Pottsgrove used a balanced attack Friday night to run past visiting Pittston Area 83-39 and post its first Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association boys basketball state tournament victory since 1979 in a Class 5A first-round game.
Kamal Curry scored a game-high 17 points and three other Pottsgrove players scored in double figures. Daymein Doctor scored 14 points, Greg Rosenberger 13 and Julius Marshall 12.
Pottsgrove improved to 23-3 with the win.
Pittston Area, the District 2 runner-up, finished its season with a 15-10 record.
Paul Jordan McGarry scored all of his team-high 11 points in the second half. Silvio Giardina made three third-quarter 3-pointers to account for all of his scoring in a nine-point effort.
Matt Walter had all eight of his points in the first half for the Patriots.
Walter scored all of the team’s points in the first quarter when Pottsgrove was opening an 18-6 lead. Rosenberger and Phillips had six points each in the quarter.
Curry scored 13 of his points over the middle quarters, six in the second and seven in the third.
Pottsgrove led 41-14 at the half.
Pittston Area outscored Pottsgrove 20-17 in the third quarter, but the game got out of hand during a 25-5 fourth quarter.
Pottsgrove hit just one 3-pointer in the first half and two through three quarters.
Pittston Area made seven 3-pointers, including three each by Giardina and McGarry.
The Patriots took just one free throw and missed it. Pottsgrove was 7-for-9 from the line.
