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Happy birthday Jude Armond Sargent!

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Colder temperatures, snow in the forecast this weekend

The Hazleton Area boys basketball team arrived at Mohegan Sun Arena a year later than it expected. A year later than many expected.Thanks to a quirk in last season&#8217;s District 2 seeding criteria, the Cougars had to face Abington Heights in the District 2 Class 4A playoffs in the semifinals rather than possibly in the championship. Abington Heights won the semifinal and had the honor of closing out the eight-game weekend as the district finals were played at the arena for the first time.Now, Hazleton Area will play the final game of the three-day, 12-game schedule. The Cougars get District 4&#8217;s Williamsport in the inaugural D2/4 Class 6A championship game at 8 p.m. Saturday.&#8220;It just didn&#8217;t work out,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Mike Joseph said. &#8220;The seeding worked out based on the criteria. I told my guys all the time it doesn&#8217;t matter who you are playing you have to win. You have to win a game. Unfortunately, we ended up playing Abington Heights last year and not having a great start to that game.&#8220;We had to fight back the entire game and it just didn&#8217;t happen, but we had six guys who played key roles last year and they made it happen.&#8221;Last season&#8217;s criteria seeded divisional champions higher than everyone else. Since Delaware Valley (10-12) won a Lackawanna League division last season and Abington Heights (20-2) didn&#8217;t, DelVal was seeded higher and Abington Heights ended up in the same bracket as top-seeded Hazleton Area (19-3).Three other Wyoming Valley Conference boys teams will also be playing at the arena &#8212; GAR, Holy Redeemer and MMI Prep. GAR (4A) and Holy Redeemer (3A) are locked into the state playoffs. Hazleton Area needs to win to advance. MMI Prep is playing the only other D2-A team, Susquehanna, and it&#8217;s the last game for both.D2/4 Class 6A ChampionshipHazleton Area (20-3) vs. Williamsport (19-4)8 p.m. SaturdayMohegan Sun ArenaHazleton Area brings plenty of size into the game with 6-foot-8 Nolan Genasevich, 6-7 Josh Samec and a trio of 6-4 guys in Da&#8217;Mir Faison, Joey Grula and Jeff Planutis. Williamsport only has one regular who measures up &#8212; 6-4 Stanley Scott.Advantage &#8212; even.&#8220;We are bigger,&#8221; Joseph said. &#8220;but they&#8217;re pretty quick and athletic, no doubt about it.&#8221;And the Millionaires can jump. Qayyim Ali, a 6-2 senior, won the PIAA state high jumping championship. Scott, a Division I recruit, and 6-2 senior Rondell Carson play bigger than listed. As for quickness, point guard Marcus Simmons made his mark in WVC football this past fall as a kick returner.The teams already played this season, with Hazleton Area winning 78-69 on Dec. 30. Faison scored 21 and Planutis added 20 in the victory. Scott scored 32.&#8220;The key to playing against them is you have to get off to a good start,&#8221; said Joseph, whose team led the previous matchup 42-29 at halftime. &#8220;You need to protect the basketball. And you have to prevent them from going on the big runs they&#8217;re capable of. That game saw a little bit of all of that happening.&#8221;The victory was part of an 18-game winning streak, the longest by Hazleton Area since Joseph&#8217;s first season as coach in 2006-07. The streak ended with a 56-55 loss to Meyers in a game where the Cougars led by 13 going into the fourth quarter.Williamsport has won 12 straight.Only the winner advances to the PIAA Class 6A state tournament and will play the District 1 seventh seed on Saturday, March 11, at a site and time to be determined. If Hazleton Area loses, it will play Delaware Valley for the D2-6A title on Monday at a site and time to be announced.D2 Class 4A ChampionshipGAR (18-6) vs. Scranton Prep (21-3)4 p.m. SaturdayMohegan Sun ArenaBefore the season started, Scranton Prep was penciled into the championship game. After all, the Cavaliers returned a slew of players who won the D2-3A crown a season earlier.Those plans were nearly erased by Nanticoke in the semifinals as Prep held on for a 72-66 double-overtime victory that took two days to complete. A leaky roof at Lackawanna College on Saturday forced the game to resume at nearby University of Scranton on Sunday.Even with the close call, veterans like Paddy Casey, Bailey Logan, Nick Dende and Wes Simmons make the Cavaliers the favorites against GAR. Then toss in 6-7 sophomore Leo O&#8217;Boyle and Prep can match up inside with GAR big men Keyshawn Palmer and Herman Suazo.&#8220;Our feeling is Prep is the team to beat. They are one of the best teams in the state,&#8221; GAR coach Jerry Altavilla said. &#8220;But we&#8217;re going to come out, we&#8217;re going to compete and see where it goes from there.&#8221;GAR fell short of playing for a district title last season and with four of its top six players graduating there was some uncertainty how good this version of the Grenadiers would be. They ran into a rough patch late, with consecutive losses to Wyoming Area and Meyers costing the WVC Division 2 championship.The Grenadiers, led by dazzling ballhandler Will Johnson, bounced back in the playoffs and bumped off rival Meyers in the semifinals.&#8220;From the beginning of the year, we&#8217;ve talked about this,&#8221; said Altavilla, whose team lost in the D2-3A third-place game last year. &#8220;Really, after that disappointing ending last year it was our goal to get here.&#8221;Both teams will play in the PIAA Class 4A playoffs on Saturday, March 11. The winner plays the District 11 third seed. The loser gets the District 4 runner-up.D2 Class 3A ChampionshipHoly Redeemer (16-8) vs. Mid Valley (22-2)8 p.m. ThursdayMohegan Sun ArenaAs painful as that Feb. 4 game was for Holy Redeemer &#8212; it gave up 37 fourth-quarter points in a 78-77 loss to Trinity &#8212; it was also part of a watershed moment for the Royals.&#8220;A specific game, I don&#8217;t know,&#8221; Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. &#8220;But right before we went down to play Trinity, myself and my coaches started to see things starting to click a little better in practice. That started to relate to the court a little better as far as chemistry and roles and substitution patterns and minutes. Things like that.&#8221;The Royals showed as much in a 60-34 semifinal victory over Dunmore, a team Mid Valley squeezed by twice. The big guys, the mid-sized guys and the smaller guys all contributed.The smaller guys &#8212; guards Joey Judge, James Kosik and Jason Stachokus &#8212; will be at the forefront against Mid Valley. The Spartans don&#8217;t have the size to match up with Redeemer. They do have an abundance of quickness.R.J. Gouldsburg, Brad Kalnowski and Noah Tanner all average in double figures for Mid Valley. They do so by beating opponents off the dribble.&#8220;Our guards are quick,&#8221; Guido said. &#8220;I just think their guards are like very, very quick. It&#8217;s the difference between quick and very quick. Our guys aren&#8217;t slouches and we&#8217;ve gone against teams that like to go fast like Meyers and GAR. Different teams like that who want to fly around and push the ball up and down. We&#8217;ve seen it before.&#8221;Both teams will play in the PIAA Class 3A state tournament on Friday, March 10. The winner gets the fourth seed out of District 12. The loser gets the District 4 runner-up.D2 Class A ChampionshipMMI Prep (5-17) vs. Susquehanna (8-15)2 p.m. FridayMohegan Sun ArenaDistrict 2 likes to have championships won on the playing field whenever possible. That goes for every sport. So MMI Prep and Susquehanna &#8212; the only Class A teams in the district &#8212; get to play for the title and that&#8217;s it. The season ends for both here.Susquehanna did qualify for a subregional with District 11, but the Sabers were bumped off in the first round. Their top scorers are senior Tyler Williams and sophomore Mason Deakin. There&#8217;s not much size on the roster, and that could be a problem against MMI.The Preppers struggled scoring throughout the season as senior guard Kyle Williams was the only player who logged significant minutes last season. They do have one of the more promising freshman in the WVC in 6-foot-7 Philip Byriel, who leads the team with a 12.8 scoring average.<ins>For other boys basketball stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/sports" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Workers assemble the basketball court at Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday in preparation for 12 District 2 championship games over the weekend. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_IMG_1792.jpg</photo0><caption0>Workers assemble the basketball court at Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday in preparation for 12 District 2 championship games over the weekend. </caption0><photoCredit0>John Erzar | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>DISTRICT 2 BASKETBALL AT MOHEGAN SUN ARENAAdmission: $7 adults; $4 studentsTHURSDAYGirls A ChampionshipForest City vs. Susquehanna, 4 p.m.Girls 4A ChampionshipNanticoke vs. Berwick, 6 p.m.Boys 3A ChampionshipHoly Redeemer vs. Mid Valley, 8 p.m.FRIDAYBoys A ChampionshipMMI Prep vs. Susquehanna, 2 p.m.Girls 2A ChampionshipOld Forge vs. Elk Lake, 4 p.m.Girls 6A ChampionshipHazleton Area vs. Scranton, 6 p.m.Boys 5A ChampionshipAbington Hts. vs. West Scranton, 8 p.m.SATURDAYGirls 3A ChampionshipHoly Redeemer vs. Dunmore, noonBoys 2A ChampionshipHoly Cross vs. Mountain View, 2 p.m.Boys 4A ChampionshipGAR vs. Scranton Prep, 4 p.m.Girls 5A ChampionshipWyo. Val. West vs. Abington Heights, 6 p.m.Boys 6A ChampionshipHazleton Area vs. Williamsport, 8 p.m.</factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

Pieces fall into place for WVC boys basketball title hopefuls