Sean Altemose wields hot hand in Bangor Area High School's boys basketball win over Wilson

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Sean Altemose sheepishly apologized to an approaching reporter.

"I'm sorry but my hands are really cold," he said.

Altemose wielded a hot hand, however, in Bangor Area High School's 51-41 win over Wilson on Friday night. The victory allowed the Slaters to stay in a tie with Northern Lehigh in the Colonial League's North Division.

Altemose, a 5-foot-7 senior point guard, scored a career-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field including two baskets in the last four minutes to turn back a Wilson comeback.

Not only were his hands hot but you could call them healing, as well.

"We run a drill in practice where someone gets a rebound and just throws it long down court," Altemose said. "We were confident even when Wilson was cutting into our lead. We knew we had it in us to not throw the game away."

Altemose was one of four double-digit scorers for Bangor (11-4 overall, 9-1 Colonial League), which is ranked No. 10 in The Express-Times region. Forward Alex Colton and center Justin Ringland each finished with 12 points and forward Kerry Reider added 10.

Still, Wilson cut an 11-point deficit (37-26) late in the third quarter to 38-37 in the opening 30 seconds of the fourth. This was courtesy of an 11-1 run fueled by eight points from guard Gerald Terry, including a 3-pointer and an old-fashioned three-point play.

Terry finished with 16 points and Daye-Shawn Bailey, who had four field goals including a trey during the 11-1 run, added 14.

Wilson (9-7, 4-6) had a chance to go ahead, too, but Ryan Spirko missed both ends of a two-shot foul at the 5:48 mark with the Warriors down by one and he missed two more with 4:50 to go with the Warriors trailing 40-38.

For the game, Wilson was 6-for-19 from the free throw line. The Warriors shoot just a smidge above .600 for the season.

Bangor also took advantage of a huge five-point play in the final 10 seconds of the first half. Colton drilled a 3-pointer while reserve center Ryan Pysher was fouled away from the ball.

Pysher made both ends of the 1-and-1 to complete the rare five-point parlay. Instead of being down by six at the half, Wilson found itself trailing by 11.

Wilson has played itself out of a possible berth in the Colonial League tournament, but its hopes for a District 11 Class AAA playoff spot are still in play. The Warriors need to win two of their remaining six regular-season games to qualify.

"Bangor kept beating us on leakouts by their guards," Wilson coach Bob Frankenfield said. "When teams do that, your guards are supposed to rotate over to pick them up. But we had five guys in the paint (on the defensive end), so we weren't in position."

A basket by freshman Phil Pierfy off a nice look from Terry plus a free throw by the hustling Spirko cut the deficit to 44-41 with 2:46 to go. But Bangor, which has key home games next week against Southern Lehigh and Northern Lehigh, scored the final seven points of the game.

Colton converted three foul shots and Altemose scored on a breakaway after Terry missed an off-balance runner from the right elbow on the Wilson end.

"We played fairly well in the first half but in the third quarter Wilson came out and played us man," Bangor coach Bron Holland said. "To our credit, we kept our composure and grabbed the momentum back."

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