H.S. basketball: GAR boys, Holy Redeemer girls advance in districts

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Mackenzie Yori pours in 28 points as Hazleton Area holds off Wyoming Valley West in District 2 Class 4A girls basketball semifinal

<p>WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; The deficit was 10 in the fourth quarter, but that wasn&#8217;t the number gnawing at Berwick. The Dawgs were thinking 365, as in a year ago when Nanticoke physically dominated them.</p><p>And the more they dwelled on 365, the 10 kept getting lower until it was erased completely and reversed into an upset victory Thursday night in the District 2 Class 3A boys basketball quarterfinals.</p><p>Tyler Evans, the school&#8217;s all-time leading scorer, tipped in a rebound with 26 seconds left as Berwick completed its rally for a 47-45 victory over Nanticoke at Crestwood High School.</p><p>Sixth-seeded Berwick (15-9) will play No. 2 GAR (17-8) in the semifinals Monday at a site and time to be announced. GAR defeated Honesdale 57-45 and will be going for its third appearance in the D2-3A title game in the last four seasons. Berwick will be playing in the semifinals for the first time since the 1998-99 season.</p><p>&#8220;Our guys have been waiting on this game 365 days because they really manhandled us last year.&#8221; said Berwick coach Jason Kingery, whose team finished 2-21 just two seasons ago.</p><p>Actually, it was 366 days since that Nanticoke victory in the 2014-15 D2-3A playoffs. But what&#8217;s 24 hours when at least two more games await. The Dawgs need to defeat either GAR or, if not, win the third-place game to make the state playoffs.</p><p>For third-seeded Nanticoke (19-6), it was a second heartbreaking loss in the last three games. The Trojans lost 58-57 in triple overtime to GAR for the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 championship.</p><p>&#8220;We had a successful year,&#8221; Nanticoke coach John Beggs said, &#8220;but we&#8217;re disappointed with the end results. We didn&#8217;t win a conference championship and that was one of our goals. Another goal was to play at the arena (for the district championship) and that didn&#8217;t happen.</p><p>&#8220;Although our record was good, we didn&#8217;t meet our goals as a basketball team.&#8221;</p><p>With the score tied 45-45, a Nanticoke traveling violation gave the ball to Berwick with 57 seconds left. The Dawgs wore down the clock until Damon Beckhorn drove the lane with about 30 seconds left. He missed his shot, and Evans went up among a crowd to tap the ball in &#8230; barely. The ball tilted out of the rim before falling through.</p><p>Nanticoke, like in the GAR loss, got two shots off in its final possession. Brent Piontkowski&#8217;s 3-pointer from the right side bounced off the rim. Luke Butczynski raced in from the left, but his putback slid over the rim and Evans grabbed the rebound to end the game.</p><p>&#8220;We came out here with confidence and were playing our hardest,&#8221; said Evans, who finished with game-highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds. &#8220;It was a win-or-go-home type of game. We got down. They made a run on us. We called a timeout and I remember I looked at my team and said, &#8216;We&#8217;re not going to lose this game. This isn&#8217;t going to be my last game.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>It looked like Berwick&#8217;s season was about four minutes away from ending midway through the fourth quarter. A unique series of events seemingly swung the momentum to Nanticoke.</p><p>Evans was racing down court on a breakaway when he was grabbed hard as he approached the basket. An intentional foul was called, meaning Evans would get two free throws and the Dawgs would get the ball. But Kingery was called for a technical foul for yelling at the Nanticoke bench when he felt a few reserves celebrated the hard foul.</p><p>&#8220;A lot of people see me as this animated person, which I am,&#8221; Kingery said. &#8220;But I&#8217;m going to get on the officials when I feel one of my players is going to get hurt. I felt like they tried to take him out. Actually, that technical helped us. It fired our guys up.&#8221;</p><p>But it also led to a 43-32 deficit as Nanticoke&#8217;s Ed Lukowski hit two technical free throws and Scott Stout scored after the Trojans were awarded possession.</p><p>The Dawgs, though, were strong at the foul line and on defense to wipe out the deficit and take a 45-44 lead on a 3-pointer by Evans with 1:47 to play. Nanticoke had seven turnovers in the fourth quarter after having five through the first three periods.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Berwick 47, Nanticoke 45</strong></p><p><strong>BERWICK (47) &#8212;</strong> Max Melito 0 0-0 0, Ken Marshman 2 1-1 6, Tyler Evans 5 13-14 24, Jude Goodard 1 1-2 3, Kyle McMillan 3 0-0 6, Matt Champ 1 2-4 5, Justin Groshek 0 0-0 0, Damon Beckhorn 1 1-2 3. <strong>Totals 13 18-23 47.</strong></p><p><strong>NANTICOKE (45) &#8212;</strong> Ed Lukowski 0 1-3 1, Scott Stout 5 5-6 17, Brent Piontkowski 1 2-3 4, Luke Butczynski 6 5-7 19, Justin Casey 6 5-7 19, Ben Sersen 1 0-0 2, Cody Piestrak 0 0-0 0, Nate Kreitzer 0 0-0 0, Tyler Thomas 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 14 13-19 45.</strong></p><p><strong>Berwick`6`10`18`18`&#8212;`47</strong></p><p><strong>Nanticoke`7`13`12`13`&#8212;`45</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals &#8212;</strong> BER 3 (Marshman, Evans, Champ), NAN 4 (Stout 2, Butczynski 2).</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke Area's Luke Butczynski, right, drives the baseline past Berwick's Matthew Champ in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal in Wright Township on Thursday night.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Nanticoke Area's Luke Butczynski, right, drives the baseline past Berwick's Matthew Champ in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal in Wright Township on Thursday night.  Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Berwick&#8217;s Tyler Evans, center, passes out of the lane as Nanticoke players converge in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game in Wright Township on Thursday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Berwick&#8217;s Tyler Evans, center, passes out of the lane as Nanticoke players converge in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game in Wright Township on Thursday night. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke Area's Ed Lutkowski drives to the hoop against Berwick in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal in Wright Township on Thursday night.   Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Nanticoke Area's Ed Lutkowski drives to the hoop against Berwick in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal in Wright Township on Thursday night.   Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader</caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke&#8217;s Brent Piontkowski, right, drives to the basket against Berwick&#8217;s Jude Goodard and Tyler Evans in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game in Wright Township on Thursday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Nanticoke-Berwick_BoysBB_4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Nanticoke&#8217;s Brent Piontkowski, right, drives to the basket against Berwick&#8217;s Jude Goodard and Tyler Evans in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal game in Wright Township on Thursday night. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Berwick rallies from 10 down to defeat Nanticoke</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

The Dawgs have their day