Donegal ‘Finds A Way’ As Indians Reenter Win Column With Staunch Defensive Effort, Pass Critical Northern Lebanon Road Test To Remain In Section Three Hunt
Written by: Andy Herr on January 5, 2024
It’s one of those things that is as universal and accepted like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. No matter what the sport, no matter what the level of play, there are always going to be those certain places above all others that coaches, fans, and players alike almost always dread going to go. In that regard, not even the Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ basketball circuit is immune to such feelings. And if you were to ask anyone who has to play them on a routine basis, chances are that Northern Lebanon will more thank likely end up topping any such list.
Not that it’s because of a lack of hospitality or anything mind you. You’ll surely encounter a friendly face once you arrive at the gate at the Vikings’ house of horrors. But rather, whether it’s because of ridiculously tight confines that make for an overly “cozy” shall we say atmosphere, the mustard-yellow walls that would make even those from southern California or the Florida Keys feel as if they need to wear shades to shield their eyes, or perhaps because the trip up to Fredericksburg makes you feel as if you hit an off ramp before you were supposed to cross the New York state line or something, make no bones about it. Northern Lebanon is quite alright with this being their home turf. Well, court I meant to say.
Anyway, that would happen to be the very trip the Donegal Indians would be tasked to make on Thursday night once they rolled outward from Mount Joy. And it wasn’t as if recent history shared between these two made the excursion any easier heading into this all important Section Three affair.
For second-year coach Ryan Shipper and his Indians’ crew, big things are expected out of them this season. Rightly so too when you consider that not only can Donegal shoot their way into any contest and put up points in bunches, but the foes found around them inside the division don’t appear to contain any clear front-runner, but most certainly no automatic slam dunk when it comes to figuring out who will grab the group’s two slots into the upcoming league tournament come next month.
That’s the good news. The bad news then is that anyone is liable to beat anyone — anywhere for that matter — which is a lesson that the green and white unfortunately had to learn last time out.
Without much in the way of debate, protecting home court at all costs is easily the most pressing of issues, again, no matter what level or sport in general you are referring to as mentioned off top. And with the margin of separation between Donegal and Octorara appearing to be miniscule at best, while you never want to consider a game right after the ball drops for New Year’s to be a “must win,” Octorara certainly wasn’t passing up on their eventual 74-66 triumph on the Indians’ home floor on Tuesday evening. Not only that, but for a cast that started off the season white-hot by storming out to a 5-1 start, it’s been tough sledding of late for Donegal given how had it not been for a win against Littlestown in the East Pennsboro holiday tourney to decide third place, the Indians would have come into Northern Lebanon winless in their last five outings.
Then, as if that didn’t already make Thursday night paramount in its own right, Shipper certainly didn’t rest any easier heading into it considering how his team was matching up against a Vikings squad not only playing their best ball of the season here of late, but their best basketball in a few years quite frankly.
Granted, while maybe a 3-6 overall record isn’t ever one to blow someone away, assessing Northern Lebanon in just that vacuum alone is a grave disservice.
For a program that is still trying to find its rhythm and groove after coming within one measly game of making the state tournament back in 2018, it’s been a steady climb back up the ladder for ninth-year head coach Chris George and company. Again, while three wins may not move the needle for some, that’s for nothing in these parts as NL has already increased their win total from last year two-fold, all before the calendar flipped to January no less. Beyond that, while NL came into the night still winless against Section Three opposition, they too had their moments there inside the initial stretch, including making that aforementioned Octorara team claw out a 76-52 victory in a game where the final score doesn’t do any bit of justice when it comes to encapsulating what transpired across all 32 minutes that Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago now down inside Chester County.
For all those reasons and more, with Northern Lebanon appearing to be on an upswing as a program, along with Donegal heading into arguably the toughest venue they’ll encounter while also trying to make sure that the pivotal Octorara game just 48 hours earlier didn’t somehow morph into an additional, critical setback inside the section standings, the ingredients seemed to be there for the Vikings to concoct a recipe to take down the Indians for what would be NL’s first section win just three weeks shy of being 24 months on the dot if they could get it.
