The boys basketball player of the week, the Top 10 and the area's scoring leaders

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER In case you missed today's print edition of The Morning Call, here's a look at the weekly boys basketball player of the week, Whitehall's Tony Bellucci, as well as the Top 10 (updated through Thursday's games) and the top-25 scoring leaders (also updated through Thursday): PLAYER OF WEEK Tony Bellucci, Whitehall Tony Bellucci It was perhaps the biggest comeback of this high school boys basketball season and Whitehall senior Tony Bellucci was in the middle of it on Tuesday night. Whitehall trailed Allen by 12 points with just over two minutes remaining, but rallied back to post a 51-50 win that kept alive the Zephyrs’ hopes of making the District 11 tournament. Bellucci had three 3-pointers in the rally, part of his 15-point night. “He has been great for us,” Whitehall coach Jeff Jones said. “He’s our main perimeter threat, and from last year to this year he has taken huge strides in improving every aspect of his game. He drives to the basket better than he did last year, he handles the ball better … and he has become a great leader.” Jones said that while the 5-foot-9 guard is the team’s leading scorer, “he does a little bit of everything for us. Looking back at the Allen game, he got a lot of rebounds from the two-position in our matchup zone defense.” Jones said that Bellucci’s outside shooting helps open up the inside game for the Zephs, who still need to win two of their remaining four games to make districts. “He had 22 points the night we beat Emmaus and he really set the tone for us,” Jones said. “He got us out to an early lead and we were able to sustain it.” THE BOYS TOP 10 Rank, Team, W-L, Last week 1. Wilson 18-1 -- 1 2. CCHS 17-2 -- 2 3. Parkland 13-5 -- 3 4. Freedom,13-7 -- 4 5. Liberty 13-5 -- 6 6. Easton 15-5 -- 7 7. Poc. Mt. West 15-3 -- 5 8. Pius X,13-2 -- 9 9. Notre Dame 12-7 -- 10 10. Bangor 14-4 -- NR Dropped out: Emmaus (9-9). Others to consider: Catasauqua (13-6), Lincoln Leadership (12-7), Marian (15-5), Salisbury (13-6), Stroudsburg (10-9), Whitehall (9-9). And we're adding to the OTC list: Tamaqua (12-7) and Salem Christian (14-5). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP 25 SCORING LEADERS (updated after Thursday night) Rank, Player, School,Yr., Avg 1., M. Ali Abdur-Rahkman, CCHS, jr., 22.5 2., Alex Colton, Bangor, sr., 20.3 3., Luke Gutekunst, Moravian Acd., jr., 18.6 4., Josh Eden, No. Lehigh, sr., 17.4 5., Nyreef Jackson, Freedom, sr., 17.0 6., Matt Husek, Becahi, sr., 16.94 7., Gerald Terry, Wilson, sr., 16.6 8., Brett Kosciolek, Tamaqua, so., 16.5 9., O’Neil Holder, ES South, jr., 16.0 10., Austin Beidelman, Parkland, sr., 15.9 11., Eric Vick, Poc. Mt. West, sr., 15.8 12., Nate Feiertag, Emmaus, jr., 15.3 13., Tannor Reed, Notre Dame, jr., 15.2 14., Phil Pierfy, Wilson, so., 14.7 15., Taaj Williams, Lincoln, sr., 14.4 16., Tyler Crum, Lehighton, so., 14.3 17., Freddie Simmons, Becahi, so., 14.1 18., Justin Zajko, Parkland, jr., 13.8 19., Jacob Battle, Stroudsburg, jr., 13.42 20., Deshawn Oyeniyi, Liberty, jr., 13.41 21., Greg Noack, Liberty, sr., 13.3 T22., Aldan Mueller, Paliades, sr., 13.16 T22, Joe Wiggins, Poc. Mt. West, jr., 13.16 T24., Tony Brinkley, Catasauqua, sr., 13.15 T24., Ezra Gaines, Easton, sr. 13.15 NOTE: The scoring leaders are based on results called into The Morning Call through Wednesday. Corrections, e-mail to kgroller@mcall.com.