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2016 Times Leader Boys Basketball All-Stars

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Holy Redeemer’s Rebecca Prociak earns Times Leader Player of the Year by ruling the paint to near perfection

<p>Ask Hazleton Area&#8217;s Bobby Planutis who&#8217;s the hardest worker on the basketball team, and his answer is himself.</p><p>&#8220;I would probably say that was true,&#8221; Planutis said. &#8220;I&#8217;m always at the Y. Me and Isaiah Santiago go to the Y before school. I go there with (MMI Prep coach) Joe Flanagan. I&#8217;m always at the Y.&#8221;</p><p>If that sounds boastful, it&#8217;s not. Whenever Hazleton Area coach Mike Joseph talks about Planutis, he mentions just how hard his 6-foot-6 senior wing player worked to hone his basketball skills.</p><p>That dedication, along with an outstanding season, made Planutis the Times Leader Player of the Year in Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball. He finished his career with over 900 points and 300 rebounds despite only breaking the starting lineup as a junior at the WVC&#8217;s largest school.</p><p>In 23 games this season, he led Hazleton Area in scoring with a 20.0 average and rebounds with 5.6 per game. He led the starters by shooting 59 percent from the field and tied for the lead in 3-pointers with 23. He shot 79 percent from the foul line, second best among the regulars.</p><p>It would have been easy for Planutis to rest on his natural athletic abilities. His father, Shane, starred at West Hazleton High School and Bloomsburg University in basketball. His mother, Michele, was a track athlete. So the bloodlines are in place.</p><p>Planutis could have also taken an offer from a Division II college to continue playing, but he has bigger plans. He wants to play at the Division I level. So he is going to prep school for a year &#8212; likely at either Bridgton Academy in Maine or IMG Academy in Florida. Both schools are among the best in the nation for high school graduates seeking exposure to Division I programs.</p><p>Brown, Dartmouth, Davidson, Lafayette and Lehigh are among the Division I school which have shown interest in him.</p><p>&#8220;Some Division I schools were like, &#8216;You can come walk on, but we&#8217;re not going to give you a scholarship,&#8217;&#8221; Planutis said. &#8220;Some said, &#8216;(Add) 10 pounds, 15 pounds and we&#8217;ll give you a full ride.&#8217; Like Patriot League and Ivy League schools. I saw a lot of low to mid-major interest. But they said, &#8216;Develop your body a little more and we&#8217;ll offer you a scholarship.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Planutis is listed at 175 pounds, so some added muscle will certainly be needed in college. As for his ball handling, he does it at a pretty high level right now. That came from having teammates bigger than him like Abington Heights&#8217; Seth Maxwell and Timmy Toro.</p><p>&#8220;I mean, I can get better at everything,&#8221; Planutis said. &#8220;But I would probably say becoming more of a guard. In AAU, I&#8217;m more of a guard because I play with kids like Seth and Timmy from Abington, who are like 6-9 and 6-11. I get to play only guard, and at the next level I&#8217;ll be a guard.</p><p>&#8220;In high school, you don&#8217;t have 7-footers on your team. You have to play bigger than you are.&#8221;</p><p>Basketball started at an early age for Planutis. He played Little League and described himself as an &#8220;all right&#8221; baseball player. But basketball was going to be his sport.</p><p>He had built in competition in his Hazle Township neighborhood. Sal and Dante Biasi and Chris Panzarella &#8212; all of whom played for Hazleton Area at one time &#8212; live on the same street. Oddly, those three are Division I baseball players. Sal plays for Penn State and will be joined by Dante when he graduates in June. Panzarella is at Delaware State.</p><p>Plus, brothers Shane and Jeffrey, high school teammate this season, live in the same house.</p><p>&#8220;It was good,&#8221; Planutis said. &#8220;There were always games being played. There was never not enough kids because the Biasis live right down the street and Chris Panzarella lives right up the street. So there was always games as a kid.&#8221;</p><p>And unlike those neighborhood kids he grew up with, there will be more as an adult for Planutis.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Bobby Planutis was selected at the Times Leader Player of the Year in boys basketball. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_TTL033016Bobby-Planutis.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Bobby Planutis was selected at the Times Leader Player of the Year in boys basketball. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_wvwhazleton01.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Bobby Planutis dunks the basketball over Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Amistad Hackett during a game this season. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/web1_wvwhazleton01.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Bobby Planutis dunks the basketball over Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Amistad Hackett during a game this season. </caption1><photoCredit1>Pete G. Wilcox | Times Leader file photo </photoCredit1></div></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>

Basketball is a way of life for Times Leader Boys Basketball Player of the Year BobbyPlanutis