LANDISVILLE – Pounding the ball inside.
Increasing the defensive intensity in crunch time.
Playing to your strengths.
Right now, the Cedar Crest boys’ basketball team is seeking the little things that will separate it from similarly-talented teams.
It’s what good teams do in the playoffs. It’s what good programs do constantly.
On Wednesday evening at Hempfield High School, during a semifinal contest of the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs, the Falcons’ attention to details down the stretch matter most, as they pulled out a hard-fought 48-43 decision over the Pioneers of Lampeter-Strasburg. Cedar Crest used a solid defensive effort to outscore Lampeter-Strasburg 10-0 over the final four minutes of the game.
The victory lifted Cedar Crest, the champions of Section One, to 21-3 on the year and into Friday’s 7 p.m. Lancaster-Lebanon League championship game at Manheim Township High School. There the Falcons will be opposed by Section Two champion Warwick, which surprised Lancaster Catholic 50-37 in the other semifinal.
With the result, Lampeter-Strasburg, the champions of Section Three, fell to 16-8.
For the Falcons, it will be their fifth appearance in the Lancaster-Lebanon League final in the last eight years. Cedar Crest captured back to back L-L championships in 2013-14 and 2014-15.
This season also marks Cedar Crest’s eighth straight winning campaign and the Falcons’ eighth consecutive trip to the District Three postseason.
“We were able to get baskets and set up our defense,” said Cedar Crest head coach Tom Smith, of crunch time “We talked about pushing them (the Pioneers) off the three-point line. And we needed to have a sense of urgency down the stretch.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve been to the league final,” continued Smith. “We got used to it for four years in-a-row. But we’ve got a great opportunity. This is what you work so hard in the summer for.”
“Coming into the season, we had set the goals of winning at home, winning the section, winning the league, winning districts and going to states,” said Cedar Crest senior guard Amani Jones. “We made our first goal, now we’re going after the second. When we’re playing well, we’re fun to watch.”
Cedar Crest used its defense to overcome itself and Lampeter-Strasburg during crunch time.
The Pioneers had used a 9-1 opening of the fourth quarter, to establish a 43-38 lead, with 4:20 to go. But on three points from Jones and Cole Miller, a Jason Eberhart bucket and a pair of foul shots by Ileri Ayo-Faleye, Cedar Crest netted the final ten points of the game.
Ayo-Faleye’s free throws iced it with seven seconds left, after the Falcons had gone a miserable three-for-13 on fourth-quarter foul shots before that.
“I think we’re 9-0 in games decided by six points or less,” said Smith. “During the timeouts, I told our guys, ‘Stay together. We’re alright.’
“I don’t want to talk about free throws,” Smith continued. “I told them in the locker room, ‘If I walk into practice tomorrow and you’re not shooting free throws, I’m going to get on you.’ We do it in practice. I think it’s a mental thing. It’s a little bit of fatigue. When you’re a little tired, you don’t shoot them quite the same way. As you continue on, teams are going to get closer and closer in ability, and foul shots can separate you.”
“It’s all mental,” said Jones. “We shoot them a lot at practice. But foul shots have been our Achiles Heel this season.”
After trailing by three points at the break, the Falcons got inside hoops from Ayo-Faleye and Eberhart to start the second half and grab a 27-26 edge. Then with Eberhart tallying seven points, Miller contributing a deuce and Ayo-Faleye hitting a free throw, Cedar Crest closed the third quarter with a 9-5 spurt to take a 37-34 margin.
“Defensively, I knew they were going to give us fits,” said Smith. “I knew they were going to play that switching man-to-man. We played better in transition in the second half. We defended the three-point line very well.”
“They’re a good team,” said Jones. “We knew coming in it was going to be a battle. We also knew we had to contain (senior guard, Seth) Beers. We had to make sure he earned every point.”
With the Falcons making a concious effort to get the ball inside, Eberhart collected 19 points and Ayo-Faleye contributed 11. Jones also popped for 11 points.
Cedar Crest, which made 58 percent of its free throws during the regular season, went a woeful 10-for-21 at the charity stripe. But the Falcons outscored the Pioneers 32-16 on two-point field goals.
Beers notched a game-high 17 points, 14 of which came in the first half.
“Grant (Allwein) picked up two fouls, so we started the second half with Amani on Beers,” said Smith. “Amani was having great success. He was up for the challenge. He (Beers) wasn’t as explosive in the second half. But because Grant was guarding him in the first half, he didn’t have his legs late.”
