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NANTICOKE — If Feb. 10 is going to have a special meaning for the Crestwood boys basketball team, it’s going to have to keeping winning.

So far, the Comets have been doing just that even if it hasn’t always been completely aesthetically pleasing.

Crestwood used its usually reliable defense and the hot hand of Lance Blass in the fourth quarter to defeat Nanticoke by a closer-than-it-looked 43-29 margin.

Crestwood improved to 8-1 in Division 1 of the Wyoming Valley Conference and 11-3 overall. The victory was the Comets’ sixth in a row after an uncharacteristic 32-point loss to Hazleton Area, which leads the division at 8-0.

Crestwood plays at Hazleton Area on Feb. 11. The teams have won the last five Division 1 championships, with Hazleton winning last year and Crestwood winning the two prior to that.

“Obviously, it’s tough when Hazleton comes into your place and gets you like that,” said Blass, who scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter. “That was a one night and done thing. We’ve forgot about that and moved on. Every game since that, we’ve played a lot of tough opponents and are getting better and better.”

The Comets looked like they were going to take control early as consecutive 3-pointers by Kevin Klusewitz gave them a 17-4 lead late in the second quarter. Nanticoke (7-2 Div. 2, 11-3) rallied late and by the fourth quarter was down by a point.

That’s when Blass came up big. The Cornell University football recruit nailed a 3-pointer — only his fourth in WVC play — to bump the lead to 27-23.

The Trojans again moved within one, 30-29 on an outside jumper by Trahjan Krupinski and a 3-pointer Nate Kreitzer, only to have Blass strike again. This time it was from the foul line where he hit four consecutive shots.

In fact, the last 13 points were all scored by Crestwood and all were from the foul line.

“We had two or three possessions when it was a two-point game and we didn’t get quality shots,” Nanticoke coach John Beggs said. “They locked it down and got some turnovers, and then it just snowballed from there. We had to foul, they made some free throws and the next thing you know we’re back down six or seven.”

The backcourt also came up big for Crestwood. Klusewitz had 12 points and five rebounds. Guard Kyle Gegaris added nine points and hustled his way to a team-high seven boards.

Kreitzer had nine to pace Nanticoke, which finished with its lowest output of the season.

“What we didn’t do a very good job of was at the end of each quarter,” Crestwood coach Mark Atherton said. “Two of them, we were looking for the last play and they got it, if I had to pick on something. Otherwise, it started with our defense out front. And I think our bigs did a really good job also of containing.

“They have a lot of different shooters out there and for the most part we did a really good job.”

Hazleton Area 70,

Berwick 32

A strong 25-point third-quarter effort from Hazleton Area put the Bulldogs away for good.

Hazleton Area was paced by Josh Samec’s 15 points, while Da’Mir Faison added 14 points of his own. Six of Samec’s team-high 15 points came from behind the 3-point arc.

Berwick was paced by Damon Beckhorn, who scored 15 points as well.

Tunkhannock 67,

Pittston Area 56

Evan Turner scored a game-high 28 points to lead Tunkhannock past Pittston Area. Both Matt Goodwin and Avery Newhart made a trio of triples in the victory.

Chris Klein scored a team-high 13 points for the Patriots, while Matt McGlynn and Mike Mazurkivch each scored 10.

Holy Redeemer 59,

Northwest 44

Holy Redeemer outscored the Rangers 23-13 in the fourth quarter to safely take down Northwest.

Jason Stachokus scored a team-high 11 points while Joey Judge and Nick Prociak followed up with 10 points each in the win. Northwest’s Jaxson Yaple scored a game-high 23 points.

Meyers 70,

Dallas 59

Matt Dessoye scored 17 points as four Mohawks scored in double figures in a win over Dallas.

Jawane Buckner finished with 16 points, while Robbie Formola and Ryan Gilgallon scored 14 and 11 points, respectively.

The Mountaineers were led by Joey Parsons (17 points), Jay Bittner (15 points) and Ben Donahue (12 points).

Wyoming Area 51,

Coughlin 31

Mike Bonita scored 11 of his game-high 14 points in the third quarter as the Warriors opened a comfortable lead after halftime.

Sam Greenfield added seven of his 13 points in the second half as Wyoming Area’s lead grew from 14-9 after the first two quarters to 21 points.

GAR 64,

Wyoming Valley West 61

Keyshawn Palmer scored 24 points and the Grenadiers held off a Valley West fourth-quarter comeback bid.

Palmer scored eight points in the second quarter, helping GAR to a 31-25 halftime lead.

