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Batch of 39 Luzerne County repository purchases up for council approval

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Hazleton chief nabs burglary suspects

<p>BETHLEHEM &#8212; That mid fourth-quarter run to boost the lead to six. Jeff Planutis&#8217; dunk with just under two minutes remaining to send the capacity crowd of over 2,500 &#8212; except for about 100 or so rooting for the opponent &#8212; into a frenzy.</p><p>Every passing second of the fourth quarter seemed to get the Hazleton Area Cougars closer to their dream of playing for the state championship.</p><p>Lincoln, though, turned Saturday afternoon at Bethlehem Freedom High School into a nightmare.</p><p>The Railsplitters rallied to force overtime, then ended Hazleton Area&#8217;s title hopes with a 76-74 victory in the PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinals.</p><p>District 2 champion Hazleton Area finished its season at 26-2. Three seniors who were instrumental in the success concluded their careers in Cougar uniforms. Jeff Planutis finished with a game-high 25 points. Joe Grula had a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Josh Samec had 14 points and five boards.</p><p>Junior Da&#8217;Mir Faison also had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re a good team so we had to take it possession by possession,&#8221; Faison said. &#8220;Mistakes, missed opportunities, things we couldn&#8217;t do that we wish we could have done differently. I wish I could go back in time to change a lot of things.&#8221;</p><p>D12 champion Lincoln (25-6) will play D12 runner-up Roman Catholic (23-6) for the 6A state title 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Giant Center in Hershey. Roman Catholic won its semifinals also in overtime, 81-73, against D2 runner-up Pine-Richland.</p><p>&#8220;I thought we did a lot of good things,&#8221; said Hazleton Area coach Mike Joseph, who was trying to get the program to the state title game for the first time since 1993. &#8220;They were just one possession better.&#8221;</p><p>That one possession could have come anywhere &#8212; after Hazleton Area upped its lead to 64-58 with 3:11 left in the fourth or after Planutis&#8217; dunk appeared to cut off a Lincoln rally attempt. The most notable, though, came on the final two possessions of the game.</p><p>After Samec hit a 3-pointer with 1:16 left in overtime for a 74-74 tie, the Railsplitters put the ball in the hands of Khalif Meares, who was selected the Philadelphia Public League Liberty Division&#8217;s top player by philly.com. The 6-foot-4 point guard poked and prodded the Hazleton Area defense, looking for a way to the hoop. He finally found a slight crease to lay in a drive with 10 seconds remaining for a 76-74 lead.</p><p>&#8220;I knew I had to take my time and not rush it,&#8221; said Meares, who finished with a team-high 23 points. &#8220;I was just thinking win the game. I kept pulling it in and out until the final seconds and went for it.&#8221;</p><p>Hazleton Area got one final crack at winning or forcing another four-minute overtime period. Point guard Sparky Wolk took the inbound pass and dribbled to midcourt where he fired a pass to Samec on the right wing. As the 6-foot-8 Samec was about to shoot, Lincoln 6-foot-7 junior Aseem Lucky forced him to adjust and an off-balanced jumper clanged off the rim.</p><p>&#8220;We had a play set up. That&#8217;s just how it ended up,&#8221; Samec said. &#8220;We were suppose to have two people spotting up and the ball just came to me. That was a tough shot to make over him. He&#8217;s big guy and I had two people on me. But we gave it our best.&#8221;</p><p>Lincoln shocked Hazleton Area out of the gates, scoring the game&#8217;s initial six points before the Cougars settled in and went on a run for a 22-16 advantage entering the second quarter. The Cougars later took the biggest lead either team had &#8212; 32-24 at 4:56 of the second &#8212; on a steal and dunk by Planutis. The game was tied 12 times from that point forward.</p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>The last time a Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball team played for a state championship was in 2005 when now-closed Bishop O&#8217;Reilly won the Class A title. O&#8217;Reilly was also the last District 2 team to win a state title. &#8230; D2-2A champion Holy Cross saw its season end with a 69-64 loss to D12 runner-up Constitution in the second game at Freedom. &#8230; District 2 will have a team in a state championship game for the first time since 2013 when D2-5A champ Abington Heights plays D7 champ Mars at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Giant Center in Hershey.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>PIAA Class 6A Semifinals</strong></p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Lincoln 76, Hazleton Area 74 OT</strong></p><p><strong>LINCOLN (76) &#8212;</strong> Khalif Meares 5 11-13 23, Shikier Morrison 6 4-10 16, Emeuel Charleston 3 0-0 8, Tyree Corbett 4 0-2 8, Jahi Randall 3 0-0 6, Sanhei Day 4 0-0 8, Aseem Lucky 3 1-2 7, Paul Lewis 0 0-0 0, Pedro Matos 0 0-0 0, Patrick Obogo 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 28 16-27 76.</strong></p><p><strong>HAZLETON AREA (74) &#8212;</strong> Josh Samec 5 1-2 14, Sparky Wolk 0 0-0 0, Jeff Planutis 11 3-4 25, Joe Grula 5 8-14 18, Da&#8217;Mir Faison 3 11-14 17, Scott Shamany 0 0-0 0, Adrian Otero 0 0-0 0, Andrew Vayda 0 0-0 0. <strong>Totals 24 23-34 74.</strong></p><p><strong>Lincoln`16`21`16`16`7 &#8212; 76</strong></p><p><strong>Hazleton Area`22`15`14`18`5 &#8212; 74</strong></p><p><strong>Three-point goals &#8212;</strong> LIN 2 (Charleston), HA 3 (Samec 3).</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Josh Samec puts up a 3-pointer over Lincoln&#8217;s Khalif Meares in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_8.jpg</photo0><caption0>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Josh Samec puts up a 3-pointer over Lincoln&#8217;s Khalif Meares in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </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_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_9.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Da&#8217;Mir Faison drives the baseline ahead of Lincoln&#8217;s Jahi Randall in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_9.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Da&#8217;Mir Faison drives the baseline ahead of Lincoln&#8217;s Jahi Randall in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </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_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area point guard Sparky Wolk breaks through a Lincoln double-team in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_4.jpg</photo2><caption2>Hazleton Area point guard Sparky Wolk breaks through a Lincoln double-team in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </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_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Joey Grula looks to put up a shot in the lane as Lincoln players converge in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_5.jpg</photo3><caption3>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Joey Grula looks to put up a shot in the lane as Lincoln players converge in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </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_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The vocal Hazleton Area student section cheers on the Cougars against Lincoln in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_6.jpg</photo4><caption4>The vocal Hazleton Area student section cheers on the Cougars against Lincoln in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </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_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_7.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Adrian Otero drives on Lincoln&#8217;s Sanhei Day in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032518HSBB-HazArea-Lincoln_7.jpg</photo5><caption5>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Adrian Otero drives on Lincoln&#8217;s Sanhei Day in a PIAA Class 6A boys basketball semifinal at Bethlehem Freedom High School on Saturday. </caption5><photoCredit5>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Cougars fall in overtime in 6A semifinals</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By John Erzar</p><p>jerzar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Battle of the Valley set for Monday</strong></p><p>The Battle of the Valley senior all-star basketball games will take place on Monday at Wilkes University. The games will feature the top seniors from the Wyoming Valley Conference against their counterparts from the Lackawanna League.</p><p>The girls game starts at 6:30 p.m. The boys game follows at 8 p.m.</p><p>Proceeds benefit local charities including Miles For Michael, which helps local families battling cancer, and the Brian Forgione Foundation, which is dedicated to providing opportunities in education and athletics and inspiring and empowering people affected by cancer.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Hazleton Area boys basketball falls in 6A state semifinals in overtime