Submitted Photo
The Susquehanna boys’ basketball team celebrated a District 2-11 Class A Subregional championship Thursday night at Scranton High School.
WILKES-BARRE – The Susquehanna boys won their two most important games, but lost while playing in the biggest spotlight.
The Susquehanna girls won under the bright lights of the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, but fell in the game they needed to clinch a state tournament berth.
A special basketball season at the school in which both teams won their first Lackawanna League Division 4 championships produced mixed results for those teams last week.
The Lady Sabers returned from the arena with gold medals, but the Sabers are the ones continuing their season into the state tournament.
“It’s a nice conciliatory prize being the subregional champion and getting to go to states as the number-one seed,” Susquehanna coach Lawrence Tompkins said after losing at the arena without junior point guard and leading scorer Mason Deakin. “I feel like over the course of the season, we were clearly the best team in District 2 and District 11 in single-A.
“I think we proved that time and again. We beat Lincoln Leadership Academy; we beat Nativity. I feel like, at full strength, we’re going to beat any team in this portion of the state in our classification.
“They don’t call you a District 2 champion until you win this game, but I feel like our team was crowned a subregional champion on Thursday and that’s something that obviously was a goal of ours at the start of the season.”
BOYS’ BASKETBALL
SCRANTON – Before playing the District 2 “championship” game at Mohegan Sun Arena, Susquehanna posted two more significant victories, first winning the subregional semifinal to clinch a state berth, then taking the District 2-11 championship game.
Bryce Baldwin got Susquehanna started, then Eric Lee and Mason Deakin led the Sabers down the stretch Feb. 27 at the Lackawanna College Student Union in a 53-44 semifinal victory over Lincoln Leadership Academy.
Baldwin completed his 20-point scoring effort on a basket in the first minute of the second half.
“The first half definitely meant a lot to me because lately I haven’t been doing too well inside,” said Baldwin, who also grabbed 12 rebounds. “To start off that strong, it definitely got me to where I need to be in these playoffs.”
Lee scored 8 of his 10 points and Deakin 7 of his 11 in the closing, 15-8 run that started right after Lee drew a charge while preventing the potential tying basket with 4:58 left.
“I know I’m not the guy that’s supposed to be scoring,” Lee said. “I’m more of a defensive player.”
Susquehanna shot 13-for-16 from the line in the final five minutes, including 7-for-8 by Deakin.
The Sabers did well in coping with an active, full-court, trapping zone defense that caused problems in the game’s first few possessions.
“We tried to make it our type of game and I think we did a nice job,” Tompkins said.
Lee said the press got the Sabers’ attention early.
“I’m just glad we adjusted well to it, overcame it and worked around it,” he said.
Once the Sabers beat the pressure, they took their time and Adam Rockwell was able to make entry passes from the wing to get Baldwin going early.
“For us, the entire game was about pace and tempo,” Tompkins said. “There was no way that we were going to be able to run with that team.
“We felt like if we could get the ball moving side-to-side against their zone that the inside would open up.”
Baldwin dominated early, scoring 12 points in the first quarter without missing a shot.
“I feel like their back-side defense wasn’t as strong as we thought it would be and they weren’t transferring over as fast as they needed to,” said Baldwin, who gave the Lions credit for adjusting that in the second half.
The Sabers went ahead to stay when Baldwin scored at the first-quarter buzzer for a 16-14 lead.
Lincoln Leadership ran off eight straight points to get within 33-31 late in the third quarter, but Anthony Dolfini hit a 3-pointer to stop that streak.
Deakin had 31 points, 6 assists, 4 steals and 4 rebounds in Thursday’s 65-59 victory over Pottsville Nativity BVM in the subregional final at Scranton High School.
Deakin was 9-for-14 from the floor, 5-for-7 on 3-pointers and 8-for-10 from the line. He made all 4 of his foul shots while scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Rockwell and C.J. Stone added nine points each. Rockwell hit two of his three 3-pointers in the second quarter when Susquehanna turned a 12-9 deficit into a 27-24 halftime lead.
Lee contributed 10 rebounds and 5 assists while Baldwin had 8 points and 12 rebounds. Each was 2-for-2 from the line in the fourth quarter when the Sabers were going 9-for-10.
