Ephrata Inserts Its Name Into Section Two Discussion As Mounts Display Complimentary Aspects, Stymie Donegal In Intriguing December Clash
Written by: Andy Herr on December 21, 2023
POG- Marqus Hardin
At first glance, one may think there isn’t all much that connects Donegal and Ephrata together. For starters, there is roughly 30 miles that separates the two campuses from one another. Or, in a slightly obscure and different form of measurement and distance, about “half a Lancaster County” away. Beyond that, while one program happens to reside in Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two while the other occupies a space in Section Three, Ephrata also carriers with them the distinction of being a relatively small 6A program while Donegal on the other hand finds itself a 5A brand. Finally, in a way that quite literally illustrates just how different these two schools would appear to be on the surface, how about the color schemes, eh? Yeah, good luck trying to find colors that clash more than purple and yellow with that of green and white.
But simply taking a paragraph like the above in a vacuum without doing any sort of a deep dive beyond, there was actually quite a bit of striking similarities found between the Mounts and Indians, especially through the early portion of this 2023-24 slate in particular.
To put it mildly, both Donegal and Ephrata appear to be on nothing if not stable footing when it comes to the long term forecast considering how they are both under the direction of arguably two of the best young coaches currently implementing the craft in the conference at the moment, Donegal’s Ryan Shipper and Ephrata’s Scott Gaffey respectively, both sons of long-time coaches in their own right, as the Indians and Mounts are clearly programs proven to be on the rise. In fact, remember that little tidbit of either one playing in Section Two with the other down in Section Three? Well, you could make a very sound argument to suggest that both teams are the absolute most dangerous and threatening when it comes to affecting their divisional race over the next two months, whether it be directly or indirectly.
Suffice to say, even when a relatively loaded L-L League slate of games into view on Wednesday night this week, the “nonconference” matchup between Ephrata and Donegal was arguably the tastiest of all seeing as how the eventual outcome may very well prove to be a landmark-type win for whomever would be fortunate enough to pick it up. However, as would readily become apparent really from the second quarter onward, this would be a night for all the Mounts to revel in. Not the least of which included Marqus Hardin.
As one may have suspected when they bought a ticket at the gate on Wednesday, the opening frame between these two highly explosive offenses appeared to live up to all its initial billing and then some.
Case in point, just when Ephrata was able to capture the early 5-3 lead following one of four first half triples dialed up by 6’0 junior guard, Cooper Truesky, a quick rebuttal in the form of a tough Jonzel Morant take to the cup which preceded a 3-ball knocked down by Donegal 5’8 sophomore sniper, Joey Williams, allowed the host Indians to glance up and found themselves with the 10-8 advantage with only three minutes having been ticked off the first quarter clock by that point.
Later, it became equally evident that the exchange of volleys that was found inside the first few minutes would indeed be a harbinger of things to come for the remainder of the opening stanza by and large.
For that, look to yet another Williams trifecta which awarded control of the scoreboard back to Donegal at 15-12 with 2:50 left in the opening stanza, only for