Forest City drew a large crowd for both of its basketball teams playing in the championship games back-to-back at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza Saturday. Fans cheer the girls’ team as it returns to its bench after capturing the District 2 Class A championship.
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Kendra Bendyk came out hitting 3-pointers Saturday afternoon and did not stop until Forest City had a double-figures lead in the District 2 Class A girls’ basketball championship game.
Bendyk hit four 3-pointers in the first 12 minutes and scored 16 of her 17 points in the first half as the Lady Foresters downed Lackawanna Trail, 40-29, at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
Each of Bendyk’s 3-pointers gave Forest City a bigger lead.
Bendyk, who hit all three of her 3-point attempts in the first quarter and finished 4-for-6 from long range, opened the scoring from the left wing just 40 seconds in. She hit another for a 7-0 lead with 5:16 left in the first quarter and connected again six seconds before the buzzer to make it 16-7 after one.
With the championships moving to the arena and its large open spaces behind the baskets for the first time this year, many coaches and players worried about how the different backdrop would impact shooting.
It did not bother Bendyk.
“It’s just another game in my mind,” the Forest City junior said. “I knew it was going to be a bigger area to play in, so you just have to take it with everything you’ve got.”
Bendyk hit another 3-pointer from the right corner midway through the second quarter for a 20-10 lead.
Lackawanna Trail never got any closer the rest of the way.
After building the lead, Bendyk left the offense to her teammates when Lackawanna Trail opened the second half in a box-and-one defense designed to stop her.
“My coach (John Duffy) tells me to let it come to me,” said Bendyk, who was 1-for-2 from the foul line in the second half when she did not have an attempt from the floor. “I have faith in my teammates to step up.”
Skylar Fortuner had eight of her 10 points as the Lady Foresters protected a 25-12 halftime lead during the low-scoring second half.
Fortuner also grabbed 11 rebounds, including nine on the offensive end, and blocked five shots.
Mackenzie Hartman added seven points, seven steals, seven assists and six rebounds.
Allison Decker led Lackawanna Trail with nine points and nine rebounds.
CLASS AA BOYS
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Elk Lake played its way into the arena championship games by avenging a pair of earlier losses, but it had no answers for Meyers in the District 2 Class AA championship game, falling 50-29.
Elk Lake defeated Holy Cross, 76-73, Feb. 22 to reach the final and clinch a state tournament berth, but could not break down a Mohawks defense that has allowed just an average of 25 points per game in the playoffs.
The game matched the top two seeds and teams that had gone unbeaten in league play while winning the small school divisions of their respective leagues.
The Wyoming Valley Conference Division 3 champion Mohawks ran off 17 straight points in the first quarter for a 17-2 lead and never let the Lackawanna League Division 4 champion Warriors closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Ryan Wasley scored 14 points, Ryan Gilgallon grabbed 10 rebounds and Omar Kelly spearheaded the defense that allowed Meyers to win for the 17th time in 18 games to improve to 19-6.
Kelly made things difficult on Bailey Newhart, who led Elk Lake with seven points, five steals and four assists.
Seth Tewksbury, who finished with a team-high six rebounds, scored the only four Elk Lake points of the first quarter. J.J. Heft came off the bench to provide four points and four rebounds in the second quarter, which was the most effective of the game for the Warriors.
A modest 9-4 run, starting with Tewksbury’s basket with three seconds left in the first quarter, allowed the Warriors to climb within 21-11.
Meyers pulled away steadily from there to end a nine-game winning streak by Elk Lake (21-5). The Warriors averaged more than 73 points per game during the winning streak.
Newhart and Hunter Watkins provided the scoring in the semifinal win over Holy Cross, which had beaten Elk Lake in two crossover games, including 70-40 in their last meeting.
Billy Trainor had 37 points and 15 rebounds for Holy Cross, but Elk Lake countered with 25 points by Newhart and 21 by Watkins.
Watkins hit a clutch 3-pointer with a minute left and had 19 points in the second half.
CLASS A BOYS
WILKES-BARRE TWP. – Adam Kowalewski fired in 26 points Saturday afternoon but the Old Forge defense shut down the rest of the Forest City lineup during a 59-40 win in the District 2 Class A boys basketball championship game.
The Blue Devils captured the district title for the ninth time in 10 seasons. Susquehanna is the only other school to win a championship during that stretch.
