12th-Seeded York High Looks Anything But As Bearcats Squash Second Straight Opponent, Roll Past Cedar Crest En Route To District 3-6A Semifinal Round
Written by: Andy Herr on February 21, 2026
They are the types of moments that every athlete dreams of. Those instances where you indelibly leave a mark so high – and so significant – that there is no real dispute as to what your most memorable moment was over the course of your entire career that ranks above all others.
For one Cedar Crest Falcon, that came true earlier this week – during his freshman season no less.
With time winding down and Cedar Crest staring up at a two-point deficit while out on the road at Muhlenberg with just a smidge over three seconds remaining and the length of the floor yet to travel, it seemed as if this Falcons’ 2025-26 campaign was about to end in this, the first round of the District 3-6A playoffs on Tuesday night save for a miracle going in their favor.
Well, whether you’d consider it divine intervention of just the natural development of a player making a play, Cedar Crest’s Jayden Truss, a freshman already having inserted himself inside the Falcons’ rotation, was fouled in the act of shooting a three, sending the youngest member of this incredibly young Cedar Crest contingent to the line all by his lonesome with exactly 0.0 showing on the game clock with the three-fold possibility hanging in the air of either missing two which would have ended the Falcons’ season right then and there, make two which would send the game into an extra frame, or sink all three and to send the Falcons home a winner in true walk-off fashion.
And to his credit, after calmly knocking down the biggest one, the first, Truss’ second in the offering rolled off rim, leaving this to be the quite literally the biggest shot found at any one point during the Falcons’ entire season. There, after taking time to regroup and collect himself, Truss proceeded to can the third in the offering, sending Cedar Crest into the overtime session with nothing but unbridled momentum as Muhlenberg was still in a collective state of shock that they had not successfully withstood those final few seconds.
In extra time, Cedar Crest made the most off their second chance on life as the Falcons proceeded to double up the Muhls during the additional four minutes to the tune of a 12-6 difference, not just vaulting Cedar Crest in the quarterfinal round of the 6A tournament courtesy of this successful 66-60 overtime verdict against Muhlenberg, a team that had already bested them back in early December, not just propelling this young Falcons’ squad into the state tournament bracket come just a few weeks’ time for what will be the program’s sixth visit there in school history, but it also made young Jayden Truss a Cedar Crest folk hero for all eternity as the Falcons’ 9th-grader most certainly leaves a high bar for himself to overtake over the course of his next three seasons while wearing the blue and gray.
The thing was, 13th-seeded Cedar Crest wouldn’t be the only team wreaking havoc on that side of the 6A bracket on Tuesday night.
Ironically, in the very next game down, York High, a wildly under-seeded #12 team that features arguably the best player in all of District 3, Nasir Barnes, controlled things from tip to final gun inside one of the hardest venues to play in all the state, the Geigle Complex, as the Bearcats rolled into Reading High and promptly rolled out with a commanding 86-69 victory over the Red Knights to vault into the next round – with a home game back in the White Rose city no less – considering Cedar Crest’s successful jaunt just a stone’s throw away over at Muhlenberg in the game opposite.
And while Jayden Truss might’ve been the singular reason as to why Cedar Crest found themselves with a trip to York city on Friday night to tangle with the Bearcats, there really is no doubt as to who York High’s focal point continues has been and continues to be.
All that is to say, don’t fault Nasir Barnes if he did his homework leading into Friday night’s contest against Cedar Crest and was suddenly found salivating at the opportunity. After all, you’d be hard-pressed to argue with the York High junior guard if he were considering how he has already left a trail of destruction behind in his wake when playing against fellow Lancaster-Lebanon League Section One competition this season considering his 38-and 34-point showings against McCaskey and Hempfield respectively, performances which rank T-2 and T-4 on the lefty’s hit list in terms of high-water marks in games this season in which Barnes leads all District 3 boys’ and girls’ scorers — regardless of classification level – at a sultry 29.2 points per game.
Yet while York High may have one stud most notably in their arsenal, as they soon demonstrated against Cedar Crest on this night, the sum of their parts isn’t too shabby either.
If the one of the primary goals listed on head coach Kerry Glover’s whiteboard back in the York High locker room listed off something akin to “start fast,” rest assured that his squad would heed that call in spades out of the chute.
In fact, after spotting Cedar Crest their first – and only – lead of the night following a Jemar Pauleus trifecta which made it a 3-2 lead in favor of the visiting Falcons, a timely triple down on the other end courtesy of Nasir Barnes just as quickly made it a 5-3 Bearcats’ advantage with 6:20 left in the first.
As mentioned, that would prove to be final lead change for the remainder of the contest.
From there, after spotting Barnes his second of three buckets sprayed in from beyond the arc inside the opening frame which saw the York High cushion swell out to a 14-5 difference not even a full two minutes’ worth of gametime later, the dam had already appeared to burst on the guests.
And once it did, following the third of Barnes’ treys sunk inside the opening eight minutes which then pushed the margin out to a 19-5 count with 3:30 left to play, another Bearcats’ trey from bonus distance, this one via the efforts of fellow junior guard, Sincere Burgos, made it a commanding 27-12 York High with Cedar Crest already having to fight mightily uphill with the first quarter not even having yet been concluded.
Fittingly though, considering how it was his efforts in particular which paved the way for Cedar Crest to even have the opportunity to play in this game at all, a pair of Jayden Truss takes to the cup inside the waning stages of the first frame at least gave the Falcons a brief spurt of momentum, even while the first quarter buzzer would blare with York High seen possessing the sizable 31-16 lead all the same.
Now, even despite this precarious position in which the visitors from Lebanon County suddenly found themselves in a manner so quick it probably felt as if it had hit them like a ton of bricks right when walking off the bus and into the gym on Friday night, Cedar Crest did their best to at least settle down somewhat and begin the process of trying to weather through this current storm.
With that in mind, an Antonio Tirado take to the cup which then preceded a Jaxon Bechtold bucket in transition was exactly what the doctor had ordered for Cedar Crest right then and there as the Falcons had gradually trimmed the gap down to a much more manageable dozen, 35-23, with now inside of four minutes left in the second quarter and the potential for some sort of continued, prolonged Cedar Crest salvo prior to the halftime intermission at least potentially in the cards from the Falcons’ perspective.
In truth, while a take to the rack by way of York High’s Elijah Minter would then push the difference back up in the form of a 41-27 margin with all of 90 seconds remaining in the opening half, that same 12-point window would stand sturdy once the teams went away to regroup inside their respective locker rooms for the halftime break as York High continued to own the lead, 41-29.
However, if Cedar Crest was expecting the Bearcats to extend even more olive branches in their direction once the second half got underway, any of those desires and notions were quickly put to bed.
One of the primary reasons for that refusal being Brandon DeShields Jr as the York High senior big man began the third quarter with a flurry in tallying the first two Bearcats’ field goals to begin the second half, a four-point addition to what became DeShields’ 12-point body of work chipped in against Cedar Crest on this night.
Later, while Cedar Crest would successfully cut the gap down to the slimmest difference it had been since way back in the first stanza at 41-31, that must’ve felt like eons ago once Elijah Minter would proceed to bury yet another triple, one of seven sprayed in by the entire York High contingent on Friday night, this one making it a 50-33 Bearcats’ cushion with 4:25 left to play in the third.
Yet the most ironic, perhaps stunning development that came part in parcel with this now mammoth-sized, near 20-point bulge from the Bearcats’ side of things? The fact that Nasir Barnes, the aforementioned leading scorer in all of District 3, had been shutout since the waning moments of the opening frame.