Noah Frace scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Sean Judge and Amistad Hackett both hit for six in the final period as the Spartans made it close.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Crestwood 43, Nanticoke 29

CRESTWOOD (43) — Kyle Gegaris 2 3-3 9, Lance Blass 2 5-7 10, Kevin Klusewitz 3 4-4 12, Kyle Richards 1 4-4 6, Nick Andrews 0 0-0 0, Mike Ayala 0 0-0 0, Mike Kozelsky 2 0-0 4, Noah Jackson 1 0-2 2. Totals 11 16-20 43.

NANTICOKE (29) — Nate Kreitzer 3 1-2 9, Rich Wiaterowski 0 0-0 0, Cody Piestrak 2 1-2 7, Luke Butczynski 1 3-4 5, Justin Casey 0 0-0 0, Zack Cardone 0 0-0 0, Trahjan Krupinski 3 1-4 7, Tyler Thomas 0 1-4 1. Totals 9 7-18 29.

Crestwood`9`8`7`19`—`43

Nanticoke`3`7`11`8`—`29

Three-point goals — CRE 5 (Gegaris 2, Blass, Klusewitz) NAN 4 (Kreitzer 2, Piestrak 2).

Hazleton Area 70, Berwick 32

HAZLETON AREA (70) — Josh Samec 5 3-4 15, Da’Mir Faison 4 5-6 14, Joey Grula 4 1-4 9, Issac Perez 2 2-2 7, Aaron Kellmer 2 0-0 6, Jeffery Planutis 3 0-0 6, Michael Cusatic 2 0-0 4, Nolan Genasevich 1 2-2 4, Frank Mussoline 1 0-0 3, Scott Shamany 0 2-2 2, Sparky Wolk 0 0-0 0, Nathan Begg 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 15-20 70.

BERWICK (32) — Damon Beckhorn 5 4-9 15, Matt Champ 4 0-1 9, Jude Goddard 2 0-0 4, Ken Marshman 1 0-0 3, Justin Groshek 0 1-2 1, Joe Norce 0 0-0 0, Kyle Pierce 0 0-0 0, Austin Markle 0 0-0 0, Zach Evans 0 0-0 0, Jimmy Legrand 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 5-12 32.

Hazleton Area`19`25`14`12`—`70

Berwick`10`3`6`13`—`32

Three-point goals — HAZ 7 (Samec 2, Kellmer 2, Perez,, Faison, Mussoline); BER 3 (Marshman, Champ, Beckhorn).

Tunkhannock 67, Pittston Area 56

PITTSTON AREA (56) — Chris Klein 4 4-5 13, Matt McGlynn 3 3-4 10, Mike Mazurkivch 5 0-4 10, Patrick Mitchell 3 2-2 8, Naseem Guillaume 2 2-3 6, Kolton Zaffuto 0 4-5 4, Brennan Higgins 2 0-0 4, Keemar Woodruff 0 1-2 1, Jimmy Pliska 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 16-25 56.

TUNKHANNOCK (67) — Evan Turner 10 8-11 28, Matt Goodwin 4 0-0 11, Avery Newhart 3 0-0 9, Sean Harder 1 6-10 8, Tyler Faux 3 0-0 7, Avery Billings 2 0-0 4, CJ Brennan 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 14-21 67.

Pittston Area`6`16`19`15`—`56

Tunkhannock`22`12`11`22`—`67

Three-point goals — PIT 2 (Klien, McGlynn); TUN 7 (Newhart 3, Goodwin 3, Faux).

Holy Redeemer 59, Northwest 44

NORTHWEST (44) — Jaxson Yaple 9 1-1 23, Sam Saxe 5 2-2 15, Mitchell Mazonkey 2 2-2 6, Nick Levandowski 0 0-2 0, Tyler Stevens 0 0-0 0, Jesse Tarnowski 0 0-0 0, Walker Yaple 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 5-7 44.

HOLY REDEEMER (59) — Jason Stachokus 4 0-0 11, Joey Judge 1 8-8 10, Nick Prociak 5 0-0 10, Joe Layaou 3 0-0 8, Collin Cook 3 0-0 7, JD Tulosky 2 2-2 6, James Kosik 1 2-2 5, Boyce Yencha 1 0-0 2, Mike Lyons 0 0-0 0, Jake Adonizio 0 0-0 0, Luke Nealon 0 0-0 0, Anthony Khoudary 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 12-12 59.

Northwest`12`10`9`13`—`44

Holy Redeemer`12`16`8`23`—`59

Three-point goals — NW 7 (Yaple 4, Saxe 3); HR 7 (Stachokus 3, Layaou 2, Kosik, Cook).

Meyers 70, Dallas 59

DALLAS (59) — Ben O’Connell 0 0-0 0, Collin Pertl 0 0-0 0, Alex Charlton 2 0-0 4, Nick Kocher 1 0-2 3, Joey Parsons 7 2-4 17, Matt Mathers 0 0-0 0, Ben Donahue 3 4-4 12, Jay Bittner 7 0-0 15, Ethan Szczewcinski 1 0-0 2, Brody Strickland 1 1-3 3, Michael Farrell 1 1-4 3. Totals 23 8-17 59.

