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Abington Heights downs Hazleton Area in District 2-4 Class 4A boys basketball semis

All 14 Wyoming Seminary wrestlers reach semis at Pennsylvania Independent Schools Wrestling Tournament

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Impossible. It was just impossible for the situation to get any worse for Holy Redeemer in the second half Friday.</p><p>But it did. It became really, really bad and Meyers&#8217; defense was a big reason.</p><p>Meyers held Redeemer to its worst offensive performance in its nine-season history, defeating the Royals 42-17 in a District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wilkes University.</p><p>Yes, 42-17. By comparison, when the teams played football this season Meyers won 48-13.</p><p>Top-seeded Meyers, which had a streak of four consecutive state appearances end in the district quarterfinals last season, improved to 16-5.</p><p>&#8220;That just made us want to win,&#8221; Meyers guard Omar Kelly said of last season&#8217;s quarterfinal loss to Mid Valley. &#8220;It made us hungry. It feels good to win.&#8221;</p><p>The Mohawks will play 12th-seeded Riverside, which defeated No. 4 and defending champion Mid Valley 56-42, on Monday in the semifinals at a site and time to be announced.</p><p>Eighth-seeded Redeemer ended its season at 13-11.</p><p>&#8220;I just said to my guys in (the locker room), part of the credit is to Meyers,&#8221; Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. &#8220;Their defense is very tough. And some of it was on us, though. We knew they were going to come at us man-to-man. We knew they were going to smother Jason Stachokus. He had a great game against them last time.&#8221;</p><p>Just a week ago, Meyers defeated Redeemer 58-49 in the Wyoming Valley Conference finale for both teams. Meyers led comfortably until Redeemer made a push behind seven 3-pointers by Stachokus. Stachokus was held scoreless and the Royals had just two 3-pointers.</p><p>&#8220;We went up 40-20 against them,&#8221; Meyers coach Pat Toole recalled, &#8220;and then we didn&#8217;t play defense and let them back into the game and got a scare. That got our kids&#8217; attention. We worked really hard against Stachokus to not give him any good looks. We fronted (center John) Carr and had some pretty good help in the post.</p><p>&#8220;To hold them to that number was a heck of a job.&#8221;</p><p>Perhaps an omen for Redeemer occurred midway through the first quarter. As Joey Judge&#8217;s 3-pointer was falling through the rim, the scoreboard went to all zeros. The malfunction was corrected after a few minutes, but the Royals&#8217; offense wasn&#8217;t. They scored just seven more points in the half after Judge&#8217;s bucket as Meyers took a 19-12 lead into the locker room.</p><p>Then came Redeemer&#8217;s second half, which was about as ugly as it could be. The Royals shot 2 of 20 from the field, scoring just five points. Sal Aiello opened the third quarter with an outside jumper and the offense wasn&#8217;t heard from again &#8212; except for a free throw &#8212; until Carr scored inside with 43 seconds left in the game.</p><p>&#8220;When we get a good shot and it doesn&#8217;t go in, it frustrates our guys,&#8221; Guido said. &#8220;It gets them to speed up a little bit and then they try to make that next play. I love that in my guys, but we have to do it at the right time and the right sequence.&#8221;</p><p>Redeemer was still within striking distance with under three minutes left in the third quarter, trailing 22-15. Meyers, though, ended the quarter with nine straight points highlighted by Ryan Gillgallon&#8217;s buzzer-beating rebound basket. The Mohawks then scored nine more to start the fourth extending their run to 18-0.</p><p>Gilgallon finished with 14 for Meyers, which throughout the season has had different guys lead the scoring. Juwane Buckner added seven.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Meyers 42, Holy Redeemer 17</strong></p><p><strong>HOLY REDEEMER (17) &#8212;</strong> Jason Stachokus 0 0-0 0, Joey Judge 1 0-0 3, Zach Brennan 1 0-0 2, Sal Aiello 2 0-0 5, John Carr 3 1-2 7, James Kosik 0 0-0 0, Andrew Khoudary 0 0-0 0, Joe Layou 0 0-0 0, Luke Nealon 0 0-0 0, Drew Casper 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 7 1-2 17.</strong></p><p><strong>MEYERS (42) &#8212;</strong> Omar Kelly 1 1-2 4, Matt Dessoye 0 6-6 6, Raheem Twyman 1 1-2 3, Ryan Gilgallon 5 3-4 14, Ryan Wasley 2 0-2 4, Juwane Buckner 2 1-2 7, Levaugn Soules 2 0-2 4, Simran Mangat 0 0-0 0, Khalil Saunders 0 0-0 0.<strong> Totals 13 12-20 42.</strong></p><p><strong>Holy Redeemer`5`7`3`2`&#8212;`17</strong></p><p><strong>Meyers`11`8`12`11`&#8212;`42</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals &#8212;</strong> HR 2 (Judge, Aiello), MEY 4 (Kelly, Gilgallon, Buckner 2).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Meyers&#8217; Raheem Twyman (32) goes above the rim for a layup against Holy Redeemer at the District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wilkes University. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Meyers-Holy-Redeemer-BBB-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Meyers&#8217; Raheem Twyman (32) goes above the rim for a layup against Holy Redeemer at the District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wilkes University. </caption0><photoCredit0>Tony Callaio | for Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Meyers-Holy-Redeemer-BBB-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meyers&#8217; Matt Dessoye (10) attempts to drive the baseline as Holy Redeemer&#8217;s James Kosick defends during the District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wilkes University on Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Meyers-Holy-Redeemer-BBB-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Meyers&#8217; Matt Dessoye (10) attempts to drive the baseline as Holy Redeemer&#8217;s James Kosick defends during the District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wilkes University on Friday night. </caption1><photoCredit1>Tony Callaio | for Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Meyers-Holy-Redeemer-BBB-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer center John Carr (45) attempts to block Meyers&#8217; Raheem Twyman (32) at the District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wilkes University on Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Meyers-Holy-Redeemer-BBB-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Holy Redeemer center John Carr (45) attempts to block Meyers&#8217; Raheem Twyman (32) at the District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal game at Wilkes University on Friday night. </caption2><photoCredit2>Tony Callaio | for Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Meyers-Holy-Redeemer-BBB-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Jason Stachokus (3) splits Meyers&#8217; Omar Kelly (3) and Juwane Buckner (13) on his way to the bucket. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_Meyers-Holy-Redeemer-BBB-4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Jason Stachokus (3) splits Meyers&#8217; Omar Kelly (3) and Juwane Buckner (13) on his way to the bucket. </caption3><photoCredit3>Tony Callaio | for Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Mohawks hold Redeemer to 17 points in D2-2A playoff game</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>

Meyers holds Redeemer to 17 points in District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal