EDITOR’S NOTE: While NEPABasketball.com compiles more complete reports, here is a quick recap of Thursday’s highlights.
By Tom Robinson, NEPABasketball.com
COVINGTON TWP. – Thursday turned into a rough night for defending champions around District 2 basketball.
Wallenpaupack, Dunmore and Blue Ridge all defeated defending Lackawanna League divisional boys champs.
Wilkes-Barre Area knocked off a Wyoming Valley Conference divisional girls champion.
Even the champions that did make it through the night had difficulty getting there.
The Scranton boys needed a fourth-quarter comeback, the Holy Redeemer girls overcame a five-point halftime deficit and the Western Wayne girls managed a win on their lowest-scoring night of the season.
Wallenpaupack held host North Pocono to one third-quarter point on the way to a 40-36 victory in a Lackawanna Division 2 game.
Dunmore limited visiting Riverside to two points in the fourth quarter of a 47-32 triumph in Lackawanna Division 3.
Host Blue Ridge held off a comeback by Elk Lake to win the Lackawanna Division 4 game, 51-49.
The Wilkes-Barre Area girls also held on, beating visiting Berwick, 34-32, in WVC Division 1.
Unbeaten Scranton pulled out a 50-46 Lackawanna Division 1 boys victory.
Lake-Lehman took charge in the second half at Holy Redeemer to win the WVC Division 2 game, 50-37.
Wallenpaupack led a 10-point lead get away in the fourth quarter, fell behind in the final three minutes, then recovered.
Jack Smith hit a floater in the lane to break a tie with 1:10 left, then broke a tie again by hitting both ends of a one-and-one with 10.8 seconds left for the winning points.
Landon Calabrese scored all 10 of his points while Wallenpaupack was outscoring North Pocono, 17-1, in a stretch of 11:12 from late in the second quarter to early in the fourth quarter.
Wyatt Peifer grabbed 16 rebounds. T.J. Schmalzle led the defensive effort with three blocked shots.
Noah West came off the bench to match Ryan Ruddy for North Pocono’s team lead with 11 points.
“We did a great job defensively,” Wallenpaupack coach Jim McGinnis said after the Buckhorns held North Pocono more than 22 points below its season average.
Dunmore also shut down an explosive offense, outscoring Riverside 15-2 in the fourth quarter to expand a two-point lead.
Nico Ruggiero scored 10 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter.
“In the second half, our defense was very, very good,” Ruggiero said. “That’s what opened it up and got us going.”
The Bucks held Riverside nearly 24 points below its average.
Connor Cranage scored 15 points to lead Blue Ridge.
Elk Lake, the only team to go unbeaten in Lackawanna League boys last season, had the longest active winning streak in boys league play at 15 games.
Danayjha Moore scored 15 points and hit the only six field goals the Wolfpack managed over the last three quarters – two each in the second, third and fourth.
Moore helped the Wolfpack overcome 21 points and 10 rebounds by Rachel Whitenight, who scored 8 points in the fourth quarter.
Jason Shields and Joshua Williams scored 16 points each for Scranton.
Eli Yusavage had 17 for Valley View, which led 16-8 after one quarter and 39-37 going into the fourth quarter.
Claire Dougherty scored 15 points to lead Lake-Lehman, which trailed 25-20 at halftime at Holy Redeemer.
The Western Wayne girls won at Honesdale, 34-31, in Lackawanna Division 2.
Gabe Tanner scored 22 points to get Lackawanna Division 3 boys favorite Mid Valley through its game at Old Forge, which got 29 points from Ayden Davitt.
In other boys games: Abington Heights defeated Delaware Valley, 49-34, in a Lackawanna Division 1-2 crossover; and Tunkhannock pounded Lackawanna Trail, 69-30, in a non-league game.
North Pocono, which entered the week on a five-game losing streak, has matched Western Wayne’s 2-0 start in Lackawanna Division 2 girls after beating Wallenpaupack, 51-45.
Kylie Mastillo led North Pocono with 14 points and Sam Polishan added 11.
Hazleton Area defeated Tunkhannock, 72-55, in WVC Division 1.
Taylor Kilker scored 16 points to lead five Hazleton Area players in double figures.