MEYERS (70) — Robbie Formola 6 2-2 14, Matt Dessoye 4 9-13 17, Jawane Buckner 5 3-3 16, Steve Morel 0 0-0 0, Willie Wallace 1 0-0 2, Levaugn Soules 4 2-3 10, Ryan GilGallon 2 3-4 11, Gabriel Springer 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 19-25 70.

Dallas`14`13`12`20`—`59

Meyers `12`15`17`26`—`70

Three-point goals — DAL 5 (Kocher, Parsons, Donahue 2, Bittner); MEY 5 (Buckner 3, Gilgallon 2).

Wyoming Area 51, Coughlin 30

COUGHLIN (30) — Thomas Davis 2 0-0 5, Melvin Robinson 0 0-2 0, Charles Cobbs 2 0-0 5, Marco Deluca 0 0-0 0, Dominique Flippen 3 3-5 9, Anthony Hinkle 0 0-0 0, Aaron Bennett 2 2-2 8, Tony Egidio 0 0-0 0, Shawn Valenzuela 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 5-9 30.

WYOMING AREA (51) — Anthony Nardel 1 2-2 4, Kyre Zielinski 2 4-6 8, Sam Greenfield 6 1-2 13, Matt Wright 2 2-3 6, Mike Bonita 4 4-5 14, Ryan Shuleski 1 0-0 3, P.J. Angeli 0 0-0 0, Aaron Zezza 0 0-0 0, Dan Wiedle 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 13-18 51.

Coughlin`5`4`10`11`—`30

Wyoming Area`5`9`18`19`—`51

Three-point goals — COU 5 (Bennett 2, Cobbs, Davis, Thomas); WA 4 (Bonita 2, Shuleski, Weidle).

Meyers 70, Dallas 59

GAR 64, Wyoming Valley West 61

WYOMING VALLEY WEST (61) — Sean Judge 5 2-4 12, Noah Frace 9 0-0 24, Savion Saunders 1 0-2 2, Aaron Austin 4 1-2 11, Draig Ruff 3 0-2 6, Tayshawn Moore 0 0-0 0, Amistad Hackett 2 2-3 6, Davis Weaver 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 5-13 61.

GAR (64) — Keyshawn Palmer 9 6-7 24, Will Johnson 5 4-7 14, Andrew Campbell 4 0-2 11, Kahlil White 0 2-3 2, Eli Ruiz 5 0-0 11, Anthony Hawk 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 12-19 64.

Wyoming Valley West`10`15`15`21`—`61

GAR`18`13`17`16`—`64

Three-point goals — WVW 8 (Frace 6, Austin 2); GAR 4 (White 3, Ruiz).

Crestwood guard Kyle Gegaris loses control of the ball going between Nanticoke’s Rich Wiaterowski (3) and Nate Kreitzer in Wyoming Valley Conference play at Nanticoke.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_c_t1_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgCrestwood guard Kyle Gegaris loses control of the ball going between Nanticoke’s Rich Wiaterowski (3) and Nate Kreitzer in Wyoming Valley Conference play at Nanticoke. Fred Adams | For Times Leader

Nanticoke’s Cody Piestrak passes the ball from his knees as Crestwood’s Kyle Gegaris (3) and Kyle Richards move in.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_c_t2_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgNanticoke’s Cody Piestrak passes the ball from his knees as Crestwood’s Kyle Gegaris (3) and Kyle Richards move in. Fred Adams | For Times Leader

Nanticoke’s Cody Piestrak and Zack Cardone battle for a loose ball with Crestwood guard Kyle Gegaris.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_c_t3_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgNanticoke’s Cody Piestrak and Zack Cardone battle for a loose ball with Crestwood guard Kyle Gegaris. Fred Adams | For Times Leader

Nanticoke’s Nate Kreitzer signals he didn’t touch the ball as it goes out of bounds.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_c_t4_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgNanticoke’s Nate Kreitzer signals he didn’t touch the ball as it goes out of bounds. Fred Adams | For Times Leader

Nanticoke’s Luke Butczynski dribbles the ball as Crestwood’s Lance Blass guards.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_c_t5_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgNanticoke’s Luke Butczynski dribbles the ball as Crestwood’s Lance Blass guards. Fred Adams | For Times Leader

Crestwood guard Kyle Gegaris dribbles down court as Nanticoke’s Rich Waiterowski defends during Friday night’s game.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_c_t6_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgCrestwood guard Kyle Gegaris dribbles down court as Nanticoke’s Rich Waiterowski defends during Friday night’s game. Fred Adams | For Times Leader

By John Erzar

[email protected]

Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar