CMYK PAGE 4C
➛
SUNDAY, JANUARY 1, 2012
S
P
O
R
T
S
THE TIMES LEADER
www.timesleader.com
COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP
FRED ADAMS/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Pocono Raceway founder and owner Joseph “Doc" Mattioli announced his retirement in August.
AP PHOTO
Hazleton Area graduate Russ Canzler was named the International League MVP after an outstanding season at Durham.
AP PHOTO
Kentucky’s Anthony Davis (23) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (14) celebrated a basket by Kidd-Gilchrist in the first half Saturday.
Kentucky freshmen help topple Louisville The Associated Press
DON CAREY/THE TIMES LEADER
Wyoming Seminary field hockey won the state title for a second consecutive year.
Continued from Page 1C
17, 1966, in a 15-7 victory over Maryland. Under his watch, Penn State won 24 of its 37 bowl appearances, and he had 29 Top-10 finishes and 29 seasons of nine or more wins.
DALLAS OPENS HEAD COACH POSITION Ted Jackson, the Wyoming Valley Conference Big School Coach of the Year the past three seasons, has his position opened by the Dallas School Board on Dec. 12. Jackson had a 227-83-3 record in 27 seasons at Dallas. His teams have posted a losing record just once, when the 2009 squad finished 2-8. Dallas won the PIAA Class 2A state championship in 1993 and was in the District 2 Class 3A championship game two of the last three years. Jackson applied for the open position days later. EUGENE LEWIS COMMITS TO PENN STATE And then some. Arguably the area’s biggest high school sports star started the year with a verbal commitment to play football at Penn State for Paterno. Now, Paterno is no longer the Nittany Lions coach and Lewis is no longer a Wyoming Valley West Spartan. Lewis transferred to Meyers in early December and
PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
The Penguins’ playoff collapse ended hopes of a Calder Cup.
Coach of the Year and the Goaltender of the Year. But in hockey, a best-of-7 series can be the ultimate equalizer. The Penguins trailed the East Division final 3-2 when they played Game 6 at Mohegan Sun Arena. They enjoyed a 3-0 lead in the third period of that game against the Charlotte Checkers, But Charlotte scored four times DOC MATTOLI RETIRES, in 12 minutes to eliminate the RACES SHORTENED Penguins two series short of a In something of a surprise, PoCalder Cup title. cono Raceway founder and ownSEMINARY REPEATS AS er Joseph “Doc” Mattioli, 86, anFIELD HOCKEY CHAMPS nounced in August that he had reA team that started four sesigned all of his positions and handed duties over to three of his niors during the season had only three come playoff time, thanks grandchildren. After 50 years at the helm, Mat- to an illness. But the Blue Knights rattled off tioli turned Pocono over to his grandson, Brandon Igdalsky, who seven consecutive wins in the became president and chief exec- playoffs behind backup goalie utive officer of the track. Another Hannah Dressler, and seniors and grandson, Nicholas, became top recruits AshLeigh Sebia, chief operating officer and exec- Kristian Stefanides and Ann Routive vice president. Brandon manowski. The last was a 3-2 state final and Nicholas’ sister Ashley was victory over Villa Maria in which named secretary/treasurer. Immediately after his retire- Stefanides scored all three goals. ment, Pocono announced future The win gave Sem a second conNASCAR races would be reduced secutive title and a record 16to 400 miles from their then-stan- game winning streak in PIAA tournament play. dard 500. endured a lengthy hearing before the PIAA District 2 Athletic Committee. He now plays basketball for the Mohawks. During his senior season, Lewis rushed for 1,410 yards and a WVC-high 27 touchdowns. He also threw for more than 1,000 yards, and was named to the Class 4A all-state team.
The Hoyas won their 10th straight game despite making only eight field goals in the second half. The score was tied at 35 with 8 minutes to play before Georgetown closed with a 14-5 run. No. 15 Mississippi State 66, Utah State 64 STARKVILLE, Miss. — Rodney Hood scored 16 points, Arnett Moultrie added 15 points and No. 15 Mississippi State escaped with a victory. Mississippi State (13-2) needed a defensive stop on its final possession to seal the win. Utah State’s Danny Berger missed a jumper as time expired that would have tied the game.
No. 16 Michigan St. 68, Nebraska 55 No. 9 Connecticut 83, LINCOLN, Neb. — DraySt. John’s 69 mond Green scored 19 points HARTFORD, Conn. — Shaand Keith Appling had eight of bazz Napier had 17 points and his 14 in the last 7 minutes to nine assists as No. 9 Connecti- help No. 16 Michigan State cut beat St. John’s in a game hold off struggling Nebraska coached by assistants for both 68-55 on Saturday, the Sparteams. tans’ 13th straight victory. Andre Drummond had 16 The Spartans (13-2, 2-0 Big points and 11 rebounds and Ten) are on their longest winJeremy Lamb added 15 points ning streak since the 1998-99 for UConn (12-1, 2-0 Big East), team won 22 straight. Eleven which shot 60 percent from the of the 13 have been by double floor to win its seventh straight digits. game.
