BY JEFF FALK

LEBANON – What was your favorite Cedar moment from last night?

A. Turning the tables on, and beating rival Cedar Crest, convincingly.

B. Celebrating the co-Section Two championship.

C. Commemorating the program’s longest tenured coach, Tim Speraw’s 150th career triumph.

D. All of the above.

Perhaps the only real question is: ‘How will the Cedars top this kind of emotional evening?’

On Wednesday night at Lebanon High School, the Cedars’ boys’ basketball team trounced its neighboring nemesis from Cedar Crest 68-31. Lebanon asserted itself in the second period when it limited the Falcons to a single basket and built a 20-point lead.

After the game, Lebanon presented Speraw with a plaque noting his milestone victory. Then, the Cedars proceeded to cut down the nets to recognize the Section Two title they’re currently sharing with Warwick.

Those two clubs, Lebanon and Warwick, will meet on Tuesday night at a time and site to be determined, to decide which will represent Section Two in the upcoming Lancaster-Lebanon League playoffs.

With the outcome, the Cedars improved to 12-3 on the year. It also solidified Lebanon’s 12th position in the District Three power rankings for an AAAAAA classification that takes 12 for its postseason.

On the other side, the loss was Cedar Crest’s fifth in its last six outings, it dropped them to 3-7 overall and ended the Falcons’ impressive streak of qualifying for the District Three Class AAAAAA over eight straight seasons. During that time, Cedar Crest had pretty much owned Lebanon in ‘The Rivalry’.

“It was a good night,” said Speraw, with a gleam in his eyes. “Any time you beat Cedar Crest, it’s a good night. We had already clinched a share of the Section, but we weren’t able to celebrate it on Saturday (after a loss at Warwick). This was our next home game, and as long as we got the win, we were going to cut down the nets. We’re always talking about putting another year on the banner. We’ve already accomplished one of our goals.

“I’d say the best part of it was just seeing the kids excited for each other,” continued Speraw. “That and being able to play everybody and seeing close to everyone score. It was nice seeing every kid happy. That’s not always the case, even when you win.”

“They’ve got a good set of guards,” said Cedar Crest head coach Tom Smith of the Cedars. “‘Mohawk’ (Isaiah Rodriguez) inside is tough. They play hard. They play well together. They can shoot it from the outside. They’re a tough basketball team to beat.”

Early on, the scrap was typical Lebanon-Cedar Crest. But late in the opening quarter, the Cedars netted six unanswered points, courtesy of buckets by Luke Collins, Rodriguez and Kevin Smith, to establish a 15-7 advantage.

“I thought we played well,” said Speraw. “We were pretty strong in most aspects. But as a coach, I’m always going to find things to get better at.”

“I give a lot of credit to Lebanon,” said Smith. “They’re a very good basketball team. They came out hungry and took it to us. We struggled to score early and then we fell into a deficit that was tough to come back from.”

The Cedars delivered the knock-out blow by limiting the Falcons to just Izaa Reyes-Vega’s driving lay-in for a first-and-second-quarter stretch of 9:14. During that time, Lebanon’s lead ballooned from 15-9 to 31-11.

Rodriguez tallied six points during that decisive run, including a halftime buzzer-beater off the glass. Demetrius Matthew chimed in with a pair of buckets, while teammates Collins, Smith and Kam Uffner contributed two points apeice.

“We turned them (the Falcons) over a couple of times, got a couple of steals and some easy baskets,” said Speraw. “And we started working Isaiah a little more. We just kind of pulled away. But I told the kids at halftime that it wasn’t over.”

“I thought we got good shots within our offense, and they weren’t falling,” said Smith. “They (the Cedars) were getting some second-chance opportunities. ‘Mohawk’ did a nice job inside.”

Rodriguez popped for 16 points to lead all scorers, Jefandry Pena notched 13 points off the Cedar bench and Collins hit for 11. Lebanon outscored Cedar Crest 42-16 on field goals that originated from inside the arc.

