WILKES-BARRE – Pittston Area recovered from a rough finish Thursday night, getting off to a fast start Friday on the way to third place in the McGrane Memorial Tournament with a 64-54 victory over Hanover Area in the consolation game.
Sophomore guard J.J. Walsh, the leading scorer in Thursday’s 48-47 loss to Holy Redeemer and one of five double figures scorers Friday, represented the Patriots (5-3) on the all-tournament team.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Pittston Area 64, Hanover Area 54
Joe Cencetti came off the bench to make a quick impact in the McGrane consolation game.
Cencetti scored six points to help the Patriots to a 16-4 lead after one quarter and wound up leading the balanced attack with 13 points.
Brennan Higgins and Logan Booth added 12 points each while J.J. Walsh had 11 and Mike George 10.
That combination helped offset a 30-point game by Khairi Carson.
Asad Whitehead made the all-tournament team after scoring 10 points for Pittston Area.
Holy Redeemer 48, Pittston Area 47
Holy Redeemer erased an eight-point deficit over the final 1:11 of Thursday’s tournament opener.
Mason Mendygral stole away a rebound under the basket and slipped a pass to Justice Shoats for the buzzer-beating, game-winning layup.
Matt Prociak, from Jenkins Township, led the Royals with 14 points and made the all-tournament team.
Shoats received the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award.
J.J. Walsh had 14 to lead Pittston Area. Logan Booth added 11 points.
The Patriots shot 11-for-12 from the line in the fourth quarter, but the lead still got away.
Booth was 5-for-6 in the quarter. Walsh went 4-for-4 to finish an 8-for-8 game on free throws. Mike George was 2-for-2.
East Stroudsburg North 69, Wyoming Area 59
East Stroudsburg North committed just nine turnovers while forcing 20 Friday to defeat Wyoming Area in the first game of the Milford-Matamoras Rotary Tournament at Delaware Valley.
The teams were tied, 7-7, after one quarter before picking up the scoring pace and combining for at least 35 points in each of the remaining three quarters.
The Timberwolves led just 28-27 at halftime.
Jesse Mikoliczyk had 14 of his 20 points in the middle two quarters to lead Wyoming Area (2-5).
Sammy Solomon added 17 points and Cole Coolbaugh had 14.
WRESTLING
Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament
Wyoming Area and Pittston Area came out of Friday’s action, the first of two days, in 15th and 16th place out of 28 teams at the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament.
The Warriors advanced Jaden Pepe, at 106 pounds, and Connor Wrobleski, at 170 pounds, through Friday’s quarterfinals and into the semifinals that were scheduled for Saturday.
Jimmy Spindler and A.J. Gorto advanced for Pittston Area at 145 and 160. C.J. Demark and John Symons had also made the quarterfinals at 152 and 195 before losing.
Wyoming Area 60, Valley View 24
Zachary Sheridan, Adam Sigman and Rocco Pizano had consecutive pins in 52 seconds or less at 126, 132 and 138 pounds to lead Wyoming Area to the non-league road win Monday.
The Warriors went 3-4 in the bouts wrestled and took advantage of seven forfeits by the Cougars.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Wyoming Area 43, Delaware Valley 39
Freshman forward Morgan Janeski grabbed an offensive rebound and hit two free throws with nine-tenths of a second remaining Dec. 21 to secure the non-league win over visiting Delaware Valley.
Cassidy Orzel had 11 of her 15 points in the second half for Wyoming Area, which led by a point at the break.
Janeski made all four of her fourth-quarter free throws to finish with 12 points and nine rebounds.
