Benne, Penn Manor Shine Bright As Comets Hold Down Lebanon Amid Mason’s Magnificent Performance
Written by: Andy Herr on February 2, 2023
It’s downright crazy to fathom this, but a quick look at the calendar shows that the end of the regular season is fast approaching. As in a matter of days fast approaching to be exact. And sure, while some teams are either sitting pretty, or trying to reach for their favorite stress reliever of choice when it comes to their situation heading into the final week of the campaign in terms of snatching up a postseason bid, there are other schools who it seems may have their ultimate destiny already spelled out for them.
In the Lancaster-Lebanon League in 2022-23, two squads who could fit such a description would be the Lebanon Cedars and the Penn Manor Comets. Now sure, while it might’ve been easy to overlook a matchup between two teams hailing from Section One that met up with one another while sporting combined 9-28 records between the two of them –wins all of which came via the Comets – the talent, much less the performances, put on display inside Lebanon’s venerable gymnasium on Thursday night would have never lent credence as to why these were two teams that were found as far below the water table as they were respectively coming into this particular affair.
And right from the jump no less, it was apparent that scintillating performances would quickly be in store for all to bear witness to.
Case in point, Penn Manor’s Ethan Benne coming out of the chute firing on all cylinders given the 6’5 junior wing’s trifecta of treys to begin the scoring for the guests on this night as Benne’s ultra-quick start propelled the Comets out to an early 9-3 advantage not even two minutes in.
However, not to be outdone, Lebanon’s Emanuel Mason was up to the task and then some in his own right.
As far as the Cedars’ senior was concerned on this here his senior night, the Lebanon stretch 4 proceed to do exactly that inside the initial few minutes of Thursday night’s divisional clash as evidenced by his four, count em four, triples sunk in the early going as the latest in Mason’s first quarter scoring antics cut the Comets’ lead down to a 17-12 difference with just over three minutes left to be played in the opening stanza.
From there, as hard it may have been to believe given the highly prolific shooting display from beyond the arc up until that point, largely thanks to the efforts of Benne and Mason as mentioned, there would also be scoring found inside the semi-circle as well. For that, Penn Manor was able to lean on the efforts of the other fellow big man found along the Comets’ frontline, Dhamir Wesley, as the 6’5 junior big man tallied a deuce inside later on to put the visitors up by seven, 23-16, before the wildly entertaining opening eight minutes eventually concluded with Penn Manor holding serve at 25-16.
Now sure, while the one referred to as “EMan”, Emanuel Mason, was far and away the headliner for Lebanon inside the opening frame, another Emmanuel, Emmanuel Suarez, took his turn at steering the Cedars’ ship once the second frame got underway. In fact, following five straight points accumulated by the sophomore guard, the Comets’ cushion had been closed back down to single digits at 29-21 with over six minutes still left to tick off the second quarter clock with no one not named a version of Emanuel having cracked the scoring column for Lebanon in an odd twist of fate.
But speaking of Mason most specifically, rest assured that he would have his fingerprints all over this contest.
Granted, while Penn Manor did little to cooperate when it came to allowing the margin of separation to become anything less than a handful throughout much of the evening, eight straight points tallied by Mason –including what would be his sixth triple inside the opening 16 minutes — kept the Cedars within the fight by and large at 37-28 with inside of three minutes left in the second quarter. And by the end of it all, a frantic first half would eventually end with Penn Manor still having ownership of the lead at 40-31.
When looking at Penn Manor’s roster at first glance, the Comets’ overall size and height is something that almost immediately jumps off the page at you. Hard to argue too when you consider that three of the Comets’ starting five stand at 6’4 or taller when you factor in Ethan Benne, Dhamir Wesley and Nate Schmidtke respectively, a towering block that very few teams found around this part of the universe would be able to successfully match up with inch for inch. And with that in mind, it was understandable as to why the Comets came out of the intermission with the clear intent of knowing how to best butter their bread as a pair of buckets inside thanks to Wesley and Schmidtke got Penn Manor off to a solid start to begin the third frame.
Sure, while there of course had to be an Emanuel Mason trifecta sprinkled in there just for good measure, a trey which would signify his seventh of the contest just a 1:11 into the third, an old-fashioned three-point play courtesy of Wesley just as quickly upped the visitor’s lead to 15 at 49-34 with 5:40 still yet to go in the quarter. From there, much in the same vein as he begun the contest, Benne went right back to work outside the arc as his fourth and final 3-ball awarded Penn Manor their largest lead of the evening at that point, 58-38, with just over a minute and change left to tick off. And over the course of those last handful of seconds, the Comets’ lead would suddenly balloon out to a 27-point difference as Penn Manor sauntered into the fourth with the commanding 65-38 lead to their name.
Did we mention by this point that Emanuel Mason was one of the leading men in this one?
Well, if that hadn’t already become readily apparent, perhaps his 3-ball to begin the fourth quarter proceedings –his eighth of the contest –that helped raise the curtain on the final eight minutes of play would then catch your attention.
But while he himself occupied a starring role, his co-star, ironically also donning the #44 jersey for the opposition, was equally as impressive on this night.
For Ethan Benne, while he may begun his evening by spraying in 3-balls in from bonus distance, his feathery-soft touch around the rim as the game wore along was equally as impressive. Here, with that in mind, the junior’s follow bucket at the cup not only ushered Penn Manor out to the 70-41 lead, but it also capped off what would be a marvelous evening that culminated in Benne hitting the 30-point threshold once all was said and done to lead the Comets’ brigade on the night.
Again though, as was only fitting given that it was Senior Night after all, Emanuel Mason continued to remain as white-hot as the jersey color he was currently wearing.
In fact, as the fourth quarter wore along, yet another personal spurt authored by Mason, this of the 5-0 variety, made it a 71-45 ballgame with over five minutes still left to be played. And with everyone in attendance seeming to will Mason across the finish line knowing that he was on the precipice of something special considering that the eventual outcome of the game itself was nothing more than a formality at that point, his bucket from point-blank range not long afterwards effectively capped off the best night anyone who played varsity boys’ basketball inside the Lancaster-Lebanon League this season can possibly attest to as his 40th point awarded him the highest-scoring total of any player in a game this season, a feat that came a full four points better than the next closest standing behind him in that prestigious line.
But as mentioned though, while both Benne and Mason were nothing if not stupendous over the span of 32 minutes on Thursday evening, it’s quite possible that their shared heroics could easily get lost in the shuffle of it all when you consider that the night eventually concluded with a simply dominating win in favor of Penn Manor to the tune of an 82-59 final verdict where 10 Comets cracked the scoring column, including four of which hit double figures.
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