Our view: Diamonds for county employees who stepped in for Santa Claus

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No. 2 Wyoming Seminary wrestling edged by No. 1 Blair Academy

WRIGHT TWP. &#8212; There was little need for Crestwood&#8217;s Sean Murphy to react like he did after missing a free throw with a minute left Friday night.After all, the Comets had pretty much wrapped up a victory, and whether Murphy grabbed his errant shot was going to be immaterial.Yet, the 5-foot-9 senior took a flying leap through three taller Hazleton Area players to snag the rebound, symbolic of the intensity Crestwood used to defeat Hazleton Area 66-51 in a battle for first place in Division 1 of Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball.Crestwood (9-0 Div. 1, 13-2) ran its winning streak to 11 games while snapping a six-game losing streak to Hazleton Area.The defending divisional champion Cougars fell to 8-1 in the division and 9-4 overall, seeing their nine-game winning streak come to an end. They also saw their 24-game WVC regular-season winning streak disappear. Hazleton Area&#8217;s last conference loss was 56-55 to Meyers on Feb. 17, 2017.&#8220;We couldn&#8217;t ask more from our guys,&#8221; Crestwood coach Mark Atherton said. &#8220;We went down to Nanticoke and beat Nanticoke. We won every league game so far. There&#8217;s no let-up. We just got to keep the pedal on the metal and keep working hard and get better.&#8221;After Murphy grabbed that rebound, he was fouled and hit two more free throws to complete his 11-of-13 performance from the foul line in the fourth quarter. He finished with a game-high 24 points.&#8220;It&#8217;s always intense,&#8221; Murphy said of playing rival Hazleton Area. &#8220;It&#8217;s that competition between Hazleton and Crestwood. We were all ready to play today.&#8221;The first half was played at a frantic pace as the teams raced end to end and neither coach paused the action with a timeout. The result was Hazleton Area taking a 21-20 lead as the Cougars finished off the second quarter with an inside basket by Scott Campbell and a rebound bucket by Warren Seigendall.Moreover, Hazleton Area&#8217;s defense was preventing Crestwood from finding a groove from 3-point land, something that&#8217;s been a staple of the Comets&#8217; offense this season. That changed in the third quarter.After Sparky Wolk found Da&#8217;Mir Faison with an inside pass though an incredibly tight window for a 23-20 Hazleton Area advantage, Crestwood went on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. The final three points came on Mike Palmiero&#8217;s trey from the top of the arc. The basket ignited the Crestwood fans in the packed gym.&#8220;Hearing that crowd roar, it got our bench going, it got the guys in the court going,&#8221; Palmiero said. &#8220;It was good. It was nice.&#8221;Palmiero later added another 3-pointer and, along with 3-pointers by Ryan Petrosky and Camden Boris, Crestwood pulled into the fourth quarter up 44-35. The Comets also did a much better job on the boards after being outrebounded 18-11 in the first half.Crestwood bumped the lead to double digits several times in the fourth quarter only to have Hazleton Area cut it back to a manageable margin on a few occasions. But every time the Cougars did, Crestwood answered back.