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Local NAACP celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day, installs officers

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Judge grants prosecutors their own evaluation of inmate charged with killing local guard

<p>Late three-pointers. Overtime surges. Missing starters. And just some plain bad luck.</p><p>It&#8217;s still early in the Freedom Conference season, but the league&#8217;s three Luzerne Country men&#8217;s squads have seen all of it in the past week alone. King&#8217;s, Wilkes and Misericordia have each dropped two in a row in conference play.</p><p>Saturday&#8217;s slate won&#8217;t be easy. Wilkes hosts high-scoring Eastern, which erased a five-point lead in the final seconds of regulation before beating Misericordia in overtime.</p><p>The Cougars will try to shake that off &#8212; a game in which leading scorer Jason Kenny and senior center James Hawk did not play &#8212; when they play defending Freedom champion Delaware Valley at the Anderson Center.</p><p>King&#8217;s, meanwhile, has to make the longest road trip of the conference slate, headed out to Manhattanville.</p><p><strong>KING&#8217;S</strong></p><p>After using the same starting five for the first 11 games of the season, the Monarchs have been tinkering with some different lineups.</p><p>One constant has been new point guard Connor Callejas, a Holy Cross grad who played at Marywood before joining King&#8217;s this season.</p><p>Callejas is second on the team in scoring at 13.8 points per game and leads the team in made three-pointers with 65, hitting at an impressive 46 percent.</p><p>After the first month of the season, coaches asked him to be more assertive on offense when the team took its holiday trip to Daytona Beach. And the results have shown.</p><p>&#8220;Early in the season he came in and I think he was so worried about being a point guard and trying to get everybody involved,&#8221; Monarchs coach J.P. Andrejko said. &#8220;And then we started talking to him about looking for his own. When we were down in Florida, we had a discussion &#8212; that&#8217;s when it started.</p><p>&#8220;I said, &#8216;Listen you need to be more aggressive. You need to start looking for your own offense a little bit. You can score.&#8217; And since we&#8217;ve been home, it&#8217;s been great.&#8221;</p><p>Both the men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s teams will be looking for their first league win out at Manhattanville. The Lady Monarchs have had big contributions from WVC alums as Olivia Hoffman (Wyoming Valley West) is tied for third in the nation with 54 blocks and freshman Rebecca Prociak (Holy Redeemer) leads the team at 12.7 points per game.</p><p><strong>WILKES</strong></p><p>With starter Tommy Bowen out of the lineup, the Colonels have been looking for some support behind leading scorers Marcus Robinson and Connor Evans.</p><p>Freshman Mark Mullins, brother of former Colonels guard Matt, stepped up in Wednesday&#8217;s loss to Delaware Valley, recording his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.</p><p>&#8220;He needs to play because we&#8217;re shorthanded,&#8221; Wilkes coach Izzi Metz said. &#8220;The matchup was good for Mark (against the Aggies) and I felt like I needed him in there. He goes after the ball and does a lot of good things.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s gotta get better defensively, but he&#8217;s a freshman. Fifteen points and 12 rebounds tells me he&#8217;s competing. He&#8217;s got a bright future in our program.&#8221;</p><p>Like neighboring King&#8217;s, Wilkes&#8217; top scorer on the women&#8217;s side so far has been a freshman from the WVC. Nanticoke&#8217;s Gianna Roberts is averaging 8.6 points per game while adding 4.8 rebounds.</p><p><strong>MISERICORDIA</strong></p><p>When the Cougars opened conference play against Manhattanville at the start of the new year, there was a familiar face on the other bench.</p><p>Former Misericordia standout guard Joe Busacca is in his first season as an assistant for the Valiants. He got to make his Freedom Conference debut as a coach at the Anderson Center, the place where he led the Cougars to a league title as a senior just two years earlier.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m proud. I&#8217;m proud of him,&#8221; said Misericordia&#8217;s Willie Chandler, who was an assistant coach during Busacca&#8217;s playing career before getting the head job last season. &#8220;Me and Joe talk mostly every day. He&#8217;s doing a great job. Talking to (Valiants head coach Pat Scanlon), he&#8217;s so happy with Joe. Joe&#8217;s nothing but great, and I knew he would be.&#8221;</p><p>Because he&#8217;s so recently removed from his Misericordia days, Busacca actually got to greet some former teammates at midcourt during the starting lineup introductions. Hawk and Griffin Sponaugle, both starters themselves on that 2014-15 title team, had big grins on their faces as they went to shake his hand.</p><p>&#8220;Yeah, that&#8217;s gotta be a little weird to see Hawk and Griff, but it&#8217;s cool,&#8221; Chandler said. &#8220;I told him, &#8216;I&#8217;m gonna root for you all year, Joe &#8212; except for two games.&#8217; &#8220;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wilkes freshman Mark Mullins gave the Colonels a boost on Wednesday with his first career double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds). </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_wilkesdelval03-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wilkes freshman Mark Mullins gave the Colonels a boost on Wednesday with his first career double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds). </caption0><photoCredit0>Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Derek Levarse</p><p>dlevarse@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>UP NEXT</strong></p><p>Saturday&#8217;s games</p><p>&#8226; Eastern at Wilkes</p><p>&#8226; Delaware Valley at Misericordia</p><p>&#8226; King&#8217;s at Manhattanville</p><p>Women: 1 p.m.</p><p>Men: 3 p.m.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Derek Levarse at 570-991-6396 or on Twitter @TLdlevarse</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Hoops teams look to end Freedom Conference skids