Latest Boys Basketball Top 10, scoring leaders and player of the week

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

From today's print edition of The Morning Call, the latest Boys Top 10, scoring leaders and player of the week -- Lehighton's Jacen Nalesnik.

BOYS TOP 10

Rank, Team, W-L, Last week

1.  Liberty        17-7    2

2.  CCHS         20-3     3

3.  Parkland    18-7     4

4.  Freedom     15-8    5

5.  Easton        16-7    6

6.  PM West     20-4    8

7.  Bangor        19-5     NR

8.  Wilson         22-2     1

9.  Pius X         18-2       9

10.  Catasauqua 16-6    10

Dropped: Whitehall (12-11). Others to consider:  Bethlehem Catholic (11-10), Emmaus (12-11), Lincoln Leadership (16-6), Marian (17-5), Northern Lehigh (14-9), Notre Dame (13-10), Pleasant Valley (13-11), Salem Christian (16-6), Salisbury (15-8), Stroudsburg (13-11), Tamaqua (14-9).

SCORING LEADERS

Top 25 scoring leaders 

Rank, Player, School,Yr., Avg

1., M. Ali Abdur-Rahkman, CCHS, jr., 21.2

2., Alex Colton, Bangor, sr., 19.8

3., Luke Gutekunst, Moravian Acd., jr., 19.0

4., Nyreef Jackson, Freedom, sr., 17.0

5., Gerald Terry, Wilson, sr., 16.8

6., Josh Eden, No. Lehigh, sr., 16.6

7., Brett Kosciolek, Tamaqua, so., 16.3

8., Matt Husek, Becahi, sr., 16.2

9., Eric Vick, Poc. Mt. West, sr., 15.8

10., O’Neil Holder, ES South, jr. 15.63

11., Austin Beidelman, Parkland, sr., 15.56

12., Nate Feiertag, Emmaus, jr., 15.4

13., Tannor Reed, Notre Dame, jr., 15.2

14., Freddie Simmons, Becahi, so., 15.0

15., Phil Pierfy, Wilson, so., 14.47

16., Joe Wiggins, Poc. Mt. West, jr.,14.45

17., Taaj Williams, Lincoln, sr., 14.38

18., Jeanlee Baez, CCHS, jr., 14.1

19., Tyler Crum, Lehighton, so., 14.0

20., Jacob Battle, Stroudsburg, jr., 13.8

21., Deshawn Oyeniyi, Liberty, jr., 13.6

22., Aldan Mueller, Palisades, sr., 13.4

23., Ezra Gaines, Easton, sr., 13.3

24., Justin Zajko, Parkland, jr., 12.8

25., Derike Chiclana, Freedom, sr., 12.5

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

JACEN NALESNIK, LEHIGHTON

In terms of basketball skill, Jacen Nalesnik may not be the best player on Lehighton’s team.

Nalesnik is an all-area football and baseball player, who actually just began playing basketball as a junior.

But make no mistake, the Indians return to the district playoffs for the first time since 2007 has as much to do with Nalesnik as anyone.

“Jacen’s a silent leader for us,” coach Rich Oertner said. “But he’s always paying attention to what’s going on. I gave the kids an essay test on the scouting report I gave on the last team we played and Jacen was amazing. He had everything down. He had everything there that could have been there.”

That’s not surprising for someone who has been the MVC’s scholar-athlete in both football and basketball and will be likely win it in baseball as well.

Nalesnik is going to Lehigh to play baseball, but he wanted to make the most of his senior year at Lehighton and that includes helping the school post 12 wins in basketball.

“He does a lot of the grunt work for us,” Oertmer said. “He boxes out against the bigger guys and goes and gets the loose balls for us. He’s the only senior we have on our team and I have a feeling we’re really going to miss him next year.”