Pittston Area’s Logan Booth gets fouled by Crestwood’s Brandon Niemenski (1) while driving to the basket during a game played Jan. 17. Crestwood and Pittston Area play for a third time this season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a District 2 Class 5A quarterfinal game at Hazleton Area High School.
                                 Tony Callaio file photo | For Times Leader

Pittston Area’s Logan Booth gets fouled by Crestwood’s Brandon Niemenski (1) while driving to the basket during a game played Jan. 17. Crestwood and Pittston Area play for a third time this season at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a District 2 Class 5A quarterfinal game at Hazleton Area High School.

Tony Callaio file photo | For Times Leader

Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

The Wyoming Valley Conference and Lackawanna League played 263 games to determine their boys basketball divisional champions.

Then add non-divisional games and that number balloons to well over 300 games.

All that basketball to eliminate just three of the conferences’ combined 40 teams from the District 2 playoffs.

Come this week only the WVC’s Wyoming Valley West and the Lackawanna League’s Montrose and Forest City won’t be playing. Everybody else will be somewhere in the six tournaments.

Seedings were based solely on regular-season games via the Power Rating System. So Crestwood’s two victories to capture the WVC Division 1 championship, including a second win over Dallas, didn’t matter. Dallas ended up higher in the D2-5A seedings than Crestwood. And Wyoming Seminary’s victory over Crestwood for the WVC overall championship had no bearing.

The Power Rating System not only takes into account wins but also strength of schedule. That’s why MMI Prep (4-18) made the D2/11 Class A subregional while Roberto Clemente Charter (7-15) didn’t even though it defeated the Preppers. MMI Prep’s schedule, which included Seminary and Holy Redeemer twice each, was much stronger.

Here’s a look at the six tournaments. Records include any postseason games.

CLASS 6A

(1 team to states)

Seedings: 1. Hazleton Area (13-9); 2. Wilkes-Barre Area (14-10); 3. Williamsport (8-14); 4. Scranton (9-13); 5. Delaware Valley (8-14)

Defending champ: Hazleton Area

Outlook: Hazleton Area has won every Class 6A title since the PIAA went to six classifications in the 2016-17 season. However, the Cougars enter the tournament unlike any of those teams. They’ve lost four in a row and five of their last six, with setbacks to Wilkes-Barre Area and Williamsport in the slump.

WBA won nine of 10 before falling to Crestwood in the WVC Division 1 championship game. The Wolfpack defeated Williamsport, their semifinal opponent, 64-46 on Dec. 30. Williamsport has played a brutal schedule and has four losses by four points or less.

Scranton and Delaware Valley play Wednesday, with the winner taking on Hazleton Area.

Prediction: Hazleton Area over WBA in the championship game.

CLASS 5A

(3 teams to states)

Seedings: 1. Wallenpaupack (20-2); 2. Abington Heights (16-6); 3. Dallas (17-6); 4. Crestwood (18-7); 5. Pittston Area (15-8); 6. West Scranton (13-9); 7. North Pocono (11-11); 8. Honesdale (9-13)

Defending champ: Abington Heights

Outlook: WVC Division 1 champion Crestwood and Pittston Area meet for the third time this season in the quarterfinals. Pittston Area won 45-34 on Jan. 17, while Crestwood routed the Patriots 80-46 on Feb. 6.

Dallas has a tough opener with West Scranton, which tailed off in January after a strong start but has won its last two games.

Abington Heights has won eight consecutive District 2 titles in three different classes. The Comets won the 5A state championship in 2018 and made it to the semifinals last season.

Wallenpaupack is seeking its first district championship. The Buckhorns qualified for states last season as the third-place finisher. North Pocono has lost several close games, including one-point losses to Dallas and Pittston Area early in the season.

Honesdale opens with Wallenpaupack and lost the regular-season games by 23 and 26 points.

Prediction: Abington Heights over Wallenpaupack in the title game. Crestwood over Dallas in the third-place game.

CLASS 4A

(3 teams to states)

Seedings: 1. Scranton Prep (16-6); 2. Valley View (15-7); 3. Tunkhannock (15-7); 4. Western Wayne (9-13); 5. Hanover Area (10-12); 6. Nanticoke Area (6-16); 7. Wyoming Area (7-15); 8. Berwick (3-19)

Defending champ: Scranton Prep

Outlook: The WVC has five teams in the field and only one is guaranteed to survive the quarterfinals — the Nanticoke Area vs. Tunkhannock winner. Tunkhannock defeated the Trojans 58-52 on Dec. 27.

Hanover Area vs. Western Wayne looks like a toss-up, while Wyoming Area and Berwick have too many offensive issues to survive the top seeds in their quarterfinal games. Prep is going for its sixth consecutive district championship

Prediction: Prep over Valley View for the championship. Tunkhannock over Western Wayne for third place.

CLASS 3A

(2 team to states)

Seedings: 1. Wyoming Seminary (21-2); 2. Lakeland (17-5); 3. Holy Redeemer (15-6); 4. Riverside (15-6); 5. Mid Valley (13-9); 6. Dunmore (9-13); 7. Lake-Lehman (6-16); 8. Carbondale Area (4-18)

Defending champ: Wyoming Seminary

Outlook: An anticipated Round 3 between Wyoming Seminary and Holy Redeemer might not happen. Lakeland has won 10 of its last 13 games, with two of those losses to D2-2A favorite Holy Cross. Riverside and Mid Valley to a lesser extent might shake things up.

Lake-Lehman draws Lakeland in the quarterfinals, but hasn’t defeated a team with a winning record this season. Seminary should have few issues with Carbondale in its opener, although Redeemer could find things tricky against Dunmore.

Prediction: Seminary over Redeemer for the championship.

CLASS 2A

(2 teams to states)

Seedings: 1. Holy Cross (20-2); 2. Lackawanna Trail (13-9); 3. Mountain View (11-10); 4. Elk Lake (11-11); 5. Old Forge (9-13); 6. Northwest (7-15); 7. Susquehanna (8-14); 8. Blue Ridge (9-13)

Defending champ: Holy Cross

Outlook: Northwest is the only WVC team in the bracket. It got a huge break when Old Forge finished the regular season by defeating Blue Ridge. The outcome took the Rangers out of the eighth spot and a meeting with three-time defending champion Holy Cross. They get Mountain View, which stumbled out of the gates to a 2-8 record before recovering.

Holy Cross’ only losses were 62-56 to Dallas on Dec. 18 and 66-62 to Riverside on Jan. 16.

Prediction: Holy Cross over Lackawanna Trail for the championship.

CLASS A

MMI Prep is the only Class A team in District 2 and is in a subregional with five District 11 teams.

The Preppers were sort of playing hokey pokey with the final berth this past week. They were in, then out, then in again despite having fewer wins than two teams below them — Roberto Clemente Charter and Salem Christian.

While MMI lost 55-54 to Nativity BVM in last season’s semifinals, the Preppers face a tough opener against Notre Dame East Stroudburg, which is 10-12 but lost four games by three points or less.