Derek Bradley earned Most Valuable Player honors while leading Mountain View to the championship of the first Sabers Shootout boys’ basketball tournament at Susquehanna.

Bradley had 13 points in both games and was 9-for-9 from the line Sunday afternoon when the Eagles defeated the host Sabers, 54-47, for the title.

Both teams won semifinal games Friday night to reach the final, which was postponed from Saturday to Sunday because of snow.

Mountain View opened the final with the game’s first nine points.

“We never really could recover from that,” Susquehanna coach Lawrence Tompkins said.

Susquehanna cut the deficit to three on two occasions, but never caught up.

The Eagles led, 17-10, after one quarter. The teams then played each of the final three quarters on even terms.

Both teams managed just six points in the fourth quarter.

“There was nothing that either team could get going,” Tompkins said.

Bradley had eight of his 13 points in the second half.

All-tournament choice Brett Crowley also scored 13 for Mountain View in the final.

Josh Wheeler made the all-tournament team from Susquehanna. He had 16 points and three assists in the final. Mark Zappe added 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots.

Luke Falletta, who finished with 10 rebounds and four assists, did all of Susquehanna’s fourth-quarter scoring in a matter of seconds. He brought the Sabers out of a dry spell with a 3-pointer, then, following a steal, converted a three-point play.

Brandon Soden chipped in with eight rebounds.

East Stroudsburg Notre Dame defeated Pocono Mountain Charter, 62-33, Sunday for third place. The teams met in the Poconos rather than making the trip back to Susquehanna on bad roads.

Ramon Nedd of East Stroudsburg Notre Dame and Christian Prieto of Pocono Mountain Charter were named to the all-tournament team.

Mountain View opened the event Friday night with a 32-29 win over East Stroudsburg Notre Dame.

Bradley had 13 points and Crowley added 10.

Susquehanna then handled Pocono Mountain Charter, 71-43, in the second semifinal.

Soden had nine of his 15 points during a 23-4 third quarter that allowed the Sabers to open a 32-point lead.

Falletta finished with a game-high 16 points. Wheeler had 11 points and nine assists while Christian Miller added nine points and eight rebounds.

WEEK IN REVIEW

Abington Heights senior Tessa Barrett gave the Lackawanna League a national championship with her winning time of 17:16 over a 3.1-mile course in San Diego at the Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals.

The event drew 40 runners from around the country, who qualified first for four regional events with strong performances in their state high school events.

Barrett held the lead for the final two miles and won by 10 seconds. The Penn State recruit finished the season unbeaten, winning all her league meets, two invitationals, the District 2 championship, the state title, and the Foot Locker Northeast Regional. She set course records in every race she ran in Pennsylvania this season.

In high school football, the search for the next state championship for a District 2 team continues after Old Forge’s heartbreaking loss in Hershey Friday afternoon.

P.J. Fulmore ran 10 yards for an overtime touchdown then followed it up with the game-winning, two-point conversion to lead Pittsburgh North Catholic to a 15-14 victory over Old Forge in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A football championship game at Hersheypark Stadium.

Old Forge led much of the game.

The Blue Devils held a 7-0 advantage from the final minute of the first half until 7:01 remained in regulation, then moved in front in overtime when they got the ball first and scored under the 10-yard-line, tie-breaker procedure.

The loss ended the season at 14-2 for the Lackawanna Football Conference Division 3 and District 2 Class A champion Blue Devils. District 2 has not won a state title in 16 years, with LFC teams going 0-5 in finals during that stretch. No team from a current LFC school has won a state title since Valley View went 15-0 to win Class AA in 1992.

North Catholic finished 16-0 despite being outgained 219-145 by Old Forge in the defensive struggle.

Shane Schuback had 73 yards on seven pass receptions, including the second-quarter touchdown for Old Forge. He scored on a 20-yarder from Jake Manetti on fourth-and-two with 28 seconds left in the half.

Schuback also kicked both Old Forge extra points, but was unable to connect on a 29-yard field goal attempt that would have won the game with four seconds left in regulation.

Brandon Yescavage was held to a season-low 69 yards on 22 carries, but he managed back-to-back, 5-yard runs to begin overtime and put Old Forge in front.

Fulmore, who carried 33 times for 109 yards, then ran 10 yards for a score on the first play of North Catholic’s overtime possession.

Fulmore’s only pass completion went for a touchdown to Jerome Turner to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

The overtime was the first in a Class A title game in the 26-year history of PIAA football championships.

