Freeport’s Beale ties Cager Classic 3-pointer record, but West loses

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 24, 2018 | 11:24 PM

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Freeport assistant basketball coach Austin Miller apparently is doing a great job.

One of his proteges, Ben Beale, tied his Cager Classic record for six 3-pointers in Saturday night’s 22nd renewal of the postseason event at Highlands High School.

Miller set the original mark while playing for Knoch in 2014.

But the long bombs weren’t enough as the East defeated Beale’s West team 99-89.

“Obviously, I’m a competitor, I’m trying to win,” Beale said. “But I’m just out there having fun. It’s one of the last games I’ll ever play in front of my friends. It’s fun to come together as a team against players I’ve been playing against my whole life.”

Beale led all scorers with 24 points, tying the Yellowjackets senior for the fifth-best individual scoring performance in Cager history.

Beale’s Freeport teammate, Damon Shiring, also used coach Miller’s guidance to hit for a quartet of 3s, finishing with 14 points.

Beale will be headed for Penn State Behrend in the fall.

The East MVP, Romello Freeman, was part of some outstanding Highlands teams of the past three seasons, including two appearances in the PIAA quarterfinals. Saturday was his final game on the Natrona Heights hardwood.

“It was good experience,” Freeman said. “I enjoyed how fun it was playing with my Highlands family and fans for the last time. They’re my brothers, and I love them.”

Golden Rams teammates Shawn Erceg and Christian Tanilli were also East team members.

Freeman finished with 16 points, six rebounds, two steals and three dunks, including one just seconds into the contest.

Tanilli, who led the East with six assists, set up Freeman several times.

“Some didn’t go as planned, but we still got the ball back, so it was good,” Freeman said. “We’ve got that team chemistry.”

Piloting the East was Valley’s Mark Faulx, another coach who once played for Knoch.

Faulx is an all-star coach in his own right, leading the Vikings from a lone victory two years ago to a berth in the PIAA playoffs this season. He was able to familiarize himself with several players like Kyle Fitzroy of Apollo-Ridge and Nate Baillie of Armstrong.

“This was a lot of fun, I really enjoyed it,” Faulx said. “We actually saw Apollo in a scrimmage, and we played Armstrong at the beginning and I was able to watch Highlands in the playoffs.”

Fitzroy scored 16 and collected 14 rebounds for the East. Baillie had 11 points. Fitzroy and Baillie will be football teammates at Mercyhurst in the fall.

“It’s really nice coach such size,” Faulx said with a laugh. “We haven’t had that luxury at Valley. It was nice to get it inside and win the battle of the boards.”

Dru Stokes from Valley had 15 points — five 3-pointers.

Marc Vrane of Deer Lakes scored 17 for the West.

Before the game, Mars coach Rob Carmody and three of his players, Robby Carmody, Cade Hetzler and Luke Morrissey, were on hand and were introduced to the crowd. The Planets will be on their way to Hershey on Tuesday for the Class 5A state championship game and weren’t able to participate in Saturday’s all-star contest.

George Guido is a freelance writer.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Armstrong, Burrell, Hampton, Leechburg, St. Joseph, West Shamokin