“Since Tommy and I have been coaching, they’ve definitely gotten the better of this,” said Speraw. “They’ve had a really good stretch of some really good teams. It’s a rivalry game. I told our seniors that it was the only time we were going to play them this year. Ten or 15 years down the road, they’ll remember this game.

“Obviously, they’re rebuilt,” added Speraw. “They graduated just about everybody who got significant minutes last year. You’re going to have these years. Tommy does a great job with the talent he has. It’s a tough spot to be in. I was joking with him before the game that he had never been in this spot before.”

“We’re used to winning this game,” said Smith. “I think we’ve lost to them three times in my tenure, with this one being the fourth. Losing this one stinks.”

Lebanon did not relent in the third period.

Another spurt, this one a 13-3 job, made the Cedars’ lead 48-19 late in the period. Rodriguez was responsible for four of those points, and Collins, Smith and Pena all had three.

Lebanon also scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, courtesy of back-to-back treys from Jaidyn Mercado and Matt Brown.

“I thought we were pretty solid on the defensive end,” said Speraw. “We’ll watch film, pick things out and try to correct some things. But they (his players) get to enjoy the night.”

“I told our guys at halftime, ‘One possession at a time’,” said Smith. “There’s no 20-point shot in basketball. I told them to just keep fighting. I told them ‘There’s only way to go. You’ve just got to dig yourself out of the hole.’ But I’m not sure we were able to put a run together in the second half.

“This week, I thought we took some steps forward,” Smith continued. “Tonight was not a step in the right direction. We’re going to keep fighting. We’re going to get it right for these kids. They deserve it.”

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

2021 Cedar Crest Boys’ Basketball Results

Date	Opponents	Outcomes
1/08 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Manheim Township	21 61	League
1/14 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Hempfield	47 44	League
1/16 12:00 pm	Cedar Crest at Hershey	47 65	Nonleague
1/19 7:30 pm	Penn Manor at Cedar Crest	43 46	League
1/23 7:30 pm	Northern York at Cedar Crest		Postponed Nonleague
2/05 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at McCaskey	47 67	League
2/09 7:30 pm	Manheim Township at Cedar Crest	61 32	League
2/11 7:30 pm	Elizabethtown at Cedar Crest	59 44	Nonleague
2/13 7:30 pm	Conestoga Valley at Cedar Crest	59 63	Nonleague
2/16 7:00 pm	McCaskey at Cedar Crest	56 42	League
2/17 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Lebanon		Nonleague

2021 Lebanon Boys’ Basketball Results

Date	Opponents	Outcomes
12/11 7:00 pm	Northern Lebanon at Lebanon	58 70	Nonleague
1/08 7:30 pm	Conestoga Valley at Lebanon	57 58	League
1/11 7:30 pm	Ephrata at Lebanon	48 55	League
1/16 12:00 pm	Lebanon at Lower Dauphin	43 59	Nonleague
1/18 7:30 pm	Garden Spot at Lebanon	31 47	Nonleague
1/19 8:00 pm	Lebanon at Elizabethtown	54 39	League
1/23 2:30 pm	Lebanon at Hershey		Postponed Nonleague
1/26 7:30 pm	Lebanon at Ephrata	58 20	League
1/29 8:00 pm	Lebanon at Manheim Township	43 55	Nonleague
1/30 1:30 pm	Palmyra at Lebanon	52 54	Nonleague
2/02 7:30 pm	Governor Mifflin at Lebanon		Postponed Nonleague
2/03 7:30 pm	Elizabethtown at Lebanon	32 41	League
2/05 7:30 pm	Warwick at Lebanon	43 58	League
2/06 1:30 pm	Exeter at Lebanon	47 57	Nonleague
2/09 8:00 pm	Lebanon at Conestoga Valley	54 42	League
2/11 7:30 pm	Lebanon at McCaskey		Postponed Nonleague
2/13 1:30 pm	Lebanon at Warwick	55 62	League
2/17 7:30 pm	Cedar Crest at Lebanon

