BY JEFF FALK

 LEBANON – They’re fostering a nice little history with the event. And it really seems to set them up nicely for the rest of the season.

 But there’s nothing quite like winning your rival’s tip-off tournament.

 On Saturday night, the Cedar Crest boys’ basketball team won the championship of the 20th annual Lebanon Athletic Booster Tip-Off Tournament for the third straight year, downing the host Cedars 53-43 in the title tilt. Behind 35 points from tournament most valuable player Logan Horn, the Falcons opened comfortable leads through the middle portions of  the contest, before weathering a mild Lebanon comeback bid at the end.

 Perhaps most importantly, the tournament title means the Falcons are off to a 2-0 start for a third consecutive season. Lebanon High’s early-season mark now stands at 1-1.

 Joining Horn on the all-tournament team was teammate Ileri Ayo-Faleye, Cedar seniors Scottie Porter and Jahlil Young, Elco’s Asher Kemble and Luke Wagner of Red Land.

  “A win’s a win, whether it’s nice or ugly,” said Cedar Crest head coach Tom Smith. “It’s a good win. Anytime you can win at Lebanon, it’s a good win. It means we’re off to a good start.

 “Two-and-oh (2-0) was our goal,” added Smith. “We feel good. We’ve got to get ready for another one (non-leaguer) on Monday.”

  “Obviously it doesn’t sit well when your rival comes in and wins your tournament,” said Lebanon head coach Tim Speraw. “We’ve got to take the positives from it. We need to get better. We’re going to get better. There’s a lot of negatives we need to address and correct.”

 Horn notched 17 of his points in the second quarter, when Cedar Crest took command and opened a 33-18 lead. But it was just as much about their scrambling defense for the Falcons.

  With the score deadlocked, Horn notched the first six points of the second stanza, as Crest raced out to a 15-9 advantage. Horn and the CC defense were also responsible for the 6-1 run the Falcons closed the half on.

 “We didn’t want their shooters to get off,” said Smith of the Cedars. “We wanted to pressure the ball, but contain them and keep them out of the lane. I thought, for the most part, we kept them out of their offense.”

  ‘We have to take care of the ball better,” said Speraw. “You’ll have that with inexperience. I was proud of our kids for fighting back. We had a little momentum at the end. We just didn’t do it.

 “If you take away the bad turnovers where we were just putting the ball in their hands, I didn’t think we were bad offensively,” Speraw added. “You can have turnovers, but you can’t have bad ones. I think a lot of it was us giving the ball away. It has to be corrected on our end.”

Horn nailed a pair of treys coming out of the locker room, and the Falcons had a 39-20 lead two minutes into the second half. Another three-ball from Horn, this one with 4:23 left in the third quarter, made it 47-27.

 But the Cedars refused to give up and the Falcons didn’t finish particularly well. Lebanon rattled off eight straight points late in the final period – four free throws by Young and two stickbacks from Jean Carlos Gonzalez-Belen – to pull to within 51-42, with 55 seconds remaining.

 “We didn’t finish well,” said Smith. “But because we played well early, we were able to pull it out. We’ve definitely got to fix some things.”

 “The difference tonight was Logan Horn.” said Speraw. “I used to say the same thing about his brother (Evan). They’re a nice family, but I’m glad they don’t have any more basketball players at home. He just has a knack for doing the little things to get his team over the hump. He’s their glue guy.

 “He does it all,” added Speraw. “He’s not flashy. He’s a good player.”

 Horn’s 35 came on five treys, three deuces and 11-for-15 foul shooting, and his output represented nearly two-thirds of the Falcons’ point total. Porter recorded 14 points for Lebanon, while Young pumped in a dozen.

 Cedar Crest held Lebanon to just seven two-point buckets.

  “He’s an unselfish player,” said Smith of Horn. “He’s going to get his points, but they’re going to come in the flow of the offense. He’s able to get open because you can’t over-help on him.

 “It’s (the lack of balanced scoring) not concerning,” continued Smith. “We didn’t have to do crazy things to get him shots. I think other kids are going to step up. Teams will scout us. We’ll make adjustments and then they’ll make adjustments.”

 “I didn’t know the roles of a couple of kids,” said Speraw. “A couple of kids stepped up and had great success. We’ll figure it out and right the ship.”

 The final three quarters didn’t unfold the way the first one seemed to promise.

 After Porter opened with a three-pointer, Cedar Crest countered with three points from Ayo-Faleye and two charity tosses by Horn. Another Porter trey gave Lebanon an 8-5 edge, before Horn scored on a pull-up and teammate Jason Eberhart converted an inside maneuver.

 “They’re a scrappy team,” said Smith of the Cedars. “For as young as they are, you’re not going to want to play them at the end of the season. They’re going to be a tough out.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 2018-19 Cedar Crest Boys’ Basketball Schedule

Date	Teams
12/07 6:00 pm	Cedar Crest Elco at Lebanon
12/10 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Wyomissing
12/14 7:30 pm	Elizabethtown at Cedar Crest
12/17 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Lebanon
12/19 7:30 pm	Ephrata at Cedar Crest
12/21 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Warwick
12/22 6:30 pm	Palmyra at Cedar Crest
12/28 7:30 pm	Mount Carmel at Cedar Crest
1/03 7:30 pm	Conestoga Valley at Cedar Crest
1/05 7:00 pm	Cedar Crest Lower Dauphin at Lebanon Valley College
1/08 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Hempfield
1/11 7:30 pm	Penn Manor at Cedar Crest
1/12 3:00 pm	Red Land Cedar Crest at Manheim Central
1/15 7:30 pm	McCaskey at Cedar Crest
1/17 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Manheim Township
1/23 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Carlisle
1/25 7:30 pm	Hempfield at Cedar Crest
1/29 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Penn Manor
2/01 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at McCaskey
2/05 7:30 pm	Manheim Township at Cedar Crest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2018-19 Lebanon Boys’ Basketball Schedule