BY HEIDI ZENEFSKI
Sports Correspondent

The young Susquehanna basketball team traveled to Montrose Thursday night to face the Meteors in a David meets Goliath battle on the court.

The Sabers’ starting line-up is made up of four underclassmen and one junior while the Montrose starting line-up consisted of five seniors.

While Montrose came out on top with a 71-32 victory, the young Susquehanna players showed talent and perseverance throughout the game.

The Meteors came out strong, leading 21-6 by the end of the first quarter. Austin Smith netted six points in the first period. Brendan Buck controlled the space under the basket racking up two blocked shots, a rebound and two steals.

Adam Rockwell led the scoring for the Sabers with three points and two rebounds. Mason Deakin made two foul shots and Bryce Baldwin scored one.

Susquehanna outscored Montrose 10-8 in the second quarter. Garrett Grausgruber scored two and then made a three pointer that was met with loud applause. Rockwell matched his first quarter with a basket and foul shot. Baldwin scored a basket and grabbed three rebounds. Stone fought hard under the basket and secured four rebounds for his team.

Meteor points were scored by Smith who had two field goals and three foul shots and a foul shot by Mason Peck. Again, Buck’s stellar performance under the basket benefitted his team with three rebounds, a block and one more steal.

At half-time the Meteors were up 29-16.

The third quarter was more like the first. The Sabers put up eight points which were all scored by the freshmen Baldwin, Rockwell, and Deakin. The Meteors almost doubled their score, adding 22 more points. Mason Peck led in scoring with five points. Buck, Gilhool, and Jacob Peck each added four. Travis Birchard made a deep three-pointer and Smith added two points to his stat sheet.

This brought the score at the end of the third to 51-24 in favor of Montrose.

The last quarter was much the same, The Meteors out-scored the Sabers 20-8 to claim the victory.

Grausgruber made his second three-pointer of the night for Susquehanna. Stone scored three points which included a foul shot and Alex McHugh, a sophomore scored a basket.

The Meteors rotated their starters in and out of the game in the final quarter and the bench players got some good playing time. Evan Snyder and Andrew Rapisardi, both freshmen, scored for Montrose with five points and two points, respectively. Both had four rebounds and Rapisardi blocked a shot. The Peck brothers each scored; Mason put up four points and Jacob put up five which included a nice three-pointer. Smith added a three-pointer and Gilhool, a freshman, made a foul shot.

Saber coach Lawrence Tompkins referred to his team as hard workers who continue to get better.

The high scorer for Montrose was Smith with 18 points, followed by Mason Peck with 15.

Susquehanna’s high scorers were Rockwell and Grausgruber with 8 points each.

The Sabers faced Blue Ridge on Tuesday at home, and will play at Mountain View on Thursday.

Montrose played Elk Lake on Tuesday night and will face Forest City at home on Thursday.

Other basketball play-action included Montrose falling to Dunmore, and Blue Ridge, Forest City and Elk Lake picking up wins.

No. 7 Dunmore took a 62-46 win over No. 10 Montrose in a Lackawanna League Division III-IV crossover boys basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 13.

Austin Smith had 26 points for Montrose, which had its eight-game winning streak stopped.

Smith hit four from behind the three-point line for 12 of his 26.

Todd Lattimore added six points, as did Travis Birchard with two three-pointers.

At Mountain View, Jared Paulin led the Foresters with 21 points and Adam Kowalewski scored 14 to hold off a late push from the Eagles in Division IV. Forest City claimed its win by one point, 60-59.

Cody Hollister scored 28 to lead Mountain View, which scored 32 points in the final eight minutes. Matt Lavin added 12 points.

At Blue Ridge, Austin Harper paced the Raiders with 15 points as they defeated Lackawanna Trail, 53-40.

Dom Rogers scored eight, including two three-point shots; and Jeff Morris added seven for the Raiders.

At Susquehanna, Bailey Newhart scored 14 points to lead Elk Lake, 61-37, over the Sabers.

Hunter Watkins and Seth Tewksbury each had 11 points for the Warriors and Cole Tyler scored 10.

Tyler Williams had 11 points for Susquehanna.

At Lackawanna Trail on Friday, Hunter Watkins scored 15 points and Bailey Newhart had 14 to lead Elk Lake to a Division IV win, 54-42.

Seth Tewksbury added 11 points for the Warriors.

At Blue Ridge, Austin Harper scored 15 points and Ty Herbert had 14 to lead the Raiders, 48-43, over Mountain View.

Matt Lavin had 18 points for Mountain View and Cody Hollister added 10.

The eighth-ranked Riverside Vikings took a 62-51 Division III-IV crossover win over Forest City.

Jared Paulin scored 17 points for Forest City and Noah Yates had 16.

Standings
As of Monday, Jan. 16, both Montrose and Elk Lake were 4-0 in Division IV play. The teams faced each other Tuesday night at Elk Lake.

Montrose, 4-0; Elk Lake, 4-0; Forest City, 3-1, Blue Ridge, 2-2; Lackawanna Trail, 2-3; Susquehanna, 0-4; Mountain View, 0-5.