Defense ruled as Crestwood and Hazleton Area won Wyoming Valley Conference Division 1 boys basketball openers Friday.
Crestwood shut out Wyoming Valley West for the first quarter on the way to a 61-48 road victory.
Hazleton Area held Tunkhannock to less than half its average scoring output in a 59-29, home-court rout.
Crestwood 61, Wyoming Valley West 48
Drew Sechleer finished with 21 points to lead the way for Crestwood, which led 16-0 after one quarter and coasted from there.
Brandon Burbank had six points in the first quarter while Sechleer and Derek Johnson had five each.
Chaz Wright, who finished with 10 points, had 8 in the second quarter as the Comets built a 30-9 halftime lead.
Sechleer scored nine points in the third quarter as the advantage grew to 48-24 before the Spartans scored 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Kenius Walker scored 16 points to lead Wyoming Valley West. Zach Konopke added 10, all in the second half.
Hazleton Area 59, Tunkhannock 29
Hazleton Area held Tunkhannock to its lowest-scoring output of the season.
The Tigers came in averaging 62.4 points per game.
The Cougars outscored the Tigers, 37-14, in the middle two quarters.
Hazleton Area’s 14-3 second quarter for a 21-8 halftime lead was followed up by scoring 23 in the third quarter.
