Susquehanna’s starters wait to be introduced before Thursday’s first-half title-clinching victory at Forest City. From left, Emily Lawrenson, Taylor Huyck, Bethany Maby, McKenzie Rhone and Mackenzie Steele
Forest City fans and teammates rushed on to the floor at the Julius Prezelski Gymnasium Thursday night to celebrate Mackenzie Hartman’s 1,000th career point
CARBONDALE – Mason Deakin’s drive to the basket with 30 seconds left in the third quarter ended long dry spells for Deakin and the Susquehanna offense.
More importantly, it started a special finish to Saturday’s Lackawanna League Division 4 first-half playoff game.
Deakin scored 14 of his 15 points over the final 8:30 as Susquehanna erased an eight-point deficit on a way to a 48-39 victory over Montrose that gave the Sabers their first half-season boys’ basketball title as a Lackawanna League member.
Montrose’s defense had Susquehanna – and Deakin – bottled up for a full game and nearly three-quarters of another since the league schedule started.
Once he broke through with the drive, Deakin could not be stopped.
As the third quarter ended, he drained a 25-footer that changed the path of the game.
“I looked up at the clock a little bit and saw a few seconds left,” Deakin said. “I saw my teammate Travis Craig dribbling at me and I saw he gave me a look that he was going to give it to me, so I squared up and when he passed it to me I shot the ball.”
After scoring just 19 points in 23 ½ minutes, Susquehanna outscored Montrose, 29-12, over the final 8 ½ minutes.
C.J. Stone and Eric Lee joined Deakin to keep the offense clicking in the fourth quarter.
The Sabers scored 10 straight points, with Deakin providing the last five of the third quarter and Stone the first five of the fourth, to move ahead to stay in the first minute of the final quarter.
Deakin and Stone each had nine of their 15 points in the fourth.
Lee, whose ball screens at the top of the key helped make sure Deakin would keep getting open paths to the basket, added the other six. He finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
Bryce Baldwin had eight points and eight rebounds, with all the scoring and all but one rebound coming in the first half before he was limited by foul trouble. Baldwin fouled out when he picked up his fifth foul 15 seconds after the fourth, early in the fourth quarter with Adam Rockwell waiting at the scorers’ table to replace him.
By then, the Sabers were not letting anything slow them down.
Montrose held Deakin scoreless in a 54-32 win at Susquehanna in the Sabers’ league opener.
The Meteors held the Sabers without a field goal for 9:08, allowing only a Deakin free throw, during an 11-1 run to a 27-19 lead.
“(Deakin) is experienced enough to know that at some point, the dam might break lose,” Susquehanna coach Lawrence Tompkins said. “I think you saw that when Montrose went to its man-to-man defense and the lane sort of opened up.”
Stone was coming off a career-best, 20-point effort in Thursday’s 71-33 rout over Forest City that forced the playoff.
“That was his coming out party,” Tompkins said.
Stone scored his 15 points without missing a shot. He made all four shots from the floor, including the 3-pointer that put the Sabers ahead, and all six from the line.
Montrose got within one for the last time at 34-33 with 3:17 left.
The Sabers went on a clinching, 12-2 run, all at the foul line with Deakin going 6-for-8, Lee going 4-for-6 and Stone going 2-for-2.
Craig had three steals as the Sabers won their sixth straight to improve to 9-6 overall.
In 4 ½ games since falling behind by 13 at Lackawanna Trail, Susquehanna has outscored its opponents by 98.
Brennan Gilhool led Montrose with 12 points and nine rebounds. Evan Snyder had 10 rebounds. Jacob Peck had four steals and Andrew Rapisardi had three.
LACKAWANNA LEAGUE GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
FOREST CITY – Taylor Huyck and Mackenzie Steele each produced double-doubles in points and rebounds Wednesday night when Susquehanna completed an unbeaten first half in Lackawanna League Division 4 girls’ basketball with a 52-40 victory over Forest City.
The Lady Sabers had clinched at least a tie for the first-half title in their previous outing and won the first half outright by beating the defending champions on their home court.
Huyck had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Steele went 5-for-7 from the floor and made both of her foul shots while adding 12 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.
“She’s doing a great job,” Susquehanna coach Errol Mannick said. “She’s being smart with her blocks. She’s being aggressive.
“ … She’s been getting better and better in the last five or six games.”
Susquehanna never trailed in the game.
Emily Lawrenson’s 3-pointer completed a six-point streak to a 10-3 lead with 2:45 left in the first quarter. Lawrenson had six points in the quarter, which ended with the Lady Sabers in front, 14-8.
Forest City senior Mackenzie Hartman also had six points in the quarter, including the 1,000th of her career when she made her second 3-pointer with 14 seconds left.
Hartman, who had 21 points, eight rebounds, seven steals and four assists, jumped up and down in celebration after hitting the shot and was joined on the court by fans from the student section and teammates from the bench.
