Montrose takes Trail in double OT

BY HEIDI ZENEFSKI
Sports Correspondent

Montrose came out with a hard-fought double overtime 59-54 win over Lackawanna Trail on Friday night.
The Lions traveled to Montrose to take on the Meteors in what many considered to be a battle of the top two teams in Division IV.

The first quarter turned into a three point shooting contest. Troy Ely, Austin Smith, and Hunter Traver all drained threes for the Meteors and Trail’s Tyler Rzucidlo answered with two for the Lions. At the end of the quarter the Meteors were up 11-8.

The Meteors were plagued by fouls and were penalized eight times as Trail took the lead, 21-19, at the half. Brendan Buck and Andrew Bickford had two blocked shots each, including one that

was a double block on Trail’s Jerry Chilewski. Ross Fauquier scored the go-ahead goal for the Lions with 30 seconds left in the half.

The third quarter flipped with Montrose dominating in points and Trail adding up fouls as the Meteors reclaimed the lead, 35-30. Jack Fruehan tied the game with a foul shot for the Meteors and Ely got the go-ahead three pointer. Fruehan took control under the basket by blocking two shots, grabbing three rebounds, and stealing the ball. He and Ely each scored five points, Smith scored four, and Buck scored two, blocked a shot and snagged two rebounds.

The fourth quarter brought four lead changes and a tie to keep the fans on their feet and the players on their toes.

With 5:23 to go, Rzucidlo sank a three-pointer to give the Lions the lead. Smith answered at the 5 minute mark with two foul shots, giving Montrose a one-point advantage.

But the Lions pulled ahead with two from Chilewski. Ely and Fruehan did their best to stop the Lions adding up three blocked shots and six rebounds between the two of them, but it was Mason Peck who gave the Meteors the lead again with a deep shot from behind the three-point arch with three minutes to go.
With the clock running down, Trail’s Ronnie Traver scored his second three-pointer of the quarter to tie the game 43-43 as regulation time ran out and he sent the game into overtime.

Overtime started with the fans from both teams on their feet. Once again, Montrose took control with Peck scoring a basket and a foul shot and Fruehan a basket and two foul shots. He had back-to-back blocks against Rzucidlo and Farquier. Rzucidlo drained another three-pointer, his third of the night and Chilewski added in another two.

With time running down in the four-minute overtime period and the Meteors with a three point lead, Ronnie Traver gave all a deja’ vu experience and once again with only five seconds left on the clock, he took another three-point shot to tie the game for the Lions and send the game into a second overtime period with a 51-51 tie.

The second overtime period found Traver scoring his fourth three-pointer of the night and another lead. However, it was short lived as Bickford scored for the Meteors and then the Lions were forced to foul to stop the clock and try to get possession of the ball. With seven seconds left in the game and Montrose with a slim lead, Chilewski fouled out of the game, sending Ely to the line. He made the first shot and missed the second which led to a rebounding frenzy under the basket to gain possession of the ball and give the Lions one last chance to tie it up.

But it was Montrose’s Buck who grabbed the rebound, went up to score, and secured the Meteors’ victory with the final go-ahead bucket. The Meteors came out on top 59-54.

“I definitely feel like the team pulled through to win the victory. I definitely feel more confident for next time when we play them at their place.” said Smith.

Fruehan added “I think we did a good job executing down the stretch and closing. We played great team defense. I think we showed that we can play with any team.”

Smith was the point leader for the Meteors with 15 points. Fruehan followed with 13 points and 13 rebounds and Ely was right behind him with 12 points.

Rzucidlo let the Lions with 17 points, followed by Fauquier and Ronnie Traver with 12 points each.
Montrose also took a win over Mountain View.

Troy Ely scored 15 points to lead Montrose to a 51-37 win over the Eagles in a Lackawanna League Division IV boys basketball game.

Austin Smith and Brendan Buck each had 10 points for the Meteors.

Chris White led Mountain View with 17 points.

At Susquehanna, Noah Fedak scored 14 points to lead No. 10 Forest City to a 58-28 victory over the Sabers.
Tyler Williams led Susquehanna with 10 points.

On Friday night, the Foresters took a 63-37 win over Blue Ridge.

Noah Fedak had 20 points to lead No. 10 Forest City.

Adam Kowalewski added 16 points for the Foresters.

Austin Darrow had 17 points for Blue Ridge.

But on Saturday, Hunter Watkins and Bailey Newhart each scored 17 points as Elk Lake rallied for a 65-62 win over No. 10 Forest City in a Lackawanna League Division IV boys basketball game Saturday.

Noah Fedak scored 16 points for Forest City and Adam Kowalewski had 14.

At Mountain View, Bailey Newhart scored 20 points, including three 3-pointers, to lead Elk Lake to a 73-64 overtime victory over the Eagles.

Seth Tewksbury and Ben Woolcock each scored 12 points, Hunter Watkins had 11 and Cole Tyler added 10 for the Warriors.

Chris White scored 13 points, Deon Faramelli and Ryan Lavin each had 12 and Cody Hollister and Matthew Lavin each added 11 for Mountain View.

Carbondale Area 40
Susquehanna 39
At Susquehanna, Evan Dearie and Shawn Balinas both scored eight points to lead Carbondale Area to a Division III-IV crossover win.
Luke Falletta had 11 points for Susquehanna and Tyler Williams added 10 but it wasn’t enough against Carbondale Area who got the win by one point, 40-39.