Cougars streak still alive

YATESVILLE — The coaches have changed. And, obviously, the players have as well.

The one constant, though, remained Saturday night in big part to a player who was in grade school when the streak started.

Junior Sal Biasi turned in a remarkable second half – to go along with a darn good first half – as Hazleton Area defeated Pittston Area 69-53 in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division I boys basketball game. The win extended the Cougars' winning streak over the Patriots to 16 games.

Biasi scored 15 points in the third quarter and nine more in the fourth to finish with a game-high 34. His performance included items not found in the box score such as pin-point passing and excellent ballhandling from his point guard position. The latter produced a fake that left a Patriot sprawled on the court.

They played great offense the first 20 minutes of the game, Biasi said of Pittston Area. They took some stuff away from us. In the second half, I felt like it was too close and I was feeling it so I just started attacking.

The victory will go down as the 12th by double digits in a streak that started on Jan. 27, 2005. The final score, however, was misleading.

Pittston Area (1-1, Div. I, 5-5 overall) led 37-34 just past the midway point of the third quarter, using consecutive three-pointers by Mason Gross to erase a small deficit. Biasi, though, took over and scored the game's next nine points. The Patriots never got closer than three the rest of the way.

They're well coached, they play hard and they have athletic, athletic kids who just pound the boards, Pittston Area coach Alan Kiesinger said. Really, I thought that was the difference. They had 14 offensive rebounds. When they can do that and play pressure defense, they're a good team.

It's not for a lack of effort we're losing to them.

That was apparent after Hazleton Area (2-0, 6-3) looked like it was ready to deliver a knockout blow early. The Cougars led 22-11 early in the second quarter, but Pittston Area's Tyler McGarry and Michael Schwab paced a run that cut the advantage to 28-27 at halftime.

The Patriots got several of their first-half points with short, quick cuts through the lane for easy baskets. Not so in the second half.

We weren't doing a good job denying an opening on those back cuts, Hazleton Area coach Mike Joseph said. We didn't have good help in the lane when those cuts were happening. So we squeezed our defense a little bit to get some help in the lane.

When it came to rebounding, though, Hazleton Area dominated in the paint with a 33-16 edge. Kurtis Wright grabbed 10 boards to record a double-double. Abel Felix added six more and Biasi had five.

Gross had nine rebounds for Pittston Area to go with his team-high 17 points. Schwab finished with 16 points and gave the Patriots their final lead with 4:02 left in the third.

HAZLETON AREA (69): Sal Biasi 14 2-2 34, Chris Woodring 1 1-2 3, Brent Barrow 2 0-0 6, Will Herro 1 0-0 2, Kurtis Wright 4 2-4 10, Deivon Barlow 1 0-0 2, Reynal Santana 0 0-0 0, Abel Felix 1 0-0 2, Kyle Karmonick 3 2-2 8, Hunter Samec 1 0-0 2.; Totals 28 7-12 69.

PITTSTON AREA (53): Michael Schwab 7 1-2 16, Jay Crawford 1 0-0 2, James Emmett 1 0-0 2, James Tobisch 3 1-1 7, Mason Gross 6 3-3 17, Hassan Maxwell 0 0-0 0, Michael Delaney 0 2-3 2, Tyler McGarry 2 0-0 5, Bernie Kurtinitis 0 0-0 0, Carmen Lobrutto 0 0-0 0, Brandon Zafutto 0 0-0 0, Ryan Hannon 0 0-0 0, Justin Peterson 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 7-9 53.

3-Point Field Goals— HA 6 (Biasi 4, Barrow 2); PA 4 (Gross 2, Schwab, McGarry)

Jaquan Ingram recorded 19 points while Brett Good scored 17 as Wyoming Valley West held on.

Tunkhannock was led by Brian Stephenson's 14 points.

WYOMING VALLEY WEST (59): Chris McCue 1 0-0 2, Brett Good 6 3-4 17, Lucky Williams 2 3-3 7, Evan McCue 0 0-0 0, Jaquan Ingram 8 7-3 19, Jamie Calloway 2 0-0 5, Larry Anderscavage 3 1-2 9; Totals: 22 10-16 59.