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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2012
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THE TIMES LEADER www.timesleader.com
C L ASS 2 A B OYS BAS K E T BA L L
Vikings stun Grenadiers in OT GAR’s early lead evaporates as Riverside earns a trip to the District 2 semifinals. By JOHN ERZAR jerzar@timesleader.com
SCRANTON – The improbable shouldn’t have happened. At least that’s what GAR coach Paul Brown believed as he stood in the locker room hallway at Scranton High School on Saturday afternoon. But it did. And so did overtime. And so did the end of his Grenadiers’ impressive season. Riverside forced overtime with an incredible shot at the buzzer, then scored the game-winner with nine seconds left in the extra period to defeat GAR 42-40 in a District 2 Class 2A quarterfinal game. Riverside (21-3) moves to Wednesday’s semifinals and will play Holy Cross (21-4). GAR
(20-3) saw its season end in the round of eight for the third time in four seasons. Before Jason Vishnesky’s basket tied the game at 37 at the end of regulation, GAR missed the back end and front end of oneand-one foul shot situations. “We were in a position where it wouldn’t have mattered if they made that shot,” Brown said. “All we had to do was be up three, up four and it doesn’t matter. We had opportunities to put points on the board and we didn’t take advantage of them.” The latter one-and-one came with six seconds left. Riverside’s Jerry Kincel, the school’s all-time leading scorer who had a rough afternoon from the field, got the ball down the right sideline and passed to Vishnesky. Vishnesky drove at an angle to the basket, stumbled and barely got the ball high enough as he fell to the court. His shot touched the glass and went in. “I thought about getting the
foul to be honest,” Vishnesky said. “I didn’t think it would go in.” Overtime ended less spectacularly for Riverside and more painfully for GAR, which pulled to a 40-40 tie on Shaliek Powell’s inside basket with 22 seconds left. Riverside worked the clock down before Connor Mailen scored inside with nine seconds remaining. With no timeouts, GAR rushed down court, but the Vikings clogged up things on the left side of the backcourt. The result was reserve guard Zach Ellis having to take a desperation, off-balance three-point heave from well beyond the arc. The ball hit off the left front of the rim and bounced away. GAR held Kincel to 3-of-15 from the field, with Isaiah Francis the main defender in the man-toman defense. However, Nico Munley came up with some clutch threes in the first half,
C L ASS 2 A B OYS BAS K E T BA L L
Early run is Hawkeyes undoing
By JOHN ERZAR jerzar@timesleader.com
SCRANTON – Hanover Area finally got over that imaginary hump it attempted to climb most of Saturday afternoon. But like so many times prior, whenever the Hawkeyes got near or to the top, Lakeland found a way to knock them backward. Lakeland’s Eric Grabowski nailed a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter, erasing Hanover Area’s only lead of the game, as the Chiefs went on to a 72-58 victory in a District 2 Class 2A quarterfinal game at Lackawanna College. Lakeland (18-8) moves to the semifinals Wednesday, where it will play Meyers (22-2) at a site and time to be announced. Hanover Area ended its season at 10-12. The Hawkeyes spent the final three quarters trying to make amends for a disastrous opening eight minutes. Lakeland ripped off a 10-0 run to end the first quarter, taking a 22-9 lead. From there, the chase was on. Behind the driving of guard Jeorge Colon and third-quarter outburst by forward ShaQuille Rolle, Hanover Area finally overtook Lakeland in the fourth quarter. Rolle’s three-pointer with 6:55 to play gave the Hawkeyes a 57-55 lead. The advantage lasted exactly 17 seconds. Grabowski, who finished with a game-high 22 points, tossed in a three-pointer from the right wing. Tyler Brady followed with two free throws, boosting the Chiefs’ lead to 59-55. Hanover Area got within 59-57 on Martin Steve’s rebound basket,
JASON RIEDMILLER/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Lakeland’s Kyle Kiehart (30) and Hanover Area’s ShaQuille Rolle look up at a potential rebound during Saturday’s game.
