Wildcat Seniors Rule 58-42 over Shore

AdminFebruary 3, 2016

2 minutes read

Wildcat Seniors: Cordell Muthler (10), Alex Garbrick (12), Cole Reeder (5), Wyatt Koch (34) and Tyler Zablocki (11) were honored for their contributions to the Central Mountain boys’ basketball program.

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – The Wildcat vs Bulldog rivalry is alive and well. In a electric atmosphere, Central Mountain rediscovered their mojo from earlier in the season and romped to a Heartland Conference 58-42 win over neighboring Jersey Shore to celebrate Senior Night.

The pace of the game took a bit of time for the Wildcats to find their stride. With the tradition of starting all the seniors, it left some gaps in their normal offensive flow.

“One of the problems we had early was we had three senior post guys at the start,” said head coach Scott Baker, “We don’t have an offensive scheme for two post guys … let alone three. We were inventing stuff on the fly to give our seniors their their time to play,” Baker explained.

The scoring was a bit sluggish early in the game, but CM found the basket often enough to hold a 10-3 lead after one quarter. It only took about half that time for both teams to double that effort in the second quarter with the ‘Cats going up 21-6 with 3:35 left in the period. Central Mountain extended their lead in the second stanza to hold a 31-14 advantage at the break.

Although the Wildcat defense was stifling the Bulldogs, coach Baker can see room for improvement. “I don’t think we were exceptionally clean tonight. I got on our guys at halftime about that and I thought our guys responded to that in the second half,” commented Baker.

In the second half, Jersey Shore did pick up the pace a bit in the third quarter outscoring CM 13-9, although the Wildcats still held a 27 advantage.

The Bulldogs did battle back to only trail by 10 points on a couple of occasions in the second half, but the Wildcats responded in kind to maintain their lead edging Shore 18-15 in the final period for the 58-42 final.

In all, eight Wildcats scored showing a balanced attack with Alex Garbrick, 17 points; Kyle Everhart, 16 points leading the way. Brody Baker added 8 points, Justin Neff netted 6 points and Landon Breon scored 3 points. Cole Reeder added 3 points while Nick Carpenetti and Wyatt Bumbarger were credited with 2 points each.

There’s no rest for the Wildcats as they hit the road tomorrow, Thursday, Feb 4, 2016 for a game at Mifflinburg and then Host Shikellamy Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016.