“Grant had two fouls, so I knew I had to come in and pick it up where Grant left off,” said Jones. “I just tried to do the best I could to contain him. I’ve got to do a little bit of everything. I’ve got to do whatever the team needs. It changes every night.”
Ayo-Faleye, Jones and Eberhart had given the Falcons an early 7-5 edge. But the opening quarter ended with Lampeter-Strasburg up 12-9.
“Jason kept us in the game early,” said Smith. “He was spot on, defensively. He does so much for us. Some of it shows up in the stat line, but some of it doesn’t.
“Good things happen when Jason gets ‘touches’,” Smith added. “We talk about it in practice. That’s what it was tonight, getting it into Jason.”
“It’s been so much fun,” said Jones. “I’m really enjoying my senior year. Just playing with my teammates, who I’ve been playing with for years.”
After back-to-back inside hoops from Eberhart had given Cedar Crest an 18-17 second-period edge, Jones nailed a three-pointer to put the Falcons ahead 21-19. But it was the Pioneers who carried a 26-23 margin to the locker room.
“It’s going to make a difference down the stretch,” said Smith of some missed opportunities inside. “We had a lot of great looks. But we missed too many close ones.”
Back on December 20th at ‘The Cage’ in South Lebanon, Cedar Crest edged Warwick 55-50.
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 12/06 6:00 pm | Red Land Cedar Crest at Lebanon | 29 70 | Nonleague |
| 12/07 7:30 pm | Elco Cedar Crest at Lebanon | 55 59 | Nonleague |
| 12/09 7:30 pm | Wyomissing at Cedar Crest | 47 59 | Nonleague |
| 12/13 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Elizabethtown | 45 41 | League |
| 12/16 7:30 pm | Lebanon at Cedar Crest | 55 57 | League |
| 12/18 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Ephrata | 57 26 | League |
| 12/20 7:30 pm | Warwick at Cedar Crest | 50 55 | League |
| 12/21 7:00 pm | Cedar Crest at Palmyra | 60 40 | Nonleague |
| 12/27 7:30 pm | Oxford at Cedar Crest | 38 51 | Nonleague |
| 12/28 7:30 pm | Lebanon at Cedar Crest | 49 59 | Nonleague |
| 1/02 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Conestoga Valley | 52 46 | League |
| 1/04 4:30 pm | Cedar Crest Lower Dauphin at Lebanon Valley College | 46 58 | Nonleague |
| 1/08 7:30 pm | Hempfield at Cedar Crest | 47 61 | League |
| 1/10 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Penn Manor | 70 40 | League |
| 1/11 3:00 pm | Cedar Crest Bishop McDevitt at Manheim Central | 58 55 | Nonleague |
| 1/14 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at McCaskey | 48 62 | League |
| 1/17 7:30 pm | Manheim Township at Cedar Crest | 49 58 | League |
| 1/22 7:30 pm | Carlisle at Cedar Crest | 43 56 | Nonleague |
| 1/24 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Hempfield | 56 51 | League |
| 1/28 7:30 pm | Penn Manor at Cedar Crest | 52 65 | League |
| 1/31 7:30 pm | McCaskey at Cedar Crest | 52 53 | League |
| 2/04 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Manheim Township | 42 61 | League |
| 2/10 7:00 pm | Cocalico at Cedar Crest | 36 59 | Playoff |
| 2/12 5:30 pm | Lampeter-Strasburg Cedar Crest at Hempfield | 43 48 | Playoff |
| 2/14 7:00 pm | Warwick at Cedar Crest | Playoff | |