“Our team this year has met every single goal that we set,” Tompkins said. “We did not set a goal at the start of the year to win the District 2 championship at the arena because we knew that we would be here. This was something that was given to us.
“Our goal this year was to win a Division 4 championship in the Lackawanna League, which we did. It was to win the subregional, which we did. It was to be the number-one seed going into the state tournament from that subregional, which we did. Our team has met every goal that we set.”
Playing without Deakin in Sunday’s game between District 2’s only two Class A schools, the Sabers were held scoreless for a stretch of 15:27 in a 38-22 upset loss to MMI Prep in a rematch of a game Susquehanna won last year.
“Unless you’re telling military time, you don’t want to have anything that’s 15:27,” Tompkins said.
MMI Prep went just 6-16 and failed to qualify for the District 2-11 Subregional, but got 6-for-8 sophomore forward/center Phillip Byriel back from an injury on the final day of the regular season. That, along with Deakin’s absence distinctly altered the matchup.
“Right now, he is in violation of school and team academic policies,” Tompkins said of Deakin, whose status for the state tournament was unresolved at that point.
Matt Marchetti scored 12 points while Marcus Kassick added 11 points and 7 rebounds for MMI Prep.
Byriel, who had missed 16 games with a broken left wrist, had six points, eight rebounds and four assists. Most importantly, his presence on defense, where he blocked four shots and altered others, contributed to shutting down the Sabers.
Susquehanna led, 8-2, before being outscored, 26-4, over a stretch of nearly 22 minutes.
MMI Prep had a 28-12 lead before Rockwell hit a 3-pointer with 5:35 left.
Rockwell led the Sabers with 10 points.
Baldwin had 6 points and 11 rebounds.
The Sabers also played well defensively, holding MMI Prep to an 0-for-11 second quarter, but still getting outscored, 5-2, in those eight minutes to fall behind, 17-12, at halftime.
“District 2 won’t call us the champ, but we were the champ in my mind,” Tompkins said after Sunday’s loss. “MMI Prep clearly was the better team today.”
Susquehanna takes a 17-9 record into state play.
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
WILKES-BARRE – Susquehanna bounced back quickly from having its state tournament hopes spoiled less than 48 hours earlier.
The Lady Sabers ran out to an 18-point lead late in the third quarter, then held on through some tense moments down the stretch to repeat as District 2 Class A champions with a 39-36 victory over Forest City.
MacKenzie Hartman led the Forest City comeback but McKenzie Rhone, Taylor Huyck and Mackenzie Steele all made plays in the closing seconds to help the Lady Sabers escape Mohegan Sun Arena with the victory.
Susquehanna led, 31-13, with 2:25 left in the third quarter before Forest City made it all the way back to cut the deficit to 38-36 going into the final minute on Hartman’s 3-pointer to complete a game-high, 16-point scoring effort.
Rhone made one of two free throws with 27.9 seconds left to close the scoring and give Susquehanna a three-point lead that made it more likely that the worst the Lady Sabers would do was go into overtime.
With Hartman, who scored all 14 fourth-quarter Forest City points, taking aim at the potential tie, Huyck’s emphatic block with 1.4 seconds left punched the ball out of bounds.
Steele then swatted the in-bounds pass back out of bounds, leaving Forest City out on the right sideline with 0.3 seconds left.
Hartman still managed to get off a 28-foot, hurried, desperation shot that was off the mark at the final buzzer.
“I’m real happy with what we got and I know the girls are really happy, too,” Lady Sabers coach Errol Mannick said. “It’s great for them and great for the school. They’ve done a lot of work and they deserve it.”
The Lady Sabers, who went unbeaten in Division 4 play, finished with a 20-4 record.
“We all grew up a lot and it was definitely a great season we had,” Steele said.
Huyck and Bethany Maby led the Lady Sabers with nine points each. Huyck also had nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots. Maby grabbed eight rebounds.
Steele had 8 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
Maby hit a 3-pointer from the left corner with 4:30 left for the last Susquehanna basket and a 38-24 lead.
“We just continued to pressure,” Forest City coach Mike Courtright said of a defensive effort that gave Hartman a chance to get the Lady Foresters back in the game.