Our prediction on the North Catholic-Old Forge final was correct. After going 1-0 in the final week, our record predicting games involving LFC teams finished at 11-5 (68.8 percent) for the playoffs and 108-30 (78.3) for the year.

In boys’ basketball, fourth-quarter comebacks were a big part of non-league play for Susquehanna County teams.

Montrose pulled out an 86-78 victory over Tunkhannock in three overtimes Friday night after trailing by seven going into the fourth quarter.

Cameron Dean scored 35 points and Erik Burgh added 21 to lead the Meteors.

Defending Lackawanna League Division 4 champion Elk Lake opened its season by rallying in the fourth quarter to defeat Lake-Lehman, 59-53, Dec. 11.

Tanner Reyan hit four 3-pointers while scoring 27 points to lead the Warriors. Tyler Arnold added 12 points.

Elk Lake outscored Lake-Lehman, 22-14, in the fourth quarter.

Susquehanna, which also opened its season later than planned after an opening weekend postponement, put together a fourth-quarter rally before falling short against Lakeland, 55-49, Dec. 10.

The Sabers went from 14 down to within two points with 1:09 remaining.

Wheeler led Susquehanna with 16 points and four assists. Zappe added 12 points, eight rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. Falletta had eight points and six rebounds.

Tony Harding led Lakeland with 23 points.

In girls’ basketball, county teams continued to struggle, including likely Lackawanna Division 4 contenders losing against strong competition when Montrose fell to Abington Heights and Forest City lost against Riverside and North Pocono.

County teams are a combined 1-14 with the only win coming in the consolation game of the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament when Elk Lake defeated Lackawanna Trail, 42-37, for third place.

COLLEGE CORNER

Sara Krupinski, a 5-foot-8 sophomore from Montrose, is a guard on the King’s University women’s basketball team.

Krupinski has appeared in each of the first eight games, playing a total of 58 minutes. She has 10 points, seven rebounds and seven assists while shooting 5-for-18 (27.8 percent) from the floor and 0-for-9 on 3-pointers.

King’s is off to a 3-5 start.

As a freshman, Krupinski got into 16 games, compiling 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and a steal.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Two of the Lackawanna League’s unbeaten division champions in girls’ basketball from the 2012-13 season meet Saturday at 2:15.

Montrose, the defending Division 4 champion after posting a 12-0 division record, will play at Scranton Prep, the defending Division 1 champion with a 13-0 record in games among Division 1-2 teams.

In boys’ basketball, the Red Wallace Memorial Scholarship Game that was postponed from opening night will be played Monday, Dec. 23 when Elk Lake travels to Carbondale.

Wallace passed away just months after leading Elk Lake to a state boys’ basketball title for the second time in 1977. He played his high school basketball at Fell Township, which is now part of the Carbondale Area School District, before moving on to play for the original Boston Celtics.

Wallace averaged 9.1 points per game in 61 games while splitting time with the Toronto Huskies and Celtics in the 1946-47 season.

In 1976-77, Wallace led Elk Lake to one of the greatest seasons in PIAA history. The Warriors beat most of the large school powers from the Binghamton and Scranton areas, then posted the best record in PIAA history by completing the season 36-0.

TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at RobbyTR@aol.com or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.

KING OF OUTLAWS TO MAKE FINAL RUN

Steve Kinser, King of the Outlaws

INDIANAPOLIS – Steve Kinser, the 20-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series champion, announced last week that the 2014 season will be his final season chasing the series championship.

“We’re really excited to make one more run at a World of Outlaws championship,” said Kinser, who will celebrate his 60th birthday June 2. “Racing with the Outlaws has been my life for almost 40 years. It’s all I’ve known. My family has been around it. I’ve had the pleasure of running up and down the road racing all across this incredible country, and even in Canada, Mexico and Australia with this series. I knew it wasn’t going to last forever. I feel like we have a great team here capable of winning a lot of races and challenging for the championship this year.”

The Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) driver, who won the series’ first championship during the WoO inaugural season in 1978, is looking to join a long list of greats who have closed their career hoisting a championship trophy.

Kinser, an icon in short-track racing, has dominated the series during his 35 seasons of competition. The Bloomington, Ind., native has earned 576 career A-Feature triumphs and has filled the record book with accomplishments that likely will not be matched. His goal for this 2014 season is to add to those records while battling for the title.

