SCRANTON – With a new backcourt because of graduation losses, Susquehanna boys’ basketball coach Lawrence Tompkins is getting used to seeing his team tested by pressure defenses.
Tompkins has not seen one like what the Sabers ran into Saturday afternoon.
East Stroudsburg Notre Dame made six of its 13 steals while holding Susquehanna scoreless in the third quarter of a 55-24 romp at the University of Scranton’s John Long Center.
“Their athleticism had a lot to do with it,” Tompkins said after the Sabers turned the ball over 13 times while being outscored, 24-0, in the third quarter of what had been a close game. “They were physically bigger than us and they were quicker.”
The Sabers never led, but they used strong finishes to the first and second quarters to remain within striking distance.
Tyerell Mann scored nine of his game-high 17 points to get the Spartans out to a 13-7 lead.
Christian Miller converted his own rebound for the last basket of the first quarter and the Sabers closed within two points twice in the second quarter.
Mann then dunked on a breakaway and added a jumper from the left wing to start a six-point Notre Dame streak to a 21-13 lead.
Tyler Williams hit two free throws and Luke Falletta made a 14-footer with a second left to give the Sabers the final four points of the half, cutting the deficit to four at the break.
The Sabers never got started in the third quarter.
Steals at midcourt and in the backcourt led to dunks by Mann and Jeremiah Posey in the first 29 seconds of the half.
When the Spartans were not turning steals into one their four dunks in the first 10 minutes of the half, they were destroying the Sabers on the boards.
Notre Dame got 12 of its third-quarter points off steals and eight off offensive rebounds. They had nine offensive rebounds and a 13-4 lead on the boards in the quarter.
Falletta had eight points and five rebounds while Miller had five points and six rebounds in the first half, but each was held without a point or rebound in the second half.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Susquehanna’s loss continued a tough run through the non-league portion of the schedule for Susquehanna County high school basketball teams.
The boys’ teams are a combined 5-21 while the girls are 2-25.
The Forest City boys improved to 2-2 with a 46-26 win over Wallenpaupack.
Noah Fedak scored 18 points and Adam Kowalewski added 16 in the win.
In high school wrestling, Blue Ridge opened the Lackawanna League Division 2 season with a 42-22 victory over visiting Montrose Wednesday.
Dalton Hogle had a pin at 145 pounds and Raiders took advantage of six pins.
Brandon Swift (138) and Jacob O’Brien (120) had pins for Montrose.
COLLEGE CORNER
The Western New England University women’s basketball team hit the semester break at 6-2 and unbeaten at home with the help of an early five-game winning streak.
Montrose graduate Nicole Chaszar is trying to bounce back from the worst season of her highly successful career as the winningest coach in the program’s history.
Chaszar, now in her 10th season as head coach, has a 140-107 career record with a school-record nine straight playoff appearances. Western New England has played in every Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship Tournament since joining the conference in 2008.
Following her outstanding career at Montrose, Chaszar went on to serve as captain for two seasons at Temple University where she was named team Most Valuable Player as a senior. She was an assistant coach at Division I University of Rhode Island for two seasons after beginning her career as a graduate assistant coach at Springfield College for two seasons and an assistant coach at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for one year.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Denise Reddon Memorial Tournament for girls and Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament for boys are scheduled for Montrose Friday and Saturday.
The girls’ tournament gets underway at 2 p.m. Friday with Elk Lake against Susquehanna. Montrose and Blue Ridge meet at 3:30.
The same pairings exist for the first round of the boys’ tournament that night with Elk Lake playing Susquehanna at 6 and Montrose hosting Blue Ridge at 7:30.
Consolation games are scheduled for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader with the championship games set as part of a night doubleheader.
Third place will be decided for the girls at 2 and the boys at 3:30.
The championship games are 6 for the girls and 7:30 for the boys.
In boys’ basketball, the 43rd annual Forest City Rotary Tournament will wrap up Friday with consolation and championship games. The tournament, which also includes Mountain View, Tunkhannock and Western Wayne, was scheduled to open with semifinal games Tuesday.
In girls’ basketball, Forest City will face Wallenpaupack in Saturday’s 29th annual Honesdale Jaycees Tournament. Western Wayne faces Honesdale in the second game of the tournament, which concludes Monday, Dec. 29.
In wrestling, the Tunkhannock Kiwanis Tournament is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 29 and 30.
In professional hockey, rivals meet for the second straight Saturday night when the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins again play at the Binghamton Senators in an AHL game Saturday at 7:05 at the Broome County Arena.
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.
CHRISTMAS WITH “THE ARKANSAS TRAVELER”
Bobby Ward receives trophy for winning the 1963 Southwestern Supermodified title at Amarillo, Texas. Furnished by Bobby Ward family
NOTE: Each year during Christmas we break from our traditional NASCAR racing news in order to bring a timeless Christmas story from Bobby Ward, an early sprint car racer from Arkansas. While he was not well known along the east coast, he was a household name among racing fans in the Midwest. When Ward showed up at the race track, he was always the “one to beat.”
Bobby had a stroke two years ago, but is doing well. He and his wife sold their “homeplace,” and moved to Conway, Arkansas, so he could be closer to a medical facility.
“I think that sometimes people overvalue the things of Christmas, and forget to really focus on their friends and the actual holiday season,” said Ward. “I certainly have more material things now, which I thoroughly enjoy, but as far as true happiness goes, I’m not so sure that we weren’t just as happy back in my early years.”
