Five from WVC capture gold medals
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TUNKHANNOCK – Five wrestlers from the Wyoming Valley Conference tuned up for next weekend’s WVC Tournament by claiming gold medals at the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament on Saturday afternoon.
Coughlin’s Bobby Hawkins (113 pounds) and Brad Emerick (285) along with Lake-Lehman’s Austin Harry (132) all repeated as champions from last year.
Wyoming Area’s Andy Schutz (126) and Tunkhannock’s Ben Siegel (152) also claimed tournament championships for the conference. Four other WVC grapplers advanced to the finals and settled for silver medals including a trio from GAR in A.J. Luton (120), Jamaar Taylor (160) and Zachary Faust (220). All three Grenadiers lost by just two points in their final bout. Lake-Lehman’s Brady Butler, a 182-pounder, was also runner-up.
Sal Diaz and Troy Edwards, a duo from Wyoming Seminary’s B Team also claimed silver medals at the event.
Hawkins, a sophomore, and Emerick, a senior, each won via first-period fall to pick up their second straight title at the event.
Schutz secured a 6-1 victory over Wyalusing’s Brandon Kelley for his title, while Harry beat Edwards 8-2.
Pocono Mountain East claimed the team championship with 221 points. Wyalusing (190.5), Western Wayne (153) and Scranton (147) rounded out the top four. Coughlin was the highest finisher for the WVC taking fifth with 143.5 points. Tunkhannock (127) and Lake-Lehman (118.5) ended sixth and seventh, respectively. GAR ended in tenth with 79.5.
The Wyoming Valley Conference Tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at Lake-Lehman High School. The pairings for the event will be released Thursday night.
Hurricane Classic
Wyoming Valley West’s Kyle Krasavage earned the Outstanding Wrestler Award for the Hurricane Classic, the Bethlehem Holiday Tournament after claiming the gold medal at 126 and knocking off a pair of state placewinners along the way. In the finals he beat Liberty’s Grimaldi Gonzalez, a fifth-place finisher at the PIAA Championships last year, 8-3. His semifinal win was a 14-1 major decision over Northampton’s Zach Valley, another state placewinner from a year ago.
Also for the Spartans, Cody Cordes (145) placed third, Travis Roper (132) placed fifth and Nathan Cheek (138) earned a seventh-place medal.
Wyoming Seminary put on a strong showing at the event grabbing 12 medals, including four golds. Nicky Hall (170), Eric Morris (182), Garrett Ryan (220) and Michael Johnson (285) were all champions for the Blue Knights.
Danny Boychuck (113, fifth-place), C.J. Moyer (126, eighth), Tyler Ponte (132, fourth), Jesse Holton (138, fifth), Jake Savoca (145, seventh), Tyrell White (152, third), Chris Weiler (160, third) and Matt Doggett (195, fourth) also placed for Seminary.
Hazleton Area represented the Wyoming Valley Conference with a pair of medalists with Larry Romanchik (126) placing seventh and Taylor Schermerhorn (220) finishing sixth.
Great Valley 51, Hanover Area 21
Trevor Ahouse scored the Hawkeyes lone victory, recording a 2-0 decision over Adam Drill at 220 pounds.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Baldwin 74, King’s 57
WILKES-BARRE – Kevin Krakowiak scored a game-high 21 points to lead Baldwin Wallace University over King’s College 74-57 in a men’s basketball game Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Baldwin Wallace, a member of the highly-regarded Ohio Athletic Conference, improved to 7-4 on the year while the Monarchs slipped to 5-6.
Baldwin Wallace never trailed in the game and held a 14-13 lead with 9:52 remaining in the first half. The Yellow Jackets then used a 12-2 run to push the score to 26-15 with 5:13 remaining in the half.
Krakowiak was 6-of-17 from the field and three-of nine from three-point range.
King’s was paced by Joe Caffrey with 12 points while Pat O’Donnell added 10. The Monarchs starting line-up combined for just 25 points on 11-of-33 shooting.
SUNY-Old Westbury 100, Misericordia 97
Matt Greene poured in 23 points and added nine assists to lead five Cougars in double-figures, but the Panthers made the most of Misericordia’s turnovers as the Cougars fell to SUNY-Old Westbury.
Cael Evans (17), Jesse Urich (15), Justin Grotevant (13) and Joe Busacca (12) each also reached double figures for the Cougars with Grotevant adding 10 rebounds for the double-double.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Lebanon Valley 76, Misericordia 67
Misericordia University women’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought decision at No. 11 Lebanon Valley.
Lauren Smicherko scored 16 points to lead four Cougars in double figures. Hannah Seely had 15 points in just 21 minutes and Tyann McDaniel and Caitlin Kessler added 12 and 10 points, respectively. Smicherko had a team-high six rebounds and McDaniel added five assists.
Misericordia, 5-3, will host Susquehanna at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Juniata 80, King’s 51
The King’s College women’s basketball team shot a sub-par 24.6 percent from the floor, its lowest of the season, as the Lady Monarchs dropped an 80-51 decision to host Juniata College in the championship game of the Juniata Holiday Tournament in Huntingdon.
Juniata, which comes off back-to-back NCAA Division III national tournament appearances, improved to 8-3 with the victory. King’s, meanwhile,fell to 5-4 on the year.
Celia Rader scored 20 points to gain a spot on the all-tournament team but was the only Lady Monarch to reach double-figures in scoring. The remaining four starters for King’s combined for just 15 points in the game.
