CM Boys Battle Back, Down Selinsgrove, 64-53

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Down by a 20-4 score late in the first period is not the best way to start a basketball game, but the Central Mountain Wildcats didn’t panic Wednesday night. Instead, in the words of head coach Tyler Bardo, they “hit the switch” and turned the pace in their favor on the way to an ultimate 64-53 triumph over visiting Selinsgrove.

The win put the Wildcats a win away from at least a share of the Heartland Conference crown. CM is now 10-5 overall, 7-2 in the Heartland with a trip to league doormat Midd-West (2-14; 0-7) set for Saturday. Jersey Shore is still a factor as the Bulldogs defeated Shikellamy 69-52 on Wednesday, the ‘Shore record now 9-9 overall and 6-2 in the conference (both losses to the Wildcats).

Central Mountain was slow out of the chute Wednesday night, knocked off pace by an early first quarter knee injury sustained by starting guard Trevor Hanna. It was 2-0 the Seals when he went down and Selinsgrove stayed hot, leading 20-4 at one point. Coach Bardo acknowledged the loss of Hanna (he is reported day-to-day) knocked the close-knit squad off its game. At that point, Bardo said, his squad had forgotten its game plan. But slowly and surely the Wildcats battled back, a 17-8 scoring edge in period two putting the halftime score at 28-26 in favor of the Seals.

The Wildcats pulled even at 28-all at the start of the third, fell behind at 35-30 but took the lead for good at 36-35 on an Izzy McCann lay-up. The Seals would hang close into the final period but Tyler Adair nailed a couple clutch 3s, Tanner Lavelle came off the bench with another and Matt Storeman drilled a trey to make it 54-49 CM with 3:25 to go. Storeman also went 4-for-4 from the foul line down the stretch after the ‘Cats had started the game at 0-for-6 from the free throw line.

Afterwards Bardo acknowledged the “huge” minutes from Lavelle, the defense from J.T. Pentz and Adair’s key three-pointers. Collin Jones led the offensive attack with 20 points, McCann next with 14. Storeman and Adair finished with 9 each, Lavelle with 8. Pentz and Addison Thomas each contributed 2.

Central Mountain has a rescheduled home game with Montoursville this Thursday and the trip to Midd-West on Saturday, games three and four this week for the Wildcats who won a road contest at Altoona on Monday.