By Steve Svetovich
There was a time at the end of the 1970’s when the Court Jesters were running and gunning.
The Court Jesters were rockin’ and rollin’ on the hardwood.
And coach Mike Abdalla was loving it.
The Worthington Scranton Campus of Penn State University in Dunmore was in the ninth year of its basketball program. The team, coached by Abdalla, had only one losing season in the program’s first eight years.
However, the team had not advanced to a state final yet.
But the 1977-78 season quickly became something special as the Court Jesters won nine of its first 10 games.
This team was having fun. Lots of fun running and gunning.
The co-captains on the team were Scranton Central products Mike Harrington and Al Cappelloni.
Kevin Southard, a Bishop Hannan product, was the team’s leading scorer.
Bill Ames from Kingston Area and Bill Donnelly from Scranton Prep were also a huge part of the scoring attack. Tony Andrejko, a Valley View product, was a key member of the team.
Other team members included Gary Bisignani from Riverside, Harold Cawley from West Scranton, Tim Egan from Scranton Central, Kevin White from Carbondale Area and Paul Mimidas from North Pocono.
The Court Jesters were jiving with a run and gun offense that averaged about 103 points per game under Abdalla.
The man to man defense was anchored by Andrejko.
A major component of the Court Jesters was the fast break offense led by sophomore co-captains Harrington and Cappelloni and Southard. Freshmen White and Cawley played important roles.
Ames and Donnelly were a big part of the offense.
The running Jesters average of 103 points per game was the highest in local Penn State history. The team shot 53 percent from the field and over 70 percent from the foul line. Abdalla attributed the scoring record to the team’s extreme and constant fast break. Abdalla said his team enjoyed the running game and had few inhibitions. Remarkably, five players averaged in double figures led by Southard at 20.6 points per game followed by Harrington at 18.0, Cappelloni at 17.8, Ames at 14.7 and Donnelly at 10.2.
Harrington was also a strong rebounder averaging 8.5 boards per contest.
Abdalla continued to let his team thrive on the fast break offense, but also stressed man to man defense which he learned at Scranton Prep playing under John Gallagher. He used his quick guards Mimidas and Egan on the outside to play pressure man to man defense on opposing guards.
Southard scored 41 points in the team’s 129-107 win over Schuykill in the Commonwealth League contest. Harrington added 23.
The 129 points set a new Scranton single game record.
Abdalla continued to point out his team was having fun with the fast break offense and the fun was leading to buckets and wins.
The Court Jesters used its run and gun offense and man to man defense to defeat McKeesport, 109-100, to advance to the finals of the Commonwealth Campus State Tournament. Southard poured in 43 points while Harrington and Ames added 16 each. Cappelloni scored 14. It was Abdalla’s 100th win.
It marked the Court Jesters first trip to the finals after five trips to the state wide event.
The Court Jesters lost the state title game, 109-103, in a hard fought battle against Ogontz-PSU. Southard finished with a game high 35 points. Cappelloni added 28.
Despite being down 18-4 in the opening minutes, The Court Jesters battled all the way coming within two points late in the game, but eventually ran out of time.
Southard and Cappelloni were named to the All-Tournament team
The Court Jesters also set a record by scoring 100 or more points in 13 of 22 games.
It was a season to remember at the Penn State Worthington campus. The Court Jesters put basketball on the map.