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U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta: In Syrian refugee crisis, U.S. national security must come first

Police searching for four men after home invasion in Nanticoke

NANTICOKE &#8212; Two days, two wins.As good as that sounds, Nanticoke knows there&#8217;s plenty of work still remaining after Saturday night&#8217;s 53-47 victory over Dallas in boys basketball.&#8220;We played last night and tonight and we&#8217;re 2-0,&#8221; Nanticoke coach John Beggs said. &#8220;But we&#8217;re not playing nearly as good of basketball as we need to. We&#8217;re shooting extremely poorly. Last night from the arc we were terrible. We had to limit our threes in the second half. Today it was the same thing. I think we made three of about 20 and that&#8217;s not acceptable.&#8221;The game was the first for new Dallas coach Mark Belenski, who last coached at Holy Redeemer in the 2012-13 season. Belenski won two Class A state championships with Bishop O&#8217;Reilly in 2003-04 and 2004-05.&#8220;I&#8217;m glad I&#8217;m back,&#8221; Belenski said. &#8220;I love the gym, I love the kids. But it&#8217;s not about me, it&#8217;s about them. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m here for, the kids.&#8221;Those kids, aka the Mountaineers, were just 4-19 last season. But that didn&#8217;t prevent them from pushing Nanticoke, a favorite to win Division 2 in the Wyoming Valley Conference, to the final minutes.Dallas (0-1) took a 38-33 lead into the fourth quarter as Ben Donahue hit a buzzer-beating drive to the basket &#8212; a shot that rolled deep inside the rim then started to roll out before dropping in.Nanticoke, though, showed why it is considered a division contender in the fourth as its veterans seized control of most of the action. Junior forward Justin Casey did a strong job on the defensive end, grabbing a couple key rebounds and blocking a shot during a 10-0 run to start the quarter.Dallas moved within 43-41 with 3:38 to play on a 3-pointer by Collin Pertl. The Mountaineers made just two more field goals the rest of the game, with one coming with 5.5 seconds left.Scott Stout paced Nanticoke for a second consecutive night with 21 points. He had 19 in Friday&#8217;s 54-32 victory over Wyoming Valley West. The senior guard and junior Cody Piestak each his two free throws in the final 30 seconds to close out the win.&#8220;You wake up sore after the first game because you&#8217;re not really used to it,&#8221; Stout said. &#8220;We just kept pushing and pushing. I think we&#8217;re well conditioned from practice. It&#8217;s helps at the end of the game when you&#8217;re shooting foul shots. You&#8217;re not as winded.&#8221;Fellow senior Brent Piontkowski created problems early on as Dallas had no one to match his 6-foot-6 size. He finished with 16 points, including two on a drive to start the 10-0 fourth-quarter run.Jay Bittner, one of four Mountaineers on the court who logged significant time last season, paced his team with 14 points. Donahue added 11. Five of the 10 players Dallas used were sophomores.&#8220;We played with a lot of heart, we played with a lot of desire,&#8221; Belenski said. &#8220;We played very well and very tough against a very good Nanticoke team.&#8221;Shenandoah Valley 74, MMI Prep 50Shenandoah Valley hit five of its eight 3-pointers as part of a 26-point first quarter.Ed Herbener led the Preppers with 17 points while Kyle Williams added 12.Friday&#8217;s gamesScranton Prep 58, Meyers 49In a game played Friday, the Cavaliers went 26 of 32 from the foul line to top Meyers on the road. The Mohawks hit just 11-of-26 of their free throws.Matt Dessoye scored 15 to top Meyers. Ryan Wasley added 11 and Juwane Buckner had 10.Wyoming Seminary 64, Western Wayne 42In a game played Friday, Jeff Bevacqua scored 15 of his game-high 25 points in the first quarter to lead the Blue Knights.Patrick Ganter scored 13 in the win.Nanticoke 53, Dallas 47DALLAS (47) -- Collin Pertl 1 0-0 3, Nick Kocher 2 0-0 5, Dalton Gattuso 0 0-0 0, Tanner Gattuso 1 0-0 3, Ray Ostroski 3 0-1 6, Spencer Bowanko 0 0-0 0, Ben Donahue 5 0-0 11, Alex Charlton 0 0-0 0, Jay Bittner 5 3-5 14, Joey Parsons 1 0-2 2. Totals 18 6-10 47.NANTICOKE (53) &#8212; Ed Lukowski 0 0-0 0, Scott Stout 5 10-10 21, Cody Piestrak 2 0-2 4, Brent Piontkowski 7 1-2 