Central Mountain boys move to 5-0 with road win over Montour, 76-59

MONTOURSVILLE PA – The Central Mountain boys’ basketball team continues to put up points and continues to put up wins. Monday night saw a trip to Montoursville and the host Warriors stayed with the Wildcats through one period, but coach Tyler Bardo’s team pulled away for a 76-59 win.

The Wildcats won their fourth straight road game and fifth overall in a 5-0 start. The Warriors dropped to 2-3 with the loss.

The game was 14-14 after one as the Warriors threw a zone defense at the Wildcats. ‘Cat coach Bardo said after a slow start, his team bounced back well in adjusting to the Warrior defense. He said, “Every game has presented different challenges for us, and tonight was no different. Credit the guys with communicating with each other and embracing the challenges.” By halftime CM led 35-25.

6-6 senior Haydn Pardoe tossed in 35 points, including 20 in the first half and fellow senior all-star Jack Hanna was next with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Sophomore Hunter Hoy added 6 points on two 3s as nine different Wildcats scored, and the team netted nine 3-pointers in all. Other scorers were Caleb Mahoney, 5; Brady Myers and Xavier Persun with 3; Levi Schlesinger and Jeremy Reese, 2, and Essex Taylor with 1.

The Wildcats will be in a holiday tourney next week at Penns Valley. They’ll open with the Juniata Indians (4-1) on Wednesday, Dec. 28 with a Thursday game against an opponent to be determined.

CM  14 21 25 16 = 76

M     14 11 13 21 = 59