TRANSITION
SWB YANKEES LEAVE PNC FIELD The Yankees posted a 73-69 record this season, finishing in third place in the International League North Division and missing the postseason for the first time since the New York Yankees moved their Triple-A affiliate to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2007. But the big news was that the team will be nomads in 2012, playing “home games” in six parks, none of which would be PNC Field, as their home undergoes major renovations. The sites are: Rochester, N.Y., 37 games; Syracuse, N.Y., 10 games; Allentown, eight games; Batavia, N.Y., seven games; Buffalo, N.Y., six games; and Pawtucket, R.I., four games. The Yanks are supposed to return to Moosic in 2013.
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had season-highs with 24 points and 19 rebounds to lead No. 3 Kentucky in a rough-andtumble 69-62 victory over No. 4 Louisville on Saturday to extend the nation’s longest home winning streak. Fellow freshman Anthony Davis added 18 points, all in the second half, for the Wildcats (13-1) in their annual instate rivalry game that at times looked more like a free throw shooting contest with 52 fouls. The Cardinals (12-2) only led at 2-0, but gave Kentucky all it could handle after rallying from an early 15-point deficit before tying it in the second half thanks to Russ Smith, who had a career-high 30 points.
Eugene Lewis made news for various reasons.
was going to make it to the bigs anywhere, it would be with Hazleton native Joe Maddon in the mix. Canzler put together an all-star season at Durham, where he batted .314 with18 home runs and 83 RBI, and won the International League MVP Along the way, he reached the bigs in a season full of major accomplishments: he hit a grand slam at Lehigh Valley in first atbat in Pennsylvania as a pro, he made his major league debut at Fenway Park, and he got his first big league hit at Yankee Stadium.
REP. STABACK WANTS SUNDAY HUNTING Rep. Ed Staback has been an advocate of Sunday hunting for years. But this year was different. The Pennsylvania Game Commission voted 4-3 to adopt a resolution supporting the repeal of the prohibition against Sunday hunting. The following day, House Bill 1760 was presented to the state legislature. “There is a lot of support for the Sunday hunting concept in this area,” Staback said of the hotbutton issue. “We still have some HAZLETON’S CANZLER W-B/SCRANTON hurdles, but with so many highWINS IL MVP AWARD PENGUINS COLLAPSE Russ Canzler took a shot when profile organizations, and now The Penguins turned in the best regular season in their histo- he joined the Tampa Bay Rays or- the PGC supporting this, I think ry (58 wins), had the AHL’s ganization. He figured that if he it’s closer than ever before.”
Iowa 72, No. 11 Wisconsin 65 MADISON, Wis. — Freshman reserve Aaron White scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and Iowa stunned No. 11 Wisconsin, snapping the Badgers’ six-game winning streak. White was 6 of 7 from the field, including two 3-pointers, and made all four of his free throws as the Hawkeyes (9-6, 1-1 Big Ten) held on to beat the Badgers for just the third time in the past 15 meetings. No. 10 Florida 90, Yale 70 GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Kenny Boynton’s 26 points led No. 10 Florida to a victory over Yale less than 40 hours after the Gators were upset at Rutgers. Patrick Young added 19 points and Erik Murphy had 18 for Florida (11-3), while Bradley Beal had 11. No. 12 Georgetown 49, Providence 40 WASHINGTON — Henry Sims scored five of his 11 points in the final 7 minutes, and No. 12 Georgetown blew a 14-point lead and shot a season-low 30 percent in a win over Providence.
ROSE
No. 17 Kansas 84, North Dakota 58 LAWRENCE, Kan. — Thomas Robinson posted careerbests with 30 points and 21 rebounds, helping NO. 17 Kansas overcome a sluggish start and beat North Dakota 84-58 on Saturday in its final nonconference game. North Dakota (5-8) simply had no answer for the muscular 6-foo-10 Robinson. With 12 points and 10 rebounds, the junior had socked away his Big 12-leading ninth double-double by halftime. His monster game included two steals and four assists as the Jayhawks (10-3) won their 55th straight nonconference home game. No. 24 Harvard 74, Saint Joseph’s 69 CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Kyle Casey scored 7 of his 26 points in the closing 4:25 as No. 24 Harvard completed a comeback from a late 11-point deficit to beat Saint Joseph’s 74-69 on Saturday. Keith Wright added 16 points and five rebounds, and Casey had 10 rebounds for the Crimson (12-1), who trailed by 11 with just over 10 minutes to play.
Governors’ Cup, their manager Dave Miley gave Van Rose a hug. He may have put away his Continued from Page 1C notepad and pen for the final lines, horse racing and hoops. time. But before he did, Van He didn’t much care for base- Rose left our business ideals to ball, but took his best swing at hold onto. covering the game for more than a decade. He began to em- Paul Sokoloski is a Times Leader brace it, and when the Triple-A sports columnist. You may reach Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yan- him at 970-7109 or email him at kees won the franchise’s first psokoloski@timesleader.com.