Wildcats Trounce Seals, Forge Heartland Tie

AdminFebruary 1, 2017

2 minutes read

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BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP — Central Mountain basketball coach Scott Baker set two goals for his team this season, one a District 6 championship, the other a Heartland Conference crown.

While the district title is still to be determined, the Wildcats Wednesday night took a major step towards a first-ever Heartland title with a 79-64 home court takedown of Selinsgrove. Behind a record-breaking night from senior Kyle Everhart, Central Mountain moved into a first place tie with the Seals, both 7-1 with two Division I games remaining for each.

Coach Baker said it is his understanding that in case of a tie the conference would count each team’s overall record against all Heartland foes in all three divisions. Because Selinsgrove has a loss to Division II foe Southern Columbia, it is believed the Wildcats would earn the title . . . if they can win out against their remaining league opponents.

The Wildcats were sluggish early on against Selinsgrove, trailing 21-17 after one. Everhart kept CM in the game with three 3-pointers and 11 points in the first period. And the lanky senior never let up. By the time the game ended he would make a school-record eight (of 10 tries) three-pointers on the way to a personal high 35 points.

The old school single game record for 3-pointers in a game was six, a mark Everhart tied in a December win at Mifflin County. Others believed to hold a share of the old mark were Everhart’s older brother Tyler, Cole Renninger, Eli Hanna and Jonathon Prebble.

As the game unfolded, Everhart would pick up plenty of help from his teammates on both sides of the ball. Fellow guard Brody Baker found his range and pumped in four 3s and finished with 15 points. Matt Storeman added nine, Justin Neff six, Trevor Hanna and Wyatt Bumbarger with four, Nick Carpenetti with three and Collin Jones with two.

While Selinsgrove had some success with three-pointers, hitting 11 on the night (at times the game resembled an NBA contest), the Wildcats forced 18 turnovers and once they took the lead midway through period two they never looked back. They led 41-37 at halftime and when Everhart nailed his record-breaking seventh 3-ball a minute and a half into period three, the ‘Cats were up 47-41, part of a 12-4 run to open things up. Everhart would add his eighth 3-pointer in the fourth period as the Wildcats cruised to the win, avenging a one-point loss at Selinsgrove last month.

Division I games remaining for the Wildcats (now 13-4 overall) are Saturday afternoon at Shamokin (3-4; 4-13) and home next Wednesday, Feb. 8 with Shikellamy (4-3; 7-9). Other regular season contests are at Montoursville next Monday, Feb. 6 and a regular-season ending home contest with Huntingdon on Friday, Feb. 10.

The win over Selinsgrove will keep the Wildcats atop the District 6 Class 5A standings, Hollidaysburg in second place. Feb. 15 is the cutoff date to determine the district pairings later in the month.

You can view the entire video archive of the game here: http://therecord-online.com/site/?p=30521. We apologize for the technical difficulties where we lost the stream momentarily late in the game and for the audio drop out late in the post game wrap up.