Despite Fast Start, ‘Cream Of The Crop’ Flashes Muscle And Sizzle Over Time As Cumberland Valley Opens Title Defense, Holds Down Feisty Ephrata Squad In District 3-6A Opening Round Affair

Written by: Andy Herr on February 19, 2025

Ephrata Pregame Huddle Prior To Cumberland Valley Tip

For a litany of reasons, there isn’t anything much better on the local hoops landscape than that of the District 3 tournament.

No matter whether you’re talking about the boys’ or the girls’ side of the docket, among the many things that make it great is obviously where all roads hope to lead to – the Giant Center – and playing on the exact same stage where the state of Pennsylvania crowns its eventual statewide champions come March. But beyond that, it’s perhaps equally appetizing given how it matches up teams from around the mid-state that ordinarily would have no interaction whatsoever with one another quite frankly. Sometimes so much to where the classification levels might feel just a little bit “off.”

All that to say, while the record books will forever show that Tuesday night at Cumberland Valley was the site for an opening round playoff game for that of the 6A boys’, you wouldn’t necessarily be faulted if you thought that were was some sort of misprint. Allow me to explain please.

Coming into this year, the PIAA introduced its new cycle of realignment in terms of school enrollment numbers. With that, especially in the Lancaster-Lebanon League most of all, just about every single school within the conference was either bumped up to the class above where they had been located in prior years or stayed pat and right where they had been. In fact, quite possibly the only school that could’ve been viewed as the unofficial “victor” in said scenario was Lancaster Catholic, given that the Crusaders went down from 4A to 3A this winter.

So yes, that naturally included programs wading into waters which they largely hadn’t seen swimming in before. Chief among them, the Ephrata Mounts.

For years and years, the idea of seeing the purple and yellow competing against the biggest schools from around the state might’ve seen farfetched at best. After all, from 2005 onward, Ephrata hadn’t since been a member of the L-L Section One rank and file, the division where the league’s perennial giants roam. Even this year, new enrollment figures and all, while despite getting vaulted up to a 6A distinction, Ephrata nonetheless remained steady as a member of L-L Section Two instead.

And that’s before you take into account the slow burn and steady ascension that the Mounts have been on here for the last couple of years.

2018. For that was the last year in which Ephrata had been able to make its way into any sort of postseason. But that really only describes just a piece of their story and why this year was so pivotal.

Going beyond mentioning that eight-year stretch that was finally put to rest this season with the Mounts making it back into the playoffs, consider the fact that since that start of this 21st century, Ephrata had only finished above .500 on the year a mere seven times within that span of two and a half decades now.

Now, all that is to say, it’s not as if this 2024-25 campaign was totally out of left field necessarily, especially considering how the Mounts were coming off posting two of those aforementioned seven in back-to-back seasons entering this year with nearly the entirety of their roster who had consistently flashed promise of late slated to return for first-year head man and alum of the program himself, Matt Herbener.

But man, talk about making the proverbial step up right out of the box here. Never more would that be the case than Ephrata’s prize awaiting them on Tuesday night for their first District 3 playoff game since their 2018 opening round defeat against Lower Dauphin.

You want to play in 6A you say? Well, here you go. How about taking on the defending champs?

Rest assured, barring some sort of unforeseen mass exodus and demographic collapse, there will never come a day in which the Cumberland Valley Eagles are playing anything but 6A in school sports. In fact, the school’s population of 1,299 males might very well rival Ephrata’s entire enrollment altogether considering how the Mounts’ male enrollment stands at 593 by comparison. But beyond that, despite just having the inherit advantage when it comes to having the spoils of an overwhelmingly large talent pool to work with as the numbers would indicate, the Eagles have consistently proven themselves to one of the mid-state’s foremost franchises, not the least of which has transpired during the David Vespignani era most of all. And after getting agonizingly close to reaching the summit before falling to the eventual state champs, Reading High, in the 2023 District 3-6A final by way of double overtime, a game which to a man still haunts those in Eagles’ camp, Cumberland Valley was able to finally flash gold medals at Hershey for the first time in their storied history after taking down their Mid-Penn rival, Chambersburg, in last year’s title fight for their first District 3 crown in school history.

