Gators fall at Avella, 65-57; both coaches impacted by COVID-19 pandemic
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Geibel Catholic boys basketball coach Jonathan Krizner talks to his players during a timeout in Wednesday night蘑菇视频 game at Avella. Krizner has stepped in for Don Porter who opted to take the rest of the season off due to health concerns.
Geibel Catholic蘑菇视频 Jaydis Kenney uses a finger roll to score two of his game-high 23 points in Wednesday night蘑菇视频 game at Avella.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Avella蘑菇视频 Gabe Lis (11) drives to the basket against Geibel Catholic during Wednesday night蘑菇视频 game at Avella. Lis scored 21 points in the Eagles鈥� 65-57 win.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Geibel Catholic蘑菇视频 Josh Bass takes a jump shot during Wednesday night蘑菇视频 game at Avella.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Avella蘑菇视频 Camden Georgetti hits a jump shot against Geibel Catholic during Wednesday night蘑菇视频 game at Avella. The basket capped a nine-point run to open the fourth quarter that helped propel the Eagles to a 65-57 victory.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Geibel Catholic蘑菇视频 Jeffery Johnson finds himself surrounded by Avella蘑菇视频 Brandon Samol (24), Camden Georgetti (22) and Gabe Lis (11) during Wednesday night蘑菇视频 game at Avella.
Rob Burchianti | 蘑菇视频
Avella coach Mike Maltony watches his team play Geibel Catholic on Wednesday night. Maltony was sidelined after contracting COVID-19 and spent one day in the hospital but was recently cleared to return to the Eagles.
AVELLA 鈥� Geibel Catholic finally opened its boys basketball season on Wednesday night although the team looked quite a bit different than anticipated.
Don Porter wasn鈥檛 on the bench guiding the Gators and several players were ineligible for the game at Avella, which the Eagles won, 65-57.
Porter recently opted to sit out the season for health reasons amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Porter has Type 1 diabetes and made the decision after conferring with his doctors.
Porter plans to return as the team蘑菇视频 head coach next year but in the interim Jonathan Krizner will guide the Gators.
鈥淲e told the team this past Friday that Don was going to step back for awhile,鈥� Krizner said after Wednesday蘑菇视频 game. 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e had some ups and downs knowing who we were going to have available in terms of putting the team on the court.鈥�
Avella coach Mike Maltony understands Porter蘑菇视频 coronavirus fears all too well. Assistant coach Mike Macik coached the Eagles in their season-opening loss at McGuffey on Dec. 11 after Maltony tested positive for COVID-19 and missed significant time as he fought to recover.
鈥淚 wish Coach Porter all the best,鈥� said Maltony. 鈥淚 certainly understand. Even now I wouldn鈥檛 say I鈥檓 100 percent but I鈥檓 doing well. My breathing is still sluggish. My smell is almost back, my taste is back.
鈥淢y main thing was the fever. At one point I was at around 103.8 so I spent an afternoon in the hospital. I was fortunate enough to come home and kick it and not have to rely on ventilators and oxygen.鈥�
Maltony蘑菇视频 Eagles were victorious against the Gators in a roller-coaster Section 2-A opener for both teams.
Avella jumped out to 20-11 lead in the first quarter as five different Eagles got into the scoring, led by Gabe Lis with seven points.
Five points by Tanner Terenesky and a basket by KJ Rush helped Avella push its advantage up to 27-13 midway through the second quarter.
The Gators鈥� Jaydis Kennedy almost single-handedly took over the game at that point, reeling off 15 consecutive points, capping his burst with a 3-pointer that gave his team a 28-27 lead.
Josh Bass followed with another 3-pointer to put Geibel ahead 31-27 before Camden Georgetti halted the 18-point run with a basket to make it 31-29 at halftime.
鈥淭hey have some strong kids, they move the ball pretty well and they play a nice disciplined ball game,鈥� Krizner said of Avella. 鈥淭hey put some defensive pressure on us and initially we didn鈥檛 respond to it the way that we should鈥檝e. Once we calmed down and got into our game plan, things went better.
鈥淛aydis kind of took over once we settled down. When we get him the ball in a good position he does good things with it.鈥�
Maltony tried to get his team back on track during intermission.
鈥淚 told the kids we got away from our basics, what we were doing in the first quarter and a half,鈥� Maltony said. 鈥淛ust playing smart ball. We were feeling pretty good at that point when we were up by double digits and the kids kind of laxed a little bit, took the pedal off the gas and they got bit.鈥�
The Eagles pulled even at 38-38 with 3:23 left in the third quarter on Brandon Samol蘑菇视频 3-pointer. Geibel went back up by three twice before a basket by Lis and a free throw by Donovan Avolio tied it at 44-44 heading into the fourth quarter.
At that point foul trouble and several players dealing with cramps started to drag the Gators down while the Eagles seemed to get stronger and reeled off the first nine points of the final frame.
鈥淚 think our conditioning played a lot into that,鈥� Maltony said.
鈥淲e had three of our starters in and out of the game for most of the second half,鈥� Krizner said. 鈥淭hat was definitely a factor. I don鈥檛 know if it was partly the bus ride, not enough water, maybe not stretching properly. So those are all things we鈥檝e got to address going forward.
鈥淎lso most of our team had three or four fouls so that was definitely an issue. We only had about two-thirds of our normal roster so we didn鈥檛 have a lot of subs. That makes it difficult to still play aggressively.鈥�
Samol put Avella ahead to stay with a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter. Lis scored and then came up with a steal and layup and Georgetti followed with a baseline jumper to cap a 12-point run that gave the Eagles a 53-44 lead.
Geibel battled back with buckets by Kennedy, Bass and Jeffery Johnson to pull within 53-50 but the Gators could get no closer.
鈥淭he boys did pull it together, we managed to keep it close,鈥� Krizner said. 鈥淭hey stayed together as a team. They鈥檙e very close. They take care of each other.鈥�
Kennedy led the Gators with a game-high 23 points. Bass followed with 15 points and Clayton added 11. Johnson (5) and Zach Allamon (3) rounded out the scoring for Geibel.
Lis paced Avella with 21 points. Terenesky tallied 16 points, Samol chipped in with 10 and Avolio and Rush added seven apiece. Georgetti accounted for the Eagles鈥� other four points.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 tremendous when we can go up against a school like Geibel and win,鈥� Maltony said. 鈥淭hey have a rich history. We鈥檙e proud of our kids today.
鈥淕abe played well but Brandon, Donovan and Tanner did also. KJ did a tremendous job against their big kid (Clayton). All our starters did a great job, and even off the bench Camden hit a couple key shots and Westley (Burchianti) gave us a couple quality minutes. Everybody contributed.
鈥淚 try to preach team effort. It蘑菇视频 not one man. You win or lose by the five on the floor playing hard and playing together.鈥