but Lakeland finished off the Haw- back, zipping through the lane keyes by closing the game with a consistently for most of his 15 13-1 run. points. Lakeland 72, Hanover Area 58 After a slow first half, Rolle finHANOVER AREA (58): Colon 5 3-5 15, Rolle 7 1-3 17, Barber 5 2-5 14, Everetts 2 0-1 4, Steve 4 0-0 ished off strongly. He recorded a 8, Kerestes 0 0-0 0, Wickiser 0 0-0 0, Marcincavage 0, George 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 6-14 58. double-double with a team-high 0 0-0LAKELAND (72): Grabowski 7 6-8 22, Brady 2 3-4 7, Kiehart 7 4-5 19, Filarsky 5 0-0 14, Streifsky 2 17 points to go with a team-high 0-0 4, Rojenches 1 0-0 2, Nichols 1 0-0 3, Tolerico 0 14 rebounds. Freshman Jacob 1-2 1, Piatt 0 0-0 0, Bruke 0 0-0 0, Morgan 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 14-19 72. Barber played one of his best Hanover Area............................... 9 22 19 8 — 58 Lakeland ....................................... 22 13 17 20 — 72 games of the season, scoring 14 3-Point Field Goals— HA 6 (Colon 2, Rolle 2, Bar2); LAK 8 (Grabowski 2, Kiehart, Filarsky 4, Niand adding 10 boards. Colon pro- ber chols). vided the impetus for the come-
LOCAL ROUNDUP
Seminary wins two titles, places second at national tourney The Times Leader staff
Dom Malone (126) and Eric Morris (170) won championships to lead Wyoming Seminary to a second-place team finish at the National Prep Wrestling Tournament. Danny Boychuck (106), Tyler Fraley (132), Conor Wasson (182), A.J. Vizcarrondo (220) and Michael Johnson (285) were all runners-up.
MOHAWKS Continued from Page 1C
Mohawk fans to their feet. Dunmore point guard John Rinaldi quickly calmed the opposing crowd when he drove the lane and pulled up for a 10-foot jumper to cut the deficit to one. The game remained close with just under two minutes to go and Meyers leading 10-9. The tandem of Krawczeniuk and Eugene Lewis would take over the rest of the period. Lewis began an 8-0 run with a slashing drive to the basket to extend the lead to 12-9. After a Dunmore turnover, Krawczeniuk found Le-
Ty White placed fourth at 138 while Logan May (113) finished in fifth. Matt Doggett came in eighth at 195.
D 2 GIRLS BASKETBALL MMI Prep 34, Blue Ridge 29
SCRANTON –Maria Carrato scored a team-high eight points to lead MMI Prep to a 34-29 overtime victory in its District 2 Class A quarterfinal matchup wis streaking to the hoop and made a perfect pass that Lewis would lay in with 1:30 to go. Moore scooped up the ball on a busted play the next series down the floor and drove to the hoop to make it 16-9. Krawczeniuk closed the scoring as he drove down the middle of the lane and put the Mohawks up 18-9 at the end of the quarter. Meyers continued its offensive onslaught in the second quarter, and put the breaks on any attempts Dunmore made to get back in the game. “It all starts with defense,” Toole said. “Alex (Pape), Ryan, and Fabian (Smith) were able to stop Dunmore’s big three of Matt Clarke, John Rinaldi, and Jordan
against Blue Ridge. Kristen Purcell and Hayle Shearer each followed with six points for the Preppers.
