Parks three at buzzer takes down Meteors; Warriors, Sabers remain undefeated in league play

1-14-26

By Corey Gesford
And the young shall lead. Freshman Jack Parks buried a three-pointer at the buzzer to give Blue Ridge a 59-56 win over Montrose in the most exciting game of boys’ basketball action.
Montrose, who had overcome a 20-point second half deficit, tied the game when Sophomore Evan McComb knotted his own triple from the left wing to tie the game at 56.
With no timeouts for Coach Wes Parks, point guard Travis Rutter pushed the ball up the sideline after the outlet pass and hit Parks in the right corner. Blue Ridge built the lead after jumping out to a 19-7 lead in the first quarter thanks to 13 points from Paxton Pingarelli.
The Raiders extended the lead as Landon Bishop connected on three jumpers from deep and Pingarell added seven more points and Blue Ridge led 35-24 at the half. In the third quarter Montrose began their climb holding Blue Ridge to seven points and cutting the lead to 42-36 as five different Meteors registered buckets.
In the final quarter McComb led the final surge scoring seven points in the quarter including tying the game after Brendan Marvin gave Blue Ridge the lead on a three from the left corner. Pingarelli led all scorers with 26 points and Bishop finished with 15 points all five field goals behind the arc. McComb led Montrose with 13 points while Sawyer Brown added 12 and Jai Herman had nine.

Meanwhile in Kingsley Elk Lake maintained its lead in the Lackawanna League Division III using a big third quarter to put the game away in a 66-36 win over Mountain View.
The Warriors outscored the Eagles 35-21 in the first half as Chase Pond tallied 11 points and
Connor Stephens added 10 as the Warriors took control. After intermission Elk Lake put the game into the mercy rule outscoring Mountain View 24-6 in the third quarter led by John Heitsman’s nine points.
Pond led the Warriors with 17 points while Heitsman finished with 16 and Stephens added 14.
Mountain View was led by Hudson Bain who finished with 14 points and Wyatt Thatcher added nine on three three-point field goals. Elk Lake pulled away late in the fourth quarter led by Heitsman’s eight points to edge upset-minded Blue Ridge 69-64.

Pond again led the way with 18 points while Heitsman and Brayden Miller each finished with 16 and Parker Upright added 11 filling in for the injured Kendel Jones. Pingarelli led the Raiders with 17 points while Parks added 16 including knocking down four from behind the arc.
Susquehanna kept pace with Elk Lake for the Division III lead with a pair of wins. The Sabers took down both Lackawanna Trail and Forest City with quick starts. Against Trail Susquehanna jumped out to a 17-3 lead and withstood the Lions’ comeback effort in the second half to prevail 50-46. Griffin Fisk led the way with 21 points including 11 in the second half. Mason Keyes added 13 points and Hudson Stengel chipped in with eight.
Against Forest City, the Sabers jumped out to a 25-4 lead and led by 25 at halftime as Fisk scored 22 of his game-high 29 in the first half. Keyes added 11 points for Susquehanna while the Foresters were led by TJ Collins who finished with 10 points and Jaxon Owens who added eight.
Montrose used a big first half and withstood a Carbondale rally to take down the Chargers 69-61. Jude Adams scored 13 of his team-high 20 in the first half as the Meteors led 36-17 at intermission. Sawyer Brown added 12 points and Jai Herman added 11 for the Meteors.