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LL Finals @ TWP 2/18/11
Hempfield 61 McCaskey 53
Keeping with the trend of the Section 1 Champ losing to the runner-up in the LL finals(3 out of 4 including tonight), Hempfield erased a bitter memory from last week as they defeated McCaskey for the 2011 LL crown. A new coach, a new starting 5, and a new system..and it all worked in the finals. The Hempfield fans chanted "this one counts" as the final seconds ticked off. Hempfield claims its 7th LL crown and 2nd in a row. The first quarter looked like a repeat of last weeks game for the Section 1 crown, as both teams started very very slowly and neither one seemed to be bothered by the slow pace. Hempfield controlled the tempo and worked it inside to their big guy, 6"5" senior Lee Eckart. McCaskey also used its inside presence led by 6"4" Brian Newsome. The score after one, 10- 8 McCaskey —not really much for either side to build on at this point. A Newsome post gave McCaskey a 12-8 early in the second quarter. Hempfield would answer with a 10-0 , capped off by a three ball from Drew Johnson. As it always seems to be the case with these 2 teams, neither could control the game after some mini-runs. For example, McCaskey would go on a 6-0 run to tie it with 1:30 on the clock. Then, a huge play for the Knights. With time running down and McCaskey's defense pushing Hempfield outside, 6"3" Senior Ethan Strayer hit a bank three from 40 feet to end the half at 21-18. Sound familiar to the Section 1 game? Things would heat up during the third period. Hempfield stretched its lead to 7 at 25-18 on buckets by Eckert and Joey Farthering. As usual, McCaskey would answer. The Tornado would take a 31-27 lead with 3:13 on the clock. The Tornado would drive at the bucket, led by the threesome of Diante Cherry, Aaron Swinton , and Ty Martin-all getting to the rim and scoring points. A HUGE three ball by Mark Mangold , 6"4" jn swing, stopped the bleeding for the Knights. The Knights would hit 2 more threes, Strayer and Johson at the buzzer, to give the Knights a 2 point lead at 40-38. Everyone seemed to be waiting for a McCaskey run, but Hempfield did a good job taking care of the ball and answering any points that the Tornado scored. In fact the biggest "run" was a Hempfield 4-0 run at the end of the quarter as time ran out. McCaskey would cut the lead to 1 on a Cherry drive with 3:10 on the clock but could get no closer. Hempfield was not great from the line in the 4th (6 for 14) but made enough and made a lot fewer mistakes (2 turnovers in the 4th compared to 6 for Mccaskey) than McCaskey down the stretch to walk away with the LL crown. Stats unofficial Rebounds Hempfield 20 McCaskey 16 Blocks Hempfield 4 McCaskey 2 Turnovers Hempfield 11 McCaskey 14
Points
Swinton 11 Cherry 22 Hempfield Mangold 11 Farthering 22 Eckert 11 Quotables: Danny Walck Hempfield.."Our defense was too low in the earlier games. ..We came out a bit so the guards were not getting to the rim as fast....We played some matchup zone and switched some defenses to try to make them pass the ball a few more times.....We did not stall @ PM last week, but I think we stalled mentally..Tonight we kept attacking....Our team worked hard and after a 0-3 start it"s a great tribute to the players....They were very coachable throughout the season....You have to have Faith and Conviction in what we are doing." Sidelines....3 - man crew tonight. ....TWP parking is TERRIBLE. No other way to describe it. The traffic on Lititz Pike is bad enough during rush hour, but the line out of the city to TWP was brutal tonight....The LL should consider starting the Friday game at 8:00. No reason not to.....Lots of folks at the game- lots were late. ..No medals this year for either team (cost cutting comes to the LL) L ....LLBCA announced its All - Defensive team via LLhoops.com. The players were not in attendance tonight....Both McCaskey and Hempfield play Saturday as the districts begin. Hempfield plays S Western at Warwick due to the wrestling tournament.. McCaskey plays at home vs Mulenburg.Thanks to WGAL"s Pat Principe for keeping us company at the game. Check out WGAL"s website for selected video"s and scores of both boys and girls games throughout the districts. ..Kudos to District 3"s new website as they post game scores and brackets ASAP- nice.....LLhoops.com helped sponsor the finals on 1600 am. J
~ Dell Jackson
LL Semis 2/16/11
McCaskey 60 LS 48
McCaskey came out with fire in their
eyes tonight and you could tell they were determined not to fall behind
like they have done so often as of late. With L-S playing there changing
zone defenses, the Tornado guards weren't seeing any shots on the
perimeter so they just went inside to 6-4 Jr Brian Newsome and he
went right to the hole and scored their first six points all on easy
layups. L-S did go back and forth for awhile but McCaskey scored the
last six points of the quarter to take a 16-10 lead. Newsome had 8
points in the quarter.
