Hazleton Area tops Wilkes-Barre Area to win Keystone State Games Roundball Classic

WILKES-BARRE — It wasn’t a conference title game, or a matchup in the District 2 playoffs, but Hazleton Area and Wilkes-Barre Area certainly brought a championship intensity to McGrane Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.

Luis Guzman went off for 32 points, and proved to be too much to handle on the boards as Hazleton Area won the 2024 Keystone State Games Roundball Classic with a 63-55 win over Wilkes-Barre Area.

The soon-to-be Hazleton Area senior did pretty much all of his damage around the rim, giving the Wilkes-Barre Area interior fits with his blend of size and quickness.

“Everything went well for all of us,” Guzman said. “We were all playing our hardest because we wanted to win.”

These two programs played their way through a field of 10 teams to advance to Sunday afternoon’s Roundball Classic final.

Unlike many of the other Keystone Games programs, which feature athletes from all corners of the commonwealth, this year’s Roundball Classic field was all local: 10 District 2 schools, eight from the Wyoming Valley Conference.

As foes in both the WVC’s Division 1 and at the district level in Class 6A, these two schools have become quite familiar with one another: after splitting their regular-season matchups last season, Hazleton bounced Wilkes-Barre from the District 2 playoffs and earned themselves a trip to the state playoffs in the process.

“It’s always fun to play against those guys … great coach, great players,” Hazleton head coach Pat Brogan said. “It’s a great rivalry, it’s two really good programs competing … it’s a great atmosphere.”

Wilkes-Barre Area controlled the early action, running out to a lead in the first half behind the efforts of point guard David Jannuzzi, who had 10 of his 17 points in the first half.

Mike Keating led the way for the Wolfpack with 18 points, and Jacob Johnson had eight points, connecting on a pair of three-pointers in the second half.

Hazleton was able to keep up in the first half with Guzman shouldering the load, and took a 29-21 lead before a Wolfpack run to close the half tied things at 29 heading into the break.

The Cougars retook the lead early in the second half, and though Wilkes-Barre kept it close the rest of the way, they weren’t able to limit Guzman’s effectiveness on the glass or at the rim.

The attention on him also freed up some of his Cougar teammates to find some offense late in the second half, with Dylan Stish connecting on Hazleton’s first three-pointer in the waning moments of the game.

Stish finished with nine points for Hazleton. Gavin Perkowski and Ryan Staffin had six points apiece for the victorious Cougars.