(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Times News is running a series of stories asking area coaches and athletic directors to remember their “Most Memorable” sporting event. Today’s Most Memorable moment comes from Marian boys basketball coach John Patton)

By Sam Matta

tnsports@tnonline.com

He never wavered. There was nary a hesitation, and not a doubt in his mind.

John Patton was in his first full season as head boys basketball coach at Marian High School. The curtain was being raised to unfurl the 2010-11 basketball season. The “General” was about to find out what it truly was like leading his troops onward, and how he was going to lead a band of untested soldiers through a pressure cooker of a season.

After all, Marian was not only the defending Division 3 champs in the Schuylkill League, but the District 11 kings as well, and despite having just one returning starter, was still considered the “team to beat” in the division. That was despite Mahanoy Area, and an up-and-coming Shenandoah Valley team, both expecting to have strong seasons.

Patton didn’t know what to expect, but it played out better than he could have dreamed. The Colts not only defended their Schuylkill League division title, but once again reached the District 11 championship game.

That 2011 title game at Martz Hall against rival Mahanoy Area is what Patton selected as the “Most Memorable’ game of his coaching tenure.

“You have to remember we were playing against one of the great small school basketball programs in the state - being coached by maybe one of the Top 10 coaches in high school basketball in Mickey Holland - and we had to beat them a fourth time,” Patton said.

Beating a good team four times in a season seems hard to believe. But that’s what the Colts faced.

Marian began its season with a win over the Golden Bears in the Panther Valley Tournament. It then beat them two more times during the Schuylkill League regular season.

“You know it’s hard enough to beat a good team twice,” said Patton, “But to do it four times against a Mickey Holland-coached team makes it even more improbable.”

Patton recalled the game as if it were just a few hours old. His team led 38-22 with six minutes to play, but he knew that Mahanoy was never going to quit.

“I remember saying in the huddle, ‘they’re going to make a run at us, just hold your composure, weather the storm,’” Patton recalled.

That storm arrived as the Bears came charging back, cutting the lead to 41-40.

There are moments in every game that stand out above the rest, and one of those happened next.

With all the momentum in Mahanoy Area’s favor, the Colts’ Ryan Gimbi took a pass on the wing and drove hard to the basket. Gimbi scored and was fouled. He completed the three-point-play with 1:05 remaining.

Marian had righted the ship and gradually pulled away in the final minute for a 53-43 victory.

“That was a huge play,” said Patton. “Ryan was one of the most underrated players I’ve coached. We needed someone to step up and make a play at that point, and that’s exactly what he did.”

It was part of a big fourth quarter for Gimbi, who also had a crowd-igniting dunk as the Colts were stretching their lead early in the fourth quarter. It was the first and only dunk of his high school career.

“There were so many memorable moments from that game,” said Patton. “Ryan’s dunk had the place going crazy, then Mahanoy Area makes its run, then our kids find a way to regroup and pull away ... that fourth quarter had everything.”

Patton said another thing that stood out was how many players stepped up during the course of the season.

“We had Chris Barletta as our point guard and he was very, very good,” Patton said. “Chris was the only returning starter from the previous year’s district championship team. He was definitely our go-to player.

“But we also had so many role players. Kids that might not have been stars, but were so valuable to us.”

In addition to Barletta and Gimbi, Patton said during the course of the season Mark Stawick, Dominick Richards, Ryan Karnish, Anthony Pilla, Eric Baker, JT Keer and Anthony Agosti all made contributions.

“Winning a district championship is always huge,” Patton said. “But for us to do it in my first year as head coach makes that entire game - and season - stand out all the more.”

That explains perfectly why it’s a memory that is still vividly etched in John Patton’s mind nearly a decade later.