TAYLOR — Fans crammed into the bleachers, the intensity reached a fever pitch, and two determined teams battled for 32 minutes, giving everyone a memorable high school basketball game.
Fourth-ranked Dunmore, with a veteran team, withstood a hostile environment created by a charged-up crowd inside the Patrick C. Revello gymnasium. Each player, from the five starters to the athletes coming off the bench, contributed, whether it was a key bucket, a defensive stop or a rebound.
Brayden Canavan, the emotional leader for the Bucks, scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds, Nate Aviles scored 15 points and had five rebounds, and Jimmy Clark scored 13 points, including the final two from the free-throw line, to spark the balanced attack.
Those efforts led to Dunmore’s 72-67 win over the top-ranked host Riverside on Tuesday night in a much-anticipated Lackawanna League Division II showdown between two teams with high expectations and lofty goals this season.
“Our biggest thing was that we showed maturity,” Clark said. “Honestly, this group has been playing together for a while now, and we have been building toward this season, and we have had a lot of close games not go our way.
“It is nice that we finished the job right.”
Dunmore (10-1 overall, 3-0 in division) is the first team to counter the high-powered scoring and talent of Riverside’s Nico Antoniacci and Brayden Rose.
The Vikings’ tag team had their usual highlight-reel plays. Rose displayed a series of jump stops and crafty athletic moves in the lane for 31 points. Antoniacci started the game with an emphatic dunk, drained a couple of deep 3-pointers, and finished with 28 points.
The Bucks, however, never lost their poise.
Throughout the first half, Dunmore built leads, stunning the Vikings, who have run opponents out of the gym in the opening 16 minutes during their 10-game win streak to start the season.
In the first quarter, after shaking off the energy created by Antoniacci’s dunk, which sent fans into a frenzy, Canavan knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as the Bucks built a 15-12 advantage.
Carter Sload and Clark hit back-to-back 3-pointers as part of an 8-0 surge that resulted in a 23-15 lead midway through the second quarter. Dunmore also received a jolt from sophomore guard Carter Coyle, who swished a pair of 3-pointers as the Bucks took a 33-28 lead into halftime.
“Those felt really great,” Coyle said. “Going against Nate Aviles, Carter Sload, Jimmy Clark and Brayden Canavan in practice gets you ready and translates to the game. When I shot them, they looked good, and they went in. It was really exciting.”
Dunmore kept staving off Riverside’s attacks. Jacob Costanzo converted a three-point play, and Aviles and Clark kept answering Rose and Antoniacci in a game that morphed into a back-and-forth slugfest between two talented teams.
Riverside (10-1, 2-1), fueled by Rose and Antoniacci, who were relentless on offense, made a run and seized a 55-50 lead late in the third quarter. Aviles kept the Bucks within striking distance with a 3-pointer in the waning seconds.
“We showed a lot of poise,” Aviles said. “We worked really hard for this. Our second group really pushed us in practice to get ready for this game. We practiced a situation where we were down 10, and we had to work to come back, and that paid off for us.
“They hit us hard, but we hit back harder, fought, and got it done.”
Tension continued to mount with each possession. Clark and Sload, who finished with nine points, gave Dunmore a 61-59 lead with 5:07 remaining. Canavan and Aviles kept responding to every make by Rose and Antoniacci, and the teams were deadlocked at 65-65 with 2:45 to play.
Following a series of timeouts, Costanzo powered to the basket for a layup, and Canavan made a pair of free throws. Rose converted a layup in traffic, but Canavan made one of two free throws for a 70-67 lead. Antoniacci launched a 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds that caromed into the corner. Clark iced the game by making a pair of free throws with 5.7 seconds remaining, and the Dunmore student section stormed the court for a wild celebration.
“This felt good,” Canavan said. “We have been waiting for this. Some people may call this an upset, but I think we were two evenly matched teams. We played hard and played like a team.
“As a senior, this means a lot to me. We worked hard all offseason to get ready for games like this. It is my first win over Riverside in my three years as a starter. We earned it on the road, against the odds, and we played a great game.”