BY JEFF FALK

NEFFSVILLE – It is a story that must be told. Yet one that is still unwritten.

But make no mistakes about the identity of the author of the Cedar Crest boys’ basketball team’s tale.

On Friday night at Manheim Township High School, the Falcons authored another thrilling chapter of what has already been a compelling story, by outlasting the home-standing Blue Streaks 76-73. Cedar Crest overcame a double-digit, fourth-quarter deficit with unselfish offense, timely defense and efficient free-throw shooting.

It was Cedar Crest’s ninth victory in the ten outings since a 77-71 home loss to Manheim Township back on December 22nd in South Lebanon. It also almost assured the Falcons, now 16-3 on the winter and 9-2 in Section One, a spot in next month’s Lancaster-Lebanon League tournament and at least a second-place finish in Section One.

Second, you say? That will be the theme of the next chapter, a story-line that will unfold on Tuesday night at front-running Hempfield. Manheim Township is 12-5 overall and 6-4 in the section.

“I put it on the board today, ‘This is why we do what we do,'” said Cedar Crest head coach Tom Smith. “That’s why we get up early to be in the gym by 8 a.m.. We play another one again on Tuesday.

“We’ve got a veteran group,” continued Smith. “There’s a belief in one another. They don’t want to leave each other down. There’s no quit in these guys.”

“We know we have to win out to win the section,” said Falcon senior Cole Laney. “It’s a one-game season, every night out. That’s what our coaches keep telling us.”

When the got going tough early in the fourth quarter, the Falcons got going.

Twenty-five seconds into the final period, Cedar Crest trailed 55-45. But over the next seven minutes, the Falcons outscored Manheim Township 26-11, to take a 71-66 lead, on a Jaiden Melendez free throw, with 36 ticks remaining.

Offensively, Cedar Crest was clicking on all cylinders during the span, as it received 12 points from Blake Thomson, six points from Melendez, five from Dylan Miller and three from Logan Horn.

The Falcons’ final 10 points came at the charity stripe, on 10-for-12 shooting. For the game, Cedar Crest made 21 of its 30 foul shots.

“It was getting away from us,” said Smith. “Maybe the quarter (ending) helped us. I think they (his players) dug in on defense. It wasn’t one particular play. It was getting ‘stops’.

“This is going to sound crazy, but I thought we played well defensively, even though we let up 73 points,” Smith continued. “They’re (the Blue Streaks) a good basketball team.We got stops when we needed them.”

“The game was stopping a lot,” said Laney of the fourth quarter. “We knew we could get to the free throw line. We can trust almost everyone on the court for free throws.”

The game was tied six different times during the early portions of the third stanza – at 29, 32, 35, 37, 39 and 41. But Manheim Township recorded 14 of the next 18 points during a run that spilled over into the fourth quarter.

“He got it going in the fourth quarter,” said Smith of Thomson. “I think he liked his match-up. You get one to go, you get two to go and then the basket gets bigger.

“I’ve got a lot of personalities like his,” added Smith. “I’ve got a gutsy group of seniors. I’ve got a good group of guards. Tonight was Blake’s night.”

“We were turning the ball over more than we usually do,” said Laney. “Our shots weren’t falling in the first half. But we got it going in the second half.”

Thomson paced Cedar Crest with 23 points, Horn netted 17 points, as did Laney, who connected on five three-point baskets. From beyond the arc, Cedar Crest outscored Manheim Township 21-9.

“Cole kept us going in the first half,” said Smith. “He hit some big shots. I thought Logan kept us going in the third quarter. And then it was Blake down the stretch. And Jaiden Melendez hit some big ‘threes’.

“I’ve got big-time players who made big plays down the stretch,” Smith added. “And then the foul shots. We shot them pretty well down the stretch.”

“Whatever opens up in the game is what I’m supposed to be doing,” said Laney. “When I’m feeling it, I’m scoring. And I’ll do anything on defense.”

The first half was a tightly-contested affair as well.

A modest 7-2 Cedar Crest run, capped by Jason Eberhart’s lay-in, gave the visitors a 10-5 lead, 3:29 in. Seconds later, a driving lay-up by Horn made it 12-7 Falcons.

“It was awesome,” said Smith. “We won a good game. It was two good teams making plays. Thankfully, we made more.

“We played with a little sense of urgency, especially in the second half and the fourth quarter,” continued Smith. “We were down seven or eight, and we needed defensive ‘stops’. It was one defensive ‘stop’ at a time.”