&#8220;The second half was kind of them imposing their will on us for 16 minutes,&#8221; Hazleton Area coach Mike Joseph said. &#8220;Until there was two, two-and-half minutes left it was a three-possession game. A lot of times it was an eight- or nine-point game. We just couldn&#8217;t wrap together a couple baskets in a row.&#8221;The teams will play again Feb. 5 at Hazleton Area.&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be tough,&#8221; Atherton said. &#8220;This is far from over.&#8221;Nanticoke Area 55, Northwest 40Nate Kreitzer scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the second half as the Trojans pulled away.Colby Butczynski poured in all 11 of his points over the final three quarters andJake Krupinski tossed in 10 points in the victory.Walker Yaple scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half to keep Northwest within 26-22 at halftime.Wyoming Sem 82, Wyoming Area 34Jake Koretz and Dimitri Gnall combined for 35 points as the Blue Knights battered the Warriors.Gnall scored 14 of his 17 points in the first half as Sem shot to a 47-16 halftime lead, then scored eight of his game-high 18 in a 25-7 third quarter for the Blue Knights. Nick Ganter added 10 points for Sem.Cole Coolbaugh led Wyoming Area with 14 points.Holy Redeemer 59, Meyers 47Collin Cook scored six points in a big third quarter that helped the Royals pull away from the Mohawks.Cook finished with a game-high 18 points, while Nick Prociak scored four of his 16 in a third quarter that saw Redeemer boost a four-point halftime lead to 49-36 entering the fourth.Cole Walker scored 15 points for Meyers and Kendall Brewster finished with 13 in the defeat.GAR 74, Lake-Lehman 68Will Johnson went wild with 40 points and Jared O&#8217;Day and Tyler Young hit double figures as the Grenadiers staved off the Black Knights.Johnson scored his first 13 points in the opening quarter as GAR built a 30-13 lead.Johnson finished up with 13 more points in the third quarter and 10 in the fourth.O&#8217;Day hit for 10 of his 12 points in the first quarter and Young finished with 11 points for the Grenadiers.Max Paczewski led Lehman&#8217;s comeback attempt with 33 points, while C.J. Cercone scored 16 and Donnie Thompson finished with 10 in the loss.Coughlin 65, Wyoming Valley West 63The Crusaders won a back and forth game with Wyoming Valley West with a fourth quarter comeback.The Spartans were trailing by nine going into halftime but they took the lead in the third quarter by outscoring Coughlin 21-7. The Crusaders came back in the fourth, outscoring Wyoming Valley West 23-16 for the dramatic two-point win.Tony Egidio led the Crusaders with 20 points followed by Prince Allen&#8217;s 15 and Aaron Bennett&#8217;s 11 points.Christian Michak had 17 to lead the Spartans.MMI Prep 49, Berwick 34The Preppers and Matt Marchetti were able to beat Zach Evans and Berwick.Matt Marchetti had a game-high 23 points followed by Mason Marchetti, Dave Antolick and Keefer Hoover who each had eight points.Evans had 22 points to lead the Bulldogs.Crestwood 66, Hazleton Area 51HAZLETON AREA (51) &#8212; Andrew Vayda 1 0-0 2, Sparky Wolk 3 0-0 9, Scott Campbell 4 1-2 11, Alex D&#8217;Angelo 0 0-0 0, Kyle Franek 1 1-2 3, Jawardt Nieves 0 0-0 0, Jecxander Moronta 0 0-0 0, Da&#8217;Mir Faison 4 10-12 19, Warren Seigendall 3 1-2 7. Totals 16 13-18 51.CRESTWOOD (66) &#8212; Ryan Petrosky 4 5-6 14, Marcus Vieney 0 1-2 1, Frank Casarella 1 0-0 3, Brad Papura 0 2-6 2, Sean Murphy 6 11-15 24, Adam Gegaris 0 0-0 0, Camden Boris 2 4-4 9, Jacob Zaleski 1 1-2 3, Mike