Hartman scored the next 12 points, converting steals into the last five to cut the deficit to two.
“I just knew I wanted to make this a game,” said Hartman, who had missed 10 straight shots before leading the rally. “No way was I leaving my senior year like that.”
Hartman also contributed to the defense with six steals, five of which came in the second half.
Susquehanna was in control through most of the first 20 minutes.
The Lady Sabers led 11-4 after the first quarter when Steele scored the final four points of an eight-point streak.
That was part of an 18-2 run to a 21-6 lead.
An 8-1 run that began late in the half produced the biggest lead at 31-13.
Skylar Fortuner had 10 points and nine rebounds for Forest City (9-16).
Both teams had reached the subregional semifinals before losing Tuesday night.
Susquehanna, which had received a quarterfinal bye as the top seed, lost 55-40 to Pottsville Nativity BVM at Dunmore High School.
Forest City, which reached the semifinals with a quarterfinal upset as the sixth seed, lost 58-29 to Weatherly at Northern Lehigh.
Nativity used a balanced attack with four players scoring in double figures for the game and a defense that limited Susquehanna to 12 first-half points.
The Lady Sabers were behind 12 at the half, battled back to get within a point, then watched the Golden Girls pull away again.
Sisters Madison and Allison Clarke scored 16 and 15 points to lead the win. Madison Rushannon had 11 points and Samantha Heenan had 10.
Steele led Susquehanna with 17 points, scoring 10 of the team’s 12 in the first half, including all four of its second-quarter points.
Huyck had 12 of her 14 in the second half while Maby scored all 8 of her points.
Huyck hit two 3-pointers and made four foul shots while scoring 10 in the third quarter when the Lady Sabers closed a 24-12 deficit to 34-29.
Maby’s 3-pointer and a basket by Steele were the only two field goals Susquehanna managed in the fourth quarter.
Weatherly scored the game’s first 12 points on the way to its first district or subregional playoff victory in more than two decades.
Emily Zoscin, an all-state player who is already over the 1,000-point career mark as a junior, led the way with 18 points. Megan Peifer had seven of her 17 to help build a 16-3 lead after one quarter. Ashley James added 12.
Hartman led Forest City with 13.
REGIONAL WRESTLING
Blue Ridge’s Nathaniel McArthur finished fifth and teammate Adam Roe pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the opening night when the Class AA Northeast Regional Wrestling Tournament was held Friday and Saturday in Williamsport.
McArthur lost by technical fall Friday night, but came back to win twice Saturday and finish fifth at 120 pounds. A forfeit in the first consolation round got McArthur into the top six and, after losing in the consolation semifinals, he defeated Wyalusing’s Logan Newton, 4-0.
Roe opened Friday night with an 11-10 win over Midd-West’s Noah Ettinger, who entered the tournament with a 37-3 record.
After losing by a third-period pin in the 145-pound semifinals, Roe had a shot at the top-four finish that wound have earned him a state berth, but fell just short in an 8-7 loss to Muncy’s Coleman Good.
Ettinger won the rematch with a first-period pin in the fifth-place match, leaving Roe in sixth.
Blue Ridge finished 26th out of 35 teams in the tournament.
Makeela Fabrizio was the only one of three Montrose wrestlers to pick up a win in the tournament.
Fabrizio shut out Western Wayne’s Matthew Leslie, 4-0, in a 138-pound first-round consolation bout. He was pinned in his other three bouts and finished sixth.
Joseph Hester (126) and Cole Aukema (170) each lost two decisions, all by five or six points.
SWIMMING
Elk Lake made it to the midway point of the weather-delayed District 2 Swimming Championships in sixth place out of 14 boys’ teams and in eighth place out of 16 girls’ teams.
The championships, originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday, were pushed back. The first half of the meet was held Saturday and the rest of it was scheduled to be completed Monday.
Elk Lake’s best finish in Saturday’s action was fourth place in the boys’ 200-yard freestyle relay.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Susquehanna will play Conestoga Christian, the fifth-place team from District 3 Friday at a District 2 site in the first round of the PIAA Class A boys’ basketball state 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.
