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St. Andre Bessette Parish temporarily closed due to COVID

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Franklin, Penn State seek upgrade on offense with abrupt switch of offensive coordinators

HANOVER TWP. &mdash; Wilkes-Barre Area coach Pat Toole&rsquo;s message to his team Friday &mdash; play the game like it&rsquo;s your last.
				That was the mantra throughout the fall high school sports seasons as teams dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the same when the Wolfpack opened their boys basketball campaign with a 65-42 victory over Hanover Area.
				&ldquo;I said to the kids before the game, &lsquo;Fellas, play this like it could be our last game, because it could be,&rsquo; &rdquo; said Toole, who had his own battle with COVID-19. &ldquo;We just don&rsquo;t know. I&rsquo;m happy we&rsquo;ve been able to do some things and be able to manage the season.&rdquo;
				The season opener certainly looked different. No fans &mdash; not even parents &mdash; were allowed in the gym. Just the teams, coaches and other personnel, game officials and the Hanover Area cheerleaders. Players spaced out in the bleachers behind their benches. When Hanover Area&rsquo;s Jake Zola left the game, he took a seat five rows back of the coaches.
				Masks were worn by players off the court, but neither team wore them on the court. District 2 is leaving up to the schools to determine mask protocol for games, with the home team&rsquo;s preference the starting point. If an agreement can&rsquo;t be reached, then the game won&rsquo;t be played and it will be recorded as a &ldquo;no contest.&rdquo;
				As for the game, it was obvious early on that neither squad was aptly ready with just four practices after a three-week shutdown of scholastic and youth sports by Gov. Tom Wolf. Turnovers were plentiful as WBA eased into the second quarter with a 15-13 lead.
				After that, the Wolfpack looked like a different team. Returning all-star Cole Walker scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the second quarter as WBA took a 35-22 lead into halftime.
				&ldquo;Even practice. We come into every practice like it&rsquo;s going to be our last,&rdquo; Walker said. &ldquo;Every single game could be our last because it very well could be.&rdquo;
				Hanover Area quelled an 11-0 WBA run that started late in the first quarter and lasted into early in the second with a couple buckets. The Hawkeyes, though, couldn&rsquo;t sustain the momentum.
				Matt Egidio knocked down his second 3-pointer of the game to cut off the rally. Walker followed with three consecutive basket. He couldn&rsquo;t get enough elevation for a dunk on an inbound pass but did so a bit later off a steal by Xaniel Sanchez as WBA opened a double-digit lead that lasted the remainder of the game.
				&ldquo;I think our energy was great,&rdquo; Walker said. &ldquo;We had a lot of kids who came in and knew what they were doing. Shots are going to fall as long as we keep getting shots up and keep getting comfortable.&rdquo;
				Egidio found that comfort zone from behind the arc. He shot 5-of-7 from 3-point range to finish with 15. Saquan Portee had 12 points. Walker led the rebounding with six boards followed by Mike Senape with five.
				Hanover Area lost the bulk of its offense to graduation and it showed at times. Zola and Todd Kolbicka had eight points each. Newcomers Elijah Noe, a sophomore, and senior Connor Hummer, who was an all-star linebacker for the football team, added seven each.
				The Hawkeyes are also adjusting to interim head coach Tony Marcincavage, who has been running the team while Chris Gray deals with a health issue.