Ward was born in 1935 in the community of Bee Branch, Arkansas, about 40 miles north of Little Rock, in a one-room log cabin. His racing career began in 1956.
He raced hard, traveled long distances, won many, many championships, accumulated a large fan following, and became known as “The Arkansas Traveler.”
“Christmas for us was very light,” continued Ward. “Mom and dad, and sometimes all the family would go out on Christmas Eve and cut down a tree. It wasn’t always a cedar tree. Sometimes it was a pine. After getting it set up in the house we would decorate it. The decorations consisted of some colorful ribbon that had been cut in strips, and strings of popcorn.
“That was all the decorations we used. There were no lights, or anything shiny.
“My three sisters and I each got one toy. That’s the only time of the year we got any store bought toys. But I don’t ever remember a Christmas when we didn’t get that one toy.
“On my sixth birthday I had asked my mom for some type of Tinker Toy. On Christmas Eve, I happened by the bedroom and saw a Tinker Toy sticking out from under the bed. Mom saw me, and said, ‘Son, would you believe that Santa Claus came by earlier today and left this for you? And he might even come back again tonight.’
“Well, I believed her, and sure enough, the next morning Santa had paid us a second visit and left some oranges, apples, and cookies.
“Our Christmas dinner consisted of chicken and dumplings, and dressing, along with ham and some other vegetables, plus a cake and pie.
“We never had turkey or anything you had to buy.
“Around Christmastime, daddy would kill some hogs and cure the meat. He would take some type sugar cure and put it all over the ham, and inject it all around the bone. This not only flavored the meat, but preserved it. The meat would keep in a smoke house for at least a month.
“In my very early childhood, we had Christmas by ourselves. We lived a pretty good way from our neighbors, and traveling in our wagon would have taken too long.
“As I got older, we moved and dad bought a car, and we visited my father’s mother and dad on Christmas. I had a cousin that always got lots of toys and we were allowed to play with them while the rest of the family visited.
“I never said anything to mother and dad about the single toy I got, because I knew how things were with us.
“During the year, I was able to make homemade cars out of blocks of wood.
“We used our imagination and what we had, to entertain ourselves.
“We always ate well, even outside the holidays. We had pork, along with fried potatoes, pinto beans, and corn bread. Every Thursday night we had corn bread and buttermilk.
“There was no electricity in my early years. Our traditional lighting was a simple kerosene lamp. One day my dad brought home a new type of kerosene lamp, called a “Latin Lamp.” It gave a much brighter light, and that was the first time my sister and I had been able to do our homework together at the kitchen table.
“Sometimes at night I would get a glass of milk, and only drink half of it. I would leave the rest of it setting in the kitchen. When it was really cold, the next morning I would have a half glass of ice cream.
“When we moved from Bee Branch to Shirley, Arkansas, there weren’t any boys around to play with, just girls. Mother made me a doll on her old treadmill sewing machine, and filled it with straw and rags, so I would have something to play with.
“It might seem funny now, but I had the time of my life playing with that doll, along with my three sisters and the other girls.
“Whenever my dad took corn to the grist mill, to get it ground into meal and grits, I always went along. The corn was yellow. We never raised any white corn like they have now.
“My childhood was good. I thoroughly enjoyed growing up with my sisters and we were a loving family. We were also a working family. We worked hard, and loved each other. We didn’t go around hugging each other, saying, “I love you,” but we all shared a bond of love.
“I don’t ever remember a day growing up when I didn’t feel loved.
“I tried to race everyone just like I would want him to race me.
“I didn’t always win, but I knew it was important for me to try and finish each race. I think in order to enjoy our success we’ve got to put forth effort. The races that I enjoyed winning the most were those I really had to work for.
“Greater labor leads to greater love.
“To maximize our present enjoyment in life we might need to give up some of the comforts our easy life style brings us. Instead of buying a present ready-made this Christmas, why not see what kind of physical chore you could do for your neighbor. Instead of buying a pre-cooked pie or cake for Christmas dinner, why not bake it yourself?
“Christmas happiness can still be found. You just need to know how and where to look.”
GORDON NOT CONSIDERING RETIREMENT
This past racing season was the best one Jeff Gordon has had in seven years. Under the old points system he would have won his fifth championship.
There has been speculation that Gordon might be considering retiring within a year or two.
“I don't believe in retirement, No. 1, but I know that I won't always be a full-time Cup driver,” he told ESPN’s Ryan McGee. “That time is coming. Remember in May, my back got so bad I couldn't get out of bed, let alone into a race car? So will that play a role in retirement sooner rather than later? It's very possible. It seems to be the one limiting factor that I have right now. But there's no plan. There's no countdown. I'm racing.”
Meanwhile Brian Vickers, driver of the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 Toyota will miss the first part of the 2015 Sprint season due to health reasons.
“First, I want to thank everyone for their sincere support,” said Vickers. “I have faced obstacles before and it has made victory that much sweeter and I know that will be the case again. My previous experiences have given me a very keen understanding of my body. Late last week I knew something wasn't right, so I went to the hospital to be checked out. Following several tests, it was discovered that my body was rejecting an artificial patch that was inserted in 2010 to fix a hole in my heart. Saturday, I had to have corrective surgery to repair the hole and now I am beginning the recovery process.”
Racing Trivia Question: When will Sprint discontinue their sponsorship of NASCAR’s premier series?
Last Week’s Question: Sam Hornish will be in Richard Petty Motorsports’ No. 9. Who will be his teammate? Answer. Aric Almirola.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at: www.hodges@race500.com.