So, as mentioned off top, here’s one of those matchups that the district bracket routinely delivers on. Two programs with two vastly different histories coming together from worlds apart in a sense with the opportunity to go head-to-head with one another.

Yet in the end, while this would end up being one of those games in which “chalk” would hold serve, the margin of separation between the #14 and the #3 seeds may not be as drastic as perhaps first thought.

In fact, in terms of the initial few minutes, it would’ve been hard to decipher as to which team was making its first postseason appearance and which was looking to defend its title.

To be sure, while not only did Ephrata look to be just a step faster out of the gate, seeing Cumberland Valley turn it over on two of their first three offensive trips certainly didn’t hurt matters from the Mounts’ side of things as a Marqus Hardin floater in the lane propelled the visitors out to a quick 4-0 bulge on the overhead scoreboard hanging atop the CV Dome.

All told, it would take the hosts three minutes to finally get their sea legs in the terms of offensive footing as a take to the tin by way of Eagles’ 6’3 senior wing, JJ Lebo, gave Cumberland Valley their first field goal of the evening, albeit while still staring up at a 6-4 deficit at the time.

From there however, Ephrata continued to be warm to the fight as a pair of back-to-back triples sunk by the senior duo of Cooper Truskey and Landry Kopp respectively would push the Mounts’ cushion back upwards to a half dozen, 12-6, with 3:20 left to play in the first frame and the Ephrata contingent who made the westward trip obviously overjoyed by what they were witnessing.

And once the dust had settled on an opening eight minutes in which they had largely dictated the terms of engagement on, the first-time entrants to the postseason in nearly a decade found themselves up by a 14-11 count on the home floor of the defending 6A champions.

All that to say, if you have a program the likes of Cumberland Valley on the ropes, no matter what time during the game it happens to be, you must land a knockout blow. If you allow a smart, well-schooled, disciplined, highly efficient team the likes of this CV crew with any glimmer of light, it’ll likely turn into a full-on blaze. Well, here came the game’s second act. With no fire department in sight.

While this Cumberland Valley push got started in the way it normally does, with a tough-nosed Nolan Buzalka bucket inside, a deuce which sliced Ephrata’s lead down to the slimmest of margins at 14-13, a timely 3-ball dialed up by Lebo on the ensuing CV trip down the floor awarded Cumberland Valley their first lead of the evening, 16-14, with roughly five minutes left in an opening half that was defined by its “gradual” pace shall we say.  

Shortly afterwards, CV was seen working with their largest lead of the night up until that point by virtue of a 20-16 count following a successful 2-2 trip to the charity stripe courtesy of Creston Austin III as the Eagles’ talented 6’4 senior forward helped set the stage for a subsequent layup notched by Lebo, Lebo ending as a double digit scorer in his own right with a 11-point bucketing against the Mounts on Tuesday, before an emphatic 12-3 salvo over the course of the final five minutes and change inside the second quarter helped to usher Cumberland Valley into the clubhouse with what felt like a commanding 24-16 halftime advantage next to their name.

Yet come the third quarter, it was largely a case of more of the same.

Granted, while a timely 3-ball splashed in by the school’s all-time leader whether it be boys or girls, Cooper Truskey, helped to get Ephrata back within a seven-point gap at 28-21 with a shade over five minutes left in the third, Cumberland Valley only continued to show off their embarrassment of overall weaponry.

Until that point, Cumberland Valley had done the bulk of their damage scoring within the halfcourt. However, perhaps the opening play of the second half should’ve been a harbinger of things to come as a layup in transition capped off by Jared Dolimpio that was thrown and assisted courtesy of Nolan Buzalka saw that the Eagles were then off and running.

In fact, Dolimpio was only just getting started as fate would have it considering how yet another fast break deuce tallied by the wiry 6’2 sophomore guard –this of the far more emphatic version given that it culminated in a one-handed dunk – put Cumberland Valley up by a dozen, 34-22, with Ephrata prompted into calling a timeout with 4:09 left in the third to try and stem the tide somewhat.