				&ldquo;Everything happened so quick. I wish we had two more weeks to get ready,&rdquo; Marcincavage said of the winter sports reboot which started Monday. &ldquo;It was a tough challenge, a good team (to play) in exhibition to see where we&rsquo;re at and what we have to get better at.&rdquo;
				Tunkhannock 52, Northwest 50
				Ryan Harder carried the Tigers in their season opener with 29 points. Ben Chilson was Tunkhannock&rsquo;s next highest scorer with eight points.
				Northwest struggled in the first half but bounced back in the third quarter with 24 points to take the lead. The Rangers, though, managed just five points in the final period.
				Matt Pierontoni led the Rangers with 14 points followed by 13 points from Landon Hufford.
				Nanticoke Area 49, Berwick 28
				This new season got off to a great start for the Trojans, holding Berwick to just seven first-half points.
				Luke Myers and Jake Krupinski led the offense for Nanticoke Area with 14 points each.
				Isaac Tripp led the Bulldogs with nine points in a tough opener.
				Wilkes-Barre Area 65, Hanover Area 42
				WBA (65) &mdash; Saquan Portee 5 0-12, Cole Walker 12 2-4 26, Matt Egidio 5 0-0 15, Jack Gilgallon 2 0-1 4, Jacob Horga 0 0-2 0, Mike Senape 0 0-0 0, Xaniel Sanchez 0 0-0 0, Naquon Hollman 3 0-0 6, Kaleb Spade 0 0-0 0, Bryan Clarke 1 0-0 2, Mike Andrzewski 0 0-0 0, Terrell Timothy 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 2-7 65.
				HANOVER AREA (42) &mdash; Matt Barber 1 1-5 4, Todd Kolbicka 3 0-0 8, Elijah Noe 3 0-0 7, Ryan Bohlin 3 0-0 6, Joe Curcio 1 0-0 2, Jake Zola 4 0-0 8, Connor Hummer 3 1-3 7, Bobby Sabecky 0 0-0 0, Mike Merth 0 0-2 0, Xavier Anker 0 0-0 0, Jake Vigorito 0 0-0 0, Steve Florek 0 0-0 0, Aiden Kellsall 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 2-10 42.
				Wilkes-Barre Area`15`20`17`13 &mdash; 65
				Hanover Area`13`9`8`11 &mdash; 42
				Three-point goals: WBA 7 (Portee 2, Egidio 5). HA 4 (Barber, Kolbicka 2, Noe).
				Tunkhannock 52, Northwest 50
				NORTHWEST (50) &mdash; Matt Pierontoni 5 0-1 14, Landon Hufford 4 3-3 13, Chase Biller 4 0-0 9, Tayler Yaple 3 0-0 8, John Savakinus 2 4-4 6, Carter Horitz 0 0-0 0, Derek Pierontoni 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-8 50.
				TUNKHANNOCK (52) &mdash; Ryan Harder 8 10-13 29, Ben Chilson 4 0-0 8, Mike Kuzma 2 1-2 5, Shane Macko 2 0-0 4, Dylan Mateus 2 0-0 4, Chris Trochak 1 0-0 2, Riley Jones 0 0-0 0, Josh Brown 0 0-0 0, Nate Lord 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 11-15 52.
				Northwest`8`13`24`5 &mdash; 50
				Tunkhannock`11`12`15`14 &mdash; 52
				Three-point goals &mdash; NW 9 (Pierontoni 4, Hufford 2, Yaple 2, Biller); TUNK 5 (Harder 3, Chilson 2).
				Nanticoke Area 49, Berwick 28
				BERWICK (28) &mdash; Brayden Boone 0 0-0 0, Isaac Tripp 3 1-2 9, Miles Doll 3 0-1 7, Sean Murphy 2 0-0 6, Matt Lonczynski 1 0-0 3, Alex Peters 0 0-0 0, Tahsjee Taylor 0 2-2 2, Jordan Montes 0 1-2 1. Totals 9 4-7 28.
				NANTICOKE AREA (49) &mdash; Luke Myers 6 2-2 14, Jake Krupinski 6 0-0 14, Sincere Shiloh 5 0-0 10, Joe Fox 2 2-2 6, JJ Bielecki 1 1-2 3, Owen Brown 1 0-0 2, Payton Kepp 0 0-0 0, Justin Spencer 0 0-0 0, Chris Johnson 0 0-0 0, Collin Mackiewicz 0 0-0 0, Charlie Casey 0 0-0 0, Jaidyn Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 5-6 49.
				Berwick`2`5`14`7 &mdash; 28
				Nanticoke Area`10`11`14`14 &mdash; 49
				Three-point goals &mdash; BER 6 (Murphy 2, Tripp 2, Lonczynski, Doll); NAN 2 (Krupinski 2).

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H.S. boys basketball: Wilkes-Barre Area downs Hanover Area as season tips off