CV Puts Throttle Down And Pulls Away From Pequea Valley (Article By Eric G. Stark)

Sometimes the loss of a superstar can create a stronger, more united team.

 

In the spring of 2025, the Conestoga Valley Buckskins boys’ basketball team faced a scenario that felt hauntingly familiar to a certain 2001 baseball team from the Pacific Northwest.

 

DeMere Salisbery, a breakout freshman all-star who had become the focal point of the offense, decided to leave CV to play for his father at McCaskey.

 

To the average fan in Lancaster County, it seemed like the end of hope for a championship—just as the departure of Alex Rodriguez to Texas for the biggest contract in baseball history made people think the 2001 Seattle Mariners were destined for mediocrity.

 

But that is not what happened. The 2001 Mariners, devoid of their superstar, did not collapse; they became a 116-win powerhouse built on incredible defense, balanced scoring, and a “sum of the parts” philosophy. Similarly, the 2025-26 Conestoga Valley Buckskins didn’t sink after losing their star—they rebuilt themselves into a tighter, more efficient unit.

 

Case in point: CV raced through the section schedule going 11-1, winning the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two title, the school’s first since 2015.

 

Saturday, they took care of business in the league quarterfinals, cruising to a 54-29 victory against Pequea Valley. It is the Buckskins second straight year making the league’s Final Four.

 

The Buckskins (11-1 section, 16-7 overall) will face Octorara, a 76-63 winner against Cedar Crest, in Tuesday’s semifinal at CV. 
While they were not predicted to be league leaders, the Buckskins’ narrative shifted from “What if Salisbery stayed?” to “Look how well these guys move the ball together.”

 

Instead of waiting for one person to score 25 points, the Buckskins began moving the ball with blistering speed. Head coach Jim Shipper relied on a balanced attack, with seniors like Toby Shaub, Josiah Garcia and Sawyer Esbenshade stepping into larger roles to shoulder the scoring load and Camryn Bair, Carter Gehman and Kylinn Noon emerging as stars in the making as underclassmen. Junior Jayden Conway, mixing muscle and speed, is also a spark off the bench.

 

The identity of the new-look Buckskins became strong team defense.

 

“I think even if DeMere came back it would have been a lot of the same focus,” Shipper said. “We hang our hat, and we talked about this at the end of last year, that we have to get better defensively, as a unit, not individually, but as a team. We really stressed that in the offseason. We probably work on our defense more than our offense. We believe our guys are going to make shots. For us to be successful, we’ve got to get it done on the defensive end. We can’t just try to outscore opponents. We have to play defense.”

 

To that end, Shipper said his quad played some of its best defense all season at the start of the Pequea Valley game, causing the Braves (5-5 section, 11-10 overall) to turn it over on nine of their first 11 possessions.

 

“I thought the first quarter was a little bit nerves for them (Pequea Valley),” Shipper said, “but a lot of it was our defensive intensity; it was probably as close to 100 percent as we’ve had all year in the first eight minutes of the game.”

 

It was balanced scoring and tough, aggressive defense. Five different Buckskins scored to start the game. Noon (eight points) got it going with a 3-pointer, Gehman (13 points) scored on a put-back, Esbenshade drained a trey, Schaub nailed a jumper from the top of the key on the right side and Garcia converted consecutive layups.

 

The Buckskins jumped out to a 15-0 lead after the first quarter and led 19-0 before the Braves’ Health Furlong hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 6:19 remaining in the second quarter. Furlong scored all seven of his points in the second.

 

After CV took a 21-3 lead on Gehman’s hoop inside, the Braves started chipping away. The Buckskins were a little careless with the ball, turning it over eight times in the second and momentum shift, just a bit. Once the Braves saw the ball go through the net, it was a different game.

 

“We really made a point to be more aggressive and embrace the physicality we were getting on at that end of the court and just take our changes getting the ball in and getting to the foul line or just get some shots off,” Pequea Valley coach Ehren Graybill said. “They (CV) started off shooting the ball hot. We knew averages should come down and they started missing. We also started scoring in transition a little bit to get us going. These boys haven’t had a game like this, their experience in big-time games like this. Maybe they were a little jittery in the first quarter.”

 

The Braves closed on the first half with a 6-0 run on a layup by Furlong and two buckets by Nolan Stoltzfus. PV scored eight of the last 10 points of the quarter, outscoring the Bucks 13-10 in the second, cutting CV’s lead to 35-25 at the break.

 

As the boys left the court, a fan on the Pequea Valley side yelled, “we are back in this.”

 

PV came out of the locker room on fire. Nick Donlen, team-high eight points, drained two 3-pointers and Owen Fisher scored on a layup. The Braves cut CV’s lead to 27-21. PV outscored the Bucks 12-10 for the quarter.

 

“We just needed to see the ball go through the hoop one time and that kind of got us going,” Graybill said. “We got back in it and gave ourselves a chance. Give credit to CV. They’ve got a great squad. Great defensive team. They got it done when it mattered late in the third and fourth quarters.”

The Bucks put their foot back on the gas at the start of the fourth, hitting three consecutive treys – one by Garcia and two by Esbenshade, who led all scorers with 16 points. CV started the final quarter with a 17-2 run to pull away.

 

 

For Graybill, the league playoff berth was special. The coach was a junior at Pequea Valley the last time the Braves made the league playoffs in 2004. He said he let the jitters get the best of him years ago. He didn’t want that to happen to his players.

 

“I tried to do what I could make them feel confident and get past that and they did for the most part” he said. “I think these boys fought pretty hard and I am very proud of them for that.”

 

Shipper has a connection to the Braves, having coached at Pequea Valley from 2013-14 through 2015-2016. His teams beat Lancaster Catholic in back-to-back years and collected the first-ever win at Catholic. But he never got the Braves to the league playoffs, a goal he had and one he’s glad to see Graybill accomplish.

 

“It was a little bit bittersweet, because when I was at Pequea Valley I loved my three years there,” he said. “I probably would have stayed there much longer if I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to go to Elizabethtown College and coach under (Bob) Schlosser. I truly loved my time at Pequea Valley, and my goal there was to get them to where (coach) Ehren Graybill was able to get them. And Ehren’s doing a great job. The community support there is outstanding. It is one of the best jobs in the L-L. It may not be on people’s radar. Being the leader of the Pequea Valley boys’ program was truly a blessing for me.” 

 

Now he leads a unified, cohesive group at Conestoga Valley.