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D2 basketball: Kowalski leads Abington Heights to repeat of girls 5A title

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Wilkes men’s basketball season ends in ECAC semifinal loss to Widener

<p>WILKES-BARRE TWP. &#8212; Those gold medals are shining a little brighter than last year.</p><p>Because this time, winning the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship means Hazleton Area will be playing in the state playoffs.</p><p>Hazleton Area saw a 22-point lead with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter dwindle to six as Scranton went on a late-game run to try to save its season. The Cougars, though, held on for a 61-51 win Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.</p><p>Hazleton Area (23-1) plays District 1 seventh seed Norristown in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs on March 10. Scranton ended its season at 16-8.</p><p>The Cougars won the inaugural D2-6A title last season, but it came after losing at the arena to District&#8217;s 4 Wiliamsport in the subregional title game. Their win against Delaware Valley a few days later at Wyoming Area Secondary Center gave them the District 2 crown but no state playoff spot, which went to Williamsport.</p><p>&#8220;It feels good,&#8221; Hazleton Area senior forward Josh Samec said. &#8220;It&#8217;s definitely redemption for last year, redemption for some of my friends who aren&#8217;t on the team anymore because they graduated. It definitely feels good to get this gold medal.&#8221;</p><p>Hazleton Area looked like it would cruise to victory when Jeff Planutis followed up his own miss for a 55-33 lead at 4:45 of the fourth for the Cougars&#8217; largest advantage of the game.</p><p>Abruptly, things changed after the teams exchanged baskets. Scranton, behind standout Ky&#8217;Ron Harbin, went on a 15-0 run to move within 57-51 with 43 seconds left. Hazleton Area finally cut off the Knights when Da&#8217;Mir Faison hit two free throws with 37.9 seconds left. Samec pushed the lead back to double digits with a few more free throws 11 seconds later.</p><p>&#8220;We had to hold them off at the end,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Mike Joseph said. &#8220;But when you&#8217;re playing against guys like Ky&#8217;Ron Harbin and Robbie McAndrew, we said in the locker room you have to play every second out.</p><p>&#8220;Fortunately, we held on. The fourth quarter wasn&#8217;t so pretty for us, but the first three quarters, I think we really set the tone.&#8221;</p><p>Hazleton Area played about as strong a first quarter as possible. The Cougars shot 50 percent from the field, hitting 8 of 16 shots. Four players &#8212; Faison, Samec, Jeff Planutis and Joe Grula &#8212; connected from 3-point range. They had no turnovers while forcing four. It added up to a 21-9 lead.</p><p>The momentum, though, didn&#8217;t carry over to the second quarter. After Grula opened the quarter with an inside basket, the offense went cold for over five minutes and didn&#8217;t connect from the field again until 1:11 when Grula scored inside.</p><p>The Cougars shot just 3 of 13 in the second eight minutes, yet entered halftime with a 29-17 lead. The reason &#8212; Scranton&#8217;s shooting wasn&#8217;t much better and its offense was top-heavy. Harbin had 12 of his team&#8217;s 17 points, including a monster dunk on a short drive to the basket. McAndrew had the other five points, and he and Harbin took all but four of the Knights&#8217; 19 shots.</p><p>Scranton made some minor dents into the deficit via the 3-point shot in the early part of the third quarter. Hazleton Area, though, was able to stop further damage and build it lead to 47-29 entering the fourth.</p><p>Harbin was as good as advertised, scoring 25 for Scranton. McAndrew added 17, but the rest of the squad contributed just eight.</p><p>Planutis led Hazleton Area with 17 followed by Grula and Faison with 13 each and Samec with 10.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>District 2 Class 6A Championship</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Hazleton Area 61, Scranton 51</strong></p><p><strong>SCRANTON (51) &#8212;</strong> Ky&#8217;Ron Harbin 11 1-3 25, Cameron Jordan 1 0-0 3, Isiah Montgomery 2 0-0 5, Robbie McAndrew 6 0-0 17, Marcus Bauman 0 1-2 1, Charles Brown 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 20 2-5 51.</strong></p><p><strong>HAZLETON AREA (61) &#8212;</strong> Josh Samec 3 2-2 10, Sparky Wolk 3 2-5 8, Jeff Planutis 7 2-5 17, Joe Grula 6 0-1 13, Da&#8217;Mir Faison 5 2-3 13, Scott Shamany 0 0-0 0, Andrew Vayda 0 0-0 0, Adrian Otero 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 24 8-16 61.</strong></p><p><strong>Scranton`9`8`12`22 &#8212; 51</strong></p><p><strong>Hazleton Area`21`8`18`14 &#8212; 61</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals &#8212;</strong> SCR 9 (Harbin 2, Jordan, Montgomery, McAndrew 5), HA 5 (Samec 2, Planutis, Grula, Faison).</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Josh Samec, left, looks to pass from the top of the key as Scranton&#8217;s Robbie McAndrew defends in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Josh Samec, left, looks to pass from the top of the key as Scranton&#8217;s Robbie McAndrew defends in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Da&#8217;Mir Faison, left, goes up for two points between Scranton defenders Cameron Jordan (2) and Marcus Bauman in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Da&#8217;Mir Faison, left, goes up for two points between Scranton defenders Cameron Jordan (2) and Marcus Bauman in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jeff Planutis attempts a reverse layup against Scranton in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_5.jpg</photo2><caption2>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jeff Planutis attempts a reverse layup against Scranton in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Joey Grula, center, comes down with a rebound ahead of Scranton&#8217;s Robbie McAndrew, left, and Marcus Bauman in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_2.jpg</photo3><caption3>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Joey Grula, center, comes down with a rebound ahead of Scranton&#8217;s Robbie McAndrew, left, and Marcus Bauman in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area point guard Ryan Wolk passes against the Scranton defense in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_4.jpg</photo4><caption4>Hazleton Area point guard Ryan Wolk passes against the Scranton defense in the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship game at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </caption4><photoCredit4>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area team captains Joey Grula, left, Jeff Planutis, and Josh Samec hold up the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship plaque after defeating Scranton 61-51 at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL030418HSBB-HazArea-Scranton_6.jpg</photo5><caption5>Hazleton Area team captains Joey Grula, left, Jeff Planutis, and Josh Samec hold up the District 2 Class 6A boys basketball championship plaque after defeating Scranton 61-51 at Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night. </caption5><photoCredit5>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>D2-6A title sends Cougars to state playoffs</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>

D2 basketball: Hazleton Area defeats Scranton to win 6A boys title