DALEVILLE – There are times when John Warnero looks at his championship Elk Lake boys’ basketball team and sees six starters.
The rules require that he choose five.
Fortunately, for Warnero, he has a player who “embraces” the role of sixth man.
Nick Dudock came off the bench Saturday afternoon to shake the Warriors out of a sluggish start, then Rob Heft and Tanner Reyan took it from there in a 68-43 rout of Hanover Area in the District 2 Class AA quarterfinals at North Pocono High School.
Hanover Area outscored Elk Lake during the time Dudock was on the bench Saturday. With Dudock on the court for 17:35, however, the Warriors destroyed the Hawkeyes, 53-22.
“He’s a game-changer and he’s a team player,” Warnero said. “ … He comes in and just makes an immediate impact.
“He embraces it. He doesn’t challenge me as a coach and say ‘here’s what I’m doing.’ He loves that role.”
Dudock stepped on the court for the first time with Hanover Area ahead, 6-5, with 2:31 left in the first quarter. He scored the next four points to start a seven-point streak that put Elk Lake ahead to stay. Dudock then scored the first seven points of a 16-point streak that carried through the last 5:40 of the second quarter into the third quarter.
By the time the run was over, Elk Lake was in front, 33-11, and the game was essentially decided.
“He’s a great defender and he can score,” Warnero said of Dudock, who made six of his seven shots while scoring 12 points.
He was not the only Warrior to have an accurate shooting day.
After its 0-for-7 start from the floor, Elk Lake shot 68.5 percent (26-for-38) for more than three quarters before emptying the bench during a timeout with 2:23 left while holding a 68-38 lead.
“Our transition game really opened it up,” Warnero said. “We were getting good stops.”
Heft and Reyan combined for 43 points and 23 rebounds. Heft hit five of six 3-point shots on his way to 24 points and 11 rebounds. Reyan was 7-for-9 on a variety of pull-up jumpers from inside the arc while scoring 19 and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Elk Lake was the only one of four Susquehanna County teams to make it through the first two rounds.
Montrose won once, but was eliminated in the first half of Saturday’s doubleheader at North Pocono.
Blue Ridge and Mountain View lost in the first round.
Elk Lake opened the tournament by hitting 13 shots from 3-point range and scoring 51 first-half points in an 81-60 victory over Lakeland.
Heft nailed seven 3-pointers while scoring 27 points. He had 14 in the first half then 11 more in the third quarter when the Warriors built their lead to 69-37.
Reyan added 23 points, Matt Woolcock 14 and Tyler Arnold 10.
Kyle Kiehart led Lakeland with 22 points.
Montrose defeated Blue Ridge, 59-43, before falling to Mid Valley, 54-37.
Troy Ely scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half of the win over Blue Ridge, helping the Meteors to a 25-10 lead.
Cameron Dean added 12 points. Erik Burgh, who did all his scoring in the second half, and Brenton Warner had nine each.
Burgh had seven points and Warner six when Montrose increased the lead to 48-25 in a high-scoring third quarter.
The Meteors held Lackawanna League scoring champion Sawyer Dearborn to four points for three quarters.
Dearborn finished with 13 points. Mike Gathany added 11 and Chris Carlsen nine for Blue Ridge.
Ronny Tomasetti had 12 of his 19 points and Matt Tanner 10 of his 12 for Mid Valley in the first half.
Burgh hit two 3-pointers while scoring 10 for Montrose. Brenton Warner added nine.
Mid Valley routed Mountain View, 66-28, in another first-round game.
Mid Valley opened a 33-11 lead at halftime.
Derek Bradley scored 11 points for Mountain View in the loss.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Zach Edwards of Blue Ridge and Isaiah Ofalt of Elk Lake reached the finals of the District 2 Class AA Wrestling Championships Saturday at Lake-Lehman before falling and settling for second place.
Austin Harry of Lake-Lehman defeated Edwards, 6-3, at 132 pounds.
Edwards had reached the final with a semifinal pin.
Brady Butler, also from team champion Lake-Lehman, decisioned Ofalt, 10-0, at 182.
Ofalt reached the final by pulling out two decisions by a total of four points.