“We’re definitely better than we were at the beginning of the season,” said Laney. “But we have a lot of room for improvement. especially in practice. We want to get better every time we step into the gym.”

A three-pointer from Laney pushed the Cedar Crest lead to 18-13 early in the second period. But the Falcons went without a point for the next 4:36, during which time the Blue Streaks were building a 23-18 advantage.

Manheim Township led 29-27 at the break.

“I think the best thing that happened to us was that we played back-to-back-to-back games,” said Smith of his side’s most recent loss, to McCaskey. “It was almost erased because of that. The great thing about basketball is that coming off a loss, you have a game in the next two or three days.”

“We definitely want to win out,” said Laney. “That would give us the section championship. We think we can compete for a league title. We want to make a district run and possibly contend for a district championship. And we want to make a state run. Our dream has always been to play in the Giant Center. It’s a big goal of our’s.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2017-18 Cedar Crest Boys’ Basketball Results

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PIAA District Three

 Class AAAAAA Power Rankings

AAAAAA School  W  L  T  Rating  TWP  OWP  TWPW  OWPW  TWPL  OWPL 1 Reading 14- 1- 0  0.814836  0.956522  0.641665  16.5  209.6  0.8  117.1 2 HEMPFIELD 15- 2- 0  0.766666  0.924812  0.573377  18.5  199.7  1.5  148.6 3 Cedar Crest 15- 3- 0  0.743173  0.884804  0.570069  18.1  203.6  2.4  153.6 4 Chambersburg 13- 4- 0  0.721576  0.835544  0.582282  15.8  184.7  3.1  132.5 5 Wilson (3) 11- 5- 0  0.721543  0.770833  0.661299  13.0  238.2  3.9  122.0 6 Manheim Township 12- 4- 0  0.712032  0.829545  0.568405  14.6  210.9  3.0  160.1 7 Harrisburg 11- 5- 0  0.694004  0.775568  0.594314  13.7  177.7  4.0  121.3 8 Central York 10- 7- 0  0.660371  0.674352  0.643284  11.7  215.5  5.7  119.5 9 Dallastown 10- 7- 0  0.648826  0.676056  0.615544  12.0  222.6  5.8  139.0 10 Cedar Cliff 11- 6- 0  0.647028  0.715100  0.563828  12.6  203.0  5.0  157.0 11 Governor Mifflin 8- 8- 0  0.633106  0.602564  0.670436  9.4  246.1  6.2  121.0 12 Carlisle 8- 8- 0  0.623464  0.620253  0.627389  9.8  216.7  6.0  128.7 13 Cumberland Valley 8- 10- 0  0.615579  0.561798  0.681312  10.0  229.5  7.8  107.4 14 Red Lion 9- 8- 0  0.614729  0.620178  0.608069  10.5  219.3  6.4  141.4 15 York County School Of Technology 10- 5- 0  0.591762  0.684746  0.478115  10.1  149.7  4.7  163.4 16 Central Dauphin East 6- 8- 0  0.585919  0.547445  0.632943  7.5  202.7  6.2  117.6 17 Conestoga Valley 8- 10- 0  0.578872  0.540230  0.626101  9.4  234.6  8.0  140.1 18 Lebanon 6- 10- 0  0.556038  0.476190  0.653629  7.0  249.0  7.7  132.0 19 Warwick 5- 12- 0  0.502009  0.391586  0.636971  6.1  233.5  9.4  133.1 20 Penn Manor 5- 13- 0  0.480177  0.359375  0.627823  5.8  234.9  10.3  139.3 21 J P McCaskey 3- 15- 0  0.441904  0.243506  0.684389  3.8  251.7  11.7  116.1 22 Central Dauphin 2- 14- 0  0.394579  0.187970  0.647101  2.5  224.9  10.8  122.7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lancaster-Lebanon League

 Section One Standings

	League			Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PF	PA
Hempfield	10	1	90.91	16	2	88.89	1032	804
Cedar Crest	9	2	81.82	16	3	84.21	1167	937
Manheim Township	6	4	60.00	12	5	70.59	1060	932
Lebanon	4	6	40.00	6	11	35.29	901	943
Conestoga Valley	4	7	36.36	9	10	47.37	1000	1095
Warwick	4	7	36.36	5	13	27.78	1001	1046
Penn Manor	3	8	27.27	6	13	31.58	891	998
McCaskey	3	8	27.27	3	16	15.79	1151	1283