EXETER — Wyoming Area remains positioned well to possibly capture its first Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball title in 54 years.
Behind the inside play of David Popson and a strong collective performance from the bench, 2024 champion Holy Redeemer made sure it would not have to witness the Warriors’ celebration Tuesday night.
Popson scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked two shots while Quron Drayton led the bench production as the Royals tightened the race and kept their WVC Tournament hopes alive with a 68-59, Division 2 road victory.
Drayton made all three of his shots from the floor while contributing 10 points, making three steals and swatting away a last-minute 3-point attempt.
Overall, the Holy Redeemer bench outperformed its Wyoming Area counterparts 16-2 in points, 6-2 in rebounds, 4-0 in assists, 3-0 in steals and 1-0 in blocks.
As a result, the Division 2 race will go down to the final night of the regular season — at least.
Wyoming Area, which clinched no worse than a tie for first place last week, is 11-2 in Division 2 and 14-6 overall going into Thursday’s game at Wyoming Seminary. The Warriors lost a championship playoff to Holy Redeemer a year ago after finishing in a first-place tie.
Berwick, the only team that can catch the Warriors, is 10-3 and 13-8 going into its game at Holy Redeemer.
Tuesday’s win came too late for another Holy Redeemer division title, but the Royals (9-4, 12-9) kept alive hopes of taking the division’s second spot in the WVC Tournament away from the Bulldogs.
Popson grabbed nine of his offensive rebounds on the offensive end, but Royals coach Paul Guido used a first-quarter timeout to remind teammates to also look to get the ball directly to him.
“We talked about living on the perimeter too much when we’ve got the big guy down inside,” Guido said.
After yielding a 17-2 run and trailing by as many as eight in the first quarter, the Royals took control with a 27-8 second quarter.
With starting guards spending extended time on the bench with foul trouble in the second and third quarters, Drayton made sure it did not hurt the Royals.
“Q did a nice job,” Guido said. “He’s been playing better for us the second half of the season. He has worked his butt off in practice.
“I’m just really happy for him. He got those minutes and he took advantage of them.”
Drayton and fellow reserves Jack Hurst, Logan Shrader and Logan Sekol were among the seven Royals who scored in the second quarter.
Coyd Qualia had six points in the quarter and eight more in the fourth to finish with 16.
Lukas Burakiewicz and Anthony DeLucca each hit four 3-pointers while scoring 24 and 19 for Wyoming Area. Luke Kopetchny added 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Holy Redeemer 68, Wyoming Area 59
HOLY REDEEMER (68) — Quaglia 6 4-9 16, McLean 1 0-0 2, Licari 2 0-0 5, Sock 2 0-0 4, Popson 7 5-5 20, Shrader 2 0-0 5, Drayton 3 4-6 10, Hurst 2 0-0 4, Sekol 1 0-0 2, Stilp 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 13-20 68.
WYOMING AREA (59) — Pepe 0 0-0 0, DeLucca 6 3-3 19, Kopetchny 4 5-5 14, Keating 0 0-0 0, Burakiewicz 7 6-8 24, Rusinchak 0 0-0 0, Pizano 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 14-16 59.
Holy Redeemer`14`27`14`13 — 68
Wyoming Area`22`8`12`17 — 59
3-point goals – HR 3 (Licari, Popson, Shrader); WA 9 (DeLucca 4, Burakiewicz 4, Kopetchny)