Finally, and even though York didn’t necessarily need his scoring exploits as this game continued to take shape, Barnes would at long last quench his thirst for a bucket by then knocking down a jumper in transition on the ensuing trip down the floor following the Minter trifecta with Barnes nonetheless going on to finish as the team’s leading scorer on the night by tossing in a baker’s dozen once the dust had finally settled to pace the Bearcats’ machine.
But as mentioned, this was a night in which York High demonstrated that they are far more than just a one trick pony operation.
And never did that sentiment perhaps ring the most true than when Jaishan Matte would toe the stripe and knock down a pair of free throws before a take the tin by way of Tai Maxfield saw the York High sophomore and junior tandem become the 9th and 10th Bearcats to find the scoring column – all prior to the conclusion of the third frame – with the Maxfield deuce making it a 62-35 contest and the possibility of the mercy-rule being triggered suddenly becoming a very real discussion point with the fourth quarter getting set to commence and the hosts continuing to hold serve by virtue of the 64-39 advantage.
Then, with the eventual outcome of this one already a foregone formality by that point, any and all Bearcats dressed in uniform got the opportunity to step right up and make plays for themselves heading down the final stretch.
First up in that regard once the final act got underway? The youngest Bearcat of them all ironically enough as the lone freshman on the York High varsity roster, Ny’Rubio White, completed an old-fashioned three-point play 1:50 into the final frame which then pushed the gap close that 30-point plateau needed to set off the running clock, 68-39, with the York High starters already long having since cooled down given their prolonged rest while sitting on the bench following their yeoman’s work already accomplished against Cedar Crest.
And while the Falcons’ cast would have their own moments of sorts inside the final period, such as the case once senior forward, Owen Outman, canned a triple which came before a tough and determined take to the cup via Cedar Crest junior guard, J’Cian Gentry, making it a 70-47 ballgame, the final punctuation point put on this impressive York High performance that lasted largely from opening tip all the way up until to final gun came in the form of a Lamar Winkey bucket at the cup inside the final minute which saw the sophomore guard become the 11th Bearcat of the 13 who received minutes on this night to hit the scorebook in what became an emphatic 72-50 York High triumph that in turn propelled this grossly under-seeded #12 squad into the semifinal round of the District 3-6A playoffs with an upcoming date against the #1 seed, Central Dauphin, awaiting York’s arrival on Tuesday in the aftermath of this victory over Cedar Crest.
Afterwards, while holding the leading scorer on this York High club to his lowest output this entire season – and for just the second time in which he had failed to hit 20 points in a game this year period – Cedar Crest would’ve certainly liked to have started the negotiation process with that right in regards to holding Nasir Barnes to nearly 17 points below his scoring average.
“Yeah, I would’ve thought we had a pretty good chance of coming out on top,” Cedar Crest head man Tommy Smith remarked of the odds likely being in he and his team’s favor provided they knew that going into Friday night. “But their supporting cast was awesome tonight.”
“They shot the ball well. They shot the ball really, really well,” Smith continued with added emphasis of York High as a whole. “They put us in a hole right from the start and then it’s just trying to crawl and scrape your way out of it. We got it to ten there in the second half, but then we just couldn’t put the ball in the basket….They were making shots and we didn’t.”
Sure, while getting beat by 20+ is certainly not the way you want to bow out of the traditional district playoff bracket, and while the term “moral victory” might as well be right up there with a curse word in the Cedar Crest vernacular, for a core group of players that undoubtedly has their brightest and best days still out there on the horizon in front of them, that previous victory over Muhlenberg not just provided this young Falcons’ squad with a state playoff berth, but it also gives them additional practices – much less four additional games counting Friday night – for this cast to gain even more seasoning in scenarios like this to further marinate. For that, while losing isn’t acceptable, Smith, a 200+ time winner during his time in leading the Cedar Crest bench, knows that these are lessons and experiences he couldn’t possibly get across via word of mouth alone.