~Jerry Shenk
LL section 1 Champ playoff @ Penn Manor Feb. 11, 2011
McCaskey 55 Hempfield 51 This was a good game by 2 good teams who have dominated Section 1 hoops for the past decade. What would one expect except for a good game? These titans met just two days ago in a regular league game as McCaskey won 54-52. Want some history? McCaskey has won the Section 1 title 8 times since 2000. Hempfield has won it 3 times, and the last 2 in a row. There has never been an LL playoff without either McCaskey or Hempfield in the field for the past 10 years. Both teams have met 2 times in the LL finals and might, just might, be on a crash course for another game in one week. The first quarter started out slow, which seemed to be an advantage to Hempfield. Hempfield ruled the boards in the first quarter as they scored inside on all of their points- Lee Eckart, 6'5" sn center, had 6 and Drew Johnson, 6'2" sn. Swing, had 4 on put backs. McCaskey got some fast breaks, but neither team could establish itself with its tempo or defense. 10-10 after one. Period two was another slow quarter. Ty Martin, 5'9" sn. guard, hit a jumper with 5:50 on the clock to give McCaskey a 15-12 lead. Diante Cherry, 5'10" soph. guard for McCaskey, picked up his second foul and spent the rest of the quarter on the bench. Hempfield switched over to a match up zone and the Tornado had trouble finding the range from the perimeter. The Knights finished the quarter on a 9-2 run as they led 21-18 at the break. The Knights opened up their offense to start the second half. Drives by soph. point guard Joey Farthering and fouls shots opened up a 25-18 lead early in the third. McCaskey changed its press to a diamond look, but Hempfield was not fazed. Two huge jumpers by #15, Mark Mangold , 6'4" Jn swing, for Hempfield and 2 foul shots by Johnson saw Hempfield open a 37-28 lead with 2:00 to go. McCaskey would answer with a three ball by Cherry and a drive by Martin. 37-33 at the end of three. Hempfield could never quite pull away from McCaskey. Every time it looked like the game was in hand, McCaskey would come back strong. A Hempfield 7-1 run gave them a 46-37 lead with 3:40 on the clock. A Cherry drive cut it to 46-39 but the Knights hit 2 fouls shots. Aaron Swinton , 5'9" soph point for McCaskey, hit a jumper and Cherry scored on a drive as McCaskey got the McCaskey crowd into the game—down 5 with 2:20 to go. After a made and missed foul by Hempfield, Ty Martin drilled a huge 3 ball to make it 49-46 with 1:25 showing...Then the fun began.... After a Hempfield turnover, Cherry drove and missed, got his own rebound and fed Blaise Glover, 6'4" junior, for a layup. 49-48 Hempfield at the :54 mark. Hempfield went deep vs. the McCaskey press and found Johnson. He got fouled but missed both. Martin hit a runner with 45 seconds left to give McCaskey its first lead at 50-49. Hempfield got fouled, and Farthering made both as now it was Hempfield in the lead 51-50 with 39 seconds left. Cherry drives again and scores..52-51 McCaskey with 27 ticks left. Hempfield got a 15 ft baseline shot, which bounced and bounced and bounced off the rim as the ball eventually wound up in Cherry's hand. Hempfield fouled and then fouled again because McCaskey was not yet in the bonus. Finally, Swinton went to the line and made one and missed one. Lee Eckart rebounded for Hempfield, but Swinton picked off the outlet. Swinton was fouled again. He missed the 1 and 1 with 6 seconds left, but rebounded his own miss and delivered a layup with 1 tick on the clock to clinch the win for the Tornado. Section 1 champs. Points Hempfield Eckart 15 Farthering 16 McCaskey Cherry 18 Martin 14 Swinton 9 Gantz 9 Stats—unofficial Rebounds Hempfield 25 McCaksey 17 Turnovers Hempfield 18 McCaskey 11 Blocks Hempfield 4 McCaskey 2 Quotables..Bird Powell, McCaskey.."We both play Monday..nobody gets any time off...It looks like both of us will play next sat. in a playin game for districts , but I'd rather be playing than not...We stayed positive even down by 7 with 3 minutes to go. We can score quickly and 7 points is not much in three minutes. ..We saw people leaving and said it was not over...We have to attack at both end...I told our kids to 'lock and load'—that's been our key phrase all year long." Sidelines...Many coaches scouting at the full house at PM. ..Lots of HS teams in team colors were out in force as well...Thanks to assistant PM Coach Erick Polaski with a helping hand in the stats....Also, thanks to the Guru of PA hoops, Jerry Shenk, and his buddy, Gary, for providing LLhoops.com with the point totals...Always fun to spend a night in the press box with Sunday News sports writer Mike Gross. Mike G is writing up Villanova tomorrow. Check it out..3 man crew for the refs tonight.
Check out great pictures of tonight's game at tornadoalley.com by Dave Porter.
McCaskey opens the LL at home vs AC..Hempfield travels to unbeaten Lancaster. Cath.
~Dell Jackson
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