Elk Lake guns down Hawkeyes

DALEVILLE – Elk Lake needed more than four minutes to hit its first shot in Saturday afternoon’s District 2 Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinal against Hanover Area.

Once the Warriors connected for the first time, the Hawkeyes could not stop them.

“They shot lights out,” Hanover Area coach Steve Harnischfeger said after Elk Lake moved on to the semifinals with a 68-43 romp at North Pocono High School.

After its 0-for-7 start from the floor, Elk Lake shot 68.5 percent (26-for-38) for more than three quarters before emptying the bench during a timeout with 2:23 left while holding a 68-38 lead.

“Our transition game really opened it up,” Elk Lake coach John Warnero said. “We were getting good stops.”

When Hanover Area misfired, Elk Lake, which scored 51 points in the first half of its district tournament opener against Lakeland, got out and ran the floor. The Warriors often then hit open shots from the perimeter.

Rob Heft and Tanner Reyan combined for 43 points and 23 rebounds. Heft hit five of six 3-point shots on his way to 24 points and 11 rebounds. Reyan was 7-for-9 on a variety of pull-up jumpers from inside the arc while scoring 19 and grabbing 12 rebounds.

“We had shots. We just didn’t shoot well,” Harnischfeger said. “Then, they’d get a long rebound and be off and running.”

Hanover Area led, 6-5, when Elk Lake turned to sixth man Nick Dudock with 2:31 left in the first quarter.

Dudock scored the next four points to start a 7-0 run. He then had the first six points in a game-breaking, 16-point streak to end the first half and start the second.

When the run was over, Elk Lake had a 33-11 advantage just a minute into the second half.

Hanover Area tried to cut into the massive deficit. The Hawkeyes got within, 37-21, with 4:42 left in the third quarter, but point guard Jorge Colon fouled out with 3:08 left in the quarter.

Colon finished with 10 points and four assists.

Jake Barber had nine of his team-high 11 points in the second half for the 11th-seeded Hawkeyes, who earned a shot at the third-seeded Warriors by upsetting Dunmore in double overtime in the first round.

Hanover Area finishes the season 11-13. Elk Lake (20-5) advances to face Holy Cross (21-5) in Wednesday’s semifinals.

: Tanner Reyan 8 2-2 19, Nick Dudock 6 0-0 12, Matt Woolcock 4 0-0 8, Tyler Arnold 0 4-6 4, Pete McGee 0 1-2 1, Rob Heft 8 3-6 24, Cole Tyler 0 0-0 0, Seth Tewksbury 0 0-0 0, Bailey Newhart 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Warner 0 0-0 0, Ben Townsend 0 0-0 0, Hunter Watkins 0 0-0 0; Totals: 26 10-16 68.

: Colon 4 2-4 10, Bobby Kerestes 0 0-0 0, Ethan Hoolick 2 2-2 6, Jake Barber 4 3-4 11, Tony Marcincavage 1 4-6 6, Nate Hemsley 2 2-2 7, Rony Moreno 0 0-0 0, Ismail Moreno 0 0-0 0, Tom Kriton 0 0-0 0, Dave Williams 1 1-1 3, Tyler Major 0 0-0 0, Justin Kwiatkowski 0 0-0 0, Rob Brenner 0 0-0 0; Totals: 14 14-19 43.

— ELK 6 (Heft 5, Reyan); HAN 1 (Hemsley)