Sunday, December 29, 2013

Saturday boys basketball roundup: Parkland, Whitehall, Becahi, Liberty among title winners

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER


My colleague and radio partner Roger Pence, who is in charge of our agate pages, called these last two nights the most challenging nights of the year because we've got teams scattered all over the state playing in Christmas tournaments.
Roger and his guys do the best they can to round things up and sometimes it's not easy because it seems as though the days of us getting automatic calls from high school scorekeepers after games are over, which is a shame.
There are a few very good ones still out there fortunately. Carl Smartschan of Emmaus, Greg DeStasio of Liberty, Karl Gilbert of Freedom and Roy Arlotto of Dieruff come to mind.
But it's not as easy as it used to be gathering results. Roger and his crew deserve immense credit.
Thanks to them, here's a roundup of Saturday results:
LEHIGH VALLEY CONFERENCE
Dieruff 82, Stroudsburg 70 -- Huskies get back above .500 (3-2) as Matt Riddick scores 31, Tyler Kohl adds 28. Danny Cuevas and Jacob Battle had 26 and 20 respectively for the Mounties (2-5).
Springfield-Delco 50, Allen 48 -- This is the game I covered and it was a disappointing loss for the Canaries, who can't seem to sustain things. To lead 23-6 after first quarter and score just 25 points over the next 28 minutes was frustrating for Allen, who missed Isaiah Palmer. Doug Snyder, though, amazes me and still had a good time with the returning alumni who played after the championship game. Canaries are now 4-2.
Liberty 59, Ridley 49 -- Were it not for Central's Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman, the Hurricanes' Deshawn Oyeniyi would be a player of the year candidate. Actually, he still is. He scored 21 points and collected 14 rebounds and Ludwin Gonzalez added a career-high 17 as Liberty improved to 6-1.
Becahi 57, Southwestern 43 -- Second year in a row that the Golden Hawks may have revived their season by winning a holiday tournament in York. Jamal Aziz scored 20 and was the tourney MVP.
Northampton 40, Blue Mountain 38 -- This was played Friday night, but we'll throw it in here because this was an impressive win for the Konkrete Kids. Blue Mountain entered the game undefeated at 6-0 and was scoring a lot of points, but the K-Kids shut them down.
Parkland 69, Salisbury 52 -- Justin Zajko scored 20 in being named the tourney MVP for the Trojans, who seem to be playing better since the loss to Whitehall. Parkland is now 6-1. Falcons got 20 from Austin Uhl, but still had 5-game win streak snapped and fell to 5-2.
Whitehall 51, North Hunterdon 47 -- Second straight come-from-behind win for the Zephs (6-2). Brett Radocha scored 16 and Aaron Keglovits added 12. Radocha was tourney MVP.
Nazareth 68, Honesdale 62 -- More evidence that there are no bad teams in the LVC this year. The Blue Eagles win this tourney title behind Brett Kline's 22. He was named tourney MVP. Joe Arndt's team is a very respectable 4-4.
Upper Darby 57, Freedom 40 -- Maybe it was the Groller jinx in play here since I had Joe Stellato as a guest on the "Calling All Sports" radio show on Saturday morning. Can't win when you make just 12 of 35 shots. Nigel Long scored 10 for Pates and he made the all-tourney squad in this State College event. Freedom had four-game win streak snapped, but it is still 4-2.
Note: Emmaus will play Engineering and Science at 5:15 p.m. Monday in the finals of the Constitution tournament at Ben Franklin HS and Central Catholic will play Trenton Catholic at 4:30 Sunday in the finals of Trenton Catholic's tournament.
COLONIAL LEAGUE
Saucon Valley 64, Faith Christian 48 -- Panthers bounce back in Whitehall consolation game. Keith Mosher continued to impress with 28 points. At 2-5 overall, 1-3 in the league, Saucon has some work to do to get back in the league and district playoff pictures.
Pennridge 63, Southern Lehigh 57 -- Bad start too much for the Spartans to overcome in the Boyertown tourney finals. Spartans are still 5-4 overall, 3-2 in the league and in position to do some good things in Ben Tannous' first year.
Pen Argyl 44, Belvidere 30 -- Chris Muller and Derek Nied had 13 and 12 respectively in the consolation game of the Royal Classic at Pius X. The Green Knights got half of their 44 points at the foul line and still missed 16 free throws. Pen Argyl is now 4-4 and has already matched last year's win total.
Palisades 45, Pequea Valley 42 -- Pirates win the 50th annual Fleetwood Tiger Classic, their first title of any kind since 1995. Balance was the key for the guys in purple. They had just two points in second quarter, but 21 in the fourth to overcome a 29-24 deficit.
OTHERS
East Stroudsburg South 61, Wallenpaupack 41 -- Cavaliers get 23 from O'Neil Holder in the consolation game of the Honesdale tournament. Cavs improve to 4-3 and look like a team that will be on the district bubble all the way through.
Pius X 55, North Warren 54 -- The Royals win their own tournament. Eric Marbury scored 23, made the game-winning free throws and was tournament MVP as Royals improve to 3-2.
Pocono Mountain West 87, North Pocono 69 -- Still strange for Panthers to be in another holiday tournament after coming to Northampton for so many years. West (3-2) got a trio of big performances in winning the North Pocono tournament title as Lance Singh scored 20, tourney MVP Joe Wiggins scored 28 and Jordan Hardy added 16. It was also Brad Pensyl's 450th career victory.
North Pocono 52, PM East 51 -- A heartbreaker at the buzzer on Friday night for the Cardinals. Levert Comas led East with 16. Cardinals (1-6) still looking to get that elusive second win for a second straight year. 

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