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PLYMOUTH — The strategy began to take focus on the first basket.

Wyoming Valley West wasn’t going to live outside the arc Tuesday night. Nope, the Spartans were going to attack the hoop. And if that didn’t work, they’d do it again. And again.

Things is, it kept working all the way to an 80-71 victory over Berwick in a Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball game.

Valley West improved to 3-5 in Division 1 and 6-8 overall. Berwick fell to 7-2 in Division 2, falling out of a five-way tie for first place, and 12-2 overall.

“Last game we had, we shot like 4 of 22 from the threes, the Wyoming Area game,” said Valley West coach Rich Jones, whose team lost that game 46-44. “We realized that we had to attack the basket. We have great penetrators and great shooters, but they were also looking to kick out. But that was the game plan, yeah, to attack the glass.”

Valley West attempted just one 3-pointer in the second half. Aaron Austin nailed it at 4:40 of the fourth to boost the Spartans’ lead to double digits for a third time, 72-62. Berwick battled back to within five, but 5-foot-9 guard Sean Judge finished off the Dawgs with a couple inside baskets. The second was a nifty scoop-dip-drive that bumped the advantage to 78-69 with 1:30 remaining.

Judge finished with 22 points, with many coming inside the paint.

“I didn’t really expect to get in as much as I did and get as many layups,” Judge said. “But I knew my game plan coming in was to attack because that’s what coach told us to do because we shot atrocious from the 3-point line last game. We just wanted to attack.”

Why not? That’s the way Berwick coach Jason Kingery said he would attack his team. So desperate to stop Valley West from getting close shots, Kingery dusted off a defense his team never uses — a 2-3 zone. It didn’t work.

“You don’t get stops, you don’t get wins,” Kingery said. “We ran every defense known to mankind. I have never in my 19 years of coaching ran a 2-3 defense and I put it in to try to get stops and we couldn’t get stops. It was embarrassing.”

Berwick led 19-16 after the first quarter as Damon Beckhorn scored eight of his game-high 25 points and Jude Goddard added six of his 18. Neither, though, was as effective over the last three periods.

Valley West scored the first six points of the second quarter — the first two on quick inside buckets by Judge and Noah Frace — to take the lead for good. The lead swelled to 10 thanks to a big quarter from Draig Ruff, who finished with a team-high 24 points.

The Spartans took their biggest lead, 54-42 at 4:58 of the third, when Ruff scored the third consecutive fastbreak basket off a Berwick turnover. The basket completed a 12-2 run to start the quarter.

The victory was the Spartans’ third in seven games since the calendar flipped to 2017. Jones estimated he had his whole team together for about four games all season due to injuries and illness, but didn’t use that as an excuse.

“I believed we were a better team than them and we would pull through,” Ruff said. “We have just been getting back together and getting our chemistry back right. Today was a good win.”

Holy Redeemer 67,

Hanover Area 43

Colin Cook and Joe Layaou paced the Royals to a victory over Hanover Area. Cook finished with a team-high 13 points while Layaou scored 10, rounding out the double-digit scorers for Holy Redeemer.

Jason Stachokus added nine points in a winning effort.

Hanover Area was led by Tyler Diggs, who made three 3-pointers and totalled a game-high 14 points.

Seven games postponed

Seven Wyoming Valley Conference boys basketball games were postponed Tuesday.

The following games have been moved to 7:15 p.m. tonight: GAR at Coughlin; Wyoming Area at Dallas; Tunkhannock at Crestwood; Lake-Lehman at Northwest.

The following games have been moved to 7:15 p.m. Saturday: Meyers at Pittston Area; MMI Prep at Wyoming Seminary.

Nanticoke at Hazleton Area will be played Feb. 8.

WRESTLING

Hanover Area 49,

Berwick 12

Hanover Area registered six pins in its win over Berwick.

Hawkeyes wrestlers Jared Banesh, Jeff Bennett, Stephen Dule, Zakee Nettles, Noah Rakowski and Nick Hannon all picked up victories via pin. Nettles won the 152-pound weight class in an impressive 31 seconds.

Berwick was paced by Preston Robbins (113) and J.J. Snyder (195) who each one their match by one point.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Wyo. Val. West 80, Berwick 71

BERWICK (71) — Ken Marshman 2 0-0 5, Matt Champ 4 0-0 9, Alec Markle 4 2-2 10, Damon Beckhorn 7 3-4 18, Jude Goddard 8 9-11 25, Justin Groshek 0 4-4 4, Kyle Pierce 0 0-0 0, Joe Norce 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 8-21 71.

