SHIREMANSTOWN – To stay true to itself, the Annville-Cleona boys’ basketball team had to do the best it could and control the things that it could control. Unfortunately, there were a number of things out of the Little Dutchmen’s control.
It wasn’t a great way to go out. But then again, there never is.
On Monday night at Trinity High School, during the quarterfinal round of the District Three Class AAA playoffs, Annville-Cleona endured a disappointing, season-concluding 72-32, mercy-rule loss to the home-standing Shamrocks. The Little Dutchmen didn’t get off to a bad start, only to be overwhelmed by Trinity’s athleticism, defense and shooting early in the second stanza.
Eighth-seeded Annville-Cleona closed its season at 12-11. Trinity, the top seed in Class AAA, improved to 19-2 overall.
Last year, in the exact same round of the exact same playoffs, at the exact same venue, Trinity defeated Annville-Cleona 66-25.
“We didn’t meet our goals,” said Jason Coletti, Annville-Cleona’s second-year head coach. “It was a success because we made it to districts. These guys made back-to-back district appearances for the first time in a long time. Winning’s hard, but we didn’t win as many games as we should have. They’re excellent kids.
“It’s a special group,” continued Coletti. “Adam and Andrew Long are the best athletes in the school. Hopefully, the younger guys will learn from them.”
Early on, the Little Dutchmen executed their stuff and a Josh Speraw three-pointer and an Andrew Long pull-up had the scored tied at five, three minutes in. But it was around that time that the Shamrocks asserted themselves, initially with an 11-0 burst.
Later in the opening quarter, Andrew and Adam Long drained back-to-back treys to pull Annville-Cleona to within 20-14 of the lead.
“I thought we got off to a really good start,” said Coletti. “Once they (the Shamrocks) got a couple of steals and those uncontested lay-ups, and a couple of dunks, our heads went down. It just snowballed, it snowballed quick. If they get out in transition, you’re not going to catch them.
“We were looking to slow the game down and hang around a little bit,” continued Coletti. “If you can do that, that puts the pressure on them (the Shamrocks). The first three or four minutes, we played the way we needed to. We needed to shoot the lights out, not the turn the ball over and rebound like crazy. That would be the perfect storm, for us to hang around.”
Pounding the glass and generating easy shots, the Shamrocks hit their stride in the second period.
It started with a devastating 16-0 run that turned an eight-point advantage into a 38-14 bulge. It concluded with a 12-1 ending to the first half that gave Trinity a 55-19 cushion at intermission.
“We knew it was tough coming in,” said Coletti. “They (the Shamrocks) have a great basketball program. It’s tough to deal with. Those (seven A-C) seniors, two summers ago, I couldn’t find them in Annville, and Annville isn’t that big.
“We felt there were a couple of games early in the season that got away from us and hurt our seeding,” added Coletti. “We didn’t want to be the number eight and have to come to Trinity.”
With 11 points, Andrew Long was the lone Little Dutchmen scorer to reach double digits. Trinity outscored Annville-Cleona 52-12 on two-point baskets.
“We didn’t see their (the Shamrocks’) length in Section Five (of the Lancaster-Lebanon League),” said Coletti. “They’re not a Section Five team. Their length, their athleticism, probably every one of their players plays basketball year-round. In Section Five, the small schools don’t have that luxury.
“We wanted to be in the league playoffs,” Coletti added. “We wanted to be in the race for the section championship. We really only started coming around the last week or ten days.”
Facing a continuously running game clock, Annville-Cleona didn’t score for the initial 6:12 of the second half. During that time, the Shamrocks were pushing their advantage to 59-19.
“What we want the younger guys to take from the seniors is just their hard work,” said Coletti. “We never had to ask Adam Long to play hard. If you’re not going to be skilled, you’ve got to play hard. Hopefully, during the off-season, we’ll be able to start developing some of the younger guys.”