Blue Ridge’s Dalton Hogle (120) and Troy Maby (126) and Montrose’s John Shaffer (285) joined the finalists in qualifying for Northeast Regionals by winning consolation finals to take third place.
Hogle beat Shane Elick of Hanover Area, 4-3. Maby shut out Nanticoke’s Josh Benscoter, 5-0. Shaffer pinned Lackawanna Trail’s Justin Barber in 1:18.
Lake-Lehman outscored Western Wayne, 216-197, for the team title.
Blue Ridge was seventh of 12 teams with 73 points. Elk Lake was 10th with 41, one ahead of Montrose.
Addison Parsons was fourth at 160 and David Austin was fifth at 113 for Blue Ridge.
Elk Lake had Blaise Cleveland finish fourth at 145 and Adam Curry take sixth at 152.
Patrick Parks (132) and Nick Moore (220) were fifth while Chad Robinson (113) was sixth for Montrose.
In girls’ basketball, all four county teams were eliminated in Class AA.
Lakeland took care of two of the teams.
The Lady Chiefs knocked defending champion Montrose out of the tournament Friday night, 43-41.
The Lady Meteors had earned a first-round bye as the top seed after winning the Lackawanna League Division 4 title.
Lakeland defeated Mountain View, 56-24, February 20 in a game that was postponed from the night before.
Arianna Gabriel led Mountain View with 10 points.
Elk Lake opened with a 45-26 victory over Wyoming Seminary before losing to Dunmore, 61-20.
Second-seeded GAR routed Blue Ridge, 82-34, February 19.
Brea Seabrook scored 20 of her 24 points in the first half for GAR, which scored at least 20 points in each quarter. She also had 18 rebounds, five steals and five assists.
Sierra Hall hit a pair of early 3-pointers to give Blue Ridge a 10-7 lead before the Lady Grenadiers raced past them. Hall wound up hitting two more on her way to a team-high 14 points. Jessica Jhingoor added nine points.
COLLEGE CORNER
West Chester University’s Dallas Ely had a season-high 20 points in just 20 minutes in a February 2 game to lead a 64-52 victory over East Stroudsburg.
Ely went 5-for-6 from 3-point range and 5-for-6 from the line. The game came right in the middle of a five-game stretch in which Ely went 13-for-21 (61.9 percent) on her 3-point shots.
Through 22 West Chester games, Ely had appeared in 20 and started 10. The freshman from Montrose was averaging 9.7 points per game while hitting 39.4 percent of her 3-pointers and 81.8 percent of her foul shots.
West Chester, an NCAA Division II team, is 10-9 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and 13-10 overall.
Ely led Montrose to the state Class AA semifinals last season while earning all-state honors.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The need for an extended set of Lackawanna League Division 3 playoff games prevented eventual winner Holy Cross from ever facing Division 4 champion Elk Lake in the league’s Small School Championship Game.
Instead, those teams will meet Wednesday night at Valley View at 7:30 in the District 2 Class AA semifinals.
Elk Lake is seeded third. Holy Cross is second.
The winner will face the Meyers-Mid Valley winner Saturday for the district title. The losers of the semifinals will play Saturday for the district’s third and final berth in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AA tournament.
District 2 will decide its Class A championship Friday.
Top-seeded Susquehanna was scheduled to face MMI Prep and Forest City was set to face Old Forge in Tuesday’s semifinals.
In wrestling, the Class AA Northeast Regionals are scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Williamsport.
Blue Ridge’s Edwards, Hogle and Maby will be joined by Elk Lake’s Ofalt and Montrose’s Shaffer.
In swimming, the District 2 Class AA Championships will start at noon Friday and Saturday at the Wilkes-Barre CYC.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com.
Jimmie Johnson, winner of the 55th Daytona 500
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Jimmie Johnson held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win Sunday’s 55th Daytona 500. It was Johnson’s second Daytona win and came in his 400th start.
“I had me a fast car and a lot of confidence there at the end,” said Johnson. “We knew that if we could stay out of trouble and be near the front, we could win this thing.”
After a caution with 23 laps to go, 2012 Cup champion Brad Keselowski held the lead ahead of Greg Biffle, Danica Patrick and Jeff Gordon. But soon Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin entered the mix, making it a two-wide, 10-car battle for the lead.
