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By PAUL SOKOLOSKI; Times Leader Sports Writer
Wednesday, March 09, 1994 Page:
WILKES-BARRE — When he saw the sellout crowd at King’s College Tuesday,
Brian Gryboski was admittedly a little jittery and perhaps a bit awestruck.
But by the end of the District 2 Class AAA championship game, all eyes were
on him.
With star scorers Mike Barrouk and Jay Williams being clamped, Gryboski put
up a game-high 21 points, leading unbeaten Bishop Hoban to a sweaty 67-59
victory over city-rival Meyers.
That left the Argents as district champions for the third consecutive
season, and gave them full claim as basketball kings of Wilkes-Barre.
“Playing Meyers made it that much bigger,” said Barrouk, who finished with
17 points. “It’s pretty much bragging rights for the summer. We didn’t want to
lose this one.”
Bishop Hoban, 27-0, will now face the No. 3 team from District 3 in the
first round of the PIAA Class AAA state tournament Friday, at a time and site
to be determined.
Meyers, which fell to 25-2, will play Delaware Valley (District 12’s top
team) in another first-round Class AAA state game Friday, also at a time and
site to be determined.
As Meyers was trying to contain big scorers Barrouk and Williams, Gryboski
got loose inside.
The 6-foot-3 junior center hit four points in each of the first, second and
fourth quarters, and played big in the third when he cut loose for nine —
including a clutch 3-point goal.
“That’s the gold medal,” said Meyers coach Joe Caffrey, whose team gained a
silver for finishing as district runnerup. “Gryboski had a great game. He
really hurt us. We forgot about him a little at times, and he made us pay.”
“In the second half, I played a little bit better than in the first,”
Gryboski said.
That may have been only natural, with some 3,500 screaming fans packing the
King’s College gym.
“In the beginning of the game, everybody was nervous,” Gryboski said,
“because the crowd was so loud. It was the first time I played in front of
that many people.”
No matter.
Bishop Hoban held the lead at the end of every quarter, thanks in large
part to Gryboski.
His eight points in the first half helped Hoban to a 28-23 advantage at the
intermission. And after Meyers took its first lead late in the third period,
Gryboski helped cool down the Mohawks by fueling a six-point run with two
baskets and a rebound.
“It was very important,” Barrouk said of Gryboski’s performance. “They were
dropping down on me and playing out on Jay. We needed someone else to pick up
the scoring.
“And Grabber really picked up his game.”
JUMP ME PLEASE
Full of emotion, Meyers charged out in front of the capacity crowd that was
split almost evenly behind the two Wilkes-Barre schools. And the Mohawks
immediately inspired their fans when Dan Jannuzzi put down the game’s first
basket, a 3-point goal.
But the calm, cool Argents methodically grabbed control, and held it
through most of the first half.
Hoban got five points from Barrouk and four each from guard Williams and
center Gryboski to assume a 16-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.
The second period saw Meyers make a couple of little runs, once pulling as
close as three points. Tom Wright, who came off the bench for a team-leading
seven points and finished with 13, nailed four of those in the second period.
Dave Jannuzzi, Dan’s brother, also got four in the quarter — including a
bucket from his knees.
But Gryboski and Williams each punched in four more points during the
quarter, keeping the Argents safe at halftime, 28-23.
“They were just so big,” Williams said of a Meyers lineup that included
6-foot-7 Gary Nealon and 6-4 Steve Brominski. “You have to keep working hard
the whole game.”
No, it was never easy.
When the second half opened, the Argents sought to really nail things down.
They slapped Meyers with a 6-2 run that had Hoban in a comfortable 34-25 lead,
but Meyers raced back with emotion, making the Argents very edgy.
Dave Jannuzzi buried a 3-point goal as the Mohawks edged within three
points. Nealon’s three-point play pulled the Mohawks within two. And when Dave
Jannuzzi’s second 3-pointer of the period dropped in with 3:23 left in the
quarter, Meyers finally had a lead, 40-39.
It didn’t last long.
Gryboski sparked a 6-0 run with four points, and Hoban had the advantage,
47-44, heading into the last quarter.
Then the Argents pulled away.
Williams connected for five of his 15 points, using a quick first step to
burn Meyers defenders.
“I give Jay a lot of credit,” Bishop Hoban Coach Chet Hine said. “He scored
a little, he got fouled, he set guys up.”
And Barrouk hit eight to hold off the rallying Mohawks. The most important
of those came with 61 seconds left, when Barrouk stuck his long arm in front
of a pass for a steal, eased downcourt and dropped a bank shot through the
hoop. That gave the Argents a 66-59 lead, and basically killed Meyers’ big
hopes for an upset.
“I tried to make something happen,” Barrouk said.
“Mike’s been doing that for four years now,” Hine said.
And his teammates became three-time champs.
“They didn’t seem to get too rattled,” Hine said of his guys.
“We played them as tough as we can play them,” Caffrey said. “That was a
war. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We took them to the limit.”
BISHOP HOBAN (67)
Williams 5 5-7 15, Conway 2 0-1 5, Finarelli 1 1-2 3, Barrouk 6 5-8 17,
Gryboski 10 0-0 21, Isaacs 2 1-2 6, Nilon 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 12-20 67.
MEYERS (59)
Walker 2 0-0 4, Dn.Jannuzzi 2 0-0 6, Brominski 4 0-1 8, Harmon 0 0-0 0,
Nealon 6 1-1 13, Wright 4 5-6 13, Perry 1 0-0 2, Dv.Jannuzzi 5 1-1 13. Totals
24 7-9 59.
Bishop Hoban 16 12 19 20 — 67
Meyers 9 14 21 15 — 59
Three-point goals: Dn.Jannuzzi 2, Conway, Gryboski, Dv.Jannuzzi 2, Isaacs.