Looking back, Tony Battaglia probably wondered how long his basketball coaching tenure might last.

After a 1-22 record in his first season and a 5-19 mark in Year 2, things were dicey. Battaglia, a former sharpshooter at Bishop O’Hara, stayed true to his beliefs. He stuck with his plan and built the Knights into one of the premier boys basketball programs in the Lackawanna League.

Last week, Scranton defeated Mid Valley, 43-34, in a nonleague game. It was Battaglia’s 399th win of a career that is in its 27th season.

Scranton plays at Riverside in a nonleague game Monday and is at North Pocono on Friday in its Lackawanna League Division I opener.

If Battaglia reaches 400 wins, he will join a list of eight other local coaches who have achieved the milestone.

Ken Bianchi, who coached at Line Mountain, Scranton Tech, West Scranton and Abington Heights, had 894 wins in his career. Former Forest City legend Julius Prezelski (757), former Scranton Prep coach Jack Farrell (671), former Bishop O’Hara and Holy Cross coach Al Callejas Sr. (567), Pittston Area coach Al Semenza (534), who also coached at Wyoming Area, Old Forge and Western Wayne, former Bishop O’Hara, Scranton and West Scranton coach Jack Lyons (501), former Scranton Central coach Bob Gilbride (483) and former Mountain View coach Bill McLaughlin (451) are the others in the 400-win club.

Throughout his career, Battaglia has preached teamwork, had a steely calm on the sideline and inspired some of the most successful teams of the last two decades.

Scranton’s fortunes turned in the 2002-03 season. The Knights had the first of their four straight 20-win years. During that run, they had an 89-16 record and won Division I championships in 2003, 2005 and 2006.

Scranton won more than 20 games in three of four seasons from 2009-10 to 2012-13. The Knights won three District 2 Class 4A championships when the state had only four classes. A trip to the PIAA Class 4A quarterfinals highlighted the dominant run.

In 2010-11, Scranton had its best season, finishing 23-3. The Knights averaged nearly 70 points a game and won by an average of 20 points.

Scranton won the last five District 2 Class 6A championships, and has a 91-32 record since the 2020-21 season.

Overall, Scranton has seven Lackawanna League Division I titles.

Lamar Johnson (2003), Stephon Draper (2005), Terry Turner (2011) and Jason Shields (2021, 2022) earned Times-Tribune Player of the Year under the guidance of Battaglia.

Battaglia earned Times-Tribune Coach of the Year in 2005, 2010 and 2021, and his teams have five PIAA tournament wins.

For the last four seasons, Battaglia has coached his son, Tony, who scored 16 points in the win over Mid Valley. A Lackawanna League Division I all-star as a junior and a four-year starter, Tony Battaglia has 810 points and 173 3-pointers.

Big games

In a schedule quirk, some of the most anticipated matchups of the Lackawanna League regular season take place this week.

On Friday, Holy Cross plays at Riverside in a game between the two teams that battled four times during the 2024-25 season, including a playoff game for the Division II championship.

Holy Cross is fighting through some injury issues. Guard CJ Thompson returned to the lineup during the Crusaders’ two-game set at the Bradley Fisher Tournament last weekend. However, they will be without Adam Badyrka, likely until after the holiday break. He injured a wrist in a nonleague game against Pittston Area.

Riverside is off to a fast start, with Nico Antoniacci averaging 39.3 points per game and Brayden Rose averaging 13 points.

In Division I, defending champion Scranton Prep hosts Delaware Valley at 6:45 p.m.

High-scoring

Antoniacci leads the Lackawanna League in scoring.

He is one of six players averaging more than 20 points per game. Antoniacci’s total is far ahead of the field at 39.3 points per game.

Abington Heights senior Jordan Shaffer, who had a good weekend at the Bradley Fisher Memorial Tournament, is second at 23.6. Susquehanna’s Griffin Fisk is third at 22.5, then it’s Dunmore’s Carter Sload at 21.3, with much of his total coming in the first half of games. Holy Cross junior Adam Badyrka is fifth at 20.3, but he is sidelined for a while with an injury, and Scranton Prep’s Packy Doherty’s 20.0 per game rank sixth.

Abington Heights’ Andrew Kettel made 11 of 12 free throws for a .917 percentage. Honesdale’s Gavin Briggs made 17 of 20 (.850); Shaffer is 28 of 35 (.800) with Antoniacci next at 24 of 31 (.774).

Antoniacci leads in 3-pointers per game with 5.5. Blue Ridge’s Landon Bishop is second at 4.3, Holy Cross’ Colin Farrell (3.4), Shaffer (3.2) and Sload (3.0) round out the top five.