MMI PREP (34): Purcell 3 0-4 6, Stanziola 2 1-2 5, Carrato 3 2-3 8, Shearer 3 0-0 6, Karchner 2 0-0 4, Lara 1 1-2 3, Ferry 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 4-11 34. BLUE RIDGE (29): Rupakus 3 1-2 7, Warren 2 0-0 4, Whitney 1 1-2 3, Bayle 0 0-0 0, Furch 1 7-12 10, Bennett 1 2-6 5, Radakovich 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 11-30 29. MMI Prep...................................................... 4 6 9 8 7 34 Blue Ridge.................................................... 7 5 6 9 2 29 3-Point Field Goals— BR 2 (Furch, Bennett)
Dempsey with great man-to-man defense.” The man-to-man defense held the Bucks to just four points in the second quarter as Krawczeneiuk continued to nail threepointers. His fifth of the game came with 3:22 left in the half and put the Mohawks up 29-13. Moore followed that barrage with a powerful dunk on the next trip down the floor. Meyers finished the half on a 9-0 run and led 35-13 heading into the locker room. The Mohawks picked up where they left off to open the third quarter. Smith knocked down two jumpers, one a threepointer, and Meyers broke the game wide open as it bolted to a
while Mailen scored the Vikings’ two field goals in overtime. “Recently, teams have been really focusing on Jerry and other players have to step up,” Riverside coach Mike Morgan said. “Munley really did in the beginning by hitting threes and that’s what teams do when their main man is struggling.” Darrell Crawford, GAR’s leading scorer during the season, had just four points, all in the first half. Christian Skrepenak, a 6foot-10, 340-pound junior, was a menace at both ends of the court, but cooled off offensively in the second half and overtime. Five of his 10 points came in the opening quarter. He finished a rebound shy of a double-double. Riverside 42, GAR 40 OT GAR (40): Francis 5 1-4 11, Crawford 2 0-2 4, Sharpe 2 0-0 4, Powell 3 4-7 10, Skrepenak 4 2-3 10, Ellis 0 1-2 1, Dempsey 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 8-10 40. RIVERSIDE (42): Vishnesky 3 2-2 9, Mailen 3 1-3 7, Munley 3 0-0 9, King 2 1-2 6, J.Kincel 3 5-13 11, R.Kincel 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-20 42. GAR ............................................. 13 6 9 9 3 — 40 Riverside ..................................... 9 10 8 10 5 — 42 3-Point Field Goals— RIV 5 (Vishnesky, Munley 3, King); GAR, none.
JASON RIEDMILLER/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
GAR’s Darrell Crawford shoots a layup on a fast break Saturday.
MEN Continued from Page 1C
Freedom Conference championship at the Anderson Center. It was the 12th straight win for the Cougars (21-5), capping off what was likely the most successful day in the history of Misericordia athletics, following the women’s team’s victory in their own championship game. Both squads are headed to the NCAA tournament for the first time and will learn their opening opponent and venue on Monday afternoon. For Woodruff, who was a player at Misericordia when Wilkes and coach Jerry Rickrode were playing in the Final Four, the win carried some adding meaning. “I said to Jerry that it’s great to win it. The fact that we had to go through them is extra special because I grew up watching Wilkes win championships,” Woodruff said. “He’s a tremendous coach and I have a lot of respect for their program. “So to beat them in this game, it really just means we’ve emerged as a program. We can put a banner up just like everybody else now, and that’s really been the one missing piece. I’m so proud to be a Misericordia alum and to be the coach of this team.” Likewise, Rickrode had laudatory words for the Cougars when he met Woodruff at midcourt after the game. “The better team won the game,” Wilkes coach Jerry Rickrode said. “You were the better team in the second half of the season. You went on an 11-game winning streak, and you were the better team. “And that’s what it came down to, to be honest.” But it was Wilkes (17-9) that was the better team in the first half, stifling Eichhorst and building a 27-24 lead at the break. Little went right for the Colonels after that, as the Cougars blew them away with a 45-15 performance in the final 20 minutes. Wilkes, which had scored 103 points in an overtime win in the semifinals, was held to its lowest output of the season. For the second time this week, it was Slanovec who ignited the Cougars from long range. On Saturday the senior guard opened the second half by bank-
PETE G. WILCOX/THE TIMES LEADER
The ball sails over the heads of Wilkes’ Paul Huch (30) and Misericordia’s Ethan Eichhorst (23) during Saturday’s game.
