PLAINS – Nyquan Hollman-Santos scored 27 points and led a strong Wilkes-Barre Area effort on the offensive boards Wednesday night when the Wolfpack opened its Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 boys season with a 70-47 romp over visiting Tunkhannock.
Hollman-Santos, already the team’s scoring leader, doubled his average from the non-league portion of the schedule when the Wolfpack went 3-4.
“I was just trying to execute plays and move the ball around with my teammates,” said Hollman-Santos, who finished with 15 total rebounds. “I feel like we executed the way we wanted to tonight.”
And, when that execution did not result in baskets, Hollman-Santos and his teammates went and got the ball back.
“Credit teammates who were sometimes not able to get offensive rebounds, but they kept the ball alive and he cleaned it up a lot,” Wolfpack coach Pat Toole said.
Waarethi Oseni added 15 points for Wilkes-Barre Area, including helping to put the Wolfpack ahead early.
Tunkhannock (4-2) got 11 points from Josh Brown and 10 from Ben Chilson.
The Tigers led for the last time at 4-2.
Wilkes-Barre Area then ran off 13 straight points to put the lead in double figures and ended the first quarter with a 21-13 lead on eight points by Oseni.
“They shoot the 3-ball so well that we had to defend the perimeter,” Toole said, “but I thought we got our tempo early in the game.
“I thought, the kids, it was probably our best offensive execution all year. We have some moments still where we don’t make good decisions, but for the most part, I was very pleased with our play tonight.”
Hollman-Santos began taking over with 10 points in the second quarter as the Wolfpack built the halftime lead to 41-23.
Tunkhannock closed to within 15 points early in the third quarter, but Wilkes-Barre Area ran away by scoring the next eight points punctuated by Hollman-Santos dunk for a 51-28 lead.
With Hollman-Santos scoring 14 second-half points, the lead reached as high as 63-37.
“Nyquan was a beast on the boards,” Toole said, “but also credit his teammates for finding him a lot of times, too.
“We were able to get some penetration and dish to him.”
