Tyler Waters is ready to energize the boys basketball program at Lakeland High School.

A former player and assistant women’s coach at Marywood University, the 38-year-old, who hails from Henry Hudson Regional High School in New Jersey, takes over as the head coach with the Chiefs.

He replaces Trevor Tellip, who resigned after the season. He led the program to 90 wins, which included an 18-6 season in 2019-20.

Waters and his wife, Alicia, and their three sons reside in Scott Twp.

“This means a lot to me,” Waters said. “I wasn’t born a Chief, but I married a Chief and I have three coming through the Lakeland system. I am part of the Lakeland community. This position is the job I wanted. I wanted to coach at Lakeland. This is our home.”

Waters has coached youth sports in basketball, football and baseball in the Lakeland community. He was a volunteer assistant coach for the girls basketball team at Mountain View during its run to a PIAA Class 1A final.

For the last two seasons, Waters was an assistant coach for Kelly Vogt with the Lakeland girls varsity program.

A Pennsylvania State Trooper stationed in Susquehanna County, Waters is eager to energize the Lakeland program and instill his experience of competing at a higher level.

“One thing I know, there are a lot of Lakeland Hall of Fame football players and Hall of Fame track kids, and this area is excited about those programs,” Waters said. “I want to bring that same excitement to basketball. Basketball is in my blood. I have a passion for it, I am fired up about this opportunity, and I am going to bring energy.”

Scranton High School still has a vacancy for its boys basketball head coaching position.

Tony Battaglia, who won more than 400 games in his career, announced his sabbatical after 27 years in April.

Antoniacci shines

Riverside rising junior Nico Antoniacci had an outstanding performance at the National Basketball Players Association Top 100 Camp at the Rock Hill Sports and Events Center in South Carolina, with several scouts praising his abilities on social media.

In the days following the event held from June 8-11, Antoniacci announced he received an offer from Villanova University. The 6-foot-3 guard also received an offer from Virginia Tech University earlier this summer.

Antoniacci, a two-time Times-Tribune Boys Player of the Year and last season’s Pennsylvania Sports Writers Class 3A Player of the Year, also has offers from Syracuse, Penn State, Marquette and Manhattan.

During his state player-of-the-year season, Antoniacci led Riverside to a 25-2 record and the Lackawanna Division II and District 2 Class 3A championships. He averaged 30.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 3.3 steals per game. He scored 1,383 career points.

Division I offers

Two Lackawanna League girls players also grabbed the attention of college recruiters.

Scranton rising senior Chrissy Jacklinski added Lafayette College to her list of scholarship offers. Lafayette, where former Dunmore High School and University of Scranton coach Ben O’Brien is in his first season, is the fourth school to extend an offer to the three-time All-Region standout guard.

Jacklinski also has offers from St. Bonaventure, the University of New Hampshire and Sacramento State. She has more than 1,000 career points. Last season, she averaged 18.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists and made 59 3-pointers.

Scranton Prep rising junior Chloe Mamera, a 6-0 center and Pennsylvania Sports Writers Class 4A all-state player, has five scholarship offers from NCAA Division I programs, including St. Bonaventure, Army, Bucknell, Rider and Le Moyne.

Last season, Mamera led the Classics to the District 2 Class 4A championship with 18.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.7 steals and 1.5 blocks.

Tourney champions

The Scranton Prep girls team captured the team championship at the Church Road Invitational in Easton last week.

The Classics finished 6-1 in pool play with wins over Nazareth, Easton, Voorhees, New Jersey, Notre Dame Green Pond, North Pocono and Schuylkill Valley. Their loss came against Hazleton Area.

In the semifinals, Scranton Prep defeated North Pocono and then avenged its loss by beating Hazleton Area in the final.