ing home a three-pointer to tie the game, giving a slight shrug of his shoulders on his way back down the court. That triggered a 20-3 run for the Cougars, who shot 6-of-12 from behind the arc in the second half. They never trailed again. “Whatever it takes,” Slanovec said. “Yeah, that kind of got us going. We’ve been a second-half team the past couple weeks. … Today we were really able to come out and set the tone for the first couple minutes of the second half.” “Yeah, he banks it in, but if you don’t lose him (on defense), he doesn’t get to shoot it,” Rickrode said. “Even if you bank it in, if you’re a shooter, that’s going to get you going. And then they hit a couple more – bang, bang. “And they made some adjustments in the second half. As soon as we threw down into the post, they doubled it … and we made some errors out of it. It was a good move by them defensively to do that. That was a really good adjustment.” Slanovec (11points) and Wilkes center Kendall Hinze (game-high
40-13 lead. Krawczeniuk capped Meyers 68, Dunmore 39 (39): Rinaldi 3 0-2 9, Dempsey 1 the run with a layup and later hit 0-0 DUNMORE 8, Clark 4 0-0 8, Cordaro 0 2-2 5, Mundt 2 1-2 5, 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 3-8 39. a jumper that put a close to his Pichiarello MEYERS (68): Krawczeniuk 4 1-1 24, Lewis 6 game-high 24-point perform- 3-4 15, Moore 6 1-2 13, Smith 3 1-3 10, Szafran 1 0-2 2, Steward 2 0-0 4. Totals 22 6-12 68. ance. He had 20 in the first half. “Ryan made things easy for us tonight,” Toole said. “He had a monstrous game.” Moore finished the third quarter with a hard drive to the basket that gave Meyers a 57-27 lead. Continued from Page 1C Moore put the finishing touches on the game as he slammed He did it Saturday at Scanhome back-to-back dunks on sucdlon Gym, where an excellent cessive plays that put Meyers up King’s College team was previ61-39 with 5:30 remaining in the ously unbeaten on its home contest. floor. And he did it by coaching Dunmore was led by Rinaldi, hard from the opening tip to the who netted nine points, followed final horn, the signal his Couby Clark and Dempsey, who had gars were heading to the NCAAs eight points each. with a 64-54 victory.
TICKET
21 points) both passed 1,000 points for their careers in the game. Junior forward Steve Artzerounian led the Cougars with a double-double, finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds, earning tournament MVP honors for his efforts this week. Eichhorst and Greene added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Hinze was the only scorer in double figures for Wilkes. “I think the kids believed,” Woodruff said. “They’ve all made shots in their life. It was just a matter of time. “They believe in what we do, they believe in each other. And they just keep playing.” WILKES (42): Wilson 3-14 1-2 7, Mullins 1-5 2-4 4, Huch 0-5 5-7 5, Hartman 1-3 0-0 3, Hinze 9-10 3-6 21, Breznitsky 0-2 0-0 0, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0, Blish 0-0 0-0 0, Sharpe 0-0 0-0 0, Eagles 0-0 0-0 0, Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Wilkins 0-0 0-0 0, Sheldon 1-1 0-1 2, Strause 0-0 0-2. Totals 15-41 11-22 42. MISERICORDIA (69): Greene 2-9 4-4 10, Undersinger 1-3 0-0 2, Artzerounian 8-13 2-2 18, Eichhorst 4-11 1-1 11, Slanovec 4-6 0-0 11, Busacca 1-7 3-4 5, Reilly 1-1 0-0 2, Bieski 2-5 0-0 4, Melville 0-1 0-0 0, Sergio 0-0 0-0 0, Donohue 0-0 0-0 0, Ware 0-0 0-0 0, Stone 1-1 0-0 2, Yaich 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 1-1 2-2 4. Totals 25-58 12-13 69. Halftime— Wilkes, 27-24 3-point field goals— WU 1-9 (Hartman 1-2, Wilson 0-1, Huch 0-1, Breznitsky 0-1, Thomas 0-1, Mullins 0-3); MU 7-18 (Slanovec 3-4, Eichhorst 2-3, Greene 2-7, Undersinger 0-2, Busacca 0-2)
Dunmore....................................... 9 4 14 12 — 39 Meyers ..........................................18 17 22 11 — 68 3-Point Field Goals— DUN 4 (Dempsey 2, Cordaro, Rinaldi); MEY 6 (Krawczeniuk 5, Smith)
“I’m taking a lot of ribbing,” Martin smiled. “I’m going to my first NCAA tournament. Coaching the girls team.” No matter what team Martin touches, the journey always starts with the same principle. You don’t find the top without reaching for it. Paul Sokoloski is a Times Leader sports columnist. You may reach him at 970-7109 or email him at psokoloski@timesleader.com.