Carlisle Hits First, Last, And All Points In Between To Race Past McCaskey As Thundering Herd Trio Pave The Way For 35-Point Victory
Written by: Andy Herr on February 1, 2024
If we were to ever take an unscientific straw poll to try and determine who some of the more renowned and recognizable brands contained within District 3 boys’ basketball are, it might prove to be a rather arduous task.
Sure, you have the likes of the proverbial giants, Reading High and Harrisburg for example, right there near the top. But then dive a little lower in classification level and you’ll find the likes of the Trinity and Lancaster Catholic perhaps. Of course, you also have your perennial powerbrokers that you can’t forget about like as well with Cumberland Valley, Chambersburg, and Wilson, along with those of the smaller school ilk that include the legendary brands of Steel-High and Columbia, and relative “newcomers” to the fray found in Lancaster Mennonite and Berks Catholic for instance.
Suffice to say, you’d never be able to truly satisfy everyone as someone would inevitably feel slighted and/or offended at either not making such a compilation, if not bemoaning that their favorite program wasn’t slotted high enough. Okay, but then what do we make of the two schools that met up on Wednesday night on the west shore?
Admittedly, the more recent history that envelops both the Carlisle Thundering Herd and the McCaskey Red Tornado may not seem reminiscent to someone who has spent time away from the mid-state for a number of years before returning home to their roots just now.
When talking about Carlisle, we’ll almost certainly never witness the likes of what Dave Lebo and his boys’ teams did during their heyday in the back half of the 1980’s most especially. For it was there of course as most everyone knows where the Herd rattled off an improbable string of four consecutive state championships, something now simply unrecognizable and largely impossible seen from that of a public school, especially one at the highest classification level of 6A these days no less.
However, storied history and all, the last half decade or so of Thundering Herd hoops has seen this proud program struggle to push past the .500 overall mark by and large on a much more consistent basis as evidenced by their combined 56-70 record over the last five full seasons, six if you include the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign as well. Well, that was until this 2023-24 season came into being it appears.
Coming into Wednesday night, it almost felt as if the days of old had returned back to Carlisle’s quaint gym comparatively speaking. For it was here and now this winter where the Herd were found residing right near the very top of the District 3-6A power ratings, something that was surely a sight for sore eyes around those parts who were probably right to grow accustomed to nothing but the highest levels of achievement if all they knew were the fabled days of the Billy Owens’ era.
But aside from the Herd’s 15-3 overall record heading into the night, the evidence of pure talent returning back to the green and white, like that found from newly minted member of the Carlisle 1,000-point club, Jaydon Smith, gave reason as to why this may prove to an upcoming postseason out on the horizon worth remembering in and around the greater Carlisle metroplex.
Ironically, their opponents on this night, while perhaps being devoid of being able to boast such a storied history found on that of a state-level as that of their immediate counterpart on a comparative basis, they too are nonetheless one of the foremost power players who also happen to reside inside the neighborhood known as District 3.
In many ways, you could also say that both Carlisle and McCaskey were seen living in nothing but a parallel universe here these past few years most especially.
Like Carlisle, the Red Tornado’s history is almost that better done on scrolls than using black and white ink. Aside from the scores of state playoff showings –albeit never having resulted in a title game appearance – the Tornado for years had helped to rule the roost of District 3 AAAA boys’ hoops while they were also found using their home conference, the Lancaster-Lebanon League, like their own personal playground for years on end.
However, also like Carlisle, it’s worth pointing out that it’s been a bit of an uphill climb here for McCaskey these last few seasons. In fact, while it may have once been grounds to award someone a mental competency exam given how inconceivable it may have been to even suggest back during their heyday that McCaskey would ever struggle to reach the postseason, whether it be L-L or District 3 playoffs, that specific narrative has continued to ring true since the 2019-20 season, the last instance in which the Red Tornado were able to make the playoffs in any form. At the same time however, it’s equally important to make mention that it’s not as if the Red Tornado have totally been a cellar-dweller or anything of the like during said span. In fact, had just one or two games broken in their direction during those years, McCaskey almost certainly found itself participating in playoff basketball these last few seasons.
And wouldn’t you know it, but this year seemed as if it too were eerily reminiscent in that regard.
Case in point, McCaskey coming into their Wednesday night affair at Carlisle while sitting in fourth place inside the L-L Section One standings with a 6-13 overall record that awarded them the current 19th seed amongst the 6A crop in District 3, it’s vital to stress that four of the Tornado’s losses this season came by single digits. That may not seem like much to some, but you look and realize that the current 6A bubble consists of teams just a game or two above .500, McCaskey may have just as easily may have been found within a similar location had those handful of close losses turned into wins along with some good old-fashioned momentum aiding the cause behind them as well.
So, while perhaps McCaskey had been a lacking a “signature” win so far this season, there was no time like the present. And who’s to say? If the Tornado could somehow get the better of the Thundering Herd on this their senior night, perhaps that would later prove to be a key catalyst into the roles being reversed and McCaskey back with the upper echelon of teams which is where they so sorely belong.
But on this night, while the overall prognosis on a McCaskey return to glory may indeed be right around the corner in due time, the fact of the matter quite simply on Wednesday night was that Carlisle is already more than a few steps ahead in terms of that specific assignment comparatively speaking.
To say that the Thundering Herd, well, thundered out of the chute to start this one would be putting it very mildly.
