Allen 62, Parkland 55 — Rapid Recap
In an atmosphere that very much had a playoff feel to it at Sewards Gym — both in the energy from the crowd and the talent on the court — the Allen boys basketball team pushed its unbeaten record to 21-0 with a 62-55 win over Parkland Monday night in Allentown.
Turning point: The Canaries ripped off an 11-0 start before the Trojans worked to get back into the game slowly but surely. With Allen senior guard Tyrese Martin on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 3:54 left in the third quarter, Parkland made its move early in the fourth to take its first lead of the game, 47-46, on a bucket from senior guard Sam Iorio with 5:16 left.
But the Canaries regained the lead on their very next possession on a putback from senior guard Talek Williams that sparked a 10-2 run to secure the win.
Top performer: Williams (18 points) and Martin (16 points) led Allen as usual, but fellow seniors Ramel Johnson and JJ Winslow turned in key efforts — Johnson with his tight defense on Iorio in the second half and Winslow with 12 points and some big assists late.
Iorio turned in another big-time performance with 29 points, establishing himself in the paint, while senior Michael Zeky chipped in 11 points for the Trojans.
What it means: The playoffs are near, and with that, these two teams could very well see each other again in either the EPC or District 11 tournament. This surely felt like the postseason — Canaries head coach Doug Snyder told his team pregame this was the unofficial start of the playoffs — and the game didn’t disappoint.
Allen will try to cap off a perfect season Wednesday when it hosts Bethlehem Catholic, while Parkland will take on Northampton trying to improve its postseason seeding.
Greg Joyce may be reached at gjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @GJoyce9. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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