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WILKES-BARRE — The hole wasn’t as deep this time. Nonetheless, it was once more too much for Wyoming Area to overcome Tuesday night.

Holy Redeemer built a 12-point lead after one quarter and saw Wyoming Area make a significant run at the deficit, but the Royals again held off the Warriors for a 57-39 win in a Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 boys basketball game.

Redeemer (9-0 Div. 2, 17-2) remained just ahead of Nanticoke Area (9-1, 14-6) in the division. Wyoming Area fell to 5-4 in the division and 9-10 overall.

When the teams played back on Jan. 10, Redeemer took a 19-point lead after one quarter and Wyoming Area cut the deficit to seven in the fourth only to have a couple miscues result in a 62-47 Royals victory.

Tuesday night played out quite similarly.

The Warriors eventually whittle Redeemer’s lead to seven at 38-31 with 2:31 left in the third quarter. They missed an opportunity to cut into the deficit even more and Redeemer’s Mark Atherton converted two steals into baskets. The Royals never let the lead dip to single digits after that.

“I think we played a better four quarters than last time,” Redeemer coach Paul Guido said. “That’s something we talked about after than last game a little bit. A little bit of a learning opportunity for us.

“Certainly a credit to Wyoming Area. Same thing as last time up there. We got off to a big start and they came back and cut it to a single digit.”

Redeemer’s Darryl Wright, the shortest guy on the court at 5-foot-5, made two steals to start the fourth. He scored on a layup on one and Zach Perta scored on the other. Then after Wyoming Area’s Matt Rusinchak hit a 3-pointer, Wright answered with one of his own.

The Royals grabbed control over the final four minutes, outscoring Wyoming Area 7-1.

“The slow start hurt us,” Wyoming Area coach Anthony Macario said. “We played a much better second quarter. Third quarter we came out and played well and had the lead down to seven. Credit Redeemer — their pressure, their defense, their runs.

“They had two critical runs in the third and four quarters. One we got it to seven and then they’d send it back up. The other we had it down to 10 and they immediately scored the next seven.”

Poor shooting doomed Wyoming Area in the first quarter. The Warriors missed their first 11 shots, with five of them right under the basket, before Dane Schutter ended the drought with a basket to close the initial eight minutes.

Schutter, who finished with a game-high 11 rebounds to go with 11 points, and Tyler Sciandra led Wyoming Area on a couple small bursts in the middle quarters. Redeemer was able to cut them off before the Warriors could make it closer than seven.

Holy Redeemer 57, Wyoming Area 39

WYOMING AREA (39) — Sciandra 4 2-4 10, Burakiewicz 2 0-0 4, Noone 2 2-2 6, Rusinchak 1 2-2 5, Schutter 4 2-3 11, DeLucca 1 0-0 3, Little 0 0-0 0, Golden 0 0-0 0, Petrucci 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 8-11 39.

HOLY REDEEMER (57) — Perta 5 1-1 12, Wright 2 0-2 5, Lussi 2 3-4 8, Hunter 5 2-2 13, Kozerski 4 1-2 9, Sabatini 3 0-0 6, Ha 0 0-0 0, Spiccioli 0 0-0 0, Atherton 2 0-0 4, Dubaskas 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 7-11 57.

Wyoming Area`4`14`15`6 — 39

Holy Redeemer`16`11`15`15 — 57

Three-point goals — WA 3 (DeLucca, Rusinchak, Schutter); HR 4 (Perta, Wright, Lussi, Hunter)