ARCHBALD – Sponsors and organizers managed to find the combinations to put together the elusive competitive senior all-star game March 24 at Valley View High School.
Elk Lake’s Tanner Reyan was a big part of making the Lackawanna League Boys’ Basketball All-Star Game the entertaining and suspenseful game that it was.
Reyan ended the first half with a running basket from mid-court, hit the shot that forced overtime and scored 18 points for the Red, which ultimately fell short of the Blue, 115-114.
The Elk Lake guard was one of four Susquehanna County players among a talented senior class that put on an impressive show for 40 minutes and beyond.
“We got an extra three minutes out of it, which was cool,” said Gatorade Pennsylvania Player of the Year J.C. Show, a Bucknell University recruit from Abington Heights, who hit the game-winning, three-point play with four seconds left in overtime.
Montrose’s Cameron Dean and Erik Burgh were among those who joined Show on the winning Blue team.
Reyan and Elk Lake teammate Matt Woolcock played for the Red.
Show was named Most Valuable Player for the Blue team, which included players from Mid Valley, Valley View, Dunmore, Old Forge, Wallenpaupack, Scranton and Carbondale in addition to Montrose and Abington Heights. He finished with team-high totals of 19 points and five assists.
Evan Maxwell, the 6-foot-10 Abington Heights center who is headed to Division I Liberty University, had 18 points and 12 rebounds with all eight of his baskets coming on dunks. Mike Rotell of Valley View added 12 points while Carbondale’s Isaiah McCord and Mid Valley’s Alex Prislupsky added 11 each.
Dean started for the Blue and finished with six points, five rebounds and two assists. Burgh had three points, two steals and a rebound.
Connor Jones of Holy Cross won the pre-game 3-Point Shooting Contest and was named Red MVP after scoring a game-high 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Players from Honesdale, Delaware Valley, Scranton Prep, Riverside and West Scranton joined those from Elk Lake and Holy Cross on the Red.
Reyan shot 7-for-10 from the floor, including 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, and 2-for-2 from the line. He was second on the team with 18 points and shared the Red lead in rebounds with 10, assists with five and steals with two.
Reyan was part of the Red starting lineup.
Riverside’s Connor Mailen had 15 points while Holy Cross’ Connor Callejas had 12.
Woolcock chipped in with eight points and nine rebounds.
There were just three occasions in the game where either team moved in front by more than six points.
The Red took the game’s biggest lead, 41-31, with 6:26 left in the half.
The Blue rallied to move in front by halftime, taking a four-point lead before Reyan’s 45-footer.
Jones hit his fifth 3-pointer to put the Red up, 98-94, before the Blue produced the game’s longest streak.
Show had seven points and an assist, scoring to start and end an 11-point streak to the Blue’s largest lead, 105-98, with 1:39 remaining.
Reyan had four points and an assist in the 16-2 Red run that followed. His lay-up with 23 seconds left forced a 105-105 tie and overtime.
The Blue rallied from a 114-107 deficit with eight straight points in the final 33 seconds.
Rotell scored five straight to set up Show to create the last of the game’s 16 ties and the free throw that followed for the last of 20 lead changes.
The game was sponsored by the Valley View Booster Club.
GIRLS’ ALL-STAR GAME
FOREST CITY – Montrose’s Myra Lattimore was named Blue MVP in Thursday’s 57-39 loss to the Red in the Lackawanna League Girls’ Basketball All-Star Game.
The Red had players from Abington Heights, Scranton, Valley View, West Scranton, Lakeland and Riverside.
Lattimore was joined on the Blue roster by Montrose teammate Nicki Lewis, Susquehanna’s Mashawna Hargett, Mountain View’s Megan Getz and Forest City’s Carly Erdmann and Cassandra Bendyk. The Blue also had players from state Class AA semifinalist Dunmore and state Class A finalist Old Forge.
The Blue had managed just nine points for 24 minutes when Lattimore made a steal then hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to start a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter to close within, 43-30. Lattimore scored all five of her points and grabbed three rebounds during the fourth, the only quarter that the Blue outscored the Red.
Bendyk scored six points and Erdmann added four. Lewis, Hargett and Getz scored two points each.
The Red closed the first half with a 14-2 run to a 35-16 lead. The two teams then combined to miss 16 straight shots to open the second half. The Red finished the quarter ahead 42-23.
Catie Nealon of Abington Heights was named Red MVP.