Old Forge had to hold off a second-half Forest City comeback in a game in which it never trailed.
The Blue Devils built their lead to 18 points three times before Forest City got its first basket from anyone other than Kowalewski on a Noah Yates jump hook in the lane with 3:40 left in the third quarter.
Old Forge was up, 39-22, before Forest City’s pressure defense became more effective and allowed the Foresters to put together a comeback bid.
Kowalewski scored five straight points late in the third.
Ben Grochowski, who had 23 points and 11 rebounds for Old Forge, closed the third quarter with a basket and hit another to start the fourth for a 43-27 advantage.
Kowalewski hit a 3-pointer and Yates scored back-to-back baskets in an 8-1 flurry to cut the deficit to 44-35 with 5:52 left.
Old Forge answered with six points in under a minute and was never tested again.
Yates finished with nine points and seven rebounds, but only four Foresters scored in the game. Dakota Knehr-Cook had three points and Jared Paulin two.
Dylan O’Dell grabbed seven rebounds in the loss.
Kowalewski made four steals and Yates three.
CLASS AA WRESTLING
Montrose’s Joseph Hester and Chuck Rohan reached the championship round at the first two weight classes before settling for second-place finishes when the two-day District 2 Class AA Wrestling Championships wrapped up at the Kingston Armory.
Elk Lake’s Jake Hand, at 160 pounds, was the only other finalist from Susquehanna County.
Those three were joined by Montrose’s Jacob O’Brien (120) and Blue Ridge’s Mike Kelly (145) in advancing to the Class AA Northeast Regional by finishing in the top three in their weight classes.
Hester, Rohan and O’Brien led Montrose into the top half of the field in the team standings. The Meteors finished seventh of 14 teams with 118 ½ points, just one-half point behind sixth-place Scranton Prep.
Meyers outscored Western Wayne, 216 ½-170 ½ for the team title.
Hester (31-4) reached the final with a pin in under a minute and a shutout for a major decision. He lost a championship match battle of freshmen, 8-6, to Bobby Long.
Rohan, another freshman who is 26-8, pinned two opponents in a combined 1:48 before being pinning in 1:07 of the final by three-time champion Colin Pasone from Meyers.
Hand, a junior with a 28-8 record, reached the final with two pins and a major decision by shutout. He was pinned 30 seconds into the third period by Gino Setta from Meyers.
Montrose has regional qualifiers in the first three weight classes.
O’Brien (31-8) made it for the third time. The junior won four out of five decisions in a demanding 120-pound bracket that produced tournament Outstanding Wrestler Jeffrey Bennett from Hanover Area. O’Brien decisioned Blue Ridge freshman Fred Lewis, 9-3, in the consolation final.
After Lewis came up one spot short of a trip to regionals, Kelly (16-13) landed Blue Ridge’s only spot.
Kelly, a senior, won three out of four bouts including a pin of Scranton Prep’s Biagio D’Appolonio in 1:35 of the consolation final.
Montrose’s Mikyle Fabrizio fell short with a 3-1 loss to Tyler Baltrusaitis from Lackawanna Trail in the 132-pound consolation final.
Mountain View’s Jake Napierkowski (152) and Schae Thomas (170) also finished fourth. Napierkowski missed out on being the only qualifier from the Eagles when he lost, 1-0, to Western Wayne’s Harrison Clookey.
Cole Aukema and Austin Arnett finished fifth for Montrose at 152 and 160.
Nathaniel McArthur was fifth at 106 while Chris Graf, at 182, and Evan Aldrich, at 220, were sixth for Blue Ridge.
Elk Lake’s Francisco Lopez (126) and Keaton Smith (132) and Mountain View’s Corbin Smith were the other sixth-place finishers from the county.
Blue Ridge placed 10th with 60 points. Elk Lake was 11th with 51 and Mountain View 12th with 32.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Forest City (16-10) opens the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A girls’ basketball tournament Saturday at 5 p.m. at Scranton High School against District 4 runner-up Shamokin Lourdes Regional (19-6).
In boys’ basketball, Elk Lake (21-5) will play District champion Danville (15-10) at Shamokin Saturday at 6:30.
In wrestling, the Class AA Northeast Regional will be held Friday and Saturday in Williamsport. The five county wrestlers who finished in the top three in the district will be trying to earn spots in the PIAA Tournament.
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.
