A lot of history was made by the Manlius-Pebble Hill boys basketball team last winter as it won at a pace rarely seen in the program’s history and earned a Section III Class D playoff berth.
As a follow-up, the 2019-20 edition of the Trojans nearly won its own Tip-Off Tournament.
Friday’s opening round had MPH against Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, and the Trojans prevailed 62-54, steadily working its way to a 31-24 halftime advantage on the Rebels.
Through the rest of the game, MPH answered every APW charge with an attack led by Shontez Anderson, who netted 21 points, and James Kelly, who earned 20 points. Alex Abrams helped, too, earning 10 points.
The final pitted the Trojans against Faith Heritage, with whom it shared a long soccer rivalry. The Saints had defeated Mater Dei 68-47 in its opening-round game.
Here, MPH would trail 22-15 at halftime, only to roar to life in the third quarter and move in front 36-31. Yet it could not hang on.
Faith Heritage rallied late and held on to win, 47-45, mainly on 28 points from Aiden Retzos. Despite cold shooting, the Trojans still had Kelly earn 19 points as Dan Braverman had seven points. Abrams and Qon Ewing had six points apiece.
All of this followed last Wednesday’s season opener against Pulaski, where MPH lost, 53-43, to the Blue Devils despite an outrageous performance from Kelly.
Hitting on 10 field goals, three of them 3-pointers, plus seven free throws, Kelly had 36 points overall, plus 13 rebounds and eight steals, yet it wasn’t enough as Pulaski’s Izaih Mullins had 33 points and got a bit more help from his teammates.
