Sunday, February 27, 2005 7 tory. Mounts 8th graders win nailbiter Dallas won the Wyoming Valley Conference eighth grade championship Feb. 23, in a game played at the Wyoming Seminary Upper School, beating Pittston Area, 45-44. Pittston took a one-point lead with less than 30 seconds remaining. But Derek Martin calmly sand two foul shots with only about 10 seconds on the clock to give the Mountaineers the vic- FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK “It was a good team win,” said coach Jack Ellis. Tom Youells led the Dallas scoring with 17 points and Scott Skammer added 12. Jackie Ellis was the floor general and played good defense, while Steve Meskers and Scott Gallup banged the boards. Dallas led 26-24 at halftime in a game that went back and forth throughout. Tunkhannock beat Dallas 22-18 in the seventh grade championship game. More photos on page 8. Boys basketball teams make good progress By CHRIS BELL the season.” or eight kids returning who have qual- Post Correspondent _ While both boys’ basketball teams have been eliminated from the play- offs, the first-year head coaches at Dallas and Lake-Lehman high schools have reason to consider their rookie seasons successful. Ted Jackson Jr. led the Mountaineers to an 18-8 record and a first-round win in the District II play- offs. The Mounts also accomplished their pre-season goal of challenging for the WVC Division II champi- onship. “I think we actually surpassed the expectations of a lot of people, includ- ing the kids and myself,” said Jackson. “We won 18 games and we hadn’t done that in a long time.” A overtime loss to Bishop Hoban in the regular season finale eliminated Dallas from championship contention, but Jackson is pleased that his squad battled right to the wire. “I'm proud of the fact that we were very competitive in a tough league,” he said. Jackson is most proud of his team’s work ethic, especially seniors Matt Wilson and Matt Kelly. “We played hard all the time and were successful by doing all of the little things,” he explained. “We won some by games by simply out-hustling people. We only had two seniors, but they both provided our younger players with tremendous leadership throughout Jackson was also pleased with the way the Mounts responded to the pressure of playing in several tight games. “We seemed to play better in the big games,” he said. “Our under- classmen really stepped up in some tough situations.” This season’s success should bode well for the future of the program. “We took a huge step in the right direction,” said Jackson. “We hope to build on this season. We’ll have seven ity varsity experience. You can’t teach experience.” Promise for Lake-Lehman At first glance, Lake-Lehman’s 6-17 record under Dave Clancy might not appear impressive. Unless, of course, you recall that the Black Knights won just one game in the previous two sea- See BOYS, Page 9 SPORTS ROUNDUP BOYS BASKETBALL W. Scranton 59, Dallas 48 Feb. 19 — Brad Fagula led all scorers with 18 points, but that wasn’t enough for the Mounts, who finished head coach Ted Jackson Jr’s first season with an 18-8 record. Robbie Myers and Matt Kelly each scored seven points and Matt Wilson and Ryan Nemetz added six | apiece. | | Bishop O'Reilly 69, | Bishop Hafey 53 Feb. 18 — Tim Crossin hit four 3-pointers on the way to scoring 26 points as the Queensmen won an unexpect- fe 4 Jo FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Dallas’ Megan Savage looks h for a way to put up a shot “» over Sarah Acker of Nanticoke during the Feb. 19 District 2 playoff game. Nanticoke won, 52-40. edly tough District 2 quarterfi- nal playoff game. O'Reilly led by eight points at the half, but Hafey took the lead by a point after three quarters. Josh Aciukewicz added 14 points for O'Reilly and Chris De Rojas chipped in six. Bishop Hoban 60, Lackawanna Trail 46 Feb. 18 — Sean Leary scored 19 points, making four 3-point shots, to lead the Argents in a District 2 quarterfinal playoff game. GIRLS BASKETBALL Nanticoke 52, Dallas 40 Feb. 19 — It was the Lady Mounts’ best showing against Nanticoke this year, but they still came up short in a District 2 Class 3A quarterfinal. Cory Patton led Dallas with 13 points, making three 3-point- ers. Melissa Gorski added 11 points and Cassie Snyder hit for eight. Bishop O'Reilly 64, MMI 21 Feb. 19 — The Queenswomen rolled to an easy District 2 Class A semifi- nal. Hitting full speed after an injury, Janelle Zabresky led with 14 points. Crestwood 53, Lake-Lehman 44 Feb. 18 — Celesta Mazzoni scored 18 points and Nicole Boone added 15 to lead Crestwood in the first round of the Class 3A girls basketball playoffs. Sheree Horvath led Lake- Lehman with 21 points, includ- ing 17 in the second half. Jessica Turak added 10 points and Tina Watkins eight. See ROUNDUP, Page 9 | | : 4 ach FOR THE POST/AIMEE DILGER Josh Aciukewicz goes up for a short jumper over an Old Forge defend- er. He led the Queensmen back to a 41-38 victory in a District 2 Class A semifinal game, assuring a return to the state playoffs for the defending state champions. D2 BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT By Josh, 0 Reilly pulls out a win Staff report SCRANTON — Josh Aciukewicz scored nine points in the final 3:44, propelling Bishop O’Reilly to a 41-38 victory against Old Forge in a District 2 Class A semifinal contest Feb. 22, played at Scranton High School. Bishop O’Reilly played Bishop Hannan, 74-64 winners against Seton Catholic, for the district title Friday night, in a game that took place too late for results to be included in this issue. Both teams advance to the state playoffs. Old Forge, which entered the game ranked as the No. 2 Class A team in the state, suffered two of its three losses this season to the Queensmen, who were ranked fourth. “I struggled through the second half of the (Wyoming Valley Conference Division II) season,” said the 6-foot-5 Aciukewicz, who finished with a game-high 17 points and pulled down six of his nine rebounds in the fourth quarter. “I was frustrated with all of the double- and triple-teams. But there was extra motivation tonight. We're the defend- ing champs and we didn’t want our season to end.” Aciukewicz’s three-point play with 3:44 remaining gave O'Reilly its first lead since 2-0. His baseline dunk with 2:36 remaining put O'Reilly up by three and a short jumper made the score 37-32 with 1:43 left. After a missed free throw, Aciukewicz pulled down the rebound and his subsequent basket made the score 39-35. Tim Crossin, who finished with 10 points, nailed two free throws with seven seconds left to seal the win. Crossin had just one field goal in the game, but was 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Old Forge spurted ahead early, taking an 18-4 lead with 1:12 remaining in the first period. Then, late in the second quarter, with Old Forge holding an eight-point lead, Crossin — with two personal fouls — drove to the basket and into defender Corey Herne. Blue Devil head coach Al Semenza wanted Crossin whis- tled for his third foul but a blocking call was made, sending him to the free throw line. And the coach was hit with a technical foul. Crossin made all four free throws and Chris Kester com- pleted a seven-point swing with a three-pointer on the sub- sequent possession to make it 18-17 with 1:29 left before halftime. Old Forge scored just one point in the second quarter.
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