BOYS BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

EXETER — Wyoming Area wasn’t in as good a shape after the first quarter Friday night as it was the first time against Hanover Area.

The Warriors, however, were in even better shape than back on Jan. 9 once the game ended.

Luke Kopetchny scored 26 points, and Drew Keating dominated the boards with 16 rebounds as Wyoming Area rolled to a 65-38 victory to clinch at least a tie for the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 boys basketball title.

The defending division champion Warriors (12-0 Div. 2, 18-1 overall) also locked up a spot in the WVC Tournament for a third consecutive season. Hanover Area (7-3 Div. 2, 10-8) was eliminated from divisional contention but can still finish in second place and make the WVC Tournament.

In the first meeting, Wyoming Area led by 15 points after one quarter on the way to a 55-46 victory. The Warriors’ lead was just 13-9 after the initial eight minutes Friday.

“We were able to pull away,” Warriors coach Anthony Macario said. “But I felt like we had a lead early, but didn’t close out the first quarter well. We really didn’t close out the second quarter well either. We kind of let them hang around. We were able to clean up some things in the second half and pull away with a good win.”

Hanover Area managed to stay close, but a 4-for-15 shooting performance in the first quarter worsened in the second. That allowed Wyoming Area to go on a 7-0 run early in the second with Collin Casterlin coming off the bench to hit two shots. Kopetchny finished off the second quarter with a steal and layup for a 29-15 lead at halftime.

“We didn’t make some shots early, and they made some shots,” Hanover Area coach Bill Callahan said. “They kept making shot,s and we kept missing shots. We were getting (shots), we just weren’t getting things to go in.”

Wyoming Area started the third quarter with a cut to the basket by Bruno Pizzano and a layup by Shane Pepe off a turnover. The Warriors finished off the period with a 3-pointer by Casterlin when Pepe raced in to catch an airball and an inbound steal by Kopetchny — all in the final 10 seconds — for a 50-29 advantage.

Pepe was the only other Warrior in double figures with 10 points. Mitchell Rusinchak helped out on the boards with nine rebounds.

Freshman Angel Tejeda finished with 16 for Hanover Area. Ben Kolbicka snagged 10 rebounds.

Wyoming Area 64, Lake-Lehman 36

Wyoming Area pounded Lake-Lehman early in Thursday’s road win to set up Friday’s chance to clinch the tie for first in the division.

Drew Keating scored eight of his 16 points as the Warriors took a 17-3 lead after one quarter.

Luke Kopetchny then scored 15 of his 22 in the second quarter to build a 40-16 halftime lead.

Wyoming Area 52, MMI Prep 29

Drew Keating led a balanced attack with 14 points during Wyoming Area’s Jan. 23 romp over visiting MMI Prep.

Keating did all of his scoring in the first half.

Mitchell Rusinchak made two 3-pointers and had all of his eight points in the first quarter when Wyoming Area went out to a 14-6 lead.

Keating had eight points and Luke Kopetchny seven in the second quarter, resulting in a 37-12 halftime lead.

Kopetchny finished with 13 points.

Bruno Pizzano joined them in double figures with 10 points, with the help of eight of the team’s 10 in the third quarter. The Warriors took a 47-19 lead into the fourth quarter.

Hazleton Area 64, Pittston Area 52

Kendrick Ortiz scored 20 points to lead Hazleton Area over visiting Pittston Area in a WVC Division 1 game on Jan. 23.

The Patriots led 13-10 after one quarter, but Dylan Stish had 14 of his 16 points in the second quarter, allowing the Cougars to move in front 29-26.

Jacob Ivey made four 3-pointers while scoring 14 points to lead Pittston Area. Aidan Clarke added 11 points and Lucas Lo Presto 10 for the Patriots.

Pittston Area (3-6, 8-10) is scheduled to play for the first time in nine days when it makes up a game at Wilkes-Barre Area Sunday night.