Palmiero 3 2-2 10. Totals 17 26-37 66.Hazleton Area`12`9`14`16 &#8212; 51Crestwood`11`9`24`22 &#8212; 66Three-point goals &#8212; HAZ 6 (Wolk 3, Campbell 2, Faison); CRE 6 (Palmiero 2, Murphy, Casarella, Petrosky, Boris).Nanticoke Area 55, Northwest 40NORTHWEST (40) &#8212; Tyler Stevens 1 0-0 2, Sam Saxe 2 0-0 6, Jaxson Yaple 1 0-0 3, Bryce Koser 4 0-0 8, Walker Yaple 6 1-1 14, Chase Biller 0 0-0 0, Mike Crawford 1 0-0 2, Rhiley Bridal 0 0-0 0, Gary McClendon 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 1-1 40.NANTICOKE AREA (55) &#8212; Luke Myers 0 0-0 0, Nate Kreitzer 4 3-3 14, JJ Bielecki 2 0-0 6, Colby Butczynski 5 1-2 11, Collin Brown 0 0-0 0, John Chernowsky 0 0-0 0, Trahjan Krupinski 2 2-2 6, Jake Krupinski 4 1-2 10, Andy Kozlofski 2 0-0 4, Tyler Rushton 0 0-0 0, Joe Fox 0 0-0 0, Brandan Fontaine 0 0-0 0, Dylan Szychowski 2 0-0 4, Sincere Shiloh 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 7-9 55.Northwest`7`12`7`14 &#8212; 40Nanticoke Area`14`12`13`16 &#8212; 55Three-point goals &#8212; NW 5 (S. Saxe 2, J. Yaple, M. Saxe, W. Yaple); NAN 6 (Kreitzer 3, Bielecki 2, J. Krupinski).Wyoming Sem 82, Wyoming Area 34WYOMING SEM (82) &#8212; Jake Koretz 7 0-0 18, Todd Phillips 3 0-0 8, Jeremy Callahan 2 3-3 7, Dimitri Gnall 8 1-2 17, Nick Ganter 4 2-2 10, Andrew Maddock 0 0-0 0, John Coates 1 0-0 3, Nick Bufalino 3 0-0 6, Ryan Anderson 1 2-2 4, Aidan Murphy 0 1-2 1, Alex Meuser 1 1-1 3, Ethan Meuser 0 2-2 2, Ben Paglia 0 0-0 0, Gavin Flanley 1 0-0 3, Amend Jakson 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 10-12 81.WYOMING AREA (34) &#8212; Dan Wiedl 2 2-3 6, Nick Rubino 0 0-0 0, Cole Coolbaugh 5 0-2 14, Jake Greenfield 4 0-1 8, Nick Elko 2 0-0 4, Evan Melberger 0 0-0 0, FJ Braccini 1 0-0 2, Jesse Mikoliczyk 0 0-0 0, Zack Capitano 0 0-0 0, Jason Wiedl 0 0-0 0, Matt Sorick 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 2-6 34.Wyoming Sem`26`21`25`10 &#8212; 82Wyoming Area`8`8`7`11 &#8212; 34Three-point goals &#8212; SEM 8 (Koretz 4, Phillips 2, Coates, Flanley); WA 4 (Coolbaugh 4).Holy Redeemer 59, Meyers 47HOLY REDEEMER (59) &#8212; Derek Answini 3 0-0 7, Josh Andrejko 2 0-0 5, Justice Shoats 3 1-1 7, Jared Piontkowski 3 0-0 6, Collin Cook 5 7-8 18, Mason Mendygral 0 0-0 0, Nick Prociak 4 8-9 16, Jake Pizzolotta 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 16-18 59.MEYERS (47) &#8212; Kendall Brewster 5 2-2 13, Keegan Brewster 3 1-1 7, Cole Walker 6 2-3 15, Jordan Diggs 0 4-4 4, Blake Masker 2 0-0 4, Najese Hood 1 2-3 4. Totals 17 11-13 47.Holy Redeemer`15`16`18`10 &#8212; 59Meyers`15`12`9`11 &#8212; 47Three-point goals &#8212; HR 3 (Andrejko, Answini, Cook); MEY 2 (Brewster, Walker).GAR 74, Lake-Lehman 68LAKE-LEHMAN (68) &#8212; C.J. Cercone 5 5-9 16, Neil Dougherty 0 0-3 0, Nate Salus 0 2-2 2, Max Paczewski 13 4-5 33, Abe Dabsheh 0 0-0 0, Josh Kane 2 0-2 4, Ethan Adams 1 1-2 3, Donnie Thompson 4 1-1 10. Totals 25 13-24 68.GAR (74) &#8212; Will Johnson 14 12-14 40, Jared O&#8217;Day 5 0-0 12, Tyler Young 4 3-5 11, Curtis Smith 2 2-2 6, Shawn Adamson 1 0-0 2, George Placencio 1 0-0 2, Tyreek Green 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 17-21 74.Lake-Lehman`13`16`20`19 &#8212; 68GAR`30`11`17`16 &#8212; 74Three-point goals &#8212; LL 5 (Paczewski 3, Thompson, Cercone); GAR 3 (O&#8217;Day 2, Johnson).Coughlin 65, Wyoming Valley West 63COUGHLIN (65) &#8212; Tony Egidio 8 4-8 20, Prince Allen 6 1-3 15, Aaron Bennett 4 1-2 11, Brandon Hall 4 1-2 