By the end of it though, while it may not have tasted like a filet, Donegal probably didn’t care all that much so long as it washed away the bitter aftertaste from Octorara. Yes, even if it happened to come with all the work of trying to cut through a two-dollar steak with plastic utensils against the Vikings.
To say that both teams took a while to warm up on the offensive end to start Thursday out would be a bit of a undersell. Granted, while the Vikings would strike first on their opening possession following a marvelous cut and find that resulted in Brian Bicksler scoring at the cup, that was largely the extent of the highlights for much of the opening eight minutes of play. In fact, it took the visitors from Lancaster County almost all of five minutes before they could find the bottom of the net which is precisely what Jonzel Morant was able to do for his side once the Indians’ 6’1 senior guard tallied a floater in the lane which knotted things up at 2-apiece with 3:20 left in the first by that point.
And while Andrew Via would proceed to rebuke that Morant bucket with one of his own to make it a 4-2 Northern Lebanon lead thanks to 5’10 sophomore’s deuce inside, a pair of back-breaking trifectas knocked down by way of Donegal’s senior marksman, Evyan Patel, helped to eventually send the Indians into the second quarter with the benefit of a workmanlike 8-6 lead.
Yet even inside the game’s second act, the difference between these two up on the scoreboard was essentially minimal at best.
Case study numero uno would have to be a Bicksler triple splashed down right in front of the Donegal bench to get the second quarter underway while also awarding the lead back to the hosts at 9-8, only for the Vikings to then bear witness to a pair of bunnies cashed in by an impressive looking 6’3 Indians’ junior wing, Sawyer Floyd, as Floyd’s four-point salvo made it a 12-9 Donegal cushion with 2:40 left before the break at that time.
Suffice to say, points continued to be at a premium still given time and score. For that reason, once Floyd proceeded to take his act beyond the arc and bomb in a trifecta that then made it a 17-9 Donegal lead with 100 seconds left before the half, it almost felt as if that latest swing could’ve served as the proverbial dagger.
Well, not exactly.
Sure, while it certainly wasn’t the time to push the panic button with reckless abandon, Northern Lebanon steadily and methodically kept themselves within reach over the course of the final minute and change.
First up, a bucket inside tallied by yet another of the Vikings’ embarrassment of underclassman riches, Brady Krall, as the 6’4 sophomore proceeded to answer the Floyd trey the next trip down the floor before a trifecta of their own, yep, by an underclassman of course, helped to send NL into the dressing room still well within reach as a late Kael Erdman 3-ball tallied by the sophomore guard made it a 20-14 Donegal lead before the Northern Lebanon youth program stormed the floor to put on their own display of sorts for the halftime entertainment.
Now, whether you consider this line of thinking to be overly obvious and rather contrite, the fact of the matter was that the first few minutes of the second half on Thursday between these two would likely prove vital to whomever would be able to seize momentum and take stranglehold of the scoreboard. And while it may have taken awhile, Donegal was just fine in being selfish in that regard.
Gradually, bit by bit, the Indians began to generate some crucial separation from their hosts for the first time all evening. First, while the halftime gap continued remain in place at a half dozen following a DeAndre White take to the rack which made it 22-16 Indians’ lead, a prompt steal and finish by Jonzel Morant then upped it to a 24-16 cushion in relatively short order with five minutes and change still left to go in the third. Subsequently, with those two continuing to work in perfect harmony with one another, a sweet White to Morant dish inside gave Donegal their largest lead of the night at the time, 30-20, with NL staring down at a ten-point hole with 3:40 left in the third.
Unfortunately for them however, the Indians only continued to exacerbate the advantage.
