The old No. 1 showed it was not quite ready to yield District 2 boys basketball supremacy to the new No. 1 yet.
Mike Malone’s reverse layup with about three seconds remaining Thursday night lifted Abington Heights to a 33-32 victory over visiting Wallenpaupack in a Division 1-2 crossover game between defending Lackawanna League boys basketball champions.
Wallenpaupack, which had held on to its status as the last remaining unbeaten boys team in the District 2 for almost three full weeks, is the top-ranked Big School team in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams on NEPABasketball.com. Abington Heights had finished as the top team in the Super Six each of the past two seasons.
Abington Heights has held quality opponents to 29 and 32 points in the last two games since slipping below .500 overall at 4-5.
The Comets held the Buckhorns, a team averaging 54.2 points per game, to four points in the first half and just two points – and no field goals – in the final 3:45.
The late-game defense allowed Abington Heights to pull out the win with a game-closing, 9-2 run.
Wallenpaupack had a defensive stop of its own when Gabe Springer emphatically swatted away a shot by Abington Heights all-star guard and team scoring leader Corey Perkins in the final 25 seconds.
With his team looking for the final shot, Perkins again drew the attention of Springer and other Wallenpaupack defenders and slipped a pass to Malone under the basket for the winning shot.
Wallenpaupack got the clock stopped on a timeout with 2.3 seconds left and got a running 30-footer from returning Division 2 Player of the Year Elijah Rosenthal, who hit the rim but could not get the shot to drop.
Perkins and Rosenthal led their teams with 13 points each.
Malone finished with seven points.
Wallenpaupack trailed much of the first half, but scored the last seven points of the second quarter for a 14-11 lead at the break.
The Buckhorns ended the third quarter and started the fourth with a 9-3 run to break a tie and take a 30-24 lead with under four minutes to go.
The loss dropped the Buckhorns into a three-way tie for the Division 2 lead with North Pocono and Western Wayne at 1-1.
Abington Heights is one of four teams at 1-1 in Division 1 where the other team, Scranton Prep, leads at 2-0.
Pittston Area 50, Wilkes-Barre Area 47
Brennan Higgins scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to lead a comeback that allowed Pittston Area to improve to 3-0 in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 play.
J.J. Walsh hit four 3-pointers, giving him 16 in three conference games, to add 14 points.
Wilkes-Barre Area led 11-7 after one quarter and held the lead most of the game.
The Patriots outscored the host Wolfpack, 19-13, in the fourth quarter.
Blake Masker scored 18 points and Cole Walker 16 for Pittston Area.
Crestwood 48, Nanticoke 40
Paul Feisel scored 12 points while Ryan Petrosky and Brad Papura had 10 points each as Crestwood maintained the WVC Division 1 lead by getting past visiting Nanticoke.
Papura had five of his points in the fourth quarter, making his only free throw attempt while the Comets were struggling as a team, going 6-for-12 in the final eight minutes.
Mike Zaleski made his two fourth-quarter free throws and finished with nine points.
Jake Krupinski had 13 of his game-high 16 points in the second half to lead Nanticoke.
The Comets, ranked second in the Super Six, are 4-0 in the division and 10-1 overall. They remain second to Wallenpaupack in the race for the top seed in the District 2 Class 5A tournament.
Dallas 64, Berwick 42
Dallas, the fourth-ranked Big School, improved to 8-3 overall by winning for the first time in three WVC Division 1 games.
Austin Finarelli scored 11 points to lead the Mountaineers while Jack Farrell, Luke DelGaudio and Nick Nocito added 10 points each.
The Mountaineers left little doubt, taking a 22-4 lead after one quarter.
Ryan Steele led Berwick with 10 points.
Hazleton Area 81, Wyoming Valley West 52
Scotty Campbell scored 25 points and Angel Cruz had 23 as Hazleton Area ran away from host Wyoming Valley West to improve to 2-0 in WVC Division 1.
The Cougars led by 10 points going into the fourth quarter, then outscored the Spartans, 33-14, over the final eight minutes.
Campbell hit five 3-pointers. Cruz went 3-for-3 from the line and scored nine points in the fourth quarter, leading the team to a 9-for-11 foul shooting effort down the stretch.
Roland Hamad led Wyoming Valley West with 12 points.
Wyoming Seminary 66, Lake-Lehman 42
Todd Phillips scored 20 points and Ethan Meuser added 18 as Wyoming Seminary maintained a share of the WVC Division 2 lead.
Jeremy Callahan made three 3-pointers while adding 11 points.
Sean Hanley had 11 points for Lake-Lehman.
Holy Redeemer 68, Northwest 36
Matt Prociak scored 16 points and Justice Shoats added 14 as Holy Redeemer won the WVC Division 2 game on the road to remain tied for first with Wyoming Seminary.
Mason Mendygral and Jared Piontkowski joined them in double figures with 11 and 10 points.
Walker Yaple led Northwest with a game-high 18 points.
Hanover Area 72, MMI Prep 37
Hanover Area handled visiting MMI Prep in a WVC Division 2 game, opening leads of 18-9 after one quarter, 37-20 at halftime and 49-25 after three quarters.
Khairi Carson had all of his points by the end of the third quarter. Mike Merth added his 13 during the middle two quarters. Asad Whitehead chipped in with eight points, all in the first-half.
Drew Sechler led MMI Prep with nine points.
Tunkhannock 75, Wyoming Area 44
Ryan Harder scored 27 points for Tunkhannock, which ran out to a 49-19 lead at halftime of the WVC Division 2 game.
Jake Frisco added 19 points.
Sammy Solomon scored 24 points to lead visiting Wyoming Area.
