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PLYMOUTH &#8212; Hazleton Area couldn&#8217;t crack 100 Thursday night, but the Cougars managed to get 200.As in coaching victories for their coach, Mike Joseph.The Cougars put on an offensive barrage in the third quarter, tearing open a close game on the way to a 99-66 victory over Wyoming Valley West in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 boys basketball game.Joseph, who is in his ninth season at Hazleton Area, didn&#8217;t even acknowledge the milestone after the game. Only after he was being congratulated by a fan while leaving the near-empty gym did he admit it was his 200th win.Perhaps because he knew his Cougars (2-0 Div. 1, 7-3 overall) are still not where they need to be.&#8220;I told them at halftime that we needed to defend better,&#8221; said Joseph, whose team led 48-41 after a wide-open, fast-paced first half. &#8220;We put it on ourselves to defend better. We gave up some extra possessions because we were scoring a lot of points ourselves.&#8220;Our defense is something that&#8217;s a work in progress from man to zone to pressure. We&#8217;re trying to figure that out. In the second half, we were better defensively, and I loved the way we rebounded and ran because that&#8217;s where we can be lethal with our length and athleticism and the way we share the basketball.&#8221;Check all those boxes in the third quarter. After Valley West&#8217;s Draig Ruff opened the third with a three-point play to move the Spartans (0-2, 1-8) within 48-44, Hazleton Area was off and running.The Cougars had six players score in the third, highlighted by a lovely fastbreak lob pass from junior guard Michael Custatis to freshman forward Da&#8217;Mir Faison late in the period. When the eight minutes were complete, senior forward Bobby Planutis had nine of his game-high 29 points and the Cougars had scored 32 in all for an 80-59 lead.&#8220;It was that many?&#8221; Planutis said. &#8220;Coach said it could be a fastbreak drill if we keep running the press and running these guys out. We wanted to put them down early.&#8221;The only suspense left in the fourth quarter was whether Hazleton Area would reach 100 points. But the Cougars got stuck on 99 with the reserves in when Adrian Otero hit the second of two free throws with 19 seconds to play.Valley West led through most of the first quarter, taking an 18-11 lead just past the midway point on a 3-pointer by Aaron Austin and a fastbreak layup by Sean Judge. Hazleton Area rallied to take a 25-23 advantage entering the second, but lost the lead twice in the quarter.Hazleton Area&#8217;s depth, though, began to wear on the Spartans late in the second quarter and it carried over to the third.&#8220;We got a little weary in our legs and in a little foul trouble,&#8221; Valley West coach Rich Jones said. &#8220;But I was proud of the boys on the way we were playing. We haven&#8217;t played that way many time this year.&#8221;Judge had 19 points and Tyler Yankosky added 17 more for the Spartans, who have been putting up strong numbers on the offensive end. The defense, though, remained troublesome as Valley West has allowed 64 or more points in eight of nine games.Hazleton Area placed five players in double figures with Dante Biasi (16), Jeff Planutis (12), Cusatis (11) and Faison (10) joining Bobby Planutis in that category.Berwick 58, Coughlin 49Jude Goodard (21 points) and Tyler Evans (16 points) led the way for Berwick as the team topped visiting Coughlin.Jose Rivera had a team-high 15 points for the Crusaders.Crestwood 52, Pittston Area 46Josh Malkemes was 6 for 10 from the free-throw and finished with a team-high 15 points as Crestwood edged Pittston Area.Dallas 64, Tunkhannock 52Five players scored in double figures as Dallas beat Tunkhannock.Tanner Gattuso (16 points), Dalton Gattuso (14 points), Alex Charlton (13 points), Joey Parsons (13 points) and Ben Donahue (11 points) were the offensive leaders for the Mountaineers.Tony Maloney led the Tigers with 28 points, which included eight 3-pointers.Hazleton Area 99, Wyo. Val. West 66HAZLETON AREA (99): Josh Samec 3 2-2 6, Michael Cusatis 4 1-2 11, Dante Biasi 6 1-1 16, Bobby Planutis 13 3-3 29, Jeff Planutis 4 2-3 12, Da&#8217;Mir