Sabers cut path to District II finals

2-25-26

By Corey Gesford
For The Independent
When the dust settled from the first week of the PIAA District II playoffs one local team remained
in the hunt for a District Championship.
Susquehanna doubled up Lackawanna Trail in the first quarter, expanded the lead before
halftime and broke things open in the third quarter to punch their ticket to Mohegan Sun Arena
for the boys’ class 2A District Championship with a 61-40 victory.
The Sabers led 14-7 after the first stanza and pushed the lead to 27-19 by intermission.
Then in the third quarter the Sabers outscored the Lions 18-9 to pull away.
Mason Keyes led the balanced attack with 21 points while Griffin Fisk added 15 points, while
Hudson Stengel finished with 10 and Linden Baker had eight points.
The Sabers reached the semifinal after scoring 31 points in the first half against Forest City and
then nearly equaling that output in the third quarter, scoring 30 points on their way to a 78-39
win.
Griffin Fisk led the way with 33 points while Drew Hennessey came off the bench to score 12
points and Linden Baker finished with 10. The Sabers will face Old Forge at 2 p.m. Feb. 28 at Mohegan Sun Arena at the Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre. Both teams will qualify for the PIAA state playoffs.
Jaxon Owens had 17 to lead the Foresters and TJ Collins finished with 10. Top seeded Old Forge jumped out quickly on fourth-seeded Blue Ridge, tripling the Raiders score 24-8 in the opening quarter and never looking back in their 77-40 semifinal win.
The second quarter was a little more even as Old Forge outscored the Raiders 16-11 to take a
40-19 lead into halftime. But after intermission The Blue Devils outscored Blue Ridge 23-12 to
put the game away.
Paxton Pingarelli finished with 12 points to lead Blue Ridge while Brendan Marvin added seven
and Landon Bishop finished with six.
The Raiders reached the semifinals with an opening round 52-43 win over Wyoming Seminary.
Blue Ridge outscored the Blue Knights 15-9 in the second quarter to seize control and lead
30-21 at halftime.
Paxton Pingarelli had a double-double in leading the Raiders scoring 19 points and snaring 10
rebounds. Brendan Marvin added nine points while Travis Rutter finished with seven points,
nine rebounds and eight assists. The Raiders finished the season with an 11-12 record.
In Class 3A playoffs, sixth-seeded Lakeland exploded for 26 points in the third quarter to erase
an eight -point halftime deficit and upset third-seeded Elk Lake 67-53.
Elk Lake built a 33-25 halftime lead behind John Heitsman’s 18 points. However, Lakeland
outscored the Warriors 26-7 to take control of the game and added an 16-13 advantage in the
fourth quarter for the final margin.
Heitsman closed out his career with 23 points to lead the Warriors and Chase Pond finished
with 19. The Warriors finished their season with a 20-3 record. Dunmore held visiting Montrose to a lone field goal in the first quarter and rolled to a 76-36 win over the Meteors.
Jai Herman led Montrose with 14 points, which finished the season 9-14 overall. Lackawanna Trail doubled up Mountain View in the first half 34-17 and kept the Eagles at a distance in the second half to win their opening round Class 2A matchup 66-53. Hudson Bain capped his Eagles career with 20 points and Jordan Jagger finished with 12 points for the Eagles who finished the season 8-15.