Jeannette pulls away from rival Greensburg C.C. for Section 1 victory

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, January 17, 2018 | 9:41 AM

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Jim Nesser knows Jeannette basketball always has speed and athleticism, having seen it when he coached there for three years during the Terrelle Pryor era.

Now the coach at Greensburg Central Catholic, Nesser saw those same traits from a different perspective Tuesday night when he returned to Jeannette for a Section 1-2A clash with the Jayhawks.

The Centurions stayed surprisingly close with No. 3 Jeannette deep into the first half, but the rival Jayhawks turned up the heat on defense, sped up the pace and rolled to a 77-49 victory.

“It was good coming back; it’s still a game,” Nesser said. “I have a lot of fond memories here. Adrian was my assistant. (Jeannette assistant) Dan Shipman was my assistant at Hempfield. It’s fun to come back, but its not fun to lose.”

Both teams had some down time because of recent weather postponments. GCC had been out of game action for 13 days and Jeannette’s last game was Jan. 10.

“I thought once we settled down and played harder, we were able to increase the lead,” Jeannette coach Adrian Batts said. “We did a lot of standing around offensively early. They have been off, too. We got after it.”

Junior Anthony Johnson had one of his most complete games of the season with 27 points, nine rebounds and six assists for Jeannette (8-1, 4-0), which has won five straight.

Senior Tre Cunningham scored 20, senior Robert Kennedy added 13, and junior Marcus Barnes chipped in 11 for the Jayhawks, who trailed 14-13 after a short jumper by GCC’s Geoff Helm, who led the Centurions with 16, including seven in the first quarter.

Despite the strong start, GCC (1-11, 1-3) could not maintain the pace. It has dropped seven in a row.

Johnson is becoming a scorer and facilitator, driving the lane and creating scoring opportunities not only for himself, but also for teammates.

“He is just now getting back into it,” Batts said. “He missed three games at the start of the year, then we had a layoff. He is getting into basketball and settling down. He drives, they have four guys waiting for him.”

Johnson and Cunningham scored Jeannette’s first 17 points before Kennedy opened the second quarter with a basket. Johnson and Cunningham each had 15 at halftime.

They each hit a trio of 3-pointers.

“You can’t keep collapsing on me,” Johnson said. “It’s hit or miss; you guard one or guard the other.”

After Helm cut Jeannette’s lead to 24-22, the Jayhawks ended the first half on a 17-6 run to take a 41-28 lead at the break.

“We started defending and sharing it,” Batts said. “Once those things happened, we got into how we play and I was happy with our effort.”

A 13-2 run to open the third buried GCC. Barnes scored the first five points of the half.

“They’re a good basketball team,” said Nesser, who coached Jeannette to its only WPIAL and PIAA titles in basketball in 2008. “They stepped their game up and played with more energy. And we didn’t do a good job responding to it. We still can’t play consistent basketball. You can’t play 16 or 15 minutes; you have to play 32 minutes.”

Imani Sanders’ 3 made it 57-32 as Jeannette outscored GCC, 18-9, in the third.

“We got contributions from a lot of guys and we were pretty good from the foul line,” Batts said.

The lead swelled to 30 in the fourth.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at bbeckner@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BillBeckner.

Tags: Greensburg C.C., Jeannette