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LCCC swears in new trustees

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Defensive effort fuels Misericordia hoops past Wilkes in conference semifinals

EXETER &#8212; The Krupinski brothers had a friendly argument this season. Freshman Jake said he&#8217;s the better basketball player. Junior Trahjan, as expected, offered a rebuttal.There was no doubt who was better Wednesday night.With Trahjan out with an ankle injury, Jake Krupinski hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left as Nanticoke Area escaped with a 50-48 victory over Meyers in a District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area Secondary Center.Second-seeded Nanticoke Area (19-4) will play third-seeded Valley View (15-8) on Saturday in a semifinal game at a site and time to be determined. Seventh-seeded Meyers ended its season at 11-12.Krupinski&#8217;s three, his fourth of the game, capped a rally from four points down with 45 seconds left. Nate Kreitzer cut the deficit to 48-47 with 28.8 seconds remaining when he was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit all three free throws. Krupinski then grabbed a rebound in the defensive end, setting up his game-winner.&#8220;Time was running down and our best shooter (Kreitzer) wasn&#8217;t open and I knew I was feeling it this game,&#8221; said Krupinski, who finished with 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting. &#8220;So I just let it rip like every other game and it went in.&#8221;Meyers had a chance to tie the game with 2.5 seconds left. But after missing the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw opportunity, Meyers guard Jawane Buckner had to fight for a rebound on the left side and could only manage a desperation shot at the buzzer.On Feb. 3, Nanticoke Area defeated Meyers 57-37 with Trahjan Krupinski scoring 17 points. But without their big man, the Trojans adjusted by inserting freshman guard Luke Myers into the lineup and having starting guard Dylan Szychowski drift more inside.&#8220;They&#8217;re definitely not a seventh-seed caliber team,&#8221; Nanticoke Area coach John Beggs said of Meyers. &#8220;They play such a tough schedule that their ranking slipped a little bit. But it was a great high school basketball game. Coach (Pat) Toole is a great friend of mine. It&#8217;s a shame anybody had to lose, but we&#8217;re glad we&#8217;re marching on.&#8221;Meyers entered the season with just one returning starter &#8212; Buckner, who was the Times Leader Player of the Year last season. Buckner, a senior, carried the Mohawks through the fourth quarter with 12 of his team&#8217;s 17 points. But a couple defensive breakdowns proved costly in the period.The most noticeable was when the Mohawks lost track of Kreitzer, Nanticoke Area&#8217;s 3-point ace, on an inbound play in the fourth quarter. The result was a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. Another was fouling Kreitzer on a 3-point attempt, putting the 84-percent free-throw shooting guard on the line as part of the last-minute rally.&#8220;Too many mental mistakes,&#8221; Toole said. &#8220;Defensively, we lost Kreitzer on an out-of-bounds play. That&#8217;s inexcusable. Two or three times, confusion and lack of communication resulted in easy layups for them.&#8221;Kreitzer, the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 MVP, finished with 21 points after being held scoreless in the first quarter. Colby Butczynski added 10. Buckner had 16 points and Kendall Brewster added 15 for Meyers.Northwest 52, Lackawanna Trail 43Sam Saxe scored 18 points and Matt Saxe added 11 as the Rangers rolled past Trail and into the District 2 Class 2A semifinals.Northwest will face Elk Lake, a 54-47 winner over Forest City in another quarterfinal, on Saturday.Sam Saxe hit three of his four 3-point field goals in the first half, helping the Rangers edge to a 23-20 halftime lead.Zach Cost led Trail with 12 points, while Shawn Jones finished with 12 for the Lions.Wyoming Area 44, Hanover Area 43Aaron Zezza went coast-to-coast off a rebounded free throw miss for the layup and winning basket with 3.2 seconds left as Wyoming Area advanced to the