EXETER — With the height of their Twin Towers nearly scraping the sky, it’s easy for Holy Redeemer’s guards to get lost in the shadows sometimes.
But at the start of the district playoffs, sub-6-footers Mason Mendygral and Justice Shoats served notice they can be just as dangerous.
Mendygral fired in a game-high 21 points Tuesday, Shoats hit seven of his 15 in the opening quarter and Redeemer rolled over Dunmore, 80-43 in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal at Wyoming Area High School.
“People see our big guys and they’re like, ‘You’ve got to stop the inside.’ And that’s true,” Holy Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. “But we have pretty good guard play.
“We definitely want to look for some balance.”
The Royals definitely found it in districts.
While guards Shoats and Mendygral combined for 36 points, 6-foot-6 Matt Prociak tossed in 16 more and 6-9 center Jared Piontkowski threw down a couple of thunderous dunks among his 12 points — all in the first half.
“There’s a lot of pressure on them,” Mendygral said. “When we get the opportunity to shine, we do it. Those guys draw some attention away from us, and it works vice-versa.”
The third-seeded Royals worked inside-out and outside-in, setting up a showdown with No. 2 Lakeland in Friday’s district semifinals.
Shoats shot down the lane to make three nifty layups in the first half before stepping out to swish a 15-footer in the second.
And Prociak ended the third quarter with a long-range jumper after making a 3-pointer earlier in the period to go with his dominating paint play which included nine-rebounds and four other regular baskets through three quarters.
“For the most part, I’m really happy,” Guido said. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start.”
The 16-6 Royals, who hadn’t played since last week’s Wyoming Valley Conference semifinal loss, fell behind 10-5 midway through the opening quarter, but that changed quickly.
Piontkowski and Shoats combined for 15 points in the first quarter as Redeemer surged to a 24-21 lead by the start of the second period.
Then Redeemer really took off, roaring to a 35-2 run that began with five straight points that closed the first half with the Royals in a 38-27 lead and extended deep into the third quarter to boost their advantage to 39 points.
Mendygral drilled his fourth three-pointer and scored 12 points in the third quarter and Prociak’s buzzer-beating trey also gave him 12 points in the third quarter and the Royals a 71-31 lead.
Redeemer’s starters then made a brief appearance to open the final quarter and sat for the rest of it.
”I was confident in every single shot I took,” Mendygral said. “We knew this was a big game.”
District 2 Class 3A Quarterfinals
Holy Redeemer 80, Dunmore 43
DUNMORE (43) — Frankie Ruggiero 1 0-0 3, Tommy Dougherty 2 0-2 6, Dom Temperino 1 0-0 2, Steven Borgia 1 0-0 2, Ian Cowder 5 0-0 11, Nico Ruggiero 1 0-0 3, Tyler Maciejewski 2 0-0 4, Aiden Sload 0 0-0 0, Joey Mandarano 1 0-0 2, Thomas Lewis 2 2-3 4, Owen Haggerty 1 0-0 3, Austin Waters 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 3-7 43.
HOLY REDEEMER (80) — Mason Mendygral 8 1-2 21, Justice Shoats 7 1-1 15, Alex Ryman 3 0-0 7, Jared Piontkowski 6 0-0 12, Matt Prociak 6 3-4 16, Jake Pizalato 0 0-1 0, Josh Kester 1 0-0 2, Zev Kornfeld 1 3-4 5, Matthew Carty 0 0-0 0, Alex Hijkowski 0 0-0 0, Patrick DelBalso 0 2-2 2, Peter Khoudary 0 0-0 0, Zach Perta 0 0-0 0. Totals 32 10-14 80.
Dunmore`21`6`4`12 — 43
Holy Redeemer`24`14`33`9 — 80
Three-point goals — DUN 6 (Dougherty 2, F. Ruggiero, Cowder, N. Ruggiero, Haggerty); HR 6 (Mendygral 4, Ryman, Prociak).
