LANCASTER – The Elco boys’ basketball team doesn’t resemble a bridesmaid.
It doesn’t look good in silver.
It doesn’t particularly like the view from behind.
The Raiders aren’t built that way. It’s not part of their character.
But because of that, Elco may have some harsh realities to face.
On Tuesday night at Lancaster Catholic, the Raiders were beaten 65-50 by the home-standing Crusader in a regular-season finale that decided the Lancaster-Lebanon Section Four championship. Elco fell victim to scoring dry spells at the ends of each of the first two quarters, and never came within six points the rest of the way.
A Raider triumph would have forced a tie atop the standings and a playoff for the section crown. But as it is, Elco will carry an 18-4 overall mark into the postseason, which begins on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Warwick, against Section Two runner-up Elizabethtown in a play-in game to the Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs.
There is also the District Three Class AAAA postseason for the Raiders to look forward to. In the latest power rankings for that event, Elco was seated third.
Last night marked Elco’s second loss of the campaign to the talented Crusaders, and was eerily similar to a 69-55 setback to Lancaster Catholic in Myerstown back on January 17th.
Lancaster Catholic improved to 19-2 with the result.
“The section is something we wanted,” said Elco head coach Brad Conners. “To have that opportunity on the last night of the regular season speaks volumes of our guys. Now it’s on to the league playoffs. The goal stays to get better every day, and see where it takes us.
“I thought coming into this one that we didn’t have to do anything drastically different, because we had improved,” Conners continued. “I thought we could come out and be ourselves. If we play them a third time, we’ll change some things around.”
The first Crusader run came at the end of the opening quarter and put Elco in a trail position for good.
The Raiders had enjoyed an early 7-5 edge on a Bryce Coletti jumper and a 10-9 lead on an Evan Huey three-pointer. But Elco did not score during the final 4:05 of the first period, which ended with Lancaster Catholic up 18-10.
“I just thought for a moment there late in the first and early in the second we looked like we were shook,” said Conners. “I thought to myself, ‘What can we do to get our guys an easy look?’ But I thought our defense looked good early.
“I’m not satisfied with what we did,” Conners added. “I thought we got out coached. I thought we got out hustled. They beat us in every facet of the game. That’s two games now where they’ve shut down our offense.”
The second decisive Lancaster Catholic run was of the 8-0 variety and it staked them to a 33-16 halftime bulge.
A Bryce Coletti three-pointer had pulled Elco to within 25-16 of Lancaster Catholic. But the Raiders went score-less over the final 5:21 of the first half.
“It was a combination of things,” said Conners. “I take a lot of it on myself. They’re (the Crusaders) a really good defensive team. They had so many people in the lane. There were no lanes to the basket. We’ve got to loosen them up early.
“I think we can play a lot better,” added Conners. “The message after the game was not to be satisfied. There are bigger things to be had. I want this to sting and our guys to leave with a chip on their shoulders.”
If there was any consolation for the Raiders it was that their scoring was extremely balanced. Asher Kemble led Elco with 13 points, Huey tallied 11 points and Coletti and Braden Bohannon each contributed ten.
Lancaster Catholic outscored Elco 38-12 on two-point buckets.
“It was similar to the first time we played them,” said Conners. “We had a hard time scoring the basketball. We were down double-digits. We tried changing some match-ups. But again, our perimeter shots weren’t falling like they normally do. We’re going to have to find a way.”
The Raiders played their most inspired basketball of the evening in the third quarter.
In the middle of the period, Elco pieced together a 16-9 stretch to draw within 46-40 of the lead. Huey, Coletti and Bohannon all drained three-pointers during the span, and Kemble and Luke Williams also collected counters.
“They can throw a couple of big guys at you,” said Conners of the Crusaders. “But some of their mismatches can turn into mismatches for us. When I think about what they do, it’s their defense. Because of their size, there are not a lot of opportunities to be had.”
The Crusaders short-circuited Elco’s comeback bid at the beginning of the final period, when they scored the first six points to re-extend their lead to 52-40.
“We’ve just kept getting better, one game to the next,” said Conners. “We’ve kind of been a second-half team all year. Looking back at it, I’m thinking we need to do something better.
“I just want to keep playing,” added Conners. “I’m not sure what’s coming. We’re excited to play Elizabethtown.”
