ANNVILLE – Make no mistakes about it, all losses sting. None should ever be trivialized.
But it may be that being undefeated was counter productive to the Cedar Crest boys’ basketball team’s ultimate goals.
On Saturday evening at Lebanon Valley College’s Lou Sorrentino Gymnasium, the Falcons endured their initial setback of campaign, a 58-46 defeat at the hands of Lower Dauphin, in the middle contest of the 11th annual Rhoades Classic. Cedar Crest looked very much like its unbeaten self for much of the first three periods, before being outscored 21-11 in the fourth.
Following 11 straight victories to start the season, the Falcons are now 11-1 overall. Cedar Crest stood second in the latest District Three Class AAAAAA power rankings.
Lower Dauphin evened its record at 5-5 with the non-league outcome.
“I think starting off 11-0, we were getting away with some things, and some of those things caught up with us tonight,” said Cedar Crest head coach Tom Smith. “Offensively, we weren’t sharing the ball the way we typically do. They (Lower Dauphin) can play in transition. Our problems on offense led to problems defensively.
“When you’re an undefeated team, you wear a bullseye,” Smith continued. “Everyone wants a shot at you. They (Lower Dauphin) were looking for a signature win. They played with a lot of energy, especially in the second half.”
With the outcome hanging in the balance, Cedar Crest simply laid an egg in crunch time.
Crest managed just Trey Shutter’s driving lay-in over the first 4:40 of the fourth quarter, while Lower Dauphin was pushing a modest lead to 46-37. Lower Dauphin tallied all 21 of its fourth quarter points at the basket or from the free throw line.
“I thought we struggled to get baskets,” said Smith. “They (his players) were selfish, in that they were taking tough shots to get us going. We were not running our offense or doing what we’ve been doing. The momentum swung and they (Lower Dauphin) rode it all the way.”
A couple of driving lay-ups by Cole Miller extended Cedar Crest’s slim halftime edge to 30-25 early in the third quarter. But Lower Dauphin outscored Cedar Crest 12-5 over the final 3:35 of that period and carried a 37-35 margin into the fourth quarter.
“I want to win every game,” said Smith. “But if anything can come of this, adversity can help you refocus. You can take some good out of it.”
Ileri Ayo-Faleye poured in 12 points to lead the Cedar Crest scoring. CC made just one-of-four foul shots and was outscored by 14 points at the charity stripe.
“We have a full slate,” said Smith, of his healthy roster. “This was Grant’s (Allwein) first game back. Everybody was healthy and available.”
Down five early, Cedar Crest rattled off eight straight points, on a pair of three-pointers from Amani Jones and a drive by Shutter, to assume an 11-8 lead.
“I’m very happy with where we’re at,” said Smith. “We’re nowhere close to our ceiling, which is scary.
“We played well over the holidays,” Smith added. “Lower Dauphin is a good basketball team that has played a tough schedule. We felt really good about ourselves at 11-0.”
Lower Daupin opened a 21-15 advantage early in the second quarter. But Cedar Crest pieced together an 11-2 run – courtesy of four points from Ayo-Faleye, an Allwein three-pointer, a Max Scipioni basket and a lay-in by Jason Eberhart – to take a 26-23 margin to the break.
