BY JEFF FALK

ANNVILLE – It was a horrible way to lose a game. But in some ways, it’s kind of how things have gone for the Palmyra boys’ basketball team this season.

On the other side, the Lebanon Cedars will take it. Lebanon is hoping it’s the type of win a team can build momentum upon.

On Saturday night at Lebanon Valley College’s Lou Sorrentino Gymnasium, during the nightcap of the 11th annual contesting of the Rhoades Classic, Lebanon edged Palmyra 42-41 in a non-league contest that featured its share of ups and downs, exhiliration and heart break, positives and negatives. The Cedars won it on junior Isaiah Rodriguez’s strong inside move to the hole with 12 seconds remaining, but not before the Cougars misfired on a couple of free throws with three seconds left, foul shots that could’ve either tied the game or proved to be decisive.

Palmyra had taken a 41-40 lead with 28 ticks to go, when senior Kasey Shughart fed teammate Josh Mark for the go-ahead lay-in. Then out of a timeout, Lebanon executed its down-low play to Rodriguez.

“It could’ve very well been one of our guys on the line, and we don’t shoot foul shots well,” said Lebanon head coach Tim Speraw of the closing sequence. “I feel bad for the kid. But I’m happy for my kids. I’m happy with our fight and how we found a way to win down the stretch.”

“It’s a really a tough position to be in,” said Palmyra head coach Pete Conrad of the missed foul shots. “Kasey’s a great competitor and it’s a spot he wants to be in. I just feel for him, because he played so well. We’re not in that position without Kasey. It didn’t work out, but Kasey’s a great team leader for us.”

The outcome was Lebanon’s second win in less than 24 hours and moved it to 6-5 on the season. Palmyra’s fourth straight loss dropped it to 2-7 overall.

“That was tough at the end,” said Speraw. “I’m just happy we won. That’s about all I can say about it.”

“It is a tough loss, to some degree,” said Conrad. “But we’ve got a pretty resilient group and good senior leaders. I don’t think they’re the kind of guys who are going to be down in the long-term. They’re competitors, and not just the older kids.”

A stick-back from Rodriguez with 4:50 remaining had given Lebanon a 39-33 advantage. But Palmyra pulled to within two points of the lead, thanks to a pair of foul shots by Roman Byler and move inside by Eli Becker.

Lebanon’s Jean Bontemps tallied the first basket of the second half, to put his side up 25-17. But the Cougars held the Cedars score-less for nearly four minutes, and used three-pointers from Shughart and Byler, and a pair of Chris Edwards buckets to forge a 27-25 edge.

“They’re a very scrappy team,” said Speraw of the Cougars. “We knew that. We knew we were going to have to bring the effort. It played out the way I expected it to.

“It was a step forward,” continued Speraw. “It was good to be on the right side of one of these. We’ve lost a bunch of these so far. Hopefully it gives us confidence going forward. Any time you can pull out a victory without your floor general (injured Luke Collins), it’s a positive.”

“I don’t think we played well in the first half,” said Conrad. “But we had a good response in the second half. Hopefully that’s a building block for us.”

Lebanon’s Marquis Ferreira led all scorers with 18 points, while Rodriguez contributed 14. Shughart popped for 11 Palmyra points.

The Cougars made just eight of their 17 charity tosses.

“He’s coming on a lot,” said Speraw of the continuing emergence of Ferreira. “He’s just a tough kid who can score in a lot of different ways. At times, he carried us.”

“We played them tough,” said Conrad. “They have good guards. Number 15 (Rodriguez) did a great job in the post. He hurt us down low.”

Palmyra netted nine of the game’s first 15 points to grab an early advantage. But the Cedars responded with five straight Ferreira points to go up 11-9.

Then in the second stanza, a couple of inside buckets from Rodriguez and a Raylin Pena jumper amounted to a 6-0 Lebanon run and a 23-14 Cedar lead.

“We were looking to get the ball into him,” said Speraw of Rodriguez’s eventual game-winning basket. “I knew they (the Cougars) were going do double him. He just made a tough move and finished.

“We control our own destiny,” added Speraw. “But we’re still one game at a time. We can’t really think about down the road.”