Faison 4 1-1 10, Joe Grula 1 0-0 3, Nolan Genasevich 3 0-0 6, Shane Planutis 0 0-0 0, Jacob Diaz 1 1-1 3, Adrian Otero 0 1-3 1, Nathan Beggs 0 0-0 0. Totals 39 12-16 99. WVW (66): Sean Judge 8 2-2 19, Aaron Austin 4 1-1 10, Draig Ruff 2 4-5 8, Tyler Yankosky 4 9-13 17, Amistad Hackett 3 0-0 6, Savion Sanders 0 2-2 2, Davis Weaver 0 0-0 0, Noah Frace 1 0-0 2, Ray Richard 0 0-0 0, Marquise Anderscavage 0 0-0 0, Matt Bobkowski 1 0-0 2, Chris Blanco 0 0-1 0. Totals 23 18-24 66.Hazleton Area`25`23`32`19`&#8212;`99Wyo. Val. West`23`18`18`7`&#8212;`66Three-point goals &#8212; HA 9 (Cusatis 2, Grula, Biasi 3, J.Planutis 2, Faison). WVW 2 (Judge, Austin).Berwick 58, Coughlin 49COUGHLIN (49) &#8212; Eli McAllister 2 3-9 7, Jose Rivera 2 9-10 15, Devin Rajza 3 1-2 10, Nick Cerep 1 0-0 2, Charles Cobbs 3 1-3 7, Melvin Robinson 2 2-4 6, Aubmeer Mims 0 0-0 0, Dominique Flippen 0 0-0 0, Aaron Bennett 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 16-28 49.BERWICK (58) &#8212; Max Melito 3 2-2 9, Matt Champ 0 0-0 0, Alec Markle 0 0-0 0, Justin Groshek 1 0-0 2, Damon Beckhorn 3 1-2 8, Tyler Evans 4 7-9 16, Jude Goodard 9 3-4 21, Kyle McMillian 1 0-0 2, Kyle Pierce 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 13-17 58.Coughlin`7`9`11`20`&#8212;`49Berwick`12`15`12`19`&#8212;`58Three-point goals &#8212; COU 5 (Rivera 2, Rajza 3); BER 3 (Melito 1, Beckhorn 1, Evans 1).Crestwood 52, Pittston Area 46CRESTWOOD (52) &#8212; Robbie Hopkins 1 5-8 7, Kyle Gegaris 3 3-3 9, Lance Blass 1 1-4 4, Jason Klusewitz 2 0-0 5, Kyle Richards 1 2-2 4, Mendell Foreman 3 2-4 8, Josh Malkemes 4 6-10 15. Totals 15 19-31 52.PITTSTON AREA (46) &#8212; Jordan Black 4 0-0 9, Dylan Osticco 1 2-4 5, Alex McAndrew 2 4-4 9, Pat Mitchell 2 1-1 5, Chris Klein 2 0-0 5, Naseem Guillauame 1 2-2 4, Jalen Williams 3 2-3 9. Totals 15 11-14 46.Crestwood`14`3`17`18`&#8212;`52Pittston Area`8`9`8`21`&#8212;46Three-point goals &#8212; CRE 4 (Blass 1, Klusewitz 1, Richards 1, Malkemes 1); PA 5 (Black 1, Osticco 1, McAndrew 1, Klein 1, Williams 1).Dallas 64, Tunkhannock 52DALLAS (64) &#8212; Collin Pertl 1 0-0 3, Mason Gattuso 0 0-0 0, Nick Kocher 0 0-0 0, Dalton Gattuso 4 5-8 14, Tanner Gattuso 6 2-3 16, Spencer Bowanko 0 0-0 0, Ben Donahue 3 3-4 11, Alex Charlton 3 4-4 13, Joey Parsons 2 4-6 13, Ethan Szczencinski 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 18-25 64.TUNKHANNOCK (52) &#8212; Paul DeMarco 0 0-0 0, Avery Newhart 2 0-0 6, Sean Harder 2 0-0 4, Ethan Hoefert 2 0-0 5, Tyler Faux 0 3-3 3, Tony Maloney 10 0-0 28, Matt Goodwin 0 0-0 0, Avery Billings 0 0-0 0, Evan Turner 3 0-1 6, Jack Fenwick 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 3-4 52.Dallas`14`19`10`21`&#8212;`64Tunkhannock`11`9`8`24`&#8212;`52Three-point goals &#8212; DAL 8 (Jones 1, D. Gattuso 1, T. Gattuso 2, Donahue 2, Charlton 1, Parsons 1); TUN11 (Newhart 2, Hoefert 1, Maloney 8).<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Bobby Planutis (33) dunks the basketball over Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Amistad Hackett in the second quarter of Thursday&#8217;s WVC boys basketball game in Plymouth. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwhazleton01.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Bobby Planutis (33) dunks the basketball over Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Amistad Hackett in the second quarter of Thursday&#8217;s WVC boys basketball game in Plymouth. </caption0><photoCredit0>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwhazleton02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Tyler Yankosky, left, grabs a rebound in front of Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Planutis in the second quarter of Thursday&#8217;s WVC boys basketball game in Plymouth. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_wvwhazleton02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Tyler Yankosky, left, grabs a rebound in front of Hazleton Area&#8217;s Shane Planutis in the second quarter of Thursday&#8217;s WVC boys basketball game in Plymouth. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Coach Mike Joseph posts 200th win in victory</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>

Coach Mike Joseph posts 200th win in Hazleton Area victory