Pocono Mountain West’s KJ Coles is a special player.
He entered Friday night’s game at Parkland with 1,436 career points, and the 6-foot-3 guard was averaging 32 points per game through the Panthers’ first four games this season.
He is the early-season favorite for the player-of-the-year honors, and the Kutztown University commit is so talented that people love to watch him play.
But in an early-season showdown of two of the area’s top teams, his own teammates were guilty of standing around watching Coles.
Cole scored 28 points, but his teammates combined for just 19, and the host Trojans jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the first quarter and never looked back in a 57-47 victory that removed West from the ranks of the unbeaten.
“Right now we have a disease called ‘Watch KJ play,’ and I think everyone in the gym who knows basketball saw that in the first half,” said Panthers coach Rich Williams. “The problem with that is that while he’s a very good player and obviously played very well, other guys like Brady Behr, who knows better, are being too passive, and other guards are passive and not looking to shoot the ball.
“Someone who watches that probably thinks, ‘Does anyone else get to shoot?’ Actually, yes, that’s all we do. We talk about getting guys open shots, and that didn’t happen tonight, and that slowed us down in the first quarter.”
Coles finished 9-for-18 from the field and made all seven of his foul shots.
The rest of the West team was 8-for-25, and the next highest scorers were Behr and Teddy Stiehler with five apiece.
Meanwhile, Parkland, which has won four in a row after an opening-night loss at Allen, got 19 points from Blake Nassry and 11 apiece from Nassim Adams and Javian Porter.
The Trojans went 9-for-13 from the field in the first quarter, getting seven from Nassry and never led by fewer than eight points the rest of the way.
“KJ is one of the best scorers in the league, and we knew we couldn’t stop him,” Nassry said. “But we did the best we could on him. [Porter] did a good job on him, and [Adams] played him for a while. Everyone contributed on defense. We just want to keep getting better every game and hopefully peak at the end of the season.”
Adams had a complete effort with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and four steals.
“So far, this was our best game of he season, but we can get better,” Adams said. “On offense, we moved the ball pretty well, and we attacked and found guys open right away.”
The Panthers were playing without starting point guard Tru Godwin, who suffered a significant injury in the league opener against East Stroudsburg South on Dec. 1. Of course, Parkland has been without TJ Lawrence all season due to an injury he sustained in the District 11 6A football championship game.
Both are expected back in January.
It would not be surprising if the same teams meet again in either the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference or District 11 6A tournament.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Parkland because they shot the ball well early, and they’re very aggressive on defense,” Williams said. “That bothered everybody not named KJ. In the beginning, it bothered KJ a little bit, too, but he got used to it and overcame it. But the other guys didn’t. I got into them in the locker room about it. I told them they have the green light to shoot. I never told them not to shoot. They have to be aggressive, and it has to change.”
The best thing about the loss for the Panthers is that it came on Dec. 12, in the fifth game of the year.
“Parkland’s an extremely good team,” Williams said. “I enjoy playing them because you know you’re going to get a great game. I’d play them twice a year if I could. You know how competitive they are. I know their coaching staff well, and I know how good their coaches are.
“This is like one of their big, early-season college games, like Michigan State-Kentucky. It gives you an idea of what you have to work on against a really good team and what you have to, maybe, pull back on. We learned that stuff tonight. We play Liberty next week, and that will be another good test.”
Parkland 57, Pocono Mt. West 47
PM West 4 – 15 – 10 – 18 — 47
Parkland 17 – 10 – 15 – 15 — 57
POCONO MT. WEST (47)
Nate Cruz 1-4 0-0 2, KJ Coles 9-18 7-7 28, Aydin Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Marvin Dienhouse 1-3 1-2 3, Brady Behr 2-4 0-0 5, Ayden Aponte 2-3 0-0 4, Teddy Stiehler 2-4 1-2 5. Totals 17-38 9-11 47.
PARKLAND (57)
Zion Barrera 1-2 0-0 3, Ryan Kearney 1-1 0-0 2, Nassim Adams 3-5 5-7 11, Javian Porter 5-12 0-0 11, Marcus Temchatin 0-0 0-0 0, Blake Nassry 7-10 3-7 19, Tyler Beck 2-5 0-0 5, Jude Ruisch 2-4 0-0 6. Totals 21-39 8-14 57.
3-pointers: PM West (4-14) Coles 2, Behr. Parkland (7-20) Ruisch 2, Nassry 2, Porter, Beck, Barrera.
Rebounds: PM West 19 (Parkland 25 (Adams 6)
Assists: PM West 5 (Aponte 3). Parkland 11 (Adams 5)
Turnovers: PM West 7, Parkland 8.
Fouls: PM West 13, Parkland 11.
Officials: Chris Pincin, Dennis McWhite, Jim Sands.
Pukszyn reaches 1,000
Liberty’s Jake Pukszyn hit a 3-pointer in he first quarter to give him 1,000 points in his career and finished the night with 20 points, but that was about the extent of the highlights for the Hurricanes, who were routed by Northampton, 63-45. Pukszyn became the eighth player in program history to reach four figures. Northampton improved to 5-0, 4-0 EPC as Leo Regec scored 17 points and Korbin Sollars and Noah Walakovits added 12 apiece. The Konkrete Kids led 23-11 after one quarter and 41-17 at halftime. Liberty, which fell to 4-2 overall, 3-1 EPC, got 12 points from Quin Lucas-Bishop.
Other EPC games
Allentown Central Catholic 72, Pleasant Valley 50
Yariel Gonzalez scored 19 points and Cam Hines added 18 as the Vikings rolled to a home win over Pleasant Valley and improved to 4-2.
Allen 59, Pocono Mountain East 46
Tiheed Wise Jr., scored 31 points as the Canaries improved to 4-0. Xayvon Wimberly added 11. Anthony Tapia led the Cardinals with 21.
Whitehall 52, Stroudsburg 49
Seth Hoderewski scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to lift the Zephyrs to their first win of the season.
Easton 63, Freedom 50
Saboor Houser scored 23 points, and Josh Walkiewicz added 15 as the Red Rovers got their first win of the season while the Patriots remain winless.
Emmaus 53, East Stroudsburg North 49
The Green Hornets got four 3-pointers and 15 points overall from Noeah Newsome and improved to 2-5. Jake Ross scored 16, and Matt Rooney chipped in 13.
Nazareth 64, Bethlehem Catholic 48
Logan Hahn scored 20 points, and Gavin Kershner added 17 as the Blue Eagles stayed unbeaten with their fourth win of the season. Jackson Wickenheiser led the Golden Hawks (2-3) with 21 points.
