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Nanticoke dominated on its home court. GAR did the same at its place three weeks later.
Now the two teams meet for a third time on a neutral court Saturday to decide which will be the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 champion. Tipoff is 2 p.m. at Wilkes University’s Marts Center.
Both teams finished 11-2 in Division 2. Nanticoke is 18-4 overall while GAR is 14-8.
“I thought we played much better in transition and our defense was much better in the second game,” said GAR coach Jerry Altavilla, referring to a 63-49 victory home win against Nanticoke on Feb. 6.
The opposite was true on Jan. 15 at Nanticoke. The school was honoring the 1961 Nanticoke High boys basketball state championship team. The bleachers were filled and the Trojans took the lead early in the second quarter and never surrendered it on the way to a 51-40 victory.
“It was a big night for us and it was a packed house,” Nanticoke coach John Beggs said. “We had some momentum and the game started well early and it kept going. Game two, we wanted to come out and set the tone defensively, but they hit a couple early shots and got some offensive rebounds. They got us out of what we wanted to do and they seemed like the more motivated team.”
GAR jumped on Nanticoke that night with an 11-0 run in the first quarter. The Grenadiers bumped their lead to 43-23 late in the third before the Nanticoke reserves injected a wee bit of drama with a mild run against the GAR starters.
“We were out of our game plan by then,” Beggs said. “GAR was a little quicker than us, a little stronger than us with the ball.”
Nanticoke finished second in the division last season and has been building toward this season. The Trojans’ three main players are seniors — center Brent Piontkowski (10.6 ppg), two guard Scott Stout (13.3) and point guard Ed Lukowski (4.2). Junior forwards Luke Butczynski (7.6) and Justin Casey (5.7) round out the starters.
GAR has won three consecutive Division 2 titles. The Grenadiers were in the driver’s seat after the Nanticoke win, but lost three days later, 63-51 to Division 3 champ Meyers. Nanticoke’s other league loss was to Meyers 37-34.
“After the Nanticoke win, I thought we refocused well for Meyers,” Altavilla said. “But in that second quarter there, we kind of lost some of our focus. We couldn’t finish at the basket and got ourselves in a hole.”
GAR lost two of its starters as well as its sixth man to graduation. The returning veterans — guard Dajon Rush (16.1), forward Marquan Kemp (7.5) and 3-point ace Tino Altavilla (6.8) — have all had their moments. Two new starters — center Keyshawn Palmer (12.8) and forward Justin Crosby-Smith (7.8) — have been strong as well. Freshman point guard Will Johnson (9.0) was inserted into the starting lineup recently and could develop to one of the best in the WVC when all is said and done.
Plus, Altavilla was elevated from assistant shortly after Christmas when long-time coach Paul Brown resigned due to health concerns.
“When Coach stepped down, I was curious how the kids would react,” Altavilla said. “I thought they’ve reacted pretty well so far.”
GAME’S EFFECT ON DISTRICTS
The game will also help untangle a bit of a messy District 2 Class 3A playoff picture.
Scranton Prep has clinched the D2-3A top seed based on its 12-1 league record and Lackawanna League Division 1 championship. A divisional championship is the top seeding criteria. The GAR-Nanticoke winner would then get the second seed based on record and divisional title.
Now things get a bit muddy. Honesdale and North Pocono are currently tied for seventh in the D2-3A standings with 7-6 records. Both are also tied with Delaware Valley — a Class 4A school — for first place in Division 2 of the Lackawanna Conference, forcing a playoff over the weekend.
Honesdale and North Pocono play at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Carbondale, with the winner playing DelVal on Sunday at a site and time to be determined. Those games will have an effect on seeds 3-5.
If either Honesdale or North Pocono win the divisional championship, it vaults to the third seed in D2-3A because of winning a title. The GAR-Nanticoke loser would be the fourth seed and Crestwood would slide a spot to the fifth seed.
If DelVal wins the Lackawanna Division 2 title, the seeding would be Prep, GAR-Nanticoke winner, GAR-Nanticoke loser, Crestwood and West Scranton.
And playoff wins and losses don’t count toward seeding records, said D2 chairman Frank Majikes. Regular-season records are used with divisional champions being bumped to the top of the standings.