Hoop Notes: Advice from legendary coach, milestone for a Blue Jay
Ken Bianchi tries to keep things simple when it comes to basketball. Maybe that’s why he’s lasted so long and has had so much success.
Before each game the Abington Heights coach writes three instructions on the blackboard. They’re the same for every opponent:
1. Play hard.
2. Play together.
3. Have fun.
“You do those three things, you can play for me,” said the 75-year-old Bianchi, who has more than 800 victories. “(If) you don’t loaf, you give everything you have, that’s all I can ask.”
That method has worked for 47 seasons and been good for 838 victories, fourth-most in Pennsylvania history among boys basketball coaches.
It worked well enough to win a PIAA championship, though it took Bianchi over 40 years to get one. The Comets beat Mars for the 2018 Class 5A title.
“I never thought we could get it — or anybody in our region (would win one),” said Bianchi, who was born and raised in the Scranton area. “Especially if you’re a public school, because I can’t . . . (recruit). I can’t go out and get them, so we never, ever figured we were gonna get that far.”
It wasn’t easy getting to the final. The Comets beat Chester 49-48 in the second round of the state tournament. In the state semifinals they were up three in the final seconds and Bianchi watched gleefully as a last-ditch 3-pointer banged off the rim.
“The shot goes up, I know it’s not going in,” Bianchi said.
Abington Heights fans began to celebrate and threw Hershey kisses onto the floor. With time expired, officials informed Bianchi that there was a foul on the rebound, and that his team was assessed a bench technical for the objects thrown onto the floor. Bonner-Prendergast had four free throws coming.
| PA’s winningest coaches | ||
| *Ron Insinger | Loyalsock | 993 |
| *Tony Chapman | Holy Ghost Prep | 907 |
| *Aaron Straub | Elk Co. Catholic | 893 |
| *Ken Bianchi | Abington Heights | 838 |
| Don Graham | North Catholic | 801 |
| *Larry Kostelac | Trinity | 765 |
| Julius Prezelski | Forest City | 757 |
| *Snip Esterly | Berks Catholic | 755 |
| x-Speedy Morris | Saint Joe’s Prep | 754 |
x-wins as a high schools boys coach only
Predergast’s Michael Perretta hit the first three shots . . . and missed the fourth, sending the game to overtime. The Comets won it there, 56-51.
Bianchi doesn’t mind hitting the road to find the best competition. His program has been so good in recent years — they’ve won eight straight District 2 titles, and made the state tournament 13 years in a row — that some local teams dropped the Comets from their schedule. That’s why he made the two-hour trek to Berks Catholic last week, where the Saints shot them down 50-41.
While some coaches try to cram 30 or 40 games or more into spring and summer schedules Bianchi takes the opposite approach in the offseason. He does a team camp at Susquehanna University in early July. Other than that he doesn’t want to see his players.
“We don’t wear them out,” he said. “I ask them for four days and go to a team camp. After that we let them go; we don’t see them till November. I want them hungry when they come back.”
Challenge for Red Knights
Four days after a rare road win at Chester Reading High faces another big challenge when it meets Lower Merion Sunday at 4 at West Chester University.
The teams were supposed to play last month in a showcase at the Chase Fieldhouse in Wilmington but the Aces had to pull out a day before.
Lower Merion is 8-1 and features 6-9 Demetrius Lilley, a Penn State recruit who earned second-team All-State honors last year.
“Demetrius is potentially the best big man in the state,” Aces coach Gregg Downer told cityofbasketballlove.com before the season. “He is a monster near the rim, a guy who can quite often go 25 points and 15 rebounds. He is just a heck of a player down low.”
Lilley is one of three starters back from a team that reached the PIAA Class 6A semifinals last year, falling to Archbishop Wood 72-68. Wood lost to Reading in the championship game.
Lower Merion has won seven straight since an early loss to Parkland, 53-43.
Bulldogs shorthanded missing
Cameron Jones missed Wilson’s 73-53 win Wednesday over Fleetwood. Two days earlier, in a win over Berks Catholic, the junior guard fell after grabbing a rebound and hit his head on the floor. He left that game for a few minutes but was back for the end of the 51-48 victory.
He could miss Monday’s game against Conrad Weiser.
Jones scored 21 points against Berks Catholic and is averaging a team-best 14.1 points.
Fleetwood was down two starters for that game, Nate Herb and Aiden Gorman. It was the Tigers’ second loss in three games after a 7-0 start.
Coaching milestone for former Blue Jay
Holy Name grad Mike Ruane earned his 400th coaching victory Thursday when the University of Bridgeport defeated American International.
Ruane, a 1985 Holy Name grad, has coached the Purple Knights for 21 seasons. He has a 400-215 record and ranks No. 2 in school history in victories. He is one of 40 active coaches at the Division II level with 400 victories.
The Purple Aces had one of their most successful seasons in 2019-20, finishing 24-4, ranked No. 13 in the nation and No. 1 in the East Region. They were to host the East Region Tournament before it was shut down due to COVID.
Bridgeport did not play last season due to the pandemic.
Ruane played for Lloyd Wolf at Holy Name and coached for two seasons with Herb Magee at Philadelphia University (now Jefferson University). He played basketball, baseball and ran cross country at Alvernia.
Schedule backlog
After postponing three games this week Wyomissing’s schedule is getting backed up.
The Spartans are scheduled to play five straight days when they return Tuesday with a game at Kutztown. They’ll follow with games against Brandywine Heights, Oley Valley, at Schuylkill Valley and against Fleetwood Saturday Jan. 22.
The Spartans have been shut down twice so far due to COVID issues.
They have played just one league game, a 47-33 win over Tulpehocken in their season-opener Dec. 21.
Wyomissing had similar scheduling issues last year because of COVID shutdown and played five games over the final five days of the regular season, including two games on the final day.