The game resumed after a delay of several minutes and Susquehanna took control by scoring the next nine points, including four by Bethany Maby, for a 21-8 lead midway through the second quarter.
Forest City closed within 32-27 in the third quarter.
Huyck had five points in a 9-2 run to a 41-29 lead early in the fourth.
“Every time they made a run, we came right back,” Mannick said.
McKenzie Rhone joined Huyck and Steele in double figures in rebounds, grabbing 10 to help the Lady Sabers to a 53-30 advantage on the boards.
“We rebounded fairly well and we made shots when it counted,” Mannick said.
Forest City was coached in the game by assistant Amanda Cino, who filled in while head coach Mike Courtright was away dealing with family matters.
Skylar Fortuner had 11 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Steele and Huyck also had double-doubles Jan. 22 when Susquehanna and Mountain View met to break a first-place tie in Lackawanna Division 4 girls’ basketball.
The Lady Sabers won, 65-44, behind Steele’s 22 points, 17 rebounds and five blocked shots and Huyck’s 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.
Lawrenson had five assists.
Huyck had 14 points in the second quarter to key a 23-4 advantage that turned a one-point game into a 35-15 halftime lead.
Skyla Wilson had five of her eight points in the quarter.
Lucy Adams led Mountain View with 14 points. Erika Freely added 10.
The final first-half standings were: Susquehanna 6-0, Mountain View 5-1, Montrose 4-2, Forest City 3-3, Elk Lake 2-4, Lackawanna Trail 1-5, Blue Ridge 0-6.
In boys’ basketball, Susquehanna ran away early in its Thursday game against visiting Forest City to finish tied for the first-half title.
The Sabers took leads of 19-5 after one quarter, 39-13 at halftime and 54-22 after three quarters.
Rockwell scored all eight of his points in the first quarter. Stone had 10 of his 20 points in the second quarter. Bryce Baldwin had eight of his 15 in the third quarter.
Deakin finished with 12 points.
Montrose finished the half and clinched at least a tie for first place Jan. 22.
Peck scored 12 of his 22 points in the first quarter of Montrose’s 67-52 victory over Lackawanna Trail.
The Meteors led 24-10 at the quarter and 46-24 at the half.
Peck had three 3-pointers and 17 points in the first half.
Tyler Rebello, who added two 3-pointers, and Gilhool added 15 points each.
Susquehanna also took control in the first half while beating Mountain View, 52-37, that night.
Deakin had seven of his 13 points in the second quarter to help the Sabers stretch the lead from 10-7 to 23-10.
Baldwin had a game-high 15 points, including 13 in the second half.
The final first-half division standings were: Susquehanna 5-1, Montrose 5-1, Elk Lake 4-2, Lackawanna Trail 3-3, Forest City 2-4, Mountain View 1-5, Blue Ridge 1-5.
After losing their first 13 games, the Blue Ridge boys won two straight, taking the last game of the first half, 45-44, from Mountain View, then avenging a 31-point season-opening loss to beat Sayre, 60-44, in non-league play.
Charlie Randall’s game-winning shot ended the Blue Ridge losing streak. Sam Cosmello led the win over Mountain View with 15 points while Randall and Kaleb Folk added nine each.
Gavin Bradley had 13 points, Calvin Scheidler 12 and Randall 11 against Sayre.
In high school wrestling, Montrose split two home matches Wednesday to complete the Lackawanna League Division 2 schedule with a winning record and land a spot in the District 2 Class 2A Dual Meet Championships.
Montrose defeated Lackawanna Trail, 43-20, and lost to Scranton Prep, 39-30.
The Meteors recovered from an early 10-0 deficit with the help of pins by Bryan Ryan, at 182, and Justin Kelly, at 220.
Final Lackawanna Division 2 standings were: Western Wayne 8-0, Honesdale 7-1, Scranton Prep 6-2, Montrose 5-3, Valley View 4-4, Lackawanna Trail 3-5, Blue Ridge 2-6, Elk Lake 1-7, Mountain View 0-8.
In professional hockey, Zach Aston-Reese scored 3:28 into overtime Friday night to lift the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 4-3 American Hockey League vicdtory over the visiting Binghamton Devils.
The Penguins never trailed in the game.
Binghamton’s Nick Lappin scored 4:24 apart late in the second period to erase an early 2-0 deficit.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton arrived at the all-star break with the best winning percentage of eight Atlantic Division teams at 26-12-3-1.
Binghamton is last of seven teams in the North Division with a 12-23-6-2 record.
LACKAWANNA LEAGUE REALIGNMENT
Football schedules and divisional realignment for the next two school years were approved at a Lackawanna Interscholastic Athletic Association meeting Wednesday and Lackawanna League athletic directors discussed possible changes for basketball, baseball and softball in a separate meeting later in the day.
