Crestwood’s Ayden Agapito drives to the basket as Lake-Lehman’s Spencer Smith guards in the first quarter of the McGrane Tournament held at the CYC in Wilkes-Barre.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Crestwood’s Chaz Wright drives to the basket with Lake-Lehman’s Hunter Palka guarding during the McGrane Tourament held at the Wilkes-Barre CYC Wednesday night.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Crestwood’s Gio Barna drives between Lake-Lehman’s Finn Cronin and Jake Evans during the second quarter of the McGrane Tournament.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Crestwood’s George Jennings tries to muscle past Lake-Lehman’s Jake Evans during the first quarter of the McGrane Tourament.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
Crestwood’s Ryan Sechleer dives after the ball over top of Lake-Lehman’s Jake Evans.
Fred Adams | For Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — Crestwood used pressure defense to establish immediate control, then coasted to a 61-30 boys basketball victory over Lake-Lehman Wednesday night in the opener of the 57th annual McGrane Holiday Basketball Tournament at the Wyoming Valley Catholic Youth Center.
Chaz Wright was one of four players to finish with nine points, dished out a team-high three assists and also made five steals to lead Crestwood (5-2) to its fourth straight victory.
Derek Johnson and Matt Sklarosky also had nine points for the Comets (5-2) while Spencer Smith led winless Lake-Lehman with nine points and five steals.
Crestwood forced 27 turnovers, including 10 in the first quarter.
“Early on, I think our press hurt them,” Crestwood coach Mark Atherton said. “I think we did a good job of mixing it up and pulling the press off early.
“ … We played a ton of guys. In the end, we did what we had to do.”
Six reserves combined to contribute 26 points.
Sklarosky and Johnson each had three steals while Ryan Sechleer and Cameron Scotti added two. Ayden Agapito contributed to the defensive effort with two blocked shots.
Lake-Lehman managed just three shots on its first nine possessions while Crestwood took an 11-0 lead. Sklarosky led the strong start with a three-point play off an offensive rebound, another inside basket and a steal and assist to Johnson for a transition layup.
The Black Knights went 7:38 without a field goal, starting 0-for-10 with 10 turnovers, before Smith took a steal the length of the court for a tough finish through contact for a three-point play to make it 14-5 after one quarter.
Wright scored seven straight points in a span of less than two minutes for a 25-8 lead midway through the second quarter the Comets took a 30-11 halftime lead.
After the teams traded basket to open the second half, Crestwood scored the last 18 points of the third quarter for the game’s biggest lead at 53-16.
It was the second straight game that Crestwood went on an 18-0 run. Last time, it was to erase an early nine-point deficit against Wyoming Valley West.
Scotti had all eight of the fourth-quarter points for Crestwood, which had gone deep into its bench by that point. Smith had six points in the fourth for Lake-Lehman.
The Comets were not as sharp offensively as in other games during the winning streak. They committed nine first-half turnovers and did not always finish.
The defense made sure that did not matter. Crestwood outscored Lake-Lehman 22-4 in points off turnovers and got eight other points in transition.
Agapito made all four of his shots while also scoring eight points for Crestwood. He also grabbed five rebounds, second on the team behind Sklarosky’s seven.
Crestwood 61, Lake-Lehman 30
LAKE-LEHMAN (30) — Jake Evans 2 0-0 5, Alex Smith 2 2-2 7, Hunter Palka 2 0-2 6, Finn Cronin 0 0-0 0, Spencer Smith 3 2-4 9, Vinny Sparacio 1 0-0 3, Casey Shook 0 0-0 0, Logan Smith 0 0-0 0. Scott Egbert 0 0-0 0, Noah Corcoran 0 0-0 0, Bodhi Cronin 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 4-8 30.
CRESTWOOD (61) — Mason Czapla 0 0-0 0, Derek Johnson 4 0-0 9, Matt Sklarosky 4 1-1 9, Chaz Wright 3 3-7 9, Ayden Agapito 4 0-0 8, Ryan Sechleer 1 1-2 3, George Jennings 1 2-4 4, Tommy Biscotti 0 0-0 0, Jacob Feisel 0 0-0 0, Adam Nulton 0 0-0 0, Brady Grevera 1 0-0 2, Gio Barna 3 0-0 6, Cameron Scotti 3 1-2 8, Nenry Canela 1 0-0 3, Jack Rodgers 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 8-16 61.
Lake-Lehman`5`9`8`14 — 30
Crestwood`14`19`20`8 — 61
Three-point goals – LL 6 (Palka 2, Evans, Asmith, SSmith, Sparacio), CRE 3 (Johnson, Scotti, Canela).