| Date | Opponents | Outcomes | |
| 12/06 7:30 pm | Elco Lebanon at Lebanon | 57 53 | Nonleague |
| 12/07 7:30 pm | Elco Cedar Crest at Lebanon | 55 59 | Nonleague |
| 12/10 7:30 pm | Annville-Cleona at Elco | 49 70 | Nonleague |
| 12/13 7:30 pm | Cocalico at Elco | 41 60 | League |
| 12/16 7:30 pm | Elco at Manheim Central | 73 71 | League |
| 12/18 7:30 pm | Solanco at Elco | 47 62 | League |
| 12/20 7:30 pm | Elco at Lampeter-Strasburg | 50 54 | League |
| 12/28 7:30 pm | Elco Spring Grove at Eastern York | 76 52 | Nonleague |
| 12/30 7:30 pm | Elco Eastern York at Eastern York | 75 51 | Nonleague |
| 1/03 7:30 pm | Octorara at Elco | 42 49 | League |
| 1/04 1:30 pm | Oley Valley at Elco | 48 62 | Nonleague |
| 1/08 7:30 pm | Camp Hill at Elco | 60 72 | Nonleague |
| 1/09 7:30 pm | Elco at Donegal | 87 55 | League |
| 1/10 7:30 pm | Northern Lebanon at Elco | 34 81 | League |
| 1/15 7:30 pm | Wyomissing at Elco | 44 49 | Nonleague |
| 1/17 7:30 pm | Lancaster Catholic at Elco | 69 55 | League |
| 1/21 7:30 pm | Elco at Octorara | 59 48 | League |
| 1/24 7:30 pm | Donegal at Elco | 34 58 | League |
| 1/28 7:30 pm | Elco at Northern Lebanon | 73 39 | League |
| 1/29 7:30 pm | Conrad Weiser at Elco | 58 81 | Nonleague |
| 1/31 7:30 pm | Garden Spot at Elco | 44 72 | League |
| 2/04 7:30 pm | Elco at Lancaster Catholic | League |
| League | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | PF | PA | |
| Lancaster Catholic | 12 | 1 | 0.923 | 19 | 2 | 0.905 | 1253 | 985 |
| Elco | 10 | 3 | 0.769 | 18 | 4 | 0.818 | 1427 | 1117 |
| Octorara | 7 | 6 | 0.538 | 14 | 8 | 0.636 | 1332 | 1167 |
| Northern Lebanon | 3 | 9 | 0.250 | 7 | 13 | 0.350 | 906 | 1126 |
| Donegal | 0 | 12 | 0.000 | 2 | 19 | 0.095 | 907 | 1295 |
| AAAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1 | Lancaster Catholic | 18- | 2- | 0 | 0.761020 | 0.919811 | 0.566942 | 19.5 | 247.3 | 1.7 | 188.9 |
| 2 | Bishop McDevitt | 15- | 2- | 0 | 0.749117 | 0.907859 | 0.555100 | 16.8 | 209.8 | 1.7 | 168.2 |
| 3 | Eastern Lebanon County | 18- | 3- | 0 | 0.731257 | 0.884876 | 0.543500 | 19.6 | 246.5 | 2.6 | 207.0 |
| 4 | Susquehanna Township | 13- | 6- | 0 | 0.663573 | 0.724816 | 0.588720 | 14.8 | 253.7 | 5.6 | 177.2 |
| 5 | Littlestown | 18- | 4- | 0 | 0.642374 | 0.823256 | 0.421297 | 17.7 | 190.3 | 3.8 | 261.4 |
| 6 | Eastern York | 14- | 8- | 0 | 0.626398 | 0.686364 | 0.553107 | 15.1 | 249.7 | 6.9 | 201.8 |
| 7 | Wyomissing | 16- | 6- | 0 | 0.619655 | 0.765766 | 0.441076 | 17.0 | 193.5 | 5.2 | 245.2 |
| 8 | Octorara Area | 13- | 8- | 0 | 0.594053 | 0.662818 | 0.510008 | 14.4 | 223.0 | 7.3 | 214.2 |
| 9 | Susquehannock | 11- | 10- | 0 | 0.588969 | 0.574572 | 0.606565 | 11.8 | 277.2 | 8.7 | 179.8 |
| 10 | Berks Catholic School | 11- | 8- | 0 | 0.568570 | 0.589610 | 0.542854 | 11.4 | 221.1 | 7.9 | 186.2 |
| 11 | James Buchanan | 11- | 10- | 0 | 0.542365 | 0.571776 | 0.506419 | 11.8 | 211.1 | 8.8 | 205.7 |
| 12 | East Pennsboro Area | 9- | 11- | 0 | 0.518868 | 0.475124 | 0.572333 | 9.6 | 244.1 | 10.6 | 182.4 |
| 13 | Schuylkill Valley | 9- | 10- | 0 | 0.493165 | 0.482667 | 0.505995 | 9.1 | 211.0 | 9.7 | 206.0 |
| 14 | Boiling Springs | 7- | 12- | 0 | 0.484674 | 0.416431 | 0.568084 | 7.4 | 236.6 | 10.3 | 179.9 |
| 15 | Middletown Area | 6- | 13- | 0 | 0.469766 | 0.337731 | 0.631142 | 6.4 | 277.5 | 12.6 | 162.2 |
| 16 | Northern Lebanon | 7- | 13- | 0 | 0.456833 | 0.380597 | 0.550011 | 7.7 | 244.7 | 12.5 | 200.2 |
| 17 | Kennard Dale | 6- | 15- | 0 | 0.434356 | 0.316049 | 0.578953 | 6.4 | 261.6 | 13.9 | 190.3 |
| 18 | Bermudian Springs | 7- | 14- | 0 | 0.387701 | 0.333333 | 0.454150 | 6.9 | 198.6 | 13.7 | 238.7 |
| 19 | Fleetwood | 7- | 14- | 0 | 0.386527 | 0.368675 | 0.408347 | 7.7 | 169.8 | 13.1 | 246.0 |
| 20 | West Perry | 5- | 15- | 0 | 0.371298 | 0.258794 | 0.508803 | 5.2 | 215.3 | 14.8 | 207.9 |
| 21 | Hamburg Area | 5- | 16- | 0 | 0.360797 | 0.244656 | 0.502749 | 5.2 | 219.5 | 15.9 | 217.1 |
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