Katie Hart from West Scranton won the Free Throw Shooting contest and Rhyan Barnic from Old Forge won the 3-Point Shooting Contest.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Blue Ridge and Mountain View each won Lackawanna League boys’ volleyball openers March 25.
Blue Ridge downed Susquehanna 26-28, 25-16, 25-18, 28-26 while Mountain View defeated Lackawanna Trail, 25-9, 25-7, 25-18.
Both teams lost Thursday, falling to Abington Heights and Western Wayne, which shared the league lead at 2-0 after one week.
In boys’ tennis, Montrose opened with a win before falling to defending Class AA Division champion Scranton Prep.
COLLEGE CORNER
Montrose graduate Dallas Ely received her latest honor March 24 when she was named Division II honorable mention All-America by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association for her play at West Chester University.
Ely became West Chester’s first sophomore to gain All-America honors and the first player from the school to be recognized since Mitzi Reitnour was named AIAW first-team All-American in 1982.
“This is great recognition for Dallas,” West Chester coach Deirdre Kane said in a press release. “Not only did she lead the league in scoring, but she is amongst the league leaders in steals, rebounds and assists.
“This is an unbelievable honor for a sophomore.”
Ely led the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference with 19.4 points per game. She finished second in the conference in minutes per game, fourth in steals and 3-pointers made per game, 10th in 3-point percentage, 23rd in assists and 24th in rebounding.
Ely was also 31st in the nation in scoring and 3-pointers made per game and tied for 43rd in steals.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Binghamton Senators and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins continue their battle for the American Hockey League East Division lead when they meet Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton.
In youth hockey, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights, including defenseman Elijah Latimer from Clifford Township, will be in Green Bay Wednesday through Sunday for the USA Hockey 16-and-Under Tier I National Championships.
In minor league baseball, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders open the International League season Thursday at 2 p.m. at Syracuse. The Binghamton Mets open their season at home later the same day, hosting Akron at 6:35 p.m. in the Eastern League.
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.
THE “OUTLAW” KURT BUSCH IS MARTINSVILLE WINNER
Kurt Busch places a "Winner" sticker on his car after winning the Martinsville Cup race
MARTINSVILLE, Vir.—After six races into the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, there have been six different winners, with “Outlaw” Kurt Busch being the latest.
Early in Sunday’s 500-lap race, Busch and “Big Bad” Brad Keselowski had an altercation on pit road, and Busch radioed to his pit crew, “We are done.”
But Busch’s team made adjustments and he fought his way back towards the front. Carl Edwards spun during lap 457 bringing out a caution. On the restart, Busch was running third behind Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano. Busch got by Logano on lap 465 and set his sights squarely on Johnson.
During lap 472, Busch got the nose of his No. 41 Chevrolet under Johnson and took the lead.
Johnson battled back and regained the lead on lap 482.
But Busch was not to be denied his first win in the last 83 races.
He passed Johnson again on lap 489 and held it until the checkered flag.
“We came here to win,” said Busch. “I didn’t know if we would be able to do it, but I sure as heck was going to give it all I had.”
Jimmie Johnson had the dominant car for most of the race, leading 296 laps, but he and his No. 48 Chevrolet came up short at the end, and had to settle for a bridesmaid finish.
“No doubt we had a great car,” said Johnson. “I got loose. Near the end of the race, the further we went, the looser the car got. I couldn’t do any better.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. came from the 26th starting position to finish third.
“Our biggest problem was we lacked track position,” he said. “We had a pretty good car, but there at the end we got caught up in traffic. That might have caused the tires to wear more than they would have.”
Joey Logano finished fourth, for his third top-5 finish of the season.
“We didn’t quite have enough,” said Logano. “Sometimes we could run up front and were a second-place car, and at other times, we were a fourth or fifth-place one.”
Marcos Ambrose was fifth, followed by Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, and Paul Menard.
Polesitter “Rowdy” Kyle Busch was 14th.
As is expected at all Martinsville races, there was a lot of bumping and shoving between drivers.
“Big Bad” Brad seemed to be both the “giver and taker.” He and Kurt Busch tangled in the pits during a caution on lap 42, resulting in Keselowski’s team having to remove most of the sheet metal from the front of his No. 2 Ford. He tried to retaliate twice on the track against Busch, and got into several other bumping incidents, and wound up 38th.
“That’s the way you have to race in this place,” said Keselowski. “I don’t like to race like that, but what are you going to do? If someone bumps you, you’ve got to let them know, or they will run over you the next time.”
