SOUTH LEBANON -If getting better is a daily focus, then playoffs are after-thoughts. Scholastic basketball teams improve with this time in mind.
For the Cedar Crest boys, it’s all led up to this.
On Wednesday night at ‘The Cage’, the Falcons tuned up for the upcoming stretch that will define their season by wearing out Carlisle 66-43, in a non-league tilt. Following a rough start to the game, Cedar Crest pulled itself together in the second quarter, before pulling away from the Thundering Herd in the second half.
With the result, Cedar Crest improved to 16-2 overall. With four Lancaster-Lebanon Section One contests remaining in the regular season, the Falcons have their sights firmly set on championships and postseason glory.
The Falcons were situated fourth in the latest District Three Class AAAAAA power rankings
With the loss, Carlisle dropped to 5-11 on the year.
“I don’t think we’ve peaked yet,” said Cedar Crest head coach Tom Smith. “I think our best basketball is in front of us. All of our section games are in front of us. We were in the same position last year and things didn’t turn out the way we would’ve liked. Hopefully we’ll learn from that.
“First things first, and that’s the section,” continued Smith. “But even before that is winning in Landisville (against Hempfield) on Friday. If we want to win the section, we’re going to have to win on the road.”
The Falcons got off to a somewhat shaky start last night, as the Thundering Herd tallied nine of the game’s first 11 points. Carlisle led 14-4 five minutes into the contest.
“I remember us getting good defensive possessions and then giving up offensive rebounds,” said Smith. “We came out slow and they jumped up big on us. Then we started to play. They’re (the Thundering Herd) a physical team, and I told our guys they do have to box out.”
When they did flip the switch late in the opening quarter, the Falcons lit up the entire gym. Cedar Crest pieced together a devastating 31-3 run over the next ten minutes, one that turned that ten-point deficit into a 35-17 cushion.
Highlighting that stretch was a seven-point CC trip generated from a Carlisle technical foul, 14 Illeri Ayo-Faleye points and sticky, in-your-grill defense. The Falcons also got 11 points from Trey Shutter during the run, a couple of buckets from Cole Miller and a Grant Allwein lay-in.
“We started to rebound and we were able to play in transition,” said Smith. “And we were able to stretch the lead. Other than our start, I’m pleased. We played a good three-and-a-half quarters.
“I thought we played very well defensively,” added Smith. “Minus the defensive reboudning early, we did well. We did put Illeri on number 24 (Carlisle big James Barlow). We forced them to make some tough, contested shots.”
Shutter posted a game-high 21 points, which included a trey and eight-for-eight foul shooting, while Ayo-Faleye counted an amazing six jams among his 20 points.
The Falcons outscored the Thundering Herd 44-14 on field goals inside the arc.
“I would say he’s improved in all aspects of the game,” said Smith of the athletic Ayo-Faleye. “He’s into the game plan. He’s on his assignments. He is making better decisions with the basketball. Defensively, he’s locked in. His attention to detail has been better.”
A Shutter lay-in and a three-pointer by Allwein extended the Falcon advantage to 40-22, minutes after the break. Later in the third period, two foul shots from Shutter made the Cedar Crest lead 46-30.
Then the Falcons opened the final quarter on an 8-2 spurt – fueled by a couple of Ayo-Faleye baskets, a Shutter pull-up and an inside move by Jason Eberhart – to increase their cushion to 54-34.
“We’re getting down to the stretch of the season and that’s when you want to play your best basketball,” said Smith. “We’ll take the win. We have the second part of our Section One schedule coming up, and that’ll be big.”