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 12/06 7:00 pm | Annville-Cleona Brandywine Heights at Hamburg | 34 52 | Nonleague |
| 12/07 TBD | Annville-Cleona Northern Lehigh at Hamburg | 53 50 | Nonleague |
| 12/10 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona at Elco | 49 70 | Nonleague |
| 12/13 7:30 pm | Columbia at Annville-Cleona | 59 50 | League |
| 12/17 6:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Pequea Valley | 45 42 | League |
| 12/18 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona at Lancaster Country Day | 59 52 | League |
| 12/20 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona at Lancaster Mennonite | 51 54 | League |
| 12/21 3:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Hanover | 67 56 | Nonleague |
| 12/27 TBD | Annville-Cleona Northern Lebanon at Northern Lebanon | 42 36 | Nonleague |
| 12/28 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona Littlestown at Northern Lebanon | 44 58 | Nonleague |
| 1/02 7:30 pm | Lebanon Catholic at Annville-Cleona | 37 58 | League |
| 1/09 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona at Columbia | 66 80 | League |
| 1/11 1:30 pm | Northern York Annville-Cleona at Manheim Central | 67 46 | Nonleague |
| 1/15 7:30 pm | Palmyra at Annville-Cleona | 46 55 | Nonleague |
| 1/17 7:30 pm | Pequea Valley at Annville-Cleona | 35 58 | League |
| 1/21 7:30 pm | Lancaster Country Day at Annville-Cleona | 54 51 | League |
| 1/25 6:00 pm | Northern Lebanon at Annville-Cleona | 46 30 | Nonleague |
| 1/30 7:30 pm | Lancaster Mennonite at Annville-Cleona | 48 60 | League |
| 2/01 12:00 pm | Oley Valley at Annville-Cleona | 56 59 | Nonleague |
| 2/03 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona at Kennard-Dale | 54 45 | Nonleague |
| 2/04 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona at Lebanon Catholic | 55 31 | League |
| 2/06 7:30 pm | Middletown at Annville-Cleona | 51 41 | Nonleague |
| 2/17 7:00 pm | Annville-Cleona at Trinity | Playoff |
| AAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1*** | Trinity (3) | 18- | 2- | 0 | 0.730746 | 0.893401 | 0.531945 | 17.6 | 224.8 | 2.1 | 197.8 |
| 2*** | Camp Hill | 15- | 6- | 0 | 0.637704 | 0.711491 | 0.547520 | 14.6 | 244.6 | 5.9 | 202.1 |
| 3*** | Columbia | 16- | 6- | 0 | 0.620837 | 0.715686 | 0.504911 | 14.6 | 233.9 | 5.8 | 229.4 |
| 4*** | Upper Dauphin Area | 15- | 6- | 0 | 0.556121 | 0.647643 | 0.444260 | 13.1 | 200.9 | 7.1 | 251.3 |
| 5*** | Brandywine Heights Area | 14- | 8- | 0 | 0.528593 | 0.630841 | 0.403623 | 13.5 | 186.1 | 7.9 | 274.9 |
| 6*** | Lancaster Mennonite | 11- | 11- | 0 | 0.515119 | 0.482500 | 0.554986 | 9.7 | 265.2 | 10.4 | 212.7 |
| 7*** | Hanover | 13- | 9- | 0 | 0.498049 | 0.573733 | 0.405547 | 12.5 | 189.4 | 9.3 | 277.6 |
| 8*** | Annville Cleona | 12- | 10- | 0 | 0.490769 | 0.528037 | 0.445219 | 11.3 | 210.7 | 10.1 | 262.6 |
| 9 | Tulpehocken | 11- | 10- | 0 | 0.470209 | 0.513253 | 0.417600 | 10.7 | 186.5 | 10.1 | 260.1 |
| 10 | Oley Valley | 7- | 15- | 0 | 0.387881 | 0.311659 | 0.481041 | 7.0 | 222.7 | 15.4 | 240.2 |
| 11 | Pequea Valley | 8- | 14- | 0 | 0.372951 | 0.310680 | 0.449059 | 6.4 | 206.5 | 14.2 | 253.4 |
| 12 | Biglerville | 4- | 18- | 0 | 0.316167 | 0.175676 | 0.487878 | 3.9 | 227.4 | 18.3 | 238.7 |
| 13 | Kutztown Area | 5- | 17- | 0 | 0.313332 | 0.211905 | 0.437299 | 4.5 | 203.7 | 16.6 | 262.1 |
| 14 | Susquenita | 0- | 22- | 0 | 0.188592 | 0.000000 | 0.419093 | 0.0 | 198.7 | 25.3 | 275.4 |
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