After running single file most of the day, the field bunched up after the caution and engaged in a wild two- and three-wide battle.
Keselowski, who had damage to his car from two earlier crashes, powered to the front and battled Johnson, the driver he beat for the 2012 championship, for the lead.
With the leaders racing hard, a caution for debris on Lap 191 slowed the race and set up the sprint to the finish.
In the remaining few laps, Johnson’s only challenge came from Dale Earnhardt Jr., who came up two car lengths short.
“I was able to get a run off turn 2 with Mark (Martin) pushing me,” said Earnhardt. “But when we started out of 4, I lost Mark and from then on, I couldn’t catch Jimmie.”
An early crash during lap 32, took out eight cars, including three of the top contenders, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, and Kasey Kahne.
The field was racing in a tight draft when Kasey Kahne had to check up and Kyle Busch got into the back of him, causing Kahne to spin in the big pack.
“I wanted to race. I didn't want to sit there running single file up against the wall like everybody was doing,” Kahne said.
Kahne’s No. 5 Chevy spun and slammed into the car of Juan Pablo Montoya, igniting the eight-car, chain-reaction crash.
Harvick appeared to get hit from behind, causing him to spin and crash into Stewart. Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski also was involved, as were Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch and Casey Mears.
Harvick entered the race as the favorite after winning the Sprint Unlimited last Saturday and his Budweiser Duel qualifying race Thursday. He was trying to become the first driver to sweep all three races.
“(It looked like) Kyle Busch turned the 5 ... That's just part of the game,” Harvick said. “We had a great week. We'll rebound next week.”
Polesitter Danica Patrick ran up front for most of the race. She was third on lap 199, but lost several positions on the last lap.
“I kept thinking about what I would do near the end, but I needed a hole and someone to help me,” she said. “I had the feeling that if I went low, I would be freight-trained backwards.
“But at the end of the day, it was a good run.”
Two of Joe Gibbs’ cars, the No. 20 driven by Matt Kenseth, and the No. 18 piloted by Kyle Busch had engine failures on laps 150 and 151 respectively.
Top-10 finishers: 1. Jimmie Johnson, 2. Dale Earnhardt, 3. Mark Martin, 4. Brad Keselowski, 5. Ryan Newman, 6. Greg Biffle, 7. Regan Smith, 8. Danica Patrick, 9. Michael McDowell, 10. J. J. Yeley.
28 FANS INJURED IN DAYTONA NATIONWIDE WRECK
At least 28 people were injured in a last-lap crash during Saturday’s Nationwide race.
Daytona International Speedway president Joie Chitwood III indicated that 14 spectators were transported to medical facilities off-property and 14 others were treated on site. Only nine remained in the hospital late Sunday night.
Tony Stewart won the race, but the elation of his victory disappeared in the wake of the heart-stopping wreck that saw Kyle Larson's car demolished after flying into the main grandstand near the start/finish line.
As Stewart dodged the crash and crossed the finish line, the front clip of Larson's car sheared off, ripping the engine out of its compartment. The front suspension and engine ended up on the walkway at the bottom of the stands.
Regan Smith led as the cars approached the checkered flag, but Smith tried to block Brad Keselowski, who was running second, and turned across the nose of Keselowski's car, and for the next few minutes, mayhem reigned on the track, as cars slid, spun, and crashed, in almost every direction.
“We made a move to try and win the race,” Keselowski said. “We were in the catbird seat. Regan was in a good spot. He was first and I was second, and we were pushing. I kind of had the run and the move to win the race, and Regan obviously tried to block it, and that's understandable.”
Larson climbed from his car almost immediately and was evaluated and released from the infield care center.
Sam Hornish Jr. crossed the stripe in second place, followed by rookie Alex Bowman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Parker Kligerman, Brian Scott, Justin Allgaier, Eric McClure, Robert Richardson Jr., and Travis Pastrana.
The last-lap wreck wasn't the only serious incident of the event. A 13-car wreck in Turns 1 and 2, triggered by contact between the No. 43 Ford Mustang of Michael Annett and the No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro of Austin Dillon -- both championship hopefuls -- stopped the race after 116 laps and set up the finish.
