By SPENCER BATES
PORTVILLE — It was a high-scoring affair between the New York and Pennsylvania Big 30 Senior Classic Boys All-Stars, complete with spotlight-snatching dunks, dimes and blocks.
The contest, after the opening minutes of the game, was lopsided in favor of PA, with the visitors taking a 47-27 lead into halftime.
And the offense from both sides only ballooned from there.
With help from some, at times, lax defense, PA ran away with the game 101-81.
But it was not about the result at the end of the day. As PA coach, and one of three individuals on the day who were inducted into the Big 30 Hall of Fame, Aaron Straub pointed out, it was about showcasing the basketball talent in the area and enjoying one last moment in the spotlight.
“The Big 30 is synonymous with excellence and really doing a nice job of promoting the kids in the area,” Straub said. “And this was just a really good event, fun event. When kids work so hard in the structure of a season, night-in and night-out, it’s just a nice opportunity for the kids to come and have a lot of fun and really show the type of players that they are.”
The other two inductees into the hall of fame were Ron Caskey, former girls basketball coach at Port Allegany, and Mickey Viglietta, former basketball coach at Franklinville.
NY coach Pat Wight shared the sentiment and acknowledged the humor in now getting the opportunity to coach players he’s spent years planning to deny.
“It’s always cool to work with kids that you’ve been trying to stop for the last five years,” Wight said. “All those guys that we usually try to stop, today it was nice to sit there and be like, ‘Oh, that’s in, I’ve seen him hit that shot 50 times.’ But the experience overall is fun. To see two states come together and put on a good show for the crowd and everybody in attendance.”
The thrill of the event was not lost on Straub either.
“There’s a lot of big things in store for these kids at the next level,” Straub said. “I think one of the neatest things about all-star games is the camaraderie that you see. Kids that have gone up against each other … across the state with the Southern Tier and the Northern Tier. That’s what’s a lot of fun to watch and it was certainly a fun game up and down.”
Pennsylvania Big 30 all-star Lance O’Neill (15, Elk County Catholic) rises up for an uncontested layup. (Spencer Bates)
But aside from the extravagance of the event, an equally important aspect to the Senior Classic is its ability to give players the platform to make one more impression. Whether that be on collegiate scouts, or kids in attendance that may carry that memory with them the rest of their life.
“It’s always important to get kids’ names out there,” Wight said. “A kid that wants to play college basketball, maybe he did something here and there’s a college coach in the crowd or watching the live stream and says ‘He could help me.’ Even if one kid in the next 10 years gets that call, it’s all worth it. … There’s probably six little kids in the crowd tonight that went ‘Man, that was awesome.’”
And while ultimately, the result of the game was put beyond doubt with plenty of time left on the clock, that didn’t stop the level of effort the players put into their performances.
But what made moments like aggressively swatted shots, that would normally bring one side up and drop the other down during a regular season game, was followed up by laughter, smiles and handshakes from both in the Senior Classic.
“There’s not as much defense played in these games (compared to) the regular season, but it’s just a fun type of game,” Straub said. “It’s an offensive game, it’s a run-and-shoot-it (game). And just to watch the kids interact with one another, to see a different side of kids that you don’t see in December, January, February, it’s neat to watch.”
Wight agreed and also shined a light on the fact that not only are these great athletes, but great players.
“They’re a great group of kids,” Wight said. “On the New York side alone, we had three 1,000-point scorers, all of them in the National Honor Society or going away to school with GPAs over 3.5. They’re a great group of kids to be around.”
AT PORTVILLE
Pennsylvania (101)
Splain 4 4-4 13, Stauffer 5 0-0 12, Francis 4 0-0 11, Sitler 5 0-0 11, Farren 4 1-2 10, Wortman 5 0-0 10, Thomas 4 0-0 9, Roessner 3 0-0 9, O’Neil 3 1-4 8, Shaffer 2 0-0 4, Stuckey 1 0-0 2, Paul 1 0-0 2. Totals: 41 6-10 101
New York (81)
JJ Howard 7 0-0 14, Isaac 4 0-0 9, Hansen-Nortey 4 0-0 8, Barkley 3 0-0 7, Bialek 3 0-0 7, Ricketts 3 0-0 7, Brown 3 0-0 7, Blecha 3 0-0 6, Kwiatkowski 1 2-2 5, Cowburn 2 0-0 5, Prentice 1 0-0 3, Platt 1 0-0 2. Totals: 35 2-2 81
PA 47 101
NY 27 81Three-point goals: PA 13 (Francis 3, Roessner 3, Stauffer 2, Splain, Sitler, Thomas, O’Neil, Farren), NY 8 (Cowburn, Isaac, Kwiatkowski, Brown, Prentice, Ricketts, Bialek, Barkley); Total fouls: PA 3, NY 7; fouled out: None.
