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BY JOHN GORDON jtgordon@leader.net
Thursday, February 03, 2000 Page: 25
Chris Shovlin is going to be good. Real good, for years to come. The
eighth-grade GAR student was simply unstoppable for eight minutes in the
freshman boys 57-50 win over Bishop Hafey at Wilkes-Barre Township gym
Tuesday. In the opening quarter, everything Shovlin put up, went in. By the
end of the period, he amassed 17 points, including two three-pointers to put
GAR up by the count of 23-14 heading into the second quarter.
In the opening minute of the second, he continued his assault, hitting
another trey along with a jumper to extend GAR’s lead to 28-14. “I felt like
my shot was on right from the start,” Shovlin said after the league victory.
His shot wasn’t turned off until Mike Pavlick and Jason Farley scored on a
pair of quick baskets resulting from Grenadier turnovers to narrow the deficit
to 28-18 with 5:10 left in the first half. Pavlick netted 15 points and
Farley finished with 14. The Vikings got as close as 30-25 with just over two
minutes to go in the first half. Tony Cibello then made a driving layup and
drew a foul. GAR led 33-25 after Cibello drained the free throw at the
two-minute mark. The Grenadiers added two more jumpers and headed into the
locker room leading 37-25 at the break. Bishop Hafey’s version of The Twin
Towers took over in the third quarter. Eric Eyerly and Joe Pusateri were
dominant on both the defensive and offensive boards throughout the period and
the entire second half. The duo was a scoring factor as well. Eyerly scored 10
points in the game and Pusateri netted four.
Shovlin found himself in foul trouble and ended up riding the bench the
entire third quarter. Without his touch, the Vikings outscored the Grenadiers
11-8 that period, shaving the GAR lead to 45-36 at the start of the fourth.
Shovlin’s offensive charge had halted, but his defensive prowess became
infectious. Nick Sharpe made a brilliant steal at half court and glided to
the basket for an easy layup, giving GAR a 50-38 lead with 5:25 left in the
game. That’s when seldom-used Nathan Sickle came into the game for the
Grenadiers with the GAR fans clapping loudly to show their pleasure at seeing
Sickle enter the lineup. Sickle turned the opportunity into an event as he
drained a shot. “I was nervous going into the game, but after the shot I felt
good, the shot felt good,” said Sickle. But, it was far from over for the
Vikings who came rallied to come within a bucket minutes later. Jason Farley
and Justin Fornetaro hit shots as part of a 12-2 run that was capped off by
Mike Pavlick’s three-pointer with 2:07 left in the 52-50 contest.
Shovlin, who hadn’t scored since the opening eight minutes of the game, hit
two clutch free throws after another Sharpe steal to put the Grenadiers up
55-50 with 52 seconds left. “I was nervous during the free throws, but I made
them and our team really hung in there at the end,” said Shovlin. Justin
Popovich was almost hung out to dry as he closed out the scoring for GAR with
a hard drive in which he crashed to the floor after draining a shot in the
closing seconds that secured the 57-50 win. GAR (57) Shovlin 9 3-3 24, Wiencek
0 0-2 0, Sharpe 3 3-6 9, Mapp 1 0-2 2, Popovich 3 0-2 6, Wiedlich 1 0-0 2,
Cibello 2 1-1 5, Drago 2 1-4 5, Kovlik 1 0-0 2, Sickle 1 0-0 2, Totals 23 8-20
57 BISHOP HAFEY (50) Fornetaro 2 0-0 4, Pusateri 2 0-2 4, Farley 6 1-2 14,
Eyerly 3 4-10 10, Pavlick 6 2-2 15, Lizbinski 1 1-2 3, Santarelli 0 0-0 0,
Totals 20 8-18 50 3-point goals: Shovlin 3, Farley 1, Pavlick 1 GAR 23 14
8 12 – 57
HAFEY 14 11 11 14 – 50