The two females in the race didn’t fare well. Danica Patrick only lasted 31 laps before experiencing mechanical problems. Johanna Long, the other 20-year old female driver, who is running in Danica’s shadow, might have had a top-10 finish except for getting caught up in the other big wreck on lap 115. She finished 27th.finish
SAUTER WINS TRUCK RACE
Wrecked a year ago while leading late in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway, Johnny Sauter found redemption Friday night at the 2.5-mile superspeedway in winning the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250.
Sauter collected the seventh victory of his NCWTS career under caution, thanks to a timely accident that froze the field after he had taken the white flag. Kyle Busch ran second, followed by Ron Hornaday Jr., Justin Lofton and Jeb Burton.
Ty Dillon, Miguel Paludo, Ryan Blaney, Matt Crafton and Ryan Sieg completed the top 10.
“It's a lot harder to win restrictor-plate races than you think,” Sauter said. “I'm so proud of our effort. I'm speechless, event to this point. After last year, coming so close and getting taken out there toward the end of the race… we did everything right tonight.”
KESELOWSKI IN HOT WATER WITH NASCAR OWNERS
NASCAR Chairman Brian France and Vice Chairwoman Lesa France Kennedy met with Keselowski on Friday after he made public comments questioning the NASCAR business model.
Keselowski, who is known for his outspoken opinions, was quoted in a USA Today story last Friday, as saying the NASCAR business model of teams relying heavily on sponsorship is flawed, that there is too much fighting between the teams and that the tracks and the sport in general is not television friendly.
Keselowski tweeted his own confirmation of the meeting Friday, which allowed him to ask questions of NASCAR’s top officials and for them to provide the sport’s new champion with more information on issues in the sport.
“Spent some time with Lesa and Brian from the NASCAR team after yesterday's article, the passion we all share for our sport is amazing!,” Keselowski said.
Keselowski will not be penalized for his comments. NASCAR fined him in 2012 for comments critical of its new fuel injection system and for carrying his cell phone in his car during races.
In the USA Today story, Keselowski said Bill France Jr., father of Brian and Lesa, had a better relationship with the shareholders in the sport. France Jr. gave up day-to-day control of NASCAR to Brian in 2003. He died in 2007.
“France Jr. had relationships with the sponsors, drivers and teams,” Keselowski told USA Today. “Now we don't have that. Those three other pieces are segregated. Those three pieces need to get together. And until all three of those can unite, we're a house divided, and we're making bad decisions that are affecting how to generate revenue for the sport.
“In today's sports world, you have to be very powerful in drawing people to TV, and we're not TV-friendly. That's one of the key areas for success. Part of that is we're not delivering a product. And we're fighting the tracks.”
NASCAR, run by Brian France and owned primarily by his sister Lesa and uncle Jim, sanctions the Sprint Cup Series. The France family also owns a majority of stock in International Speedway Corp., which operates 12 tracks that have Cup events. Lesa France Kennedy also is the Chairwoman of ISC.
Keselowski also was critical that NASCAR has given Sprint exclusive access to track property to help with connectivity for its customers. Other wireless companies must find an off-track alternative if they want to bring in portable antennas and other equipment to help service.
“The fact I can go to a race with a Verizon phone and not have service when the race starts is a major problem,” Keselowski told USA Today. “What needs to be done to fix that is you need to allow other carriers to come in with their boosters and what-not, and that's not happening. That's not acceptable.
“You can't tell a fan that doesn't have service, ‘We're working on it.’ They bought their ticket already. That money they spent was for ‘worked,’ not ‘working.’ We have to open our eyes to the big picture.”
WEEKEND RACING: The Sprint and Nationwide teams are at the 1-mile Phoenix, AZ track. The trucks do not race again until April 6.
Sat., Mar. 2, Nationwide Series, race 2 of 33, Starting time: 4:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.
Sun., Mar. 3, Sprint Cup, race 2 of 36. Starting time: 3 pm ET; TV: FOX.
Racing Trivia Question: When was the first NASCAR race at Phoenix International Raceway?
Last Week’s Question: How many times did Dale Earnhardt Sr. win the Daytona 500? Answer. His only win came in 1998.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
