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WILKES-BARRE — Meyers’ Jawane Buckner was pretty much lights out Saturday afternoon, but come on this was ridiculous.
After Buckner hit his ninth basket early in the fourth quarter, the lights went out at Wilkes University due to a powerful storm moving through the area.
The GAR Grenadiers, though, entered darkness ahead and never surrendered the lead once they emerged to defeat Meyers 57-51 in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball semifinal game.
Third-seeded GAR (18-6) moves to a District 2 championship game for the third time in the last five seasons. The Grenadiers will play either Scranton Prep or Nanticoke at 4 p.m. on March 4, at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Prep and Nanticoke game was suspended in the first quarter due to a leaky roof at Lackawanna College. That game will resume at 2 p.m. Sunday at the University of Scranton. There will be no admission charge.
GAR’s last district crown came in Class 2A in 2003. The team lost four championship games since then, twice in 3A (2013, 2015) and 2A (2004, 2008). Meyers (18-7), which won the D2-2A title last season, will play in the third-place game Tuesday against the Prep-Nanticoke loser with a state playoff berth available for the winner.
“That’s going to be little hard,” Meyers coach Pat Toole said. “Obviously, my kids are disappointed. They’re hurting a little bit right now.”
Meyers had all five starters in double figures in their 66-55 regular-season win over GAR nine days earlier. On Saturday, Buckner proved to be the only steady offensive threat. The junior guard scored on a drive with 5:52 remaining to cut GAR’s lead to 49-45 when the power went out.
“Once it happened, it happened,” GAR junior forward Herman Suazo said. “You don’t expect something like that to happen. When it did, there was nothing we could do about it so we just have to wait. We had to rally up the team and everybody stayed loose, that’s what we did.”
After the 15-minute delay, Meyers couldn’t get closer than three points the rest of the way.
“Last game (against Meyers), we weren’t really into it,” said GAR guard Andrew Campbell, who hit two 3-pointers in the second quarter to give his team the lead during a back-and-forth eight minutes. “Everyone was like out of sorts. There was no ball movement. It’s just ended up bad.”
GAR entered the fourth quarter up 47-40 thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by Will Johnson and Khalil White to end the third. White’s 3-pointer was a falling shot at the buzzer after Suazo grabbed one of his 10 rebounds in the defensive end. Keyshawn Palmer led GAR with 13 boards.
“I think that was very big,” said White, who finished with 15. “My team had faith in me and gave me the shot.”
Buckner finished with 29 for Meyers, scoring all of his team’s 10 third-quarter points. He had five of the Mohawks’ seven second-half field goals. Levaugn Soules added 11.
“Buckner is a great player. Very tough to stop,” GAR coach Jerry Altavilla said. “We figured if we could beat the other four, we’d be OK with him getting his points.”
GAR also locked up its fourth state playoff spot in the last five seasons.
Hazleton Area 68,
Scranton 62
The Cougars placed four players in double figures to defeat Scranton in a District 2/4 Class 6A semifinal game at the Berwick Middle School gym.
Josh Samec paced Hazleton Area (20-3) with 18 points. Nolan Genasevich and Da’Mir Faison added 13 each. Joe Grula scored 11. The Cougars led by double digits late in the game.
The Cougars will play Williamsport (19-4) at 8 p.m. on March 4, at Mohegan Sun Arena for the title. Both teams will advance to the state playoffs. Williamsport defeated Delaware Valley 52-45 in its semifinal.
District 2 Class 4A semifinal
GAR 57, Meyers 51
GAR (57) — Keyshawn Palmer 3 3-6 9, Will Johnson 6 3-6 18, Andrew Campbell 2 0-4 6, Herman Suazo 3 2-4 8, Khalil White 5 0-0 15, Anthony Hawk 1 1-1 3. Totals 20 9-21 57.
MEYERS (51) — Robbie Formola 0 0-2 0, Matt Dessoye 3 0-0 8, Jawane Buckner 10 2-5 29, Levaugn Soules 4 3-4 11, Ryan Gilgallon 1 0-2 3, Yuri Covington 0 0-0 0, Willie Wallace 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 5-13 51.
GAR`13`16`18`10`—`57
Meyers`16`14`10`11`—`51
Three-point goals — GAR 8 (Johnson 3, Campbell 2, White 3). MEY 10 (Dessoye 2, Buckner 7, Gilgallon).
District 2/4 Class 6A semifinal
Hazleton Area 68, Scranton 62
SCRANTON (62) — Cameron Jordan 2 0-0 5, Nasir Cunningham 0 0-0 0, Ky’Ron Harbin 5 2-2 14, Troy Chambers 0 0-0 0, Tim Stankowski 3 0-0 8, Robbie McAndrew 5 0-0 15, Matt Vaughn 0 0-0 0, Charlie Brown 0 0-0 0, Anthony Keys 0 0-0 0, Jacob Watts 6 1-1 14, Zaire Blackwell 1 0-1 2, Matt Hart 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 3-4 62.
HAZ AREA (68) — Josh Samec 5 7-8 18, Michael Cusatis 1 4-4 7, Joe Grula 3 4-5 11, Nolan Genasevich 5 3-3 13, Jeff Planutis 2 1-1 6, Da’Mir Faison 3 56 13, Isaac Perez 0 0-0 0, Nathan Begg 0 0-0 0, Frank Mussoline 0 0-0 0, Sparky Wolk 0 0-0 0, Aaron Kellmer 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 24-27 68.
Scranton`14`16`11`21`—`61
Hazleton Area`20`14`13`21`—`68
Three-point goals — SCR 11 (Jordan, Harbin 2, Stankowski 2, McAndrew 5, Watts). HA 6 (Samec, Cusatis, Grula, Planutis, Faison 2).