“We all talk about building blocks,” said Conrad. “We’re disappointed with where we’re at, but not the process.”

To purchase images in this article email jkfalk2005@yahoo.com.

2019-20 Palmyra Boys’ Basketball Schedule

2019-12-06	A	vs	Penn Manor(3)	L	54-46
2019-12-07	A	vs	Donegal(3)	W	44-40
2019-12-10	H	vs	Cedar Cliff(3)	L	69-46
2019-12-13	A	vs	Bishop McDevitt(3)	L	85-59
2019-12-17	H	vs	Red Land(3)	W	77-38
2019-12-20	A	vs	Hershey(3)	L	54-40
2019-12-21	H	vs	Cedar Crest(3)	L	40-60
2020-01-02	H	vs	Lower Dauphin(3)	L	49-39
2020-01-04	A	vs	Lebanon(3)
2020-01-07	H	vs	Mechanicsburg Area Senior(3)
2020-01-10	H	vs	Susquehanna Township(3)
2020-01-11	A	vs	LL/MidPenn Showdown()
2020-01-14	A	vs	Cedar Cliff(3)
2020-01-15	A	vs	Annville Cleona(3)
2020-01-17	H	vs	Bishop McDevitt(3)
2020-01-21	A	vs	Red Land(3)
2020-01-24	H	vs	Hershey(3)
2020-01-25	H	vs	Milton Hershey(3)
2020-01-28	A	vs	Lower Dauphin(3)
2020-01-31	A	vs	Mechanicsburg Area Senior(3)
2020-02-01	A	vs	Northern Lebanon(3)
2020-02-04	A	vs	Susquehanna Township(3)

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAA Power Rankings

AAAAA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Gettysburg Area	9-	0-	0	0.808039	1.000000	0.573420	10.0	115.2	0.0	85.7
2	Muhlenberg	8-	0-	0	0.807490	1.000000	0.572200	9.6	116.5	0.0	87.1
3	Milton Hershey	5-	0-	0	0.804543	1.000000	0.565651	5.1	107.7	0.0	82.7
4	Shippensburg	8-	1-	0	0.751263	0.909091	0.558361	8.5	108.4	0.9	85.7
5	Northeastern	9-	2-	0	0.746424	0.866109	0.600142	10.4	126.5	1.6	84.3
6	New Oxford	8-	2-	0	0.731187	0.854545	0.580415	9.4	121.8	1.6	88.1
7	Northern York	8-	2-	0	0.714324	0.839623	0.561180	8.9	110.3	1.7	86.3
8	Cedar Cliff	8-	2-	0	0.709675	0.844037	0.545455	9.2	101.1	1.7	84.3
9	William Penn	6-	3-	0	0.666991	0.738462	0.579638	7.2	110.5	2.6	80.1
10	Elizabethtown Area	7-	4-	0	0.651493	0.733333	0.551467	8.3	110.9	3.0	90.2
11	York Suburban	7-	3-	0	0.625110	0.739796	0.484937	7.3	91.0	2.6	96.6
12	Lampeter Strasburg	6-	4-	0	0.606120	0.660000	0.540268	6.6	115.1	3.4	97.9
13	Conrad Weiser	5-	4-	0	0.568545	0.627119	0.496955	5.6	102.0	3.3	103.3
14	West York Area	4-	4-	0	0.559401	0.576923	0.537986	4.5	108.7	3.3	93.4
15	Big Spring	4-	4-	0	0.554705	0.546667	0.564530	4.1	100.0	3.4	77.1
16	Lower Dauphin	4-	5-	0	0.552522	0.519337	0.593082	4.7	116.6	4.4	80.0
17	Garden Spot	5-	5-	0	0.551228	0.563725	0.535954	5.8	115.9	4.5	100.4
18	Cocalico	5-	5-	0	0.539987	0.565000	0.509416	5.7	108.2	4.4	104.2
19	Manheim Central	4-	6-	0	0.516224	0.474747	0.566918	4.7	120.3	5.2	91.9
20	Mechanicsburg Area Senior	4-	6-	0	0.498541	0.463158	0.541788	4.4	102.8	5.1	86.9
21	Palmyra Area	2-	6-	0	0.426827	0.315068	0.563421	2.3	107.1	5.0	83.0
22	Hershey	2-	6-	0	0.419479	0.315068	0.547092	2.3	106.3	5.0	88.0
23	Twin Valley	3-	6-	0	0.418992	0.374233	0.473698	3.1	91.9	5.1	102.1
24	South Western	2-	9-	0	0.391750	0.213904	0.609117	2.0	129.0	7.4	82.8
25	Solanco	2-	8-	0	0.382174	0.247312	0.547006	2.3	113.8	7.0	94.2
26	Dover	2-	8-	0	0.375734	0.236559	0.545837	2.2	103.9	7.1	86.5
27	Greencastle Antrim	1-	8-	0	0.358720	0.135484	0.631565	1.1	115.5	6.7	67.4
28	Spring Grove Area	1-	9-	0	0.353993	0.110465	0.651638	1.0	140.2	7.7	75.0
29	Donegal	1-	8-	0	0.323379	0.139394	0.548250	1.2	115.9	7.1	95.5
30	Daniel Boone	0-	10-	0	0.301254	0.000000	0.669453	0.0	132.2	9.6	65.3
31	Ephrata Area	0-	12-	0	0.284855	0.000000	0.633011	0.0	137.3	9.6	79.6
32	Red Land	0-	10-	0	0.277836	0.000000	0.617413	0.0	124.1	8.4	76.9

