Visiting Danville overcomes 20 point deficit, stuns Wildcat boys, 64-61
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – You had to see it to believe it. The Central Mountain boys’ basketball team hosted Danville Monday night and the Wildcats played some of their best hoops of the season early, running to a 20-0 lead just moments into the first quarter. CM could do little wrong, the Ironmen little right. But momentum would change and Danville would battle back, earning a stunning 64-61 win.
Ever so slowly did Danville crawl back and Central Mountain, hitting virtually everything early, slowed down, not as many shots dropping, turning the ball over and getting into foul trouble. Back came Danville from a 22-5 first period deficit to make it 36-29, the Wildcats lead down to 7 at the half. It was more of the same in period three, an 18-12 Danville split bringing the visitors to within one point, 48-47. And when Ironman junior guard Carson Persing hit the fifth of his five 3-pointers to start the final period, Danville took the lead for the first time at 50-48 and would never trail again.
Central Mountain had some opportunities down the stretch and pulled to within 1 at 60-59 but Danville made sufficient foul shots in the final minutes to stay on top. The Wildcats had one final shot at a tie at the buzzer, but Wildcat junior Jack Hanna had his shot just miss, setting the 64-61 final.
Hanna was unstoppable to start the game, scoring 11 points in the first three minutes, part of the ‘Cat 20 point run at the outset. He would finish with 18 on the night, including three 3-pointers. Cayde McCloskey swished four 3s and finished with a game-high 20 points. Hayden Pardoe finished with 10, Ashton Probst with 5, Brett Gerlach with 4 and Essex Taylor and Levi Schlesinger with 2 each.
Persing led a balanced Danville attack with 16 points, Hayden Winn off the bench with 15. The Ironmen had the edge at the foul line, making 14 of 19, including 7 of 7 in the final period when the game was on the line. CM went 6 for 9 from the charity stripe.
For Central Mountain it was a third loss in a row and left the Wildcats at 4-8; Danville is now 6-3. Central Mountain will be busy the rest of the week: Wednesday at Lewisburg (10-2), at Selinsgrove (2-8) Friday and home Saturday with Milton (9-4).
D 5 24 18 17 = 64
CM 22 14 12 13 = 61