In fact, Donegal was later seen enjoying the spoils of a 17-point lead had it not been for a timely Riley Clinger deuce inside which cut the lead back down to 15 at 37-22, before the dust on the third frame eventually settled with the Indians doubling their halftime lead by virtue of a 34-22 lead to conclude the first 24 minutes.
Sure, while it was factual to say that Donegal was in the midst of their largest leads of the night with just one quarter left to play when it had seemed this was a contest that could best be described as a defensive slugfest throughout the prior three to put it mildly, the Indians weren’t totally out of the woods just yet.
Yes, while another bucket inside by the one who was arguably Donegal’s MVP on the night as a whole, Sawyer Floyd, got the scoring started to begin the last stanza, Northern Lebanon just kept continuing to hang around while also hoping that they would have enough gas and firepower left in the tank to make one final go of securing a key section victory.
However, while Clinger would tally himself another bucket inside which cut the lead back down to ten at 40-30, Northern Lebanon would draw no closer the rest of the way.
And if you were looking for some sort of tangible dagger that the Indians were able to close the night on, you’d be hard pressed to argue that it was anything other than Joey Williams’ trifecta in the waning stages as the southpaw sophomore fired in one of his trademark triples to close the scoring on the evening while also handing Donegal a crucial victory on the road inside one of the toughest of buildings they figure to see from here on out as a gut check kinda 45-30 Indians’ win allowed the green and white with the opportunity to try and keep pace with the current Section Three leaders now heading into the second week of January.
“As a whole, it was an opportunity for us to bounce back after a tough loss the other night at home against Octorara,” Donegal head coach Ryan Shipper said of this night in totality after coming out of the winning locker room doors. “It wasn’t any ugly win by any means because tomorrow when the paper comes out, it’s a win, so that’s good. We have to find a way to be a little sharper on the offensive end, tighten things up on the defensive end, but overall, I like the progress we’re making,” he added. “We just have to continue playing together throughout all four quarters.”
Speaking of which, for all 32 minutes that this game offered, playing all four quarters –much less every possession for that matter – required both teams’ upmost attention and urgency. Fortunately for one of the rising stars in the coaching ranks inside the conference, his team was fortunate enough to make the most of their opportunities while battling inside remarkably hostile territory.
“For sure, yeah. This one, our game at L-S always draws a good crowd, but yeah tonight they had Youth Night here, so there was definitely a lot of excitement, lot of energy,” said Shipper after having prevailed by 15 impressive points when asked about the variety of different venues Section Three presents across the board and where NL stacks up. “They had the junior high games here today too, so long bus ride, quick warmups, you just have to come ready to play every night in this section.”
But as is often said, you’d much rather learn from a win as opposed to a loss. In that respect, Donegal won’t dispute that heading into this weekend either.
“I like what our offensive philosophy is doing,” the head Indian went on to state of his team which not only leads the entire L-L League when it comes to 3-point makes on the season with over 100, but they are essentially in their own galaxy quite frankly seeing as how the next closest is not even at 80 yet on the season. “The shot selection could be a little bit better at times with trying to get in rhythm shots as opposed to rushed shots. Four to five dribbles before a jump shot probably isn’t the shot we want in that possession. How the shots are spread out, I’m okay with for right now as long as they’re in rhythm and open shots. Now, when things are going in, everything looks cleaner and a lot prettier,” he admitted. “Tonight was not one of those nights, but we found a way defensively to win. We made some adjustments, guys started to attack the basket as they were stepping out on to shooters, and you just have to make adjustments.”
Finally, when asked if this night could best be described as being “Gritty, not pretty,” Shipper seemed to be fine with that phrase sticking. “Absolutely,” he said right away. “I love that.”
After all, when you’re able to not have one loss fester into another while having to do so in one of the toughest places around, what’s not to love? In Donegal’s case, they just hope that love will continue to last up until Valentine’s Week when that league tournament gets going with the Indians hopefully having an open invite for a date to participate.
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