PIAA District Three

Class AAAAAA Power Rankings

AAAAAA	School	W	L	T	Rating	TWP	OWP	TWPW	OWPW	TWPL	OWPL
1	Reading	17-	1-	0	0.806762	0.964286	0.614233	20.25	157.95	0.75	99.20
2	Wilson (3)	14-	1-	0	0.805886	0.955490	0.623038	16.10	146.85	0.75	88.85
3	Central Dauphin	12-	1-	0	0.798370	0.952381	0.610135	15.00	121.60	0.75	77.70
4	Cedar Cliff	8-	0-	0	0.773353	1.000000	0.496339	9.30	81.35	0.00	82.55
5	Muhlenberg	11-	2-	0	0.751205	0.887640	0.584451	11.85	139.45	1.50	99.15
6	Central York	10-	3-	0	0.738415	0.835088	0.620259	11.90	139.00	2.35	85.10
7	Hempfield (3)	8-	2-	0	0.737319	0.867257	0.578507	9.80	86.40	1.50	62.95
8	Red Lion	12-	1-	0	0.733429	0.949495	0.469349	14.10	99.15	0.75	112.10
9	Central Dauphin East	10-	3-	0	0.727439	0.847458	0.580749	12.50	117.05	2.25	84.50
10	Warwick	10-	2-	0	0.726606	0.888060	0.529274	11.90	90.40	1.50	80.40
11	Cumberland Valley	10-	4-	0	0.722047	0.805195	0.620423	12.40	132.15	3.00	80.85
12	Lebanon	11-	3-	0	0.715083	0.845395	0.555812	12.85	120.25	2.35	96.10
13	Manheim Township	8-	3-	0	0.692518	0.814815	0.543044	9.90	82.95	2.25	69.80
14	Harrisburg	5-	4-	0	0.684655	0.675676	0.695631	6.25	140.10	3.00	61.30
15	Dallastown	9-	6-	0	0.645785	0.683168	0.600093	10.35	128.45	4.80	85.60
16	Waynesboro	9-	5-	0	0.644806	0.700000	0.577346	10.15	123.35	4.35	90.30
17	Governor Mifflin	7-	8-	0	0.635843	0.565836	0.721408	7.95	196.80	6.10	76.00
18	J P McCaskey	5-	6-	0	0.619448	0.581395	0.665957	6.25	125.20	4.50	62.80
19	Carlisle	6-	7-	0	0.580199	0.573705	0.588135	7.20	120.95	5.35	84.70
20	Conestoga Valley	6-	7-	0	0.548998	0.549020	0.548973	7.00	102.85	5.75	84.50
21	Cedar Crest	3-	6-	0	0.523866	0.443787	0.621740	3.75	106.10	4.70	64.55
22	William Penn	4-	10-	0	0.505325	0.365079	0.676737	4.60	145.60	8.00	69.55
23	Penn Manor	1-	11-	0	0.358699	0.118557	0.652207	1.15	129.30	8.55	68.95
24	Chambersburg Area	0-	10-	0	0.342198	0.000000	0.760441	0.00	148.40	7.60	46.75
25	York County School of Technology	0-	13-	0	0.238431	0.000000	0.529848	0.00	132.25	12.95	117.35

Lancaster-Lebanon League

Section One Standings

	League	Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PF	PA
McCaskey	6	2	0.750	6	6	0.500	705	661
Hempfield	5	2	0.714	8	3	0.727	607	528
Manheim Township	5	3	0.625	9	3	0.750	717	586
Cedar Crest	2	4	0.333	3	7	0.300	422	583
Penn Manor	0	7	0.000	1	12	0.077	587	781

Section Two Standings

	League	Overall
	W	L	PCT	W	L	PCT	PF	PA
Warwick	7	1	0.875	11	2	0.846	790	567
Lebanon	7	1	0.875	12	3	0.800	816	676
Conestoga Valley	3	5	0.375	6	7	0.462	706	765
Elizabethtown	3	5	0.375	4	7	0.364	503	569
Ephrata	0	8	0.000	2	11	0.154	559	679

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