Silvio Giardina poured in five 3-pointers and 24 points Friday night to lead the way as Pittston Area handled visiting Hazleton Area, 48-32, in a battle for sole possession of the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 lead boys basketball lead.
Pittston Area’s defense shut down Hazleton Area early and late as the Patriots emerged as the last unbeaten in divisional play.
The Patriots are 3-0 while Hazleton Area joins Crestwood, Dallas and Wilkes-Barre Area in a four-way tie for second at 2-1. Pittston Area goes to Wilkes-Barre Area Tuesday night while Crestwood is at Hazleton Area and Dallas is at Tunkhannock. Wyoming Valley West and Berwick, the two teams that are winless in the division, also meet.
Pittston Area took an 8-4 lead after one quarter with Giardina scoring six points.
The Patriots slowly expanded the lead to 36-30 before outscoring the Cougars, 12-2, in the fourth quarter.
After hitting two 3-pointers in the third quarter, Giardina hit two more in the fourth while scoring his last 10 points.
Matt Walter and Anthony Cencetti each added eight points.
Chris Catrone scored 13 points to lead Hazleton Area, which played without point guard and leading scorer Luke Gennaro because of an ankle injury.
In other Friday WVC Division 1 boys basketball games:
Crestwood 41, Tunkhannock 40
Derek Johnson hit the second of two free throws with nine-tenths of a second remaining to lift host Crestwood to the victory.
The Comets, playing without leading scorer Drew Sechleer, overcome a scoreless first quarter in which they missed four free throws and a second-quarter deficit of nine points.
Crestwood also withstood a tying, 6-0 run by Tunkhannock in the final minute and being 0-for-3 on foul shots in the fourth quarter until Johnson hit the game-winner.
The Comets moved ahead for the first time with less than two minutes left in the third quarter on one of two 3-pointers that Brandon Burbank hit in the quarter.
Ayden Agapito led a balanced attack with nine points while Burbank had eight and Johnson and Chaz Wright scored seven each.
Tunkhannock’s Josh Brown forced a 40-40 tie with 10 seconds left off a back-court steal.
The Tigers were led by Ben Chilson with 18 points.
On a night when Crestwood finished 3-for-12 from the line, Shane Macko had a 7-for-8 second half while scoring 13 of his 15 points.
Wilkes-Barre Area 61, Wyoming Valley West 58
Wilkes-Barre Area went 5-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter to hold off a late rally by host Wyoming Valley West.
David Jannuzzi, who scored a team-high 16 points, and Brendan Benjamin each made two free throws in the fourth quarter. Melvin Egbeto was 1-for-2.
The Spartans outscored the Wolfpack, 20-9, in the fourth quarter to cut into a 14-point deficit.
Vincent Garrett added 14 points in the win while Waarithi Osenti added 10.
Zach Konopke had 11 points in the fourth-quarter comeback for Wyoming Valley West. He scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half.
Dallas 81, Berwick 55
Michael Bufalino scored 23 points and Darius Wallace added 18 as Dallas rolled on the road.
Wallace had eight points and Mikey Cumbo hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to help the Mountaineers to a 24-15 lead.
Buffalino had seven points and Wallace six in the second quarter when the Mountaineers ran the lead to 46-23. Bufalino then scored 11 more in the third quarter.
Jace Degroat buried six 3-pointers while leading Berwick with 20 points.
Sean Murphy added 19 and Julian Howie had 10.