District 2 Class 4A semifinals. The Warriors will play top-seeded Scranton Prep.Zezza then broke up the pass on Hanover Area&#8217;s in-bounds play coming out of a timeout with 2.5 seconds left.Scranton Prep 69, GAR 43 Top-seeded Scranton Prep pulled away in the second half to end GAR&#8217;s season in the District 2 Class 4A quarterfinals.Will Johnson paced GAR with 17 points. Leo O&#8217;Boyle led Prep with 35.Valley View 47, Tunkhannock 38 Tunkhannock had its season end with a loss to Valley View in a District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game.Tyler Faux scored 15 to pace Tunkhannock, which finished the year at 13-10. Sean Harder added 10.Valley View (15-8) will play Nanticoke Area in the semifinals on Saturday.District 2 Class 4A QuarterfinalsNanticoke Area 50, Meyers 48MEYERS (48) &#8212; Kendall Brewster 4 4-5 15, Keegan Brewster 0 0-0 0, Cole Walker 3 1-2 8, Jawane Buckner 5 5-6 16, Najese Hood 3 1-3 7, Blake Masker 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 11-16 48.NANTICOKE (50) &#8212; Nate Kreitzer 6 7-8 21, Colby Butczynski 3 4-6 10, Jake Krupinski 5 0-0 14, Dylan Szychowski 0 0-0 0, Luke Myers 1 2-3 5, Andy Kozlofski 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 13-17 50.Meyers`10`9`12`17 &#8212; 48Nanticoke`9`9`12`20 &#8212; 50Three-point goals &#8212; MEY 5 (Kendall Brewster 3, Walker, Buckner), NAN 7 (Kreitzer 2, Krupinski 4, Myers).District 2 Class 4A QuarterfinalsWyoming Area 44, Hanover Area 43HANOVER AREA (43) &#8212; Desmond Cannon 3 0-0 7, Mike Piscotty 2 2-2 7, Siheem Wright 0 0-0 0, Asad Whitehead 5 4-6 14, Tyler Thomas 2 3-7 7, Devin Senk 0 0-0 0, Evan Materna 3 0-0 8. Totals 15 9-15 43.WYOMING AREA (44) &#8212; Justin Alder 0 0-0 0, Dylan Melberger 1 0-0 3, Aaron Zezza 5 0-1 11, Kyre Zielinski 5 1-1 11, Sam Greenfield 6 2-2 15, Matt Wright 2 0-0 4, Dominic Deluca 0 0-0 0.Totals 19 3-4 44.Hanover Area`11`9`5`18 &#8212; 43Wyoming Area`5`7`13`19 &#8212; 44Three-point goals &#8212; HA 4 (Cannon, Piscotty, Materna 2), WA 3 (Melberger, Zezza, Greenfield).District 2 Class 2A QuarterfinalsNorthwest 52, Lackawanna Trail 43NORTHWEST (52) &#8212; Tyler Stevens 2 1-2 7, Sam Saxe 6 2-3 18, Matt Saxe 3 5-9 11, Jaxson Yaple 3 0-1 7, Bryce Koser 2 2-2 6, Walker Yaple 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 10-17 52.LACK TRAIL (43) &#8212; Nico Berrios 0 0-0 0, Griffin Holmes 3 2-3 8, Richard Helbing 0 2-2 2, Zach Stec 1 2-2 4, Josh Rzucidio 2 0-1 4, Zach Cost 6 1-3 13, Shawn Jones 6 0-0 12. Totals 18 7-11 43.Northwest`13`10`8`21 &#8212; 52Lack. Trail`9`4`15`15 &#8212; 43Three-point goals &#8212;NWT 8 (Stevens 2, S.Saxe 4, J.Yaple, W.Yaple).<style>
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<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Colby Butczynski looks to shoot while guarded by Meyers&#8217; Blake Masker during Wednesday&#8217;s District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area Secondary Center. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022218BBBMeyersNanticoke1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Colby Butczynski looks to shoot while guarded by Meyers&#8217; Blake Masker during Wednesday&#8217;s District 2 Class 4A quarterfinal game at Wyoming Area Secondary Center. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022218BBBMeyersNanticoke3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Colby Butczynski breaks through Meyers&#8217; Najese Hood (42) and Juwane Buckner (13). </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022218BBBMeyersNanticoke3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Colby Butczynski breaks through Meyers&#8217; Najese Hood (42) and Juwane Buckner (13). </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022218BBBMeyersNanticoke2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Jake Krupinski drives to the basket against Meyers&#8217; Najese Hood. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_TTL022218BBBMeyersNanticoke2.jpg</photo2><caption2>Nanticoke Area&#8217;s Jake Krupinski drives to the basket against Meyers&#8217; Najese Hood. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

D2 boys basketball: Jake Krupinski’s three-pointer gives Nanticoke win over Meyers