The Lackawanna Football Conference division alignments, which were reported earlier, were passed with a switch from three to four divisions.
If a proposal goes through, boys’ and girls’ basketball, baseball and softball will go in the other direction, switching from four to three divisions.
The old 10-team Division 3 was split into two five-team divisions.
North Pocono moved up from Division 2 to Division 1, leaving both divisions with five teams.
Montrose and Susquehanna will remain in a division together.
With Montrose co-sponsoring football with Elk Lake and Mountain View next season, it will be a Class 4A football team. Susquehanna’s continuing co-sponsorship with Blue Ridge makes the Sabers a Class 2A team. They will be in Division 4 with three Class A teams – Lackawanna Trail, Holy Cross and Old Forge.
Susquehanna’s football opponents for 2018 and 2019 will be, in order: GAR, Lackawanna Trail, Old Forge, Mid Valley, Montrose, Meyers, Holy Cross, Dunmore, Carbondale and Riverside.
Montrose will play Wyalusing, Holy Cross, Lackawanna Trail, Meyers, Susquehanna, Carbondale, Dunmore, Honesdale, Riverside and Old Forge.
Division 1 will be Abington Heights, Delaware Valley, North Pocono, Scranton and Wallenpaupack; Division 2 will be Honesdale, Scranton Prep, Valley View, Western Wayne and West Scranton; and Division 3 will be Carbondale, Dunmore, Lakeland, Mid Valley and Riverside.
The order or home and away games has not been determined.
Lakeland will join the current Division 4 members in the new Division 3 if the proposals for basketball, softball and baseball realignment go through. Every team would play each opponent in a home-and-home schedule for 14 games.
The six Susquehanna County schools and Lackawanna Trail would remain together in the same division, with just Lakeland joining them, if the change is approved.
Valley View and Western Wayne are the other key teams in the format. They would drop down to play the teams from what is currently Division 3 while the current Divisions 1 and 2 are otherwise merged together.
Montrose athletic director Joe Gilhool, who serves as president of the athletic directors association and secretary of the LIAA, said realignment is more likely to go through smoothly if District 2 approves using power ratings for all sports. That reduces concerns of having teams from the same class play in different divisions and against different schedules because, in theory, the power ratings will help counter any inequities.
The four sports could all end up with the same format. If the proposal is not approved for all of them, it could still be done for some.
“We’re still waiting to hear because we want some consistency with our baseball, softball and boys basketball and girls basketball schedules,” Gilhool said. “We’re also somewhat waiting for District 2 to make that determination of whether they are going to go into the power rankings or not.”
Basketball is in its second season of using power ratings to determine district playoff berths. Baseball and softball currently seed strictly on league record.
In the proposal, Division 1 would be Abington Heights, Delaware Valley, Honesdale, North Pocono, Scranton, Scranton Prep, Wallenpaupack, and West Scranton; Division 2 would be: Carbondale, Dunmore, Holy Cross, Mid Valley, Old Forge, Riverside, Valley View, Western Wayne; Division 3 would be Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Forest City, Lackawanna Trail, Lakeland, Montrose, Mountain View, Susquehanna.
The formats could be approved by athletic directors in their February meeting. They would not be finalized until the April LIAA meeting.
COLLEGE CORNER
Matt Lavin, a freshman middle blocker from Mountain View, was part of Misericordia University’s successful debut in men’s volleyball.
The Cougars went 2-2 in the Cougar Kickoff Classic Jan. 19-20 and are 3-3. They won their debut, sweeping three sets from Neumann University.
Lavin is second on the team with 11 blocks and fifth with 17 kills. He has started all six matches and played in 17 of 20 sets. Lavin also has four aces, four digs and three assists.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Montrose is headed for the District 2 Class 2A Dual Meet Wrestling Championships which open with the first two rounds of competition Wednesday night at Lake-Lehman and Western Wayne.
The Meteors will open in the quarterfinals against host Lake-Lehman, the Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 champion. Honesdale and Wyoming Area will wrestle at the same time on an adjacent mat with the two winners and the two losers going head-to-head in the matches that follow.
The teams that go 2-0 at each site will meet for the championship Saturday at Pittston Area. Teams that go 0-2 Wednesday are eliminated. Teams that go 1-1 will report to Pittston Area Saturday morning for two rounds of consolations to determine third through sixth place.
The action at Pittston Area Saturday will also include Class 3A to determine the top six teams.
In boys’ basketball, Susquehanna is at Montrose Thursday in the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams.
The game is the second of the half for Montrose and the second-half opener for Susquehanna.
In girls’ basketball, Montrose is at Susquehanna in a meeting of two of the top three teams in the first-half standings.
Mountain View is at Forest City Friday in a game that sends the first-half, second-place team to face the defending champions.
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.