| 2/21 7:00 pm | TBA at Cedar Crest | Playoff |
| AAAAAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1*** | Wilson | 21- | 1- | 0 | 0.845478 | 0.970930 | 0.692147 | 25.1 | 332.3 | 0.8 | 147.8 |
| 2*** | Central York | 18- | 3- | 0 | 0.777853 | 0.897704 | 0.631368 | 21.5 | 291.9 | 2.5 | 170.4 |
| 3*** | Reading | 15- | 5- | 0 | 0.764560 | 0.825581 | 0.689979 | 17.8 | 300.9 | 3.8 | 135.2 |
| 4*** | Cedar Crest | 19- | 3- | 0 | 0.757581 | 0.906375 | 0.575722 | 22.8 | 269.2 | 2.4 | 198.4 |
| 5*** | Central Dauphin | 17- | 5- | 0 | 0.748749 | 0.846311 | 0.629506 | 20.7 | 301.3 | 3.8 | 177.3 |
| 6*** | Cumberland Valley | 18- | 4- | 0 | 0.748520 | 0.880478 | 0.587238 | 22.1 | 277.0 | 3.0 | 194.7 |
| 7*** | Warwick | 17- | 4- | 0 | 0.736006 | 0.861635 | 0.582460 | 20.6 | 264.0 | 3.3 | 189.3 |
| 8*** | J P McCaskey | 15- | 7- | 0 | 0.720877 | 0.773859 | 0.656121 | 18.7 | 310.1 | 5.5 | 162.5 |
| 9*** | Chambersburg Area | 16- | 6- | 0 | 0.703824 | 0.807377 | 0.577259 | 19.7 | 270.9 | 4.7 | 198.4 |
| 10*** | Governor Mifflin | 13- | 9- | 0 | 0.692080 | 0.692478 | 0.691594 | 15.7 | 339.4 | 7.0 | 151.4 |
| 11*** | Harrisburg | 13- | 8- | 0 | 0.684319 | 0.725400 | 0.634108 | 15.9 | 283.7 | 6.0 | 163.7 |
| 12*** | Manheim Township | 13- | 8- | 0 | 0.681031 | 0.720824 | 0.632394 | 15.8 | 291.9 | 6.1 | 169.7 |
| 13 | Central Dauphin East | 14- | 8- | 0 | 0.677779 | 0.717842 | 0.628814 | 17.3 | 296.8 | 6.8 | 175.2 |
| 14 | Exeter Township | 13- | 9- | 0 | 0.658504 | 0.681193 | 0.630774 | 14.9 | 301.1 | 7.0 | 176.3 |
| 15 | Dallastown | 13- | 9- | 0 | 0.652726 | 0.680617 | 0.618637 | 15.5 | 294.1 | 7.3 | 181.3 |
| 16 | Lebanon | 12- | 10- | 0 | 0.609194 | 0.642857 | 0.568050 | 14.4 | 270.3 | 8.0 | 205.5 |
| 17 | Waynesboro Area | 12- | 10- | 0 | 0.585746 | 0.611872 | 0.553815 | 13.4 | 259.9 | 8.5 | 209.4 |
| 18 | Red Lion | 10- | 12- | 0 | 0.566068 | 0.533019 | 0.606460 | 11.3 | 287.3 | 9.9 | 186.4 |
| 19 | Carlisle | 8- | 14- | 0 | 0.562892 | 0.485294 | 0.657734 | 9.9 | 317.9 | 10.5 | 165.4 |
| 20 | Penn Manor | 8- | 14- | 0 | 0.530882 | 0.463054 | 0.613782 | 9.4 | 296.2 | 10.9 | 186.4 |
| 21 | HEMPFIELD | 6- | 16- | 0 | 0.505033 | 0.365979 | 0.674987 | 7.1 | 334.0 | 12.3 | 160.8 |
| 22 | Conestoga Valley | 7- | 15- | 0 | 0.482745 | 0.401515 | 0.582027 | 8.0 | 276.6 | 11.9 | 198.6 |
| 23 | York County School Of Technology | 4- | 15- | 0 | 0.306571 | 0.197403 | 0.440000 | 3.8 | 178.8 | 15.5 | 227.5 |
1973: McCaskey
1974: Cocalico
1975: Ephrata
1976: Cedar Crest
1977: Cocalico
1978: Lebanon
1979: Lebanon
1980: McCaskey
1981: Warwick
1982: McCaskey
1983: McCaskey
1984: Hempfield
1985: Lebanon
1986: Lebanon
1987: Warwick
1988: Warwick
1989: Columbia
1990: Columbia
1991: Conestoga Valley
1992: Hempfield
1993: McCaskey
1994: Solanco
1995: Hempfield
1996: Lebanon
1997: Lebanon
1998: Lebanon
1999: Hempfield
2000: Hempfield
2001: McCaskey
2002: McCaskey
2003: Lancaster Catholic
2004: Lebanon
2005: McCaskey
2006: McCaskey
2007: McCaskey
2008: McCaskey
2009: Conestoga Valley
2010: Hempfield
2011: Hempfield
2012: McCaskey
2013: McCaskey
2014: Cedar Crest
2015: Cedar Crest
2016: McCaskey
2017: Lancaster Catholic
2018: Lampeter-Strasburg
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