Junior Allison reaches 1,000 mark as Pioneers prep for playoffs with win over Bentworth
ROGERSVILLE 鈥� West Greene蘑菇视频 boys basketball team had second place in Section 2-A all wrapped up but there was still more to play for when the Pioneers took the floor to host visiting Bentworth on Monday night.
West Greene coach Jim Romanus wanted his team to enter the WPIAL playoffs on a positive note with a win and a milestone for one of his players.
Junior Lane Allison made sure he got both.
Allison, needing just three points to reach 1,000 for his career, sank a 3-pointer early in the game on his way to scoring a game-high 17 points in the Pioneers鈥� 40-29 victory.
鈥淚 only needed three but I was still really nervous before the game,鈥� said Allison, who even surprised himself with how quickly he reached the landmark number. 鈥淚 never thought I鈥檇 get 1,000 as a junior. I think I only know one person who did it here as a junior, Dave Goodwin.
鈥淢y teammates helped me a lot and I appreciate them and my coaches. It felt cool. All my fans were here, my whole family蘑菇视频 here. It was fun.鈥�
West Greene ended the regular season with a 15-7 record.
West Greene is the No. 8 seed in Class A and will host No. 9 Avella (9-13) in a 7 p.m. game on Friday. This will be the Pioneers eighth playoff appearance in nine years under Romanus but their first at home in that span.
鈥淚鈥檓 really proud of our kids. To win 15 games, that蘑菇视频 pretty good for us,鈥� Romanus said. 鈥淚t蘑菇视频 nice to finally have a playoff game in our gym.鈥�
Romanus lauded Allison.
鈥淲hen I first saw him play I knew he was a special type of offensive player,鈥� Romanus said. 鈥淟ast year when we lost what at that time I considered our best player I talked to the team, and Lane was the first one that said we can do this together. You could see he had great leadership qualities right then.
鈥淗e really has a lot of natural offensive ability. It蘑菇视频 remarkable he蘑菇视频 done this because we鈥檝e played 22 games and he蘑菇视频 gone up against a box-and-1 or a 1-3 chaser in 15 of those. That means he has to work hard to use our screens to get open and choose his spots to score.
鈥淏ut he does have great teammates. Our team shares the ball. It蘑菇视频 very satisfying coaching these young men.鈥�
Although his team was victorious and Allison reached his milestone, Romanus still saw plenty of room for improvement.
鈥淭onight I thought we played well in spurts but then we got sloppy at times,鈥� Romanus said.
The Bearcats (4-17) concentrated on making it a slow-paced game, and for good reason.
鈥淲e lost Ben Hays, our leading scorer, who蘑菇视频 out injured, so all of a sudden we had to readjust and try to do something different,鈥� Bentworth coach Bob Kennedy said. 鈥淭hat was the reason we tried to keep the tempo down. I tried to get into the second half without being in foul trouble so we could play man-to-man. We got it down to six at one point but we couldn鈥檛 put the ball in the basket enough, that蘑菇视频 what it came down to.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to be good, it蘑菇视频 just frustrating in the moment.鈥�
鈥淗is coaching made this game close,鈥� Romanus said of Kennedy. 鈥淗e made us play defense.鈥�
Chris Harper led the way for the Bearcats with 12 points on four 3-pointers and Lucas Burt grabbed 12 rebounds..
Following Allison in the scoring column for West Greene were Patrick Durbin and Parker Burns each with 10 points. Burns made a trio of 3-pointers while Allison and Durbin both sank two.
The Pioneers鈥� playoff clash with Avella will be a rematch from early in the season. West Greene defeated the visiting Eagles, 55-52, on Dec. 5 in their opener. This game will feature a pair of recent 1,000-point scorers as Avella senior Westley Burchianti hit the milestone against Union last Friday night.
鈥淲e know the team we鈥檙e playing and it蘑菇视频 going to be a very formidable and tough opponent,鈥� Romanus said.
The winner of Friday night蘑菇视频 game will travel to top-seeded Imani Christian on Feb. 21.