Wildcats Falter Late Against Seals, 67-59

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – After falling to Lewisburg on Friday night, Wildcat head coach, Tyler Bardo, said his squad needed to develop more ’emotional energy’ to accomplish their goals on the court. The ‘Cats responded with plenty of energy tonight as they battled Selinsgrove. Unfortunately that energy didn’t last all 32 minutes of the game.

Central Mountain set the pace early outscoring Selinsgrove 17-13 in the first quarter and held a 32-28 lead at halftime. Then the ‘Cats continued to lead, 48-43 after three quarters of play. It was late in the fourth quarter that would prove the undoing for Central Mountain.

The Seals knotted the score at 53-all with 3:22 remaining in the game then took the lead at 56-54 with 1:53 left on the clock. A lead they would not relinquish.

Selinsgrove took advantage of errant passes, missed shots and Wildcat penalties to put the Seals in double bonus situation all the while converting those errors into more scores. When the dust settled the Seals had put together a 24-11 effort in the final period to board their bus with a 67-59 victory. It was only their second win of the season, the last coming on opening day, Dec. 7, 2018.

“You can’t turn the ball over. You can’t have unforced turnovers,” said Bardo after the game, “We have to come together when these things happen,” Bardo said of the late game adversity.

“We have to keep the mentality positive amongst ourselves on the floor,” Bardo shared about a potential remedy, “We just can’t have unforced turnovers in these situations. We had several opportunities to close where we missed layups, missed foul shots and had unforced turnovers.”

Collin Jones earned another double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds while Conner Soo added 10 points. Aiden Major and Zane Probst had 7 points each. JT Pentz contributed 6 points, Cayde McCloskey, with 5, Jake Skrtich with 3 and Tanner Lavelle with 2.

With the loss, Central Mountain drops to 4-13 overall, 4-7 in PHAC play.

The Wildcats will next host Tyrone in a non-conference contest on Monday, Feb. 4, 2019.