And while this is a Cumberland Valley team where all the pieces seem to fit perfectly in a way that is just so complimentary, it’s equally imperative to mention that their 6’3 matchup nightmare, the one affectionally referred to as “Ox,” Nolan Buzalka, is arguably the straw that stirs the Eagles’ collective drink.

To be sure, aside from his physical stature that was undoubtedly carved and chiseled inside the Cumberland Valley weight room over the years, it was obvious as to why he had just been named to the state’s premier all-star football showcase, the Big 33, as Buzalka bullied an Ephrata defender in the paint — complete with knocking him off his pins and all – helping to make it a 37-22 Eagles’ lead later in the third period as Buzalka was well on his way to finishing with a 15-point showing.

Suffice to say, when the final quarter began with Ephrata placed inside a 44-27 hole, the time was now if the Mounts were to make a final go of things and get back to replicating the same type of showing they were able to exert inside the game’s opening frame.

They would do just that.

While having to work uphill against a team the ilk of Cumberland Valley is certainly not the most advantageous of tasks, the Mounts had no other choice while staring down the barrel of their season potentially being over in roughly 15 minutes of real time. However, thanks in no small part to work of the senior tandem found in Brayden Brown and Landry Kopp respectively and their successive hoops, the latter of whom would finish the night with a team-best 19-point clip, Ephrata had suddenly closed the gap back down to a much more modest ten, 49-39, with half of the final quarter set yet to be played.

But talk about having a flair for the dramatics. That’s precisely what Elijah Welsh would bring to the table from Cumberland Valley’s perspective right then and there.

Sure enough, the Eagles’ 6’2 junior wing couldn’t have picked a better time to tally his first points of the evening as a crucial Welsh take and finish at the cup on the ensuing CV possession following the Kopp bucket allowed the hosts to expand their lead back upwards to a dozen while helping to push Ephrata back to an arm’s length somewhat.

From there, the one who paced everyone on either team in terms of individual scoring accolades, Creston Austin III, finished off his 20-point body of work with a hoop inside shortly afterwards to then put CV back up by two touchdowns, 53-39, with two minutes and change remaining.

Yet while Truskey would continue fighting as evidenced by his firing in another of his trademark triples inside those final few minutes of play to trim the score down to a 55-44 difference, the Mounts’ flicker of light was about to be extinguished.

And once things had drawn to a close come nothing but zeroes showing up on the clock, it was a workmanlike 61-48 triumph in Cumberland Valley’s favor over a very game Ephrata squad that was anything but intimidated or overwhelmed when it came to playing against one of the standard-bearers found residing in this slice of the commonwealth.

Rest assured, that was something not lost on CV’s brass either.

“100-percent credit goes to Ephrata,” Cumberland Valley head coach David Vespignani said after coming out of his team’s winning locker room on Tuesday evening when asked about the game’s initial start. “We knew they were going to come out strong. We saw this was their first district game in eight years. They brought their whole community, they brought their students, and they punched us in the mouth,” Vespignani continued in lauding the Mounts. “But to our kids’ credit, we just kind of stayed within what we were trying to do and slowly kind of fought our way back,” he then remarked of his team’s subsequent turnaround.

“Going into half and being up eight (points), that was huge because I felt like we took their best shot,” Ves continued. “We were able to just weather that first initial storm and go from there. That’s what we were hoping for.”

“You see it so many times in that first round of districts. The team that wins their conference tournament, they seem to always start off just a little bit slow,” Vespignani, coach of this year’s Mid-Penn champions, would point out. “We did the same thing last year when we played Cedar Crest when it took us until the fourth quarter to finally flip that one around. For us, playing Mechanicsburg and playing Trinity (in the conference tourney), two local teams for us, two teams where our kids know their kids very well, there’s always that opportunity for a little bit of a letdown,” he admitted of this newfound opponent waiting his group come district play.

“But again, what I’m proud of and what we preach the most is that no one tried to turn it into hero ball, and nobody said, ‘I’ve got to do this, or I’ve got to do that.’ It was just a matter of taking a deep breath and calming down. We took their best punch, now let’s make our run back at (Ephrata).”

