Sports

The Susquehanna boys and Mountain View boys each opened the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 2A basketball tournament with weekend victories.

Griffin Fisk scored 21 points and Mason Keyes produced a double-double when Susquehanna went on the road Saturday and knocked off District 4 champion Northeast Bradford on its home court, 55-40.

Addison Kilmer’s 23 points helped Mountain View defeat Northwest, 60-44, at Carbondale.

Keyes scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

“The number one thing was our defensive game plan,” Sabers coach Lawrence Tompkins said. “And, the number two thing was our rebounding margin. Those were the two things we stressing going into the game and in our game preparation.

“We knew if we could control defensive rebounds that was going to a key, but also the offensive rebounds gave us second chances.”

Jaxon Downton added eight rebounds.

Defensively, the Sabers limited 1,000-point career scorer Cooper Brown to five points and held the Panthers’ top 3-point threat, Mac Burgert, to just two points.

Burgert’s only basket came in the first quarter. Brown had only two points before scoring on a three-point play in the fourth quarter after the Sabers had built a 17-point lead through three.

The Sabers showed they were ready coming off a 69-34 loss to potential state contender Old Forge in the District 2 final at the Mohegan Arena a week earlier.

Tompkins said keeping Old Forge’s strength in perspective was important, but also that his team’s effort, energy and preparation were better going into the program’s first state tournament game since a trip to the quarterfinals in 2018.

Hudson Stengel, who had five points, and Fisk each dished out five assists.

Linden Baker chipped in with six points and Chris Serra had five.

Nate Gross, who made Northeast Bradford’s only two 3-pointers, led the Panthers with 11 points.

Fisk had six points in the first quarter when Susquehanna took a 14-10 lead.

Serra had his five points and Fisk matched that in the second quarter. Fisk, Keyes and Hudson Stengel all made 3-pointers to help take a 30-21 halftime lead.

Keyes had seven points in the third quarter when the lead grew to 45-28 and Fisk had six in the fourth.

Mountain View built a 13-point lead through three quarters, the held off a Northwest comeback.

Kilmer went 11-for-13 on free throws, hitting her last nine, including eight in the second half when she scored 14 of her points.

The Lady Eagles led 10-9 after one quarter, 23-18 at halftime and 39-26 after three quarters.

Emma Thatcher added nine points, all on 3-pointers. Aubrey Sanders scored eight, all in the first half.

Sanders and Thatcher hit 3-pointers in the first quarter, then Sanders and Emily Trichilo connected from long distance in the second quarter. Thatcher made one each in the third and fourth.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The success of the Sabers and Lady Eagles was part of a strong first-round performance by District 2 in the state basketball playoffs.

District 2 teams were 17-4, including 9-1 by the girls and 8-3 by the boys.

Hazleton Area in Class 6A; Crestwood and North Pocono in 5A; Scranton Prep and Valley View in 4A; Dunmore and Holy Redeemer in 3A; and Wyoming Seminary in 2A were the other girls’ teams to advance.

Wilkes-Barre Area in 6A; Crestwood in 5A; Scranton Prep, Dallas and Valley View in 4A; Riverside in 3A; and Old Forge in 2A were the other boys’ winners from the district.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Susquehanna (20-6) will face Paul Robeson High School from Philadelphia in the second round of the PIAA Class 2A boys’ basketball tournament at 7:30pm Wednesday at Executive Education in Allentown. Paul Robeson, the District 12 runner-up, is 21-6.

The winner moves into Saturday’s state quarterfinals against the winner between unbeaten District 6 champion United and District 9 runner-up Clarion (18-9).

The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, March 17.

In girls’ basketball, the winner of the second-round game between Mountain View and Faith Christian will play again in Friday’s quarterfinals against either District 3 runner-up Shalom Christian (16-6) or District 4 runner-up Southern Columbia (13-13).

The semifinals are scheduled for Monday, March 16.

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.

Griffin Fisk leads the Susquehanna boys’ basketball team in scoring, but he also makes many other contributions to just the third Sabers teams to ever advance beyond the first round of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament.

“I try to lead the team on the defensive end, too, but if they need me, I score and I try to get the ball around to my team as much as possible,” said Fisk, who led the Sabers to second-place finishes in Lackawanna League Division 2 and District 2 Class 2A.

Fisk averaged 24.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.5 steals during February when the Sabers went 5-2, losing only to division champion Elk Lake and district champion Old Forge.

For his efforts, Fisk has been selected as the latest Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.

Fisk opened the month with 25 points to lead a 57-46 victory over Lackawanna Trail, the team Susquehanna was battling for second in the division. The Sabers beat the Lions again, 61-40, with the help of 15 more by Fisk n the district semifinal, earning a trip to Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza and securing a state playoff berth in the process.

“We were thinking that we were going to go to states,” said Fisk, who averages 21.4 points for the season. “We all put in a lot of work, just worked our hardest, put up shots and followed game plans.”

Fisk, a junior guard, has been working with J.C. Show to develop his game. Show is a former state Player of the Year at Abington Heights, who went on to play at Bucknell and Binghamton before playing professionally in the NBA’s G League and other developmental leagues.

After leading what is now a 20-win Susquehanna team, Fisk plans to follow that up by playing for the NEPA Elite AAU team out of Scranton this spring and summer.

Griffin is the son of Dayton and Mallery Fisk from Susquehanna.