.

Oliver Almonte led Scranton with 14 points and had eight rebounds. He too had a late-shot attempt to tie the game in a wild final 16 seconds of play.

Spring Ford appeared to have iced the game when Nguyen and Zollers each made a pair of free throws to hold off a threat for a 54-49 lead.

Scranton’s Matt Barrett, however, drilled a 3-pointer that pulled the Knights to within 54-52 with 8.2 seconds remaining. Spring-Ford then got called for an offensive foul as a player jockeyed to get free from Battaglia’s tight defense.

Twice, Scranton had a chance to inbound the ball. In the first, nobody could shake free, so Battaglia called a timeout. The second, Almonte accepted a pass and fired up a potential game-tying shot, but it also misfired and went out of bounds.

Scranton fouled Nguyen, who made one of two free throws for a 55-52 lead with 2.4 seconds remaining. PJ Murphy threw a dart to Jaheam Roberts at halfcourt. Roberts found Battaglia, who got the shot up, but it fell short.

Spring Ford recovered from an early onslaught from the host Knights.

Almonte got out quickly and scored six points, and Battaglia banked in a 3-pointer that beat the buzzer to end the first quarter with Scranton leading 19-7.

From there, however, the Knights struggled to get the ball to go in. They scored just six points in the second quarter on 2 of 11 shots and fell behind 32-29 in the first four minutes of the third quarter.

Roberts took the ball to the basket for six points, and Murphy drilled a 3-pointer and added a short jumper in an 11-5 run that gave Scranton back the lead, 40-37. But Spring Ford responded as Zollers hit one of his four 3-pointers and EJ Campbell hit a powerful layup to close the quarter with the Rams leading 42-40.

Zollers and Nguyen each had 3-pointers early in the fourth for a 48-42 advantage. Scranton battled back with Chandler and Almonte, who converted a reverse layup and made back-to-back baskets. Tommy Kelly rescued Spring-Ford with an offensive rebound and putback for a 50-46 lead, but Battaglia connected on a long 3-pointer to draw Scranton back to within 50-49 and set up the wild sequence in the final minute.