Mid-Penn Conference

Keystone Division Standings

School	Division	%	Overall	%
Cedar Cliff High School	4-0-0	1.000	8-1-0	0.889
Bishop McDevitt High School	5-0-0	1.000	6-0-0	1.000
Susquehanna Township High School	2-1-0	0.667	2-2-0	0.500
Hershey High School	2-2-0	0.500	2-7-0	0.222
Lower Dauphin High School	1-3-0	0.250	3-4-0	0.429
Palmyra Area High School	1-3-0	0.250	2-5-0	0.286
Mechanicsburg Area High School	1-4-0	0.200	1-5-0	0.167
Red Land High School	0-3-0	0.000	0-4-0	0.000

2019-20 Lebanon Boys’ Basketball Schedule

Date	Opponents	Outcomes
12/06 7:30 pm	Elco Lebanon at Lebanon	57 53	Nonleague
12/07 TBD	Red Land at Lebanon	39 70	Nonleague
12/10 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Governor Mifflin	53 60	Nonleague
12/13 7:30 pm	McCaskey at Lebanon	63 61	League
12/16 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Cedar Crest	55 57	League
12/18 7:30 pm	Hempfield at Lebanon	47 51	League
12/20 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Penn Manor	58 53	League
12/27 6:00 pm	Emmaus Lebanon at Cedar Crest	61 69	Nonleague
12/28 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Cedar Crest	49 59	Nonleague
1/03 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Ephrata	59 22	League
1/04 6:00 pm	Palmyra Lebanon at Lebanon Valley College		Nonleague
1/06 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Manheim Township		League
1/10 7:30 pm	Elizabethtown at Lebanon		League
1/11 3:00 pm	Conrad Weiser Lebanon at Garden Spot		Nonleague
1/14 7:30 pm	Warwick at Lebanon		League
1/16 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Conestoga Valley		League
1/20 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Garden Spot		Nonleague
1/21 7:30 pm	Ephrata at Lebanon		League
1/25 2:30 pm	Hershey at Lebanon		Nonleague
1/28 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Elizabethtown		League
1/31 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Warwick		League
2/04 7:30 pm	Conestoga Valley at Lebanon		League

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAAA Power Rankings

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

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section Two Standings

	League	Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PF	PA
Elizabethtown	3	2	0.600	7	4	0.636	668	639
Warwick	3	2	0.600	6	4	0.600	562	474
Lebanon	3	2	0.600	5	5	0.500	578	518
Conestoga Valley	0	5	0.000	3	8	0.273	572	610
Ephrata	0	5	0.000	0	12	0.000	443	702

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