BY JEFF FALK
SOUTH LEBANON – The irony may have been subtle, but it was definitely there.
Twenty days ago, the Lebanon boys played some of their least inspiring basketball of the season during a disappointing loss to rival Cedar Crest, in the championship game of the Cedars’ tip-off tournament. But since then, Lebanon has gone on a tear, coming together as a unit and ripping off five straight wins.
But as fate might have it – amid a bit of a scheduling quirk – the Cedars were denied an opportunity to show the Falcons how far they’d come, how much they’d improved.
On Friday evening, during the closing day of the inaugural four-team Cedar Crest Holiday Showcase, Lebanon High kept its ball rolling with a 68-44 triumph over Camp Hill. The Cedars turned the defensive screws to the Lions in the second quarter, then used that same intensity to get out in transition in the third quarter.
The victory was Lebanon’s sixth straight and moved it to 7-2 overall. Camp Hill, which a night earlier had dropped a 45-41 decision to the Falcons, slipped to 4-4 on the campaign.
The Cedars are scheduled to play the Falcons during Lancaster-Lebanon Section One competition, January 13th at Cedar Crest and February 7th at Lebanon High.
“Honestly, we didn’t talk about it at all,” said Lebanon head coach Tim Speraw of the meeting with Cedar Crest that never happened. “We are going to play them two more times. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Tonight it was Camp Hill, and they were the next game on our schedule.
“In a tournament format, it adds a little extra,” Speraw continued. “When you’re in a tournament, you want to be the champions. You’re motivated to be champions of something. That’s the main difference (between a showcase and a tournament).”
The Cedars were stuck in neutral before putting it intp gear in the second quarter.
Trailing 13-12, Lebanon used an 8-2 spurt to grab a 20-15 margin. Camryn Shaak sparked the run with a three-pointer, Felix Kortright-Roman contributed a trey of his own and Shaq Ortiz capped it with an inside maneuver.
Then three minutes later, the Cedars pieced together a similar 7-0 run to push their advantage to 27-19. Shaak drained four foul shots, after Luis Aquino-Rios had completed an old-fashioned three-point play.
“Maybe we just made a couple of more lay-ups,” said Speraw. “The Kuntz (Camp Hill’s 6-7 Zackary) kid affects so much. That had something to do with our lay-ups.
“In the third quarter, they (the Lions) started pressing up a little more and that let us get more on the back side,” Speraw added. “We got out running. And I thought we started tipping more passes.”
It was the Cedars’ active, helping man-to-man defense which got them into transition.
Already ahead 35-26, Lebanon’s 15-2 burst gave it a 22-point bulge. Aquinos-Rios tallied eight points during the run, Kortright-Roman collected five points and Sebastian Sierra laid in a deuce.
“I thought we played good. Good, but not great,” said Speraw. “There’s a lot of things we need to work on. There’s definitely things we need to do better to accomplish our goals.
“Even though it’s not a tournament setting, it’s a game and the clock’s on,” added Speraw. “Coach (John) Barnhart always said you put the lights on the scoreboard for a reason. At the end of the day, you want to be one point better than the other team.”
The emerging Aquinos-Rios paced the Lebanon attack with 19 points. Kortright-Roman struck for 13 points and Shaak pumped in ten.
Thanks it part to the Lions’ two-for-ten free throwing, the Cedars enjoyed a 20-point differential at ‘The Stripe’.
“As the season goes along, we’re starting to fill in roles,” said Speraw. “We’re figuring out what we do well, and doing it. We have eight or nine guys. We have great competition in practice, and that keeps us sharp.”
Lebanon’s lead reached 63-39, with 3:23 remaining, on a nifty reverse lay-in from Khalique Washington.
“Honestly, our shooting percentage is better,” said Speraw. “Against Crest (during the opening weekend of the year), we were four-for-21 on lay-ups. You’re not going to win games with that. I don’t think we shot great tonight. But we shot well enough.”
After Camp Hill had enjoyed modest leads early, a Dante Vargas trey and a Washington lay-in gave the Cedars a 10-7 lead late in the opening period.
To purchase images in this article email jfalk2005@yahoo.com, or to view more go to: https://lebanonsportsbuzz.com/photo-gallery/.
2016-17 Lebanon Boys’ Basketball Schedule
| DATE |
OPPONENT |
TIME |
RESULT |
|
|
| 12/09 # |
Red Lion
|
7:30 PM |
W 52-39 |
|
|
| 12/10 # |
Cedar Crest
|
7:30 PM |
L 42-58 |
|
|
| 12/14 |
Governor Mifflin
|
7:30 PM |
L 50-54 |
|
|
| 12/16 * |
Manheim Twp.
|
7:30 PM |
W 64-52 |
|
|
| 12/19 * |
@McCaskey
|
7:30 PM |
W 68-58 |
|
|
| 12/21 * |
Warwick
|
7:30 PM |
W 79-56 |
|
|
| 12/29 |
Cedar Cliff
|
6:00 PM |
W 67-50 |
|
|
| DATE |
OPPONENT |
TIME |
LOCATION |
|
| 12/30 |
Camp Hill
|
6:00 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 01/03 * |
@Penn Manor
|
7:30 PM |
Penn Manor High School |
|
| 01/06 * |
@Conestoga Valley
|
7:30 PM |
Conestoga Valley High School |
|
| 01/10 * |
Hempfield
|
7:30 PM |
Lebanon High School |
|
| 01/13 * |
@Cedar Crest
|
7:30 PM |
Cedar Crest High School |
|
| 01/17 * |
@Manheim Twp.
|
7:30 PM |
Manheim Twp. High School |
|
| 01/20 * |
McCaskey
|
7:30 PM |
Lebanon High School |
|
| 01/23 |
@Ephrata
|
7:30 PM |
Ephrata High School |
|
| 01/24 * |
@Warwick
|
7:30 PM |
Warwick High School |
|
| 01/27 * |
Penn Manor
|
7:30 PM |
Lebanon High School |
|
| 01/31 * |
Conestoga Valley
|
7:30 PM |
Lebanon High School |
|
| 02/03 * |
@Hempfield
|
7:30 PM |
Hempfield High School |
|
| 02/04 |
Hershey
|
2:30 PM |
Lebanon High School |
|
| 02/07 * |
Cedar Crest
|
7:30 PM |
Lebanon High School |
|
Lancaster-Lebanon League
Section One Standings
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