| 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 | Nonleague | |
| 1/07 7:30 pm | Hempfield at Cedar Crest | League | |
| 1/10 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Penn Manor | League | |
| 1/11 3:00 pm | Cedar Crest Bishop McDevitt at Manheim Central | Nonleague | |
| 1/14 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at McCaskey | League | |
| 1/17 7:30 pm | Manheim Township at Cedar Crest | League | |
| 1/22 7:30 pm | Carlisle at Cedar Crest | Nonleague | |
| 1/24 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Hempfield | League | |
| 1/28 7:30 pm | Penn Manor at Cedar Crest | League | |
| 1/31 7:30 pm | McCaskey at Cedar Crest | League | |
| 2/04 7:30 pm | Cedar Crest at Manheim Township | League |
| AAAAAA | School | W | L | T | Rating | TWP | OWP | TWPW | OWPW | TWPL | OWPL |
| 1 | Wilson | 8- | 1- | 0 | 0.830899 | 0.926108 | 0.714531 | 9.4 | 145.6 | 0.8 | 58.2 |
| 2 | Cedar Crest | 11- | 0- | 0 | 0.797108 | 1.000000 | 0.549129 | 13.0 | 113.5 | 0.0 | 93.2 |
| 3 | Exeter Township | 7- | 1- | 0 | 0.787608 | 0.912791 | 0.634606 | 7.9 | 133.0 | 0.8 | 76.6 |
| 4 | Governor Mifflin | 7- | 2- | 0 | 0.784117 | 0.840796 | 0.714844 | 8.5 | 146.4 | 1.6 | 58.4 |
| 5 | Reading | 7- | 2- | 0 | 0.773891 | 0.844560 | 0.687518 | 8.2 | 122.0 | 1.5 | 55.5 |
| 6 | Cumberland Valley | 7- | 1- | 0 | 0.760068 | 0.919355 | 0.565383 | 8.6 | 96.2 | 0.8 | 74.0 |
| 7 | Central York | 8- | 2- | 0 | 0.752697 | 0.855856 | 0.626615 | 9.5 | 128.6 | 1.6 | 76.6 |
| 8 | Harrisburg | 2- | 1- | 0 | 0.708148 | 0.769231 | 0.633492 | 2.5 | 106.3 | 0.8 | 61.5 |
| 9 | Central Dauphin | 6- | 3- | 0 | 0.694386 | 0.756757 | 0.618155 | 7.0 | 105.6 | 2.3 | 65.2 |
| 10 | Penn Manor | 7- | 3- | 0 | 0.692265 | 0.776190 | 0.589690 | 8.2 | 127.6 | 2.4 | 88.8 |
| 11 | Dallastown | 5- | 3- | 0 | 0.676959 | 0.704819 | 0.642907 | 5.9 | 138.5 | 2.5 | 76.9 |
| 12 | Central Dauphin East | 4- | 2- | 0 | 0.672115 | 0.724638 | 0.607921 | 5.0 | 107.5 | 1.9 | 69.3 |
| 13 | Chambersburg Area | 6- | 3- | 0 | 0.669472 | 0.748718 | 0.572617 | 7.3 | 96.4 | 2.5 | 72.0 |
| 14 | J P McCaskey | 5- | 4- | 0 | 0.658907 | 0.661376 | 0.655891 | 6.3 | 137.0 | 3.2 | 71.9 |
| 15 | Warwick | 6- | 4- | 0 | 0.641334 | 0.685714 | 0.587091 | 7.2 | 123.7 | 3.3 | 87.0 |
| 16 | Manheim Township | 5- | 5- | 0 | 0.634214 | 0.607143 | 0.667300 | 6.0 | 140.5 | 3.9 | 70.1 |
| 17 | Waynesboro Area | 5- | 4- | 0 | 0.597639 | 0.627119 | 0.561608 | 5.6 | 108.3 | 3.3 | 84.5 |
| 18 | Lebanon | 5- | 5- | 0 | 0.595497 | 0.605000 | 0.583882 | 6.1 | 115.2 | 4.0 | 82.1 |
| 19 | Red Lion | 5- | 5- | 0 | 0.585795 | 0.566327 | 0.609589 | 5.6 | 129.1 | 4.3 | 82.7 |
| 20 | HEMPFIELD | 4- | 7- | 0 | 0.551196 | 0.467662 | 0.653294 | 4.7 | 134.4 | 5.4 | 71.3 |
| 21 | York County School Of Technology | 4- | 2- | 0 | 0.527859 | 0.666667 | 0.358205 | 3.8 | 63.9 | 1.9 | 114.4 |
| 22 | Carlisle | 2- | 7- | 0 | 0.479004 | 0.313725 | 0.681011 | 2.4 | 122.7 | 5.3 | 57.5 |
| 23 | Conestoga Valley | 3- | 8- | 0 | 0.457010 | 0.336788 | 0.603949 | 3.3 | 136.1 | 6.4 | 89.3 |
| League | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | PF | PA | |
| Cedar Crest | 5 | 0 | 1.000 | 10 | 0 | 1.000 | 564 | 436 |
| McCaskey | 4 | 1 | 0.800 | 5 | 4 | 0.556 | 609 | 580 |
| Hempfield | 3 | 2 | 0.600 | 4 | 7 | 0.364 | 488 | 525 |
| Penn Manor | 2 | 3 | 0.400 | 7 | 3 | 0.700 | 520 | 478 |
| Manheim Township | 2 | 3 | 0.400 | 5 | 5 | 0.500 | 547 | 519 |
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