Wildcats Down Tyrone, 58-51

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP — The wins keep coming for the Central Mountain boys’ basketball team. The Wildcat victory streak reached six on Monday night, a 58-51 win over visiting Tyrone. The triumph put Central Mountain at 11-3 on the year and maintains the Wildcats’ top spot in the District 6 Class 5A rankings. Tyrone falls to 9-4 with the loss.

The win did not come easily as the home team had to fend off a late Golden Eagle rally. Wildcat coach Scott Baker said his team played well in the first half, the team hitting seven 3-pointers on the way to a 31-19 lead after two quarters. But as Baker noted, “Live by the 3, die by the 3, and we just survived.”

There were seven ‘Cat treys in the first half but just two in the second half as Tyrone kept pecking away, cutting the lead to three at 53-50 with 1:14 remaining. But Wildcat senior Justin Neff hit the front end of a one-and-one foul shot opportunity and followed that with a steal and put away to open a 56-50 lead with 47 seconds to go, effectively sealing the win. Senior guard Brody Baker added two late foul shots, the game ending at 58-51.

Neff finished with a team-high 16 points, followed by Wyatt Bumbarger with 12 (on four 3-pointers), Baker with 10 and Kyle Everhart and Trevor Hanna with 8. Other points came from Collin Jones and Matt Storeman with 3 each.

Central Mountain will return for three more home games over the next 10 days: this Wednesday with Midd-West (5-10), Friday with Hollidaysburg (9-6) and next Wednesday, Feb. 1 Selinsgrove (13-3) will visit. Hollidaysburg and Selinsgrove each defeated the Wildcats on their home courts.

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