Storeman Buzzer-Beater Saves Wildcats

cm-basketballBALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – You rarely see buzzer-beaters in high school basketball, but the several hundred fans at the Central Mountain High School gym got treated to one Wednesday night.

With Central Mountain trailing unheralded Mifflinburg 67-66 with 14 seconds to go, the Wildcats worked the ball around for a final shot. It fell into the hands of junior guard Matt Storeman; he calmly drained a 3-pointer with a second on the clock, giving the Wildcats the lead and the win at 69-67. Storeman’s game-winner came at the far end of the CM gym. He followed his fade-away jumper backpedaling to the entrance end of the gym where he was mobbed by the Wildcat student section.

For Mifflinburg, 3-9 coming in, it was a heart-breaking loss. The visitors stayed close throughout, the teams trading points down the stretch until Storeman nailed his game-winner. The visiting Wildcats were led by their junior point guard Tanner Stoltzfus who kept his team in the game in the second half, scoring 22 of his game high 28 points in the final two quarters. But it was Storeman’s “3” which pulled out the game for Central Mountain.

Coach Scott Baker called the win “ugly” but lauded Storeman for his “big shot to pull us through.” Baker said there was not set play for the final shot, expressing confidence in his team’s ability to “play through” to set up the last shot.

The game had all the markings of a “trap” game for the Wildcats, coming off their best performance of the year, a 73-55 Monday night win at Loyalsock (10-3). But Central Mountain did enough to escape with the win to move to 9-3 on the year, next up a trip to Jersey Shore (3-7) on Saturday night.

Wyatt Bumbarger had a 3-pointer in every quarter for Central Mountain, pacing the Wildcats with 20 points. Kyle Everhart was next with 14, Storeman with 12. Other points came from Nick Carpenetti, 7; Collin Jones, 6; Trevor Hanna, 5; Izzy McCann and Brody Baker, 2 each.

Next up for Central Mountain is a visit to rival, Jersey Shore, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Jan. 17, 2018 1 2 3 4 TOTAL
MIFFLINBURG 8 18 19 22 67
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN 16 14 17 22 69

Halftime Musical Chairs

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Back to top button