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NTL BOYS BASKETBALL: ATHENS PULLS INTO FIRST PLACE WITH 72-52 WIN OVER NORTH PENN-MANSFIELD (24 PHOTOS) (2020-01-23)

By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
ATHENS "” Athens converted turnovers into points early and often, racing out to a 16-point first-quarter lead on its way to a 72-52 win over NTL Large School Division boys basketball rival North Penn-Mansfield here Thursday night.

With the win, Athens moves into a virtual tie with Wyalusing, which lost to Troy, for first place in the division. The Wildcats have won four in a row, beating the other four teams - Wyalusing, Wellsboro, Troy, and NP-M - in its division with winning records by an average of 20 points.

The Wildcats scored the first 15 points of the game, and led 23-7 at the end of the first eight minutes, with senior Aaron Lane and freshman Mason Lister each scoring six points in the opening stanza.

"If you look at the last four games, we're really playing some good team basketball," said Athens assistant coach Jim Lister. "We're moving the ball well, we're looking for our teammates, and we're making good decisions.

"We have a lot of speed on this team," added Lister. "If we do things right, we can push the ball, and get transition lay-ups, which is what happened in the first quarter.''

Sophomore J.J. Babcock knocked down a short jumper to give Athens a 25-7 lead in the opening moments of the second quarter.

The Wildcats stretched its lead to 21, at 32-11, midway through the second quarter on back-to-back 3-pointers by Lister and Lane.

The Tigers closed out the first half with a 10-4 spurt to close the gap to 36-21.

Lister said defense was key in the first half.

"Defensively, I thought we played well," he said. "We've been playing a lot of tenacious defense - using our hands, and getting turnovers, and we're getting transition buckets off of it.

"It's something we're working on in practice every day, and they're doing it on game night, which is good," added Lister.

NP-M cut the Athens lead to 13 on several occasions in the third quarter, the last time with 5.3 seconds remaining on a pair of free throws by Dominick Gaverick.

Lane rushed the ball up court and threw up a runner in the closing seconds. He followed his shot to the bucket, rebounded the missed and banked in his putback at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 54-39 lead entering the final eight minutes.

The Tigers trailed 57-44 with 5:15 remaining in the game, but Lane scored five points in 10 seconds - a conventional three-point play on a driving lay-up, followed by a steal and two free throws - to make it 62-44 with 4:51 remaining in the game.

Moments later, senior Damian Hudson grabbed a defensive rebound, pushed it up the floor, and found Babcock cutting to the hoop for an uncontested lay-up to make it 64-44 with 4:33 remaining in the game.

NP-M did not get closer than 17 points the remainder of the game.

Lane led Athens with 22 points and five rebounds, while Lister had a career-high 18 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals, and Babcock had 14 points, nine rebounds - including six offensive boards, and three blocked shots.

Hudson had seven points, five rebounds, and five assists in the win, while sophomore Tucker Brown added six points, and Pritchard chipped in with four points, five rebounds, and four steals

Curtis Craig led the Tigers with 16 points, while Logan Tokarz scored 13 points, Maverick added 10 points, and Gaverick chipped in with nine points.

Athens returns to action Friday at Towanda.

"”"”"”"”"”"”

IN PHOTO 1: Athens sophomore Mason Lister. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.


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