Will Marion and Mason Fedor, pictured, were named third team all-state. Will Marion and Mason Fedor will stay close to home to join National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III basketball programs with histories of success.
They set up those opportunities by sharing in the leadership of making sure the Abington Heights success extended well beyond the area.
After playing prominent roles in a school record 26-0 start and a trip to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 5A quarterfinals where they fell to eventual repeat state champion Imhotep Charter, Marion and Fedor picked up individual awards.
The two seniors shared in the honor of making the third team in Class 5A when Pennsylvania Sports Writers announced their all-state teams in late April.
Marion, a 6-foot-1 point guard, is heading to the University of Scranton following a preseason commitment to a school where his mother, Laura (Pikulski) Marion, was once a standout on the women’s team.
Fedor, a 6-4 forward/center, first had to decide on sports after also excelling in football. He chose to play basketball at Wilkes University, committing during the basketball season.
Both players learned of the all-state selections the morning of April 24.
“There wasn’t much better news than I could hear than when I woke up this morning,” Marion said that day.
Marion was the assist and points leader on a fast-paced and extremely balanced lineup in which Ryan Nealon and Robby Lucas joined the two all-staters in double figures and Jordan Shaffer was not far behind as the Comets averaged 68 points per game.
“All of our other teammates helped Mason and me get to this point,” Marion said. “We wouldn’t be here without them and without them pushing us every day in practice.”
That teamwork led to the unbeaten record as well as Lackawanna League Division 1 and District 2 Class 5A championships. It also created competition when outsiders were determining which to acknowledge on all-state and other honors.
“I looked at all the all-state teams,” Fedor said. “You don’t see many with multiple guys on the same team.
“That’s another thing you can say about our chemistry. We don’t care who makes it and who doesn’t. We’re all going to support each other. It could just as easily have been Ryan or Robby could have been there, too.”
Marion got there by averaging team-highs of 13.8 points, 3.8 assists and 2.3 steals. He was second on the team with 23 blocked shots while shooting 58 percent from the floor, 40 percent on 3-pointers and 63 percent from the line.
Fedor led the team with 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks while ranking second with 13.3 points and 2.0 steals. He shot 55 percent from the floor and 73 percent from the line.
Marion plans to study finance at Scranton where he will be joining the Royals after a rare down year.
“I’m really looking forward to going in, hopefully I can help the team my first year there and our class as well,” Marion said. “I’ve been talking to the guys a lot and hopefully we can turn it around.”
Along with that, he’d like to restore some of the excitement that often surrounded the team at Scranton.
“Being a legacy player means a lot,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Fedor, who is likely to major in sports management, said there were multiple factors in his final decision.
“Once I weighed my options on both, basketball was the better decision for my body and being closer to home was better for my family,” he said.
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