16, Luke Butczynski 1 2-2 5, Ben Sersen 1 0-0 2, Alec Norton 0 0-0 0, Justin Casey 3 1-3 7. Totals 17 16-20 53.Dallas`7`9`22`9`&#8212;`47Nanticoke`9`10`14`20`&#8212;`53Three-point goals: DAL 5 (Pertl, Kocher, T.Gattuso, Donahue, Bittner). NAN 3 (Stout, Butczynski, Piontkowski).Shenandoah Valley 74, MMI Prep 50MMI PREP (50) &#8212; Ed Herbener 6 3-5 17, Jay Solgama 2 0-2 2, John Stish 2 2-2 6, Andrew Alday 2 0-0 4, Kyle Williams 5 0-3 12, Brendan Drusda 0 0-0 0, Nick Young 1 0-0 2, Kisan Patel 2 2-5 6, George Palermo 0 0-0 0, David Caldwell 0 0-0 0, Matt Marchetti 0 0-0 0, Zach Young 0 0-0 0, Tyler Degenhart 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 7-17 50.SHENANDOAH VALLEY (74) &#8212; Joel Scatana 11 2-2 26, Ian McCole 8 4-5 24, Isaiah Alvarez 1 2-5 4, Matt Creasy 1 0-0 2, Richard Chagolla 0 0-0 0, Jermaine McNeil 5 1-3 13, Noah Allegretta 0 0-0 0, Bobby Ryan 0 2-2 2, Julio Cabrera 0 0-0 0, Josh White 1 1-2 3. Totals 27 12-19 74.MMI Prep`14`9`15`12`&#8212;`50Shenandoah`26`15`17`16`&#8212;`74Three-point goals &#8212; MMI 3 (Williams 2, Herbener); SV 8 (McCole 4, Scatana 2, McNeil 2).Friday&#8217;s gamesScranton Prep 58, Meyers 49SCRANTON PREP (58) &#8212; Logan Bailer 5 4-5 14, Dean Lucas 0 2-2 2, Jake Brown 0 0-0 0, Pat Cosgrove 0 0-0 0, Paddy Casey 2 13-14 17, Dan D&#8217;Arienzo 1 1-2 3, Nick Dende 3 4-4 12, Brett Para 2 2-5 6, Wes Simons 2 0-0 4, Joe Rossi 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 26-32 58.MEYERS (49) &#8212; Omar Kelly 1 0-2 2, Simran Mangat 0 0-0 0, Matt Dessoye 5 4-5 15, Juwane Buckner 3 3-5 10, Raheem Twyman 0 0-1 0, Ryan Gilgallon 3 1-2 8, Khalil Saunders 0 0-0 0, Julian Maffei 1 0-0 3, Ryan Wasley 4 3-11 11. Totals 17 11-26 49.Scranton Prep`13`18`12`15`&#8212;`58Meyers`16`15`10`8`&#8212;`49Three-point goals &#8212; SP 2 (Dende 2); MEY 4 (Dessoye, Buckner, Gilgallon, Maffei).Wyoming Seminary 64, Western Wayne 42WESTERN WAYNE (42) &#8212; Justin Rodrigues 5 9-12 20, Luke Pike 2 2-3 7, Colin Howe 0 0-0 0, Scott Walck 0 0-0 0, Kenny French 0 0-0 0, Danny Boots 0 0-1 0, Kobe Sauter 1 0-0 3, Ethan Boots 0 0-0 0, Dahlton Frisbie 4 2-2 12, Matt Russo 0 0-0 0, Luke Silfies 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 13-18 42.WYOMING SEMINARY (64) &#8212; Tyler Maddock 0 2-2 2, Noah Munley 1 2-2 4, Ryan Anderson 1 0-0 2, Nicolas Butulino 0 0-0 0, Stefan Olsen 0 0-0 0, Patrick Ganter 4 4-8 13, Samir Singh 0 0-0 0, Marshall Bursis 1 0-0 2, Jake Ridilla 0 1-2 1, Johnny Keil 3 0-0 6, Nick Ganter 2 5-7 9, Jeff Pevacqua 9 4-4 25, Dan Paylia 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 18-25 64.Western Wayne`9`2`18`13`&#8212;`42Wyo. Seminary`18`23`8`15`&#8212;`64Three-point goals &#8212; WW 5 (Frisbie 2, Rodrigues, Pike, Sauter); WS 4 (Bevacqua 3, P. Ganter).<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke&#8217;s Brent Piontkowski (13) puts up a shot against Dallas on Saturday night at Dallas. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120815NanticokeDallas3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Nanticoke&#8217;s Brent Piontkowski (13) puts up a shot against Dallas on Saturday night at Dallas. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120815NanticokeDallas2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke&#8217;s Luke Butczynski, right, tries to block a pass from Dallas&#8217; Spencer Bowanko during Saturday night&#8217;s game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120815NanticokeDallas2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Nanticoke&#8217;s Luke Butczynski, right, tries to block a pass from Dallas&#8217; Spencer Bowanko during Saturday night&#8217;s game. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120815NanticokeDallas1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dallas&#8217; Tanner Gattuso (14) tries to get past Nanticoke&#8217;s Ben Sersen (33) during Saturday night&#8217;s game. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_TTL120815NanticokeDallas1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Dallas&#8217; Tanner Gattuso (14) tries to get past Nanticoke&#8217;s Ben Sersen (33) during Saturday night&#8217;s game. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Two-time state champ Belenski makes coaching debut with Dallas</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

HS Boys Basketball: Nanticoke holds off Dallas for 53-47 win