Busch blamed the altercation on Keselowski and threatened to punch him after the race, but in victory lane, Busch said, “We’re not worried about that nonsense. We won the race, didn’t we?”
Top-10 unofficial leaders after 6 of 33: 1. Earnhardt-227, 2. Kenseth-218, 3. Edwards-217, 4. J. Gordon-216, 5. Johnson-209, 6. Kyle Busch-189, 7. Keselowski-188, 8. Logano-187, 9. A. Dillon-179, 10. Newman-174.
CRAFTON GETS MARTINSVILLE TRUCK RACE
Here are the top-10 finishers of the rain-delayed truck race at Martinsville Speedway, Sunday, March 30: 1. Matt Crafton, 2. Darrell Wallace, 3. Ben Kennedy, 4. Johnny Sauter, 5. Ryan Blaney, 6. German Quiroga, 7. Timothy Peters, 8. Ben Rhodes, 9. Ron Hornaday, 10. Brian Ickler.
Top-10 unofficial leaders after 2 of 22: 1. Sauter-82, 2. Peters-81, 3. Crafton-78, 4. R. Blaney-78, 5. Hornaday-76, 6. Kennedy-72, 7. Quiroga-72, 8. D. Wallace-61, 9. Jeb Burton-60, 10. Reddick-60.
HAMLIN BACK ON TRACK
Denny Hamlin was back on the track this weekend at Martinsville, and finished 19th.
Hamlin missed last week’s race in California after being diagnosed with a sinus infection that caused an eye problem.
But that diagnosis turned out to be wrong.
Hamlin first visited the infield care center at Auto Club Speedway Saturday night bothered with an irritation in his eye. He returned to the infield care center again on Sunday morning because his condition had worsened. It was at this time that it was determined by the medical team on site that he would not be allowed to race due to a sinus infection that was impacting his vision. The doctors at the infield care center referred him to the local hospital for further evaluation.
During the evaluation at the hospital a small piece of metal was found to be in Hamlin's eye. Doctors were able to remove the sliver of metal and Hamlin felt immediate improvement to his condition. A CT Scan did not find any other complications and thus it is believed that the metal was actually the source of Hamlin's vision issues.
He was reevaluated by doctors in the Charlotte area on Monday and cleared to race.
LYNDA PETTY PASSES AWAY
Richard Petty was not at Martinsville this weekend. Instead, he was home mourning the loss of his beloved wife Lynda of over 50 years, after she passed away peacefully at their home in Level Cross, North Carolina last week, surrounded by her family.
Lynda Gayle Owens Petty, 72, was one of the first women of NASCAR, who set a standard for being a loving, supportive and, when needed, an authoritative wife and mother. She also set the benchmark for being a leader in her local community while raising a family in the fast-growing sport of stock car racing.
In addition to her local social and civic duties, Lynda helped start the Racing Wives Auxiliary and will always be remembered as the wife to Richard Petty. Through triumph and heartache, Lynda Petty was the castle that supported a king in private and public moments.
She was preceded in death by her grandson Adam K. Petty.
Richard said in a press release that he does not expect to return to the track until after Easter.
Weekend Racing: The Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway outside Ft. Worth, TX. The trucks do not race again until May 9.
Fri., Apr. 4, Nationwide Series race 6 of 33; Start time: 8 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.
Sun., Apr. 6, Sprint Cup race 7 of 36; Start time: 2:30 pm ET; TV: Fox.
Note: There is no NASCAR racing on Saturday.
Racing Trivia Question: Which year did Richard Petty begin his Cup career?
Last Week’s Question: Who was the first Canadian to drive in NASCAR? Answer. It was Allen Heath from Saskatchewan, Canada. He competed in four NASCAR Cup Series. Three of the races came in 1951, when he debuted at Gardena, California. Starting 13th in the twenty-four car field, Heath fell out of the race with engine problems and finished 17th. Unfortunately, that would turn out to be his best finish of the year as he finished a disappointing 28th at Oakland and 25th at another Gardena event.
His fourth NASCAR race came in 1954, when he raced again at Gardena. Starting 18th in the race, fuel pump issues prevented Heath from bettering his career-best with a 29th place finish.
He was injured in a sprint car race later in 1954 at Illiana Speedway in Schererville, Indiana, and lost his left hand. Doctors at UCLA Medical Center fitted him with a new-type prosthesis that allowed him to resume his racing career.
He went to win a Midwestern USAC Sprint Car title, and had an illustrious career on the west coast for over 20 years. He died in March, 1981.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
