Elijah Rosenthal poured in 21 first-half points on his way to a game-high 33 Saturday afternoon when Wallenpaupack won a Lackawanna League boys basketball crossover game from host Scranton, 77-54, allowing the Buckhorns to clinch at least a tie for first place in Division 2.
Wallenpaupack is 8-2 in the league with three games remaining. Third-place North Pocono (3-5) is the only team in the division with a mathematical chance at tying the Buckhorns. Honesdale is in second place by percentage points at 4-6, but Wallenpaupack cannot lose more than five games.
Gabe Springer added 16 points for the Buckhorns, who won the title outright a year ago.
Wallenpaupack, ranked third among Big Schools in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Power Rankings, is 17-2 overall and also well in front of the race for the top seed in the District 2 Class 5A playoffs. The Buckhorns have the highest playoff rating of any of the 40 teams in any class in District 2.
The win was the fourth straight for Wallenpaupack, which suffered its only losses in close games against Scranton Prep and Abington Heights, the top two teams in Lackawanna Division 1.
Kevin Lazdowsky scored 25 points and grabbed 9 rebounds for Scranton. Jason Shields added 14 points for the Knights (3-7 and 8-10).
MMI Prep 55, Salem Christian 34
Chance Eyerly scored 15 points and Drew Sechler had 14 for MMI Prep, which built a 48-28 lead through three quarters.
The Preppers won the non-league road game to post their second victory in five games and improve to 3-14 overall.
East Stroudsburg Notre Dame 82, Forest City 44
East Stroudsburg Notre Dame, which is third in the District 2 Class A Subregional playoff seeding race out of nine teams, won easily on the road in non-league play. It is 2-1 against District 2 opponents and 9-10 overall.
MORE ON BUCKHORNS: Wallenpaupack won a meeting of first-place teams Tuesday. http://www.nepabasketball.com/2019-20/Articles/BGamePaupackVV.
MORE ON ROSENTHAL: Elijah Rosenthal won the most recent PNC Bank District 2 Boys Basketball Player of the Week Award. http://www.nepabasketball.com/2019-20/Articles/BPlayer8Rosenthal.