With the Tornado struggling to navigate against Carlisle’s imposing zone defense while besmirched with untimely turnovers that then led to Herd points in transition, McCaskey found themselves down considerably right from the opening tap.
In fact, the hosts proceeded to race out to the 7-0 advantage just 2:10 into the affair once junior guard, Parker Smith, proceeded to fire in a trifecta. Speaking of the 3-ball, it continued to be to of McCaskey’s detriment in the early going as another one, this one contributed by way of 6’1 senior guard, Tionne Johnson-Holmes, made it a 12-0 count with fans still filing into the bleachers for the most part albeit with 4:54 still left in the opening frame.
And while the Tornado would immediately find paydirt following their early stoppage via the timeout to halt the bleeding somewhat amid being down by a dozen at the time in the form of a De’Andre Jones trifecta to finally get the visitors on the board, a pair of back-to-back triples dialed up by Parker Smith, well en route to his game-high 26-point showing, made it a jaw-dropping 20-3 Carlisle lead before Johnson-Holmes took his turn firing in another from bonus distance not long afterwards to make it a 23-6 ballgame with 1:45 left the first stanza.
All told, even while it took McCaskey all of seven of the opening eight minutes to finally find their first two-point field goal of the evening in the form of a tough Nemias Tirado take to the cup which made it 23-8, the Tornado had to largely consider themselves fortunate to be down by a baker’s dozen at 23-10 at the end of one considering how the hosts nearly put this one well out reach almost immediately.
However, the second quarter only continued to serve as a Carlisle coronation as it were.
While the second stanza may have begun with the Herd owning a 13-point lead, Parker Smith wasn’t having any of that noise. Easy to recognize that assumption considering how the appropriately numbered #3 proceeded to bomb in a pair of triples to assist in the cause while making it a 31-12 Thundering Herd advantage with 4:20 left before the halftime break. From there, Jaydon Smith, the future Shippensburg Raider, continued to his usual tour de force inside the lane against McCaskey as the 6’5 senior guard with talent aplenty tallied a bucket from close range to then make it a 33-12 Carlisle lead just 30 seconds later.
Yet while De’Andre Jones, the lead Tornado on this night in bucketing a 12-point night next to his stat line, got the deficit back down to an even 20 at 35-15 following a trifecta, Carlisle was already well off and running by that point as the Herd carried the commanding 37-15 lead with them into the intermission.
That said, while the first half may have rightly served as an indication as to just how dominant Carlisle can be when operating near its collective maximum capacity, the scary part was that the Herd still left plenty of points out on there on the floor throughout the first 16 minutes of play. Well, that and the fact that their second half showing wasn’t too shabby either of course.
Just as they had done to begin the evening, Carlisle wasted little to no time at all in asserting itself against the opposition.
In this specific example, a kick-out triple which would precede his devilish spin move finished at the cup the next time down by way of Parker Smith, made it a gargantuan 42-17 Herd lead. From there, Smith would be the one to trigger the running clock for the remainder of the contest by inflicting the mercy-rule upon McCaskey as his traditional three-point play made it a 47-17 Carlisle lead with 4:25 still left to play in the third frame.
Beyond that, aside from the staggering fact that Carlisle had already mercy-ruled a fellow 6A foe with not even half the third quarter having yet gone down by? How about the fact that it was done exclusively from the talents of three individuals and three individuals alone. Yes, while en route to their 47 points scored as a team, all 47 of those were compiled via Tionne Johnson-Holmes, Jaydon Smith, and yes, Parker Smith. Not a bad way to stake you claim as being a “Big 3”, eh?
Speaking of Jaydon Smith, already having participated in the Senior Night festivities beforehand, he too would get his crack at rifling in another 3-ball in the waning stages of the third quarter as his latest and greatest bucket –one of his half dozen field goals poured in on the night– made it a 51-17 affair with 1:30 left in the third before the clock would then expire 90 seconds later with the Thundering Herd loudly claiming ownership of the 53-17 count.
Ironically, while Jaydon Smith was able to notch 19 points next to his name by the end of this one, there was a pair of them in particular that ended up stealing the show as it turned out.
While Lucas Ream, the first member of the Thundering Herd to score points not named Johnson-Holmes, Smith, or well, Smith, would begin the fourth quarter with a solid bucket from point-blank range, arguably the 6’3 junior forward’s best work was done a short time later.
For that, with Carlisle out and running in transition, a Ream lob off the backboard to a trailing Jaydon Smith right behind the fray capped off a one-handed dunk that understandably nearly tore the lid off Gene Evans’ Gymnasium when it occurred as we had officially reached the showtime portion of the evening following the Ream-to-Smith highlight play and the Herd simply having fun performing in front of their home patrons.
Suffice to say, even while the eventual outcome was nothing more than an eventual formality at that stage, McCaskey did their best to continue working albeit operating against a considerably stern opponent.
In that regard, look no further than a pair of fourth period buckets chipped by junior forward, Avery Stauffer, as Stauffer helped to give the Tornado some positive vibes before embarking on what had to feel like a much longer bus ride home than its normal hour and change.
And in the end, there really was no mystery as to what had just occurred over the course of the previous 32 minutes, some of which was done courtesy of a running clock no less. In that regard, Carlisle certainly did no harm whatsoever in trying to assert itself into being one of District 3’s foremost 6A challengers to the throne this year that came crystalized with their utterly dominating win against McCaskey on Wednesday night via the 63-28 final difference.
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