And with this win, not only does Cumberland Valley get to continue on its quest of trying to make it back to the District 3-6A grand finale for what would be the third-straight occasion, but the Eagles also now cemented themselves into the upcoming 6A state bracket all the same. Yes, while the job of tinkering and fine-tuning a team within a season is never truly done, there’s a lot to like with how this CV squad is constructed for this stretch of the season and the styles of play in which they can beat you with. Their coach knows it too.

“What we love more than anything is that we don’t rely on just one kid to score. We don’t rely on just two kids to score. We have five kids that can go and make a shot, make a play, make a pass, make a rebound,” Vespignani said confidently. “These guys are so unselfish. That’s what we’ve been trying to build. This concept of, ‘Give up a good shot for me, get a great shot for you.’ We’ve said this in years’ past, but these kids really don’t care who is the guy to score the most points. JJ Lebo is a great example of that,” he remarked. “As a senior, he’s come out and really been our defensive guy. Last year, he was a scorer for us. Now, he’s kind of yielded some of that (scoring) to take on a different role. Aiden Diehl was a shooter last year. This year, he’s more of a ball-handler,” he continued. “To their credit, everyone has been willing to ask, ‘Coach, what do you need? What do you need from me in order for us to win?’”

“Obviously you always wish that you had this, or you had that,” Vespignani said in terms of pieces here and there that are not coming through the door this year. “I’d love to have a little, athletic point guard that can just get us into things. I’d love to have like a 6’9 kid around the basket,” he continued in good humor of next year’s Christmas list. “But you take who shows up for you and these kids have just boughten into the whole concept of team.”

On the other side, while the hour-long bus ride back to Lancaster County figured to be long enough in its own right, the fact that this would be the final time in which the Ephrata Mounts would be together as a team as far as its 2024-25 edition, that too made Tuesday night just as difficult. Yet final result notwithstanding, this appears to be a Mounts program that has the makings of being on the rise, especially considering the fight in which they demonstrated on this evening in particular.

“I do,” Ephrata head man Matt Herbener said without hesitation prior to boarding that team bus home afterwards when asked if he felt as if his team had fired all their proverbial bullets in against Cumberland Valley. “It’s funny. We as a staff were saying, ‘Man, I hope they win the Mid-Penn championship.’ Not this game feels like a letdown, but how do you regroup after winning a championship, you know?”

“But we talked about that. We talked about needing a hot start,” said Herbener of the message pregame. “I mean, we couldn’t have asked for a better start…Eight-minute chunks. Get to the second quarter. Get to the half,” he continued. “At the half, we were still in the game. But that third quarter there was really the dagger. We hung around though, and we got it to ten (points) there in the fourth quarter…We just couldn’t get a single 50/50 ball or a bounce to go our way,” Herbener bemoaned of his team’s second half. “I feel like (Cumberland Valley) got everything to go their way, but that’s just basketball,” he said while still being able to flash a proud smile.

Proud for many reasons. But certainly for the way in which his team, the same one he was once played for, was able to look eye-to-eye with a giant.

“The biggest thing is, I’m just proud of these guys,” Herbener said just a few minutes after his first season on the bench at Ephrata had just concluded. “When I first took the job and envisioned what our team would look like, it would be exactly the way they played tonight and the effort they gave,” he offered of his troops on this stage. “Cumberland Valley is the cream of the crop. We said all this year, ‘6A basketball is no freaking joke.’ I thought we went out there and showed that we belong.”

“I’m just so proud right now,” Herbener, also known as ‘Herbie,’ said in closing. “This was the first time we made districts in eight years. We, well, they, were so close the last two years in doing that…I’m very happy with this season. Our JV’s, our younger grades, they’re going in the right direction too. I’m really happy with where we’re at right now.”

And if ever they needed some sort of tangible proof of their believed upward trajectory, the gap between Ephrata and one of the foremost 6A power brokers isn’t nearly as seismic as perhaps once thought. Tuesday night at least certainly helped show them evidence of that.

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