“The time on the court, putting the kids in situations that they wouldn’t normally be in, especially the young kids,” the 16th-year, 10th winningest coach in L-L history said detailing what this 2025-26 unit can add to their toolkit following that first round win that comes with all these extra spoils. “Like the other night (against Muhlenberg), a freshman on the court with no time on the clock who has to make two foul shots to send it to overtime, three to win, you can’t replicate anything like that in any type of practice or any type of open gym. You just can’t,” said Smith. “That’s why that game was huge. Even tonight, coming down here and playing in this great environment against this team, our kids got an experience here that’s going to help them grow and hopefully have it pay off down the road.”
As for the winning head man, York High’s Kerry Glover, there probably couldn’t have been a better scenario for the way in which Friday night’s game ultimately unfolded if he had his druthers.
“We came out and made sure that our focus was getting everybody to touch the ball early. Everybody touching the ball early,” the second-year Bearcats’ coach, formally the Columbia Crimson Tide head coach, said of the emphasis surrounding Friday night’s tussle against Cedar Crest. “That just gives everyone confidence,” Glover explained. “Just seeing the way we shot the ball, we have multiple guys that can shoot the ball, and shoot the ball really well, that was really good to see.”
Certainly not a bad deal either when your primary headliner gets to sneak off on the side stage while you will still win going away too, eh?
“The player that Nas is, he’s the one that draws the attention from the fans, the opposing teams, the coaches, and just basketball savants because of how he plays the game. They know the type of impact he can have with the way he can control the game. But he’s not the best shooter on our team,” Glover said of Nasir Barnes. “He may be the best player, difficult shot-maker, and he’s the best all-around scorer obviously, but we have other guys that can shoot it…When he’s set on distributing the basketball like that, it’s dangerous.”
“For him, this is a conversation that goes way back because of the relationship I have with his dad where we grew up together, graduated together,” Glover said of the kindship shared between he and both the eldest and youngest member of the Barnes’ family. “Nas hears two names and he knows what mode to go in…When I say, ‘Magic Johnson,’ he knows that he needs to distribute and find his other guys. Bill Russell, that’s his dad’s favorite player. That’s the G.O.A.T. 11 championships. When I say, ‘Bill Russell,’ he knows that means its winning time. Then for me, I’m a Kobe guy,” Glover said with a laugh of the final name in the rolodex. “When I say, ‘Kobe,’ that means the other team might be in the middle of a run, but I need you to take over the game right now,” Glover mentioned. “Tonight, he was just taking what they were giving him and he didn’t force anything…I know he had a lot of assists in the first half. I think one of my coaches had seven (Barnes assists) while another had five. Either way, that’s great. That’s what he did against Reading. Yeah, he had 33 points, but he also had nine assists.”
“I told him, ‘When you’re playing the game like that, it’s hard for the other team to try and keep you in check,’” Glover of the pair’s conversation post-Reading victory earlier this week. “They don’t know if he’s going to be scoring the basketball or if he’s going to be a willing passer because the kid can flat-out pass. Sometimes that part of his game gets overshadowed because he can score the ball so well.”
Now, whether anyone could’ve accurately predicted this York High team to be one of the final four District 3-6A outfits left standing entering this weekend after beginning the journey all of five slots away from being left out of the field altogether, this Bearcats’ team is as legit as they come. Seed lines be damned.
“The kids that we have are completely different from the kids of York High past,” the former alum turned current head coach remarked of this ensemble he now leads. “They may not have that outdoor park grind and toughness that’s a part of their journey because there’s a lot more indoor stuff as today’s generation is with trainers and all of that,” Glover continued. “But for these guys, they play much better when there’s a chip on their shoulder. They play much better when they’re the underdog. When we’re quote, unquote favored, we don’t usually play with that same type of intensity,” Glover shared candidly.
“Obviously I like it,” he remarked of being counted out and bet against in closing. “And I like what my guys do when they feel the same type of way about it.”
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