WRIGHT TWP. — Will the real Crestwood boys’ basketball team stand up?
The Comets who started the season 11-3? The team that dominated Hazleton Area, 60-37, on the Cougars’ home floor earlier this month? The one that looked like a lock for a Wyoming Valley Conference playoff berth and the top seed for the upcoming District 2 Class 5A playoffs?
Or the team that recently stumbled in consecutive losses to Dallas, Pittston Area and Wilkes-Barre Area, averaging not even 39 points in those games? The one whose energy level was down and its confidence waning? The one now in a dogfight for a spot in the WVC tournament and no longer guaranteed top billing for districts?
Or is it the revived Comets team that again stifled Hazleton Area in decisive a 59-42 victory on Wednesday night? The team that limited the Cougars to exactly two field goals from about the seven-minute mark of the second quarter until there was about a minute and change left in the third quarter — a span of 14 game minutes or so. That same team with a balanced scoring attack on offense?
The Comets that again looked every bit a conference and district title contender?
“This is the real Crestwood team that everyone should know (about),” insisted Comets senior Connor Wagaman, who matched teammate Ayden Agapito for game-scoring honors with 19 points, including nine in the second quarter, to help his team turn a 15-11 deficit into a 30-19 lead by halftime.
The Comets’ lead never dipped below double digits again.
“We just played our game and let the game come to us,” Wagaman said. “We played very patiently, and we were also very decisive. We tried not to make too many of the same mistakes we’ve been making. We just played together and trusted each other. We were able to clean things up … and get the job done.”
As the Comets (13-6, 7-3 WVC) did at Hazleton Area on Jan. 6, they started quickly. A Wagaman hoop off an Agapito feed and Gio Barna three-pointer helped them streak to a 5-0 lead. Unlike last time, however, the Cougars settled down as Yo-Yo Moran netted six points, Dylan Stish knocked down a triple and Kendrick Ortiz added a bucket to put the visitors on top for the first time at 11-9 with 2:28 left in the opening quarter.
Another Moran basket, this one off an Eddie Macko lob on Hazleton Area’ s first possession of the second quarter gave the Cougars (9-10, 6-3) a four-point lead, before the Comets turned ultra-aggressive on the defensive end. They clogged passing lanes, contested every shot with one, two or four hands, dived after every loose ball and controlled the boards to the tune of a 12-4 rebounding advantage in the quarter.
Offensively, Wagaman followed Barna’s layup with an elbow jumper; freshman Miles Metz scooped in a teammate’s miss; Wagaman connected for seven points more points and Agapito weaved his way through the lane for five points of his own, and Crestwood had a 30-19 lead by halftime.
“The last two days we got back to our principles of defense,” Crestwood coach Mark Atherton said. “We did a god job of making Dylan (Stish) and all their players take tough shots. … I thought Wagaman really came up big in the first half to get us going, but all of our guys played well. … Agapito had a great second half.”
The Comets stretched their lead to as many as 19 (38-19) on Rodgers’ old-fashioned three-point play halfway through the third quarter, before Hazleton Area finally got off the deck with a 7-0 run. Moran sank two free throws, Oscaudy Vasquez scored off an Ortiz assist, Macko cashed a steal into a layup and Vasquez made a foul shot to get the Cougars back within 38-26, but Agapito’s three-point play made it a 15-point game entering the final period.
Hazleton Area had one last mini-surge as another Macko steal-and-deuce, Ortiz triple and Vasquez putback closed the gap to 45-35 with still 6:06 left, but the Cougars’ mounting foul trouble, Crestwood’s stingy defense and he Comets’ ability to play keep-away prevented the Cougars from getting any closer.
“I think we hurt ourselves more than anything,” Cougars head coach Pat Brogan said. “We did have several (scoring) and fast-break opportunities, especially in the first half, but we fumbled the ball away, turned it over and didn’t convert. .. I thought our zone was working; it was confusing them. We just weren’t capitalizing after getting steals, We made a couple bad decisions with the ball in our hands.”
Crestwood fell under that same spell in recent weeks, but not Wednesday. Not against Hazleton Area for the second time this season.
“Honestly, I said in the very beginning of the year that we could go one of two ways. … I think we’re somewhere in the middle,” Atherton recalled. “In the three-game stretch we had (losses to) Dallas, Pittston and Wilkes-Barre, it was probably our toughest stretch (of the season), and we didn’t handle it really well. … I think these guys (eventually) realized the importance of energy and the non-basketball things, We have to do a much better job starting there and then we can go on getting better at the basketball things.”
Hazleton Area also must regroup for a trip to Dallas on Friday. The Mountaineers lead Division 1 with a spotless 9-0 mark followed by Crestwood at 7-3, the Cougars at 6-3 and Wilkes-Barre Area at 5-3, Only the top two teams in the division will make the WVC playoffs.
“We’re just not there yet,” Brogan said. “These guys just have to keep believing in what we’re doing and realize the little things add up: the loose balls and the rebounds they don’t get. (Crestwood) seemed to get a lot of them tonight. .
“Right now, it’s a race to get better by the end of the year. We have three games left to get better if we want to make the league playoffs.”
By then, the real Hazleton Area and Crestwood teams will have stood up.
HAZLETON AREA (42)
Paulino 0 0-0 0, Moran 4 3-4 12, Stish 4 0-0 9, Ortiz 3 0-0 7, Vasquez 2 3-4 7, Macko 2 0-0 4, Heck 0 1-2 1, Lucas 0 0-0 0, Lantigua 0 0-0 0, Ramirez 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 7-10 42.
CRESTWOOD (59)
Johnson 0 0-0 0, Barna 3 0-2 7, Metz 2 4-4 9, Wagaman 8 2-3 19, Montaneri 0 0-0 0, Sechleer 0 1-2 1, Rodgers 1 2-5 4, Brace 0 0-0 0, Agapito 8 3-4 19. Totals 22 12-20 59.
Haz Area (9-10, 6-3)…… 13 6 7 16 — 42
Crest (13-6, 7-3) ………11 19 11 17 — 59
3-FG: Moran, Stish, Ortiz, Barna, Metz, Wagaman