DV boys’ basketball takes on Scranton Prep

On Dec. 19 Scranton Prep was in town for a basketball showdown with Delaware Valley. The second they got on the court they were running and never stopped. Usually we see Prep being tall as they can draft height from the local schools. This year they are not as tall so they are running like race horses.

From the very beginning the outcome was not questionable. Delaware Valley’s J.V. players are talented and quick, but this game was on a whole other level. The final score was 84-59 Scranton Prep.

D. showed a lot of promise hitting their share of threes, but it just wasn’t enough. For DV, Harrison Bixby scored 17 points, hitting three threes. Joe D’Antiono scored 15; all were threes. Ben Ioffe scored seven with one three-pointer. Jacob Brink got six points with a three. Finally, Mathew Marotta scored four points.

A kid from Prep was on fire. Charlie Shoff scored 25 points hitting five threes.

Now for the varsity. It was more of the same; however, the varsity boys were able to keep up better than the JV players. They still were on the losing side, but they managed to hang tough. The final score was 64-57 Prep.

DV was having a very hard time scoring. Prep had a big kid in Ambrose Rossi who was not only tall but solid. He choked up the basket area and totally took away the inside game from DV, forcing them to be reduced to shooting from the outside. Unfortunately, DV wound up missing a lot of those shots. What was disappointing was many of these shots were ones that we are used to seeing DV connect with. It just wasn’t happening that night. If they were hitting those shots, DV would have won the game.

Here are some highlights. First off, Trey Newton is nothing short of amazing. He is only a freshman but he was unstoppable. He put in 19 points and one was a three-pointer

Isaiah Berrios was the only player who could not be bullied by Rossi. Although he is not as tall, Berrios has packed on some muscle in the off season and was able to stand his ground. He planted his feet and could not be backed up or pushed around. Without Berrios the big Rossi probably would have scored 25 points but Berrios kept him to eight points. It was a great job on Berrios’ part.

Two guys who kept DV in the game were Colin McGarvey who hit two three-pointers, scoring nine points. Sam Wood also hit two threes and scored eight points. Alex Calvalario scored five while also hitting a three-pointer. Isaiah Berrios and Tyler Lombardo both scored seven points while one of Berrios’ baskets was a three-pointer. Logan Olsommer sunk a basket also.

We shall see how they do. If they click on those outside shots, well, the sky is the limit.