Pictured above: Blue Ridge’s Connor Cranage goes to the basket.
OPENING DAY
The Lackawanna League Division 4 season gets underway Tuesday night with Lackawanna Trail at Blue Ridge, Mountain View at Elk Lake and Forest City at Susquehanna.
SCHEDULE AND FORMAT
Montrose has the bye and plays its first division game Friday when it hosts Susquehanna.
Only games within the division count in the standings. Teams play 12 games, home-and-home with each of the other 6 teams in the division.
2021-22 STANDINGS
Elk Lake 11-1, Blue Ridge 10-2, Forest City 7-5, Mountain View 6-6, Susquehanna 6-6, Lackawanna Trail 2-10, Montrose 2-10.
UNRANKED
None of the teams in the division are ranked in the Riverfront Sports Super Six Basketball Power Rankings of District 2 teams.
Blue Ridge was ranked earlier in the season.
SNEAK PREVIEW
Four division teams went against each other in the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament.
Blue Ridge finished first by beating Susquehanna, 76-52, and Elk Lake, 74-52.
Elk Lake beat Montrose, 56-38, to get to the final and finish second.
Montrose took third by beating Susquehanna, 57-38.
Forest City beat Mountain View, 54-45, in the third-place game of the James Akens Tournament at North Pocono.
CLASSIFICATIONS
Blue Ridge, Elk Lake, Lackawanna Trail, Montrose and Mountain View play in Class 2A.
Forest City and Susquehanna are Class A teams.
Montrose moves from Class 3A to 2A this season.
Susquehanna returns to Class A after spending the last two seasons in Class 2A.
RETURNING STARS
Blue Ridge returns Connor Cranage, the division Player of the Year, as selected by NEPABasketball.com, which is now part of NEPASportsNation.com.
Forest City’s Dylan Bezek and Elk Lake’s Wyatt Casselbury are back after making the first team.
Blue Ridge’s J.J. Rosa, Montrose’s Sam Stashko and Susquehanna’s Colton Stone return from the second team.
GETTING STARTED
Blue Ridge is the only division team to come out of December non-league play with a winning record.
Current non-league records for division members: Blue Ridge 5-1, Elk Lake 3-4, Forest City 2-5, Mountain View 2-5, Montrose 2-6, Lackawanna Trail 0-8, Susquehanna 0-8.
ANALYZING THE RACE
NEPASportsNation.com editor Tom Robinson breaks down the race as follows:
The non-league records shown above as well as the scores from the Susquehanna County Christmas Tournament give a pretty good indication of where Blue Ridge stands in relation to the rest of the division.
The Raiders should run away from the pack.
Montrose is showing some signs of improvement in its first year under Bernardo Cruz and will escape the cellar.
Projected order of finish: 1, Blue Ridge; 2, Forest City; 3, Elk Lake; 4, Mountain View; 5, Montrose; 6, Susquehanna; 7, Lackawanna Trail.
LOOKING AHEAD
Blue Ridge has already handled defending champion Elk Lake on its home court in the tournament, so the best early barometer of whether a challenge will emerge seems to be Jan. 17 when the Raiders go to Forest City.