9, Matt Egidio 2 4-4 8, Shaem Valenzuela 1 0-0 2, Damon Jones 0 0-0 0, Michael Senape 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 11-19 65.WYOMING VALLEY WEST (63) &#8212; Christian Michak 5 3-5 17, Danny Gibbons 5 2-2 13, Roland Hamad 6 0-0 12, Tyler Gillespie 4 1-1 9, Tom Federici 3 0-0 9, Saquan Portee 0 3-8 3, Joe Lombardo 0 0-0 0, Cole Gorham 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 9-16 63Coughlin`18`17`7`23 &#8212; 65Wyoming Valley West`13`13`21`16 &#8212; 63Three-point goals &#8212; COU 4 (Allen 2, Bennett 2); WVW 8 (Michak 4, Federici 3, Gibbons).MMI Prep 49, Berwick 34MMI PREP (49) &#8212; Matt Marchetti 9 1-2 23, Mason Marchetti 4 0-0 8, Dave Antolick 3 2-2 8, Keefer Hoover 3 0-0 8, Tyler Degnehart 1 0-0 2, AJ Jordan 0 0-0 0, Harry Kress 0 0-0 0, Marcus Kassick 0 0-0 0, Josue Rodriguez 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 3-4 49.BERWICK (34) &#8212; Zach Evans 6 7-8 22, Eric Montes 2 0-0 4, NaQuan Smith 1 0-0 3, Miles Doll 1 1-1 3, Jake Seely 0 2-2 2, Devon Smith 0 0-0 0, Jarret Groshek 0 0-0 0, Tasjee Taylor 0 0-0 0, Peyton Williams 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 10-11 34.MMI Prep`13`11`13`12 &#8212; 49Berwick`5`6`9`14 &#8212; 34Three-point goals &#8212; MMI 6 (Marchetti 4, Hovver 2); BER 4 (Evans 3, Smith).<style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s Mike Palmiero drives the lane against Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jecxander Moronta in a WVC boys basketball game Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Crestwood&#8217;s Mike Palmiero drives the lane against Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jecxander Moronta in a WVC boys basketball game Friday night. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Da&#8217;mir Faison scores on a reverse layup ahead of Crestwood&#8217;s Camden Boris on Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_4.jpg</photo1><caption1>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Da&#8217;mir Faison scores on a reverse layup ahead of Crestwood&#8217;s Camden Boris on Friday night. </caption1><photoCredit1>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s Sean Murphy hits a 3-pointer in the first quarter as Hazleton Area&#8217;s Sparky Wolk defends on Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Crestwood&#8217;s Sean Murphy hits a 3-pointer in the first quarter as Hazleton Area&#8217;s Sparky Wolk defends on Friday night. </caption2><photoCredit2>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Crestwood&#8217;s Camden Boris shoots a 3-pointer against Hazleton Area&#8217;s Kyle Franek on Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_5.jpg</photo3><caption3>Crestwood&#8217;s Camden Boris shoots a 3-pointer against Hazleton Area&#8217;s Kyle Franek on Friday night. </caption3><photoCredit3>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Hazleton Area&#8217;s Andrew Vayda passes on a fast break against Crestwood on Friday night. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011919HSBB-Crestwood-Hazleton_2.jpg</photo4><caption4>Hazleton Area&#8217;s Andrew Vayda passes on a fast break against Crestwood on Friday night. </caption4><photoCredit4>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Crestwood ends Hazleton Area&#8217;s WVC winning streak</subheadMeta></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>

H.S. Boys Basketball: Crestwood ends Hazleton Area’s WVC winning streak