| 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 | 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 | 15- | 1- | 0 | 0.846011 | 0.959459 | 0.707352 | 17.8 | 244.9 | 0.8 | 101.3 |
| 2 | Cumberland Valley | 13- | 1- | 0 | 0.793890 | 0.955357 | 0.596542 | 16.1 | 186.3 | 0.8 | 126.0 |
| 3 | Central Dauphin | 12- | 3- | 0 | 0.767445 | 0.864865 | 0.648376 | 14.4 | 205.6 | 2.3 | 111.5 |
| 4 | Cedar Crest | 15- | 2- | 0 | 0.764971 | 0.917313 | 0.578775 | 17.8 | 203.2 | 1.6 | 147.9 |
| 5 | Central York | 14- | 3- | 0 | 0.762942 | 0.872727 | 0.628760 | 16.8 | 214.3 | 2.5 | 126.5 |
| 6 | Reading | 10- | 4- | 0 | 0.753197 | 0.795918 | 0.700983 | 11.7 | 224.7 | 3.0 | 95.9 |
| 7 | Governor Mifflin | 10- | 5- | 0 | 0.722899 | 0.758621 | 0.679240 | 12.1 | 239.5 | 3.9 | 113.1 |
| 8 | J P McCaskey | 11- | 5- | 0 | 0.718945 | 0.776836 | 0.648190 | 13.8 | 215.8 | 4.0 | 117.1 |
| 9 | Warwick | 13- | 4- | 0 | 0.715854 | 0.826772 | 0.580288 | 15.8 | 199.3 | 3.3 | 144.2 |
| 10 | Chambersburg Area | 11- | 4- | 0 | 0.712782 | 0.807808 | 0.596640 | 13.5 | 182.9 | 3.2 | 123.7 |
| 11 | Harrisburg | 8- | 5- | 0 | 0.689136 | 0.719101 | 0.652511 | 9.6 | 202.1 | 3.8 | 107.6 |
| 12 | Exeter Township | 10- | 6- | 0 | 0.675913 | 0.710692 | 0.633406 | 11.3 | 219.0 | 4.6 | 126.8 |
| 13 | Central Dauphin East | 7- | 5- | 0 | 0.665837 | 0.678295 | 0.650610 | 8.8 | 197.2 | 4.2 | 105.9 |
| 14 | Manheim Township | 9- | 8- | 0 | 0.647515 | 0.637982 | 0.659166 | 10.8 | 228.5 | 6.1 | 118.2 |
| 15 | Lebanon | 11- | 7- | 0 | 0.643952 | 0.703209 | 0.571528 | 13.2 | 205.6 | 5.6 | 154.1 |
| 16 | Dallastown | 9- | 7- | 0 | 0.642428 | 0.649390 | 0.633920 | 10.7 | 221.7 | 5.8 | 128.0 |
| 17 | Waynesboro Area | 8- | 6- | 0 | 0.605326 | 0.640288 | 0.562594 | 8.9 | 187.0 | 5.0 | 145.4 |
| 18 | Penn Manor | 8- | 9- | 0 | 0.586957 | 0.578462 | 0.597340 | 9.4 | 215.6 | 6.9 | 145.3 |
| 19 | Carlisle | 5- | 10- | 0 | 0.555686 | 0.450549 | 0.684186 | 6.2 | 221.3 | 7.5 | 102.2 |
| 20 | Red Lion | 7- | 9- | 0 | 0.555636 | 0.513072 | 0.607659 | 7.9 | 203.9 | 7.5 | 131.7 |
| 21 | HEMPFIELD | 5- | 11- | 0 | 0.530107 | 0.413194 | 0.672999 | 6.0 | 233.8 | 8.5 | 113.6 |
| 22 | Conestoga Valley | 4- | 12- | 0 | 0.455836 | 0.316547 | 0.626078 | 4.4 | 232.4 | 9.5 | 138.8 |
| 23 | York County School Of Technology | 4- | 9- | 0 | 0.347179 | 0.295720 | 0.410073 | 3.8 | 123.4 | 9.1 | 177.5 |
| League | Overall | |||||||
| W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | PF | PA | |
| Cedar Crest | 8 | 1 | 0.889 | 15 | 2 | 0.882 | 966 | 787 |
| McCaskey | 7 | 2 | 0.778 | 11 | 5 | 0.688 | 1105 | 971 |
| Hempfield | 4 | 5 | 0.444 | 5 | 11 | 0.313 | 724 | 807 |
| Manheim Township | 4 | 6 | 0.400 | 9 | 8 | 0.529 | 983 | 902 |
| Penn Manor | 3 | 7 | 0.300 | 8 | 9 | 0.471 | 826 | 926 |
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