Josian Guerra scored 20 points and Eliud Lopez provided the key plays down the stretch Saturday night as Hazleton Area defeated visiting Pittston Area, 50-48, in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 boys battle between ranked teams.
Hazleton Area ran out to a 16-5 lead after one quarter, then held on from there.
Pittston Area’s Jack Locker, who had already hit five 3-pointers, including two during the fourth quarter, was fouled on a 3-point attempt with Hazleton Area leading by four with 55 seconds left.
Locker made all three to cut the deficit to 48-47.
Lopez made two free throws with 20 seconds remaining to put the Cougars up by three.
Dominic Jannuzzi made the front end of a one-and-one for Pittston Area with 12 seconds left and the Patriots fouled a second later.
Hazleton Area was just 4-for-7 from the line in the fourth, including Guerra missing on the front end of a one-and-one.
J.J. Walsh’s 3-point attempt for Pittston Area with two seconds left rattled out and Lopez corralled the final rebound to end the game.
Guerra finished 8-for-9 from the floor, 2-for-3 on 3-pointers and 2-for-4 from the line. He also had six rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Lopez, one of four Cougars with seven points, also contributed six rebounds and five assists.
Hazleton Area entered the game as the No. 3 Big School in the My City Mortgage Super Six Power Rankings of District 2 teams. The Cougars preserved their division lead while improving to 4-0 in the WVC and 8-2 overall.
Fourth-ranked Pittston Area fell to 2-2 and 7-3.
Walsh made three 3-pointers in the game to match Locker for Pittston Area’s team-high of 18 points.
Locker and Walsh each hit two of the 3-pointers when the Patriots outscored the Cougars, 14-7, in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 23-19.
Guerra had 12 of his points in the third quarter when Anthony Cencetti scored all six of his points for Pittston Area and the Cougars took a 39-35 lead into the fourth quarter.
The two 3-pointers and three free throws gave Locker nine points in the fourth quarter.
Wilkes-Barre Area 52, Dallas 49
Wilkes-Barre Area scored the last 10 points to rally past visiting Dallas in the other game of a night that sent the top four teams in WVC Division 1 against each other.
Nyquan Hollman-Santos, Brandon Benjamin and Samir Hill led the Wolfpack down the stretch.
The Wolfpack improved to 4-1 and 7-5 while the Mountaineers dropped to 4-2 and 6-3.
Hollman-Santos, who scored a team-high 14 points, had three points during the closing run, plus two key defensive rebounds in the final two minutes.
Benjamin, who finished with 13 points, scored the first five points in the final rally.
Darius Wallace hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to give Dallas a 49-42 lead with four minutes left, but the Mountaineers did not score again.
Benjamin answered immediately from the left wing, then converted a tough layup in transition with 2:53 remaining to cut the deficit to two.
Hollman-Santos got to the basket on the right baseline, off a Jacob Horga assist, to tie the game with 1:50 left.
Hill drove the middle with 30 seconds remaining to break the tie and score the winning basket.
Hollman-Santos cleared a defensive rebound, was fouled with 4.1 seconds left and made the front end of a one-and-one.
Following a timeout, Hollman-Santos missed the second shot. Wallace cleared the rebound and sent an outlet pass to Nick Nocito.
Nocito pushed the ball to Austin Finarelli, whose 30-footer at the buzzer bounced off the back of the rim.
Waarithi Oseni added 11 points for the Wolfpack in the win.
Nocito led Dallas with 16 points while Finarelli had 14.
Dallas held the lead after each of the first three quarters, 16-14, 33-32 and 42-38.
Nocito had eight points and Michael Bufalino six for Dallas in the first quarter. Finarelli had seven points and Nocito six in the second quarter.
Hollman-Santos scored nine points in the first half to keep Wilkes-Barre Area close, then the Wolfpack held the Mountaineers to 16 points in the second half.
Crestwood 50, Wyoming Valley West 33
Zayne Dunsmuir scored 20 points, all in the first 3 quarters, and the Comets limited host Wyoming Valley West to 15 points over the final 3 quarters of the WVC Division 1 game.
Drew Sechleer hit four 3-pointers while scoring all 14 of his points in the middle two quarters when Crestwood turned an 18-14 deficit into a 48-31 lead.
Tyreese Harris scored 7 of his team-high 13 points for Wyoming Valley West in the first quarter.
Wyoming Area 59, Lake-Lehman 57
Dane Schutter and Evan Melberger led the way as host Wyoming Area rallied from 10 down in the third quarter to defeat Lake-Lehman in the WVC Division 2 game.
Schutter and Melberger each scored 8 of their 18 points in the fourth quarter when Matt Little had 4 of his 11.
The Warriors opened the lead to five points before Lake-Lehman hit a 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
Corey Bean led the Black Knights with 22 points and Cole Morio added 15.
Mountain View 73, Susquehanna 57
Ryan Henke fired in 30 points, including 23 in the middle two quarters, to lead Mountain View past visiting Susquehanna in the afternoon Lackawanna League Division 4 game.
Tanner Stout added 15 points and Jackson Gesford hit three 3-pointers while adding 13.
Spencer Beamer scored 16 points and Chris Orner added 12 for the Sabers.
Holy Cross 66, Lakeland 41
Holy Cross won the Lackawanna Division 3 game, giving the Crusaders 137 points in two home-court wins in three days after managing just 138 while going 1-3 in their previous four games.
Delone Catholic 53, Holy Redeemer 48
Delone Catholic went 10-for-13 from the line while outscoring visiting Holy Redeemer, 19-8, in the fourth quarter to rally for its seventh straight victory and end the Royals’ unbeaten start at seven games.
The District 3 power improved to 10-4 overall with the non-league win.
Matt Prociak scored 22 points and Justice Shoats added 20 for Holy Redeemer.
Hanover Area 59, Delaware Valley 56
Host Hanover Area recovered from six-point deficits at the end of each of the first two quarters to rally past Delaware Valley in the non-league game.
The Hawkeyes moved in front with a 16-6 third quarter and the game remained close throughout the fourth.
Melikah Gonzalez scored on a breakaway layup off an in-bounds play with nine seconds left for a 58-54 lead.
Mike Merth led Hanover Area with 15 points.
Gonzalez had 9 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.
Jake Zola posted his second straight double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Ryan Doherty (16), Noah Newton (15) and Jake Brower (14) all scored in double figures for Delaware Valley.
Jim Thorpe 47, Western Wayne 27
Western Wayne remained winless through 10 games with a loss in its trip to District 11 for a non-league game.