Throughout his remarkable career, Kinser has won WoO A-Features at 142 facilities, including 42 that will be part of this year’s schedule. Kinser has experienced the enormous success at the most prestigious dirt tracks in the country. He has 34 career WoO A-Feature wins at both Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, and Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway and 26 WoO A-Feature triumphs at historic Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. Those three tracks will host multiple events in 2014, providing Kinser with more opportunities to add to his already lofty numbers.

Kinser won his first career WoO A-Feature at Eldora Speedway in May 1978 and, even though many things have changed since that first win, a number of constants remain. His competitive spirit has never wavered, and it’s what drives him to keep competing for victories night after night. That drive to win was one of the things that motivated another young Hoosier to follow his dream of becoming a racecar driver. WoO races at Indiana dirt tracks in the 1980s were can’t-miss attractions for a kid from Columbus, Ind., named Tony Stewart. “The King of the Outlaws” was Stewart’s idol growing up and, for the past four seasons, Kinser has competed with the WoO in a car owned by Stewart. Having Kinser drive for TSR has fulfilled a dream for the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion.

“I never missed an Outlaw show in the area when I was growing up,” Stewart said. “We waited for those nights like they were holidays. It was incredible watching Steve race with Sammy (Swindell) and Doug (Wolfgang). He was our guy, being from Indiana, and when he won, it gave us all something to brag about. And he won a lot. A few years ago, when we had the chance to get him to drive for TSR, it was like a dream come true. When we got him on board, my goal was for him to drive for us for the remainder of his career. I’m really excited for him to go out and have a great season. He’s the best ever and I couldn’t be more proud.”

In 1981, as 26-year-old rookie, Kinser failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 when he crashed during a practice. He returned in 1997, qualified 20th, and finished 14th as a 42-year-old rookie. It was his only Indy Racing League start.

During his many tours of Australia racing Sprint cars, Kinser won many feature races. In 1986, he swapped his Sprinter for a VW-powered Midget (called a Speedcar in Australia) and won the 38th Australian Speedcar Grand Prix at Sydney’s Liverpool Speedway.

In 1995 Kinser landed a NASCAR Winston Cup Series ride driving for drag racing legend Kenny Bernstein. He drove the No. 26 Quaker State Ford, but after only five starts his best finish was 27th, and that was the end of his NASCAR career.

MAYFIELD’S FORMER MANSION TO BE BURNED

NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield’s former mansion was set to be burned to the ground this past Saturday in a controlled-burn by the Catawba County, North Carolina Fire Dept., but due to high winds and rain, it was postponed.

Mayfield was evicted from the property in 2012 due to financial troubles after NASCAR banned him from racing for failing a drug test.

At one time the house was valued at nearly $2- million, but the 12,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom; seven-bath structure was stripped down from the windows to the wiring. Mayfield tried to renovate the home, but when he was banned from racing and arrested for possession of meth and stolen property work on the home came to an abrupt halt.

The new owners no longer wanted the shell of a home that is worth considerably less than the original appraisal.

Mayfield is scheduled to go back before a judge early next month where he faces several felony charges.

TESTING IS BACK ON TRACK

Sixteen teams and 30 drivers were at the Charlotte track for the final NASCAR test of 2013. More than 140 laps were run to provide data to finalize the decision on 2014 changes to the Gen-6 car.

“We accomplished our goal today,” said Gene Stefanyshyn, NASCAR vice president of innovation and racing development. “We wanted to take the results from October and get more data and feedback that will ultimately allow us to arrive at a final setup for our intermediate tracks. With more cars and teams here today, we were able to learn a great deal that will benefit the racing next year and beyond.”

The test included several physical changes to the car such as ride heights, splitters, skirts and spoilers that were established during the October test. NASCAR, the manufacturers and the teams worked to identify and implement each of the potential changes. The overall goal for the new package is to help promote more side-by-side racing and passing throughout each race.

“We saw progress today in terms of passing with each of the new configurations. We want to arrive at more green-flag passing at intermediate tracks next season with our new setup. From the results in October and today’s test we are very excited at the prospects.”

Racing Trivia Question: Which Cup team will Clint Bowyer drive for in 2014?

Last Week’s Question: Joe Gibbs has been successful as a NASCAR car owner. What other sport has he excelled in? Answer. The NFL, where he served as head coach for both the Washington Redskins and Atlanta Falcons.

You may e-mail any questions to the Racing Reporter at: hodges@race500.com.