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WILKES-BARRE — Nanticoke Area picked a bad time to go cold on offense.
The Trojans, though, can gain a bit of solace from Saturday afternoon’s 48-41 loss to Valley View in a District 2 Class 4A boys basketball semifinal game. They were in the same position last season and things worked out pretty well.
Of course, for top-seeded Nanticoke Area (19-5) to repeat last season’s postseason success, it will have to get past fourth-seeded Wyoming Area (15-9) in the D2-4A third-place game Tuesday at a site and time to be announced. The winner gets the final state berth. Wyoming Area lost 74-53 to top-seeded Scranton Prep in its semifinal.
Nanticoke Area won the third-place game last season and made it to the PIAA 4A state semifinals where it ran into Philadelphia city buzzsaw Imhotep Charter.
“We’re going to take a day off, regroup and wait for either Prep or Wyoming Area,” said Nanticoke Area coach John Beggs, whose game finished well before Prep and Wyoming Area tipped off. “Last year we made a lot of noise from the three seed. It’s not the idea thing. We wanted to get to the arena.”
Instead, third-seeded Valley View (16-8) will play Prep (19-5) for the D2-4A crown at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 3, at Mohegan Sun Arena. Those two teams locked up state spots with wins Saturday.
Nanticoke Area’s problems were twofold in the first half as the Cougars took a 27-16 lead into halftime.
First was the shooting. Valley View shot 46 percent in the first two quarters; the Trojans 29 percent. Guard Nate Kreitzer had 11 of Nanticoke Area’s 16 points and five of their six field goals.
Second was Valley View’s transition game led to some quick baskets. The Cougars took the lead for good, 10-8 with 57 seconds left in the first quarter, on a fast-break bucket by Dixon Black. They ended the half with two fastbreak layups for the first double-digit lead of the game.
“Their zone, I think in the first half we attacked it very well,” Valley View coach Mike Kurpis said. “We got the ball to the high post and that kind of opened up the defense. Second half, I think we got a little too complacent and didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had. And then the turnovers happened.”
Valley View managed just two points in the third quarter, but Nanticoke Area was able to shave only six points off the deficit as Colby Butczynski’s two 3-pointers were the only field goals.
The Cougars also survived nine turnovers in the fourth quarter as the Trojans created some havoc with their press. But after Nanticoke Area moved within 42-38 with barely a minute to play, but Valley View was able to hit four consecutive free throws.
Nanticoke Area was once again without Trahjan Krupinski, one of the top inside players in the Wyoming Valley Conference. Krupinski suffered a sprained ankle against Tunkhannock on Feb. 13. He was on crutches Wednesday and wearing a walking boot Saturday. But with only three days until the third-place game, his status remained murky.
District 2 Class 4A Semifinals
Valley View 48, Nanticoke Area 41
VALLEY VIEW (48) — Chase Combs 3 0-0 8, Bobby Craig 3 0-1 7, Dylan Howanitz 1 3-4 6, Dixon Black 2 2-2 6, marc Kudrich 5 6-6 17, Jaden Duplessis 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 11-13 48.
NANTICOKE AREA (41) — Nate Kreitzer 9 3-4 24, Colby Butczynski 3 2-4 11, Jake Krupinski 0 0-0 0, Dylan Szychowski 1 1-2 3, Luke Myers 1 0-0 3, Andy Kozlofski 0 0-0 0, Collin Brown 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-10 41.
Valley View`10`17`2`19 — 48
Nanticoke Area`8`8`8`17 — 41
Three-point goals — VV 4 (Combs 2, Howanitz, Kudrich), NAN 7 (Kreitzer 3, Butczynski 3, Myers).