WVW (80) — Sean Judge 10 2-3 22, Savion Saunders 1 0-0 2, Aaron Austin 4 0-0 9, Draig Ruff 9 6-8 24, Amistad Hackett 2 1-3 5, Noah Frace 5 0-1 10, Davis Weaver 0 0-0 0, Montel Jordan 0 0-0 0, Tayshawn Moore 4 0-0 8. Totals 35 9-15 80.

Berwick`19`21`12`19`—`71

WVW`16`26`15`23`—`80

Three-point goals — BER 3 (Marshman, Champ, Beckhorn), WVW 1 (Austin).

Holy Redeemer 67, Hanover Area 43

HANOVER AREA (43) — Tyler Diggs 5 1-3 14, Mike Piscotty 4 2-2 12, Luis Rivera 4 0-0 8, Evan Materna 1 0-0 3, Abbaad Hamlet 1 0-0 2, Devin Senk 0 2-2 2, Asad Whitehead 1 0-1 2, Danny Marcincavage 0 0-0 0, Brandon Arias 0 0-0 0, Kyle Bohlin 0 0-0 0, Siheim Wright 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 5-8 43.

HOLY REDEEMER (67) — Colin Cook 5 2-2 13, Joe Layaou 3 3-5 10, Jason Stachokus 4 1-2 9, Luke Nealon 4 0-0 8, Nick Prociak 3 1-1 7, Joey Judge 1 2-2 5, Jake Adonizio 2 0-0 4, JD Turosky 2 0-0 4, Antony Khoudary 1 0-0 2, James Kosik 0 2-2 2, Bryce Yencha 0 2-2 2, Michael Yuons 0 1-2 1. Totals 25 14-18 67.

Hanover Area`7`9`13`14`—`43

Holy Redeemer`15`20`12`20`—`67

Three-point goals — HA 6 (Diggs 3, Picotty 2, Materna); HR 3 (Judge, Layaou, Cook).

WRESTLING

Hanover Area 49, Berwick 12

106 — Joe Rawley (HA) dec Nicholas Yule 2-0; 113 — Preston Robbins (BER) dec Josselin Meyer 3-2; 120 — Double forfeit; 126 — Jared Banesh (HA) pinned Maurice Smith 1:54; 132 — Jeff Bennett (HA) pinned Oscar Perla 1:26; 138 —Daniel Erickson (HA) maj dec Travis Dent 10-2; 145 — Stephen Dule (HA) pinned Jordan Tongel 2:31; 152 — Zakee Nettles (HA) pinned Austin Dewald 0:31; 160 — Noah Rakowski (HA) pinned Wyatt Zanolini 5:04; 170 — Matthew Maczuga (BER) won by forfiet; 182 — JJ Hooper (HA) won by forfeit; 195 — J.J. Snyder (BER) dec Tom Mercadante 2-1; 220 — Double forfeit; 285 — Nick Hannon (HA) pinned Stone Force 1:03.

Note: Match started at 138 pounds

Wyoming Valley West’s Amistad Hackett grabs an offensive rebound against Berwick in WVC boys basketball action Tuesday night in Plymouth.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_WVW-BerwickBoysBB_1.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Valley West’s Amistad Hackett grabs an offensive rebound against Berwick in WVC boys basketball action Tuesday night in Plymouth.

Wyoming Valley West’s Sean Judge drives the baseline against Berwick’s Matt Champ.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_WVW-BerwickBoysBB_2.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Valley West’s Sean Judge drives the baseline against Berwick’s Matt Champ.

Berwick’s Damon Beckhorn drives to the basket against Wyoming Valley West’s Aaron Austin.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_WVW-BerwickBoysBB_3.jpg.optimal.jpgBerwick’s Damon Beckhorn drives to the basket against Wyoming Valley West’s Aaron Austin.

Berwick’s Jude Goddard applies full-court pressure on Wyoming Valley West’s Tayshawn Moore.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_WVW-BerwickBoysBB_4.jpg.optimal.jpgBerwick’s Jude Goddard applies full-court pressure on Wyoming Valley West’s Tayshawn Moore.

Wyoming Valley West’s Noah Frace looks to pass around Berwick’s Ken Marshman.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_WVW-BerwickBoysBB_5.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Valley West’s Noah Frace looks to pass around Berwick’s Ken Marshman.

Berwick’s Alec Markle knocks the ball away from Wyoming Valley West’s Aaron Austin.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_WVW-BerwickBoysBB_6.jpg.optimal.jpgBerwick’s Alec Markle knocks the ball away from Wyoming Valley West’s Aaron Austin.

By John Erzar

[email protected]

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