Wildcats Down Bearcats, 68-42

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Struggling a bit with its offense early-on, the Central Mountain boys basketball team was still able to control the flow of its Monday afternoon contest with Huntingdon, steadily pulling away for a 68-42 win over the visiting Bearcats.

With its 3-point game kept in check into the fourth quarter, the Wildcats relied on an improved performance inside, riding 10 early points for a 10-0 lead and never trailed. Justin Neff put up six in the early run, complimented by Kyle Everhart’s four, all from relatively close range. Huntingdon never did completely recover, trailing 14-10 after one quarter.

Coach Scott Baker said, “We have been working on our inside play and I was pleased we established ourselves around the basket.”

Coming off a 67-58 win at Mifflin County last Friday night, a contest which saw the Wildcats drain 11 3-pointers, the first “three” didn’t fall today until Everhart aced one with 5:27 left in the game, putting Central Mountain up by a 48-33 score. He followed with another trey 34 seconds later to make the score 51-33, part of a 25 point Wildcat final quarter to seal away the victory over Huntingdon, now 5-3.

Coach Baker liked his team’s defensive effort throughout the game, successful in pressuring Huntingdon on the perimeter. The visitors finished with five 3-pointers but two of those came well into the final quarter after the issue was decided.

Everhart followed his 29 point performance against Mifflin County last week with 22 on Monday, Neff next with 14 points. Nine different CM players scored. They included Trevor Hanna with 8; Collin Jones, 6; Brody Baker, 5; Wyatt Bumbarger and Nick Carpenetti, 4; and Matt Storeman and Yash Adroja, each with 3.

The win put Central Mountain at 5-1 on the year with a major home test scheduled for Wednesday night against Williamsport (6-3). And a Heartland Conference showdown is scheduled at Selinsgrove (5-2) this Friday.