Boys' Hoops: Allentown Central Ends Magical Season

"Listen to this ...."



''It's wonderful, isn't it?"

So began my second road trip of the week to watch high school basketball  On Tuesday night, I drove a prominent local attorney through the coal regions to Hazelton, where he grew up. I received quite a history lesson along the way about mining disasters, cannibalism, the Molly Maguires and all kinds of massacres.

On Friday night, Reading High School was the destination of the quarter-final match up between Allentown Central Catholic Boys' Basketball and #1-ranked Bonner-Prendergatz. I'll have more about the game, but this second road trip, in which I served as chauffeur again, is noteworthy. This time around, the lesson was music appreciation.

We were leaving early because we were meeting up with a contingent of parents and fans at the Peanut Bar. On our way there through Friday afternoon traffic, my companion asked me to name my top composer, who is Beethoven.

"Beethoven? He's a plagiarist, you know. His 'Ode to Joy' is a clear copy of Mozart's Misericordias Domini K.222. Here, let me play it."

He dug it out and it is pretty much identical. He also told me that Mozart composed over 600 works, while Beethoven had fewer than 100.

"Rightyo," I said. "Why don't you sue him?"

"Statute of limitations," he answered.

Meat may be a sin on Lenten Fridays, but Corona Lite is fine. Because I retired from drinking long ago, I figured Jesus wouldn't mind if had a hamburger at Peanut Bar. The others set pretty good examples and avoided meat. One of the moms is even trying to cure me of my tendency to be mean and heartless when I write.

"Choose Christ!" she tells me.

Neither Mozart nor Beethoven was at the game. In a rarity for high school basketball, there was no music at all. I've always wondered what the kids would do if they came out on the court to the tune of Julie Andrews' "I feel pretty." I've never been able to convince PA operators to play it.

No sense of humor.

One woman, a friend of one of the moms who herself was quite a basketball player, asked me to point out my grandson as the team warmed up.

"He doesn't look like you at all."

"What do you mean, how do you think he got so handsome?"

"Not from you."

"Look at his muscular frame, where do you think he got that?"

"Not from you."

"You know what? You should choose Christ."

Vinnie Lynch

As for the game itself, The Morning Call's Keith Groller has a very touching account. The person I want to credit, something I was unable to do during the season, is Coach Dennis Csensits. He did a great job in taking a team that The Express Times did not even include in its initial top ten, all the way to the quarter finals. He believed in his team when they sometimes questioned themselves. In Central's pre-game prayer, everyone is reminded that the gym is a classroom where good sportsmanship is taught. He instilled that philosophy in his players. Yes, they were very physical and aggressive. But if an opponent went down, it was often a Central player who helped him to his feet. Though some parents had problems buying into the Coach's philosophy of limited playing time, almost all of them came around during the season.

If I were to single out a player who best exemplifies the spirit of this rare and remarkable team, it would be "Spicy" Vinnie Lynch.

Now Vinnie is a football player, not a basketball player. He might be the strongest boy at Central and can even bench press me. But last year, he was not getting a lot of playing time, so he went to see the coach. The coach told him his primary role on the team is to serve as a tough defender against whom the starters could practice. He might get some playing time, but not a lot.

A lot of players would hang it up after that. Not Vinnie. He decided to be part of the team and cheer everyone on, whether he was playing or not. His mom came to every game and was one of the team's biggest cheerleaders. We hear lots about the other players. But guys like Vinnie were the heart and soul of this team.

In Central's first state playoff game, Coach Csensits sent Vinnie in as the clock was winding down. Jay Vaughan fed him the ball, and Vinnie passed it right back to him. So Jay danced across the floor and back and passed it to him again. Vinnie passed it to Keeshawn "the beast" Kellman. Instead of scoring, Keeshawn passed the ball back to Vinnie, who in turn fed it to Jay. This happened about six times until Vinnie finally took a shot ... and scored.

Everyone erupted.

"I was teasing my fans," Vinnie explained after the game.

I will miss these guys.

On Saturday morning, I received a telephone call from my lawyer friend.

"Listen to this ..."

More Mozart.