Jordan Shaffer reached the 1,000-point mark for Abington Heights during their Jan. 20 game.
Abington Heights entered the New Year with a losing record.
Lessons learned from losing five of the last seven games during a brutal December schedule, which led to success in 2026.
The Comets won their first 10 games of the year to head into a Feb. 5 showdown at second-place Scranton Prep in control of both the Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 5A boys basketball races.
With nine wins in January and another to start February, Abington Heights broke out of a tie in the division and ascended to the top of the race for a top seed once district play rolls around.
“We put ourselves in the fire,” Comets coach J.C. Show said. “Fire gets rid of all the impurities. We talk about that with the kids a lot, ‘stay in the fire, you’re exposing the things you need to get better.’
“They’ve stayed with it. It’s nice to have them rewarded with some success in the back half of the year. We still have to finish strong. We haven’t won anything yet in terms of some of the goals the team has.”
Along the way, the Comets have celebrated both team and individual successes.
They dominated the first meeting with Scranton Prep 84-61 to at least partially wipe away some of the sting of a brutal loss in the same matchup on their home court last season.
Senior Jordan Shaffer reached the 1,000-point mark while continuing to show off his improved all-around game.
That improvement is reflected in Shaffer’s work on the offensive and defensive boards and as a shot blocker. It also shows up in how he scores points and in the consistency with which he produces them.
“When I first got the job as a coach, he was a 3-point shooter,” said Show, the former Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year who is in his second season coaching his alma mater. “That’s what he liked to do and he really didn’t like to do much else.”
That is no longer the case as Shaffer works closer to the basket at times.
“He gets fouled a lot and he shoots his free throws real well,” Show said. “He gets offensive rebounds.
“The amount of games he gets double-digit rebounds have outnumbered the games when he doesn’t. Then, when you pair that with the ability to step out and shoot the 3-point shot, it’s really taken him from a one-dimensional player to a multi-dimensional player on the offensive end.”
That was particularly evident when Shaffer reached the milestone. He set up neither at the 3-point line nor at the post. Instead, he passed up a pull-up opportunity at the 3-point line in transition to make a quick crossover to the foul line, where he hit a jumper.
Playing in the Scranton High gym where his mother, the former Nicole Schimelfenig, scored 1,000 points for the Lady Knights, Shaffer got his milestone in the final minute of the first half during a 73-38 rout of West Scranton Jan. 20.
Shaffer got within a basket of the mark with 10 points in the first quarter for a 24-9 Abington Heights lead. He arrived at 1,000 with 26.5 seconds left in the half to build a 42-24 lead at the break.
Shaffer, who averages just under 20 points and nine rebounds per game, finished with 16 points in the win over West Scranton.
Andrew Kettel, who averages more than 15 per game, led that win with 18.
In other games: Abington Heights defeated visiting Scranton 65-49, host North Pocono 55-36, Valley View 60-56, West Scranton 73-38, Wallenpaupack 84-54, Delaware Valley 72-50, host Scranton 75-54 and visiting North Pocono 61-42.
Shaffer had 27 in the first win over Scranton.
The Comets trailed most of the way against Valley View, but pulled out the win behind 20 by Shaffer.
Kettel hit six 3-pointers and scored 31 points against Wallenpaupack.
Shaffer had 21 points and Finn Goldberg a season-high 19 against Delaware Valley. He also led a one-two punch in the Scranton game with 21 points while Kettel had 20.
North Pocono was within two points early in the second half.
From there, Shaffer scored 17 of his 24 points to go along with 11 rebounds as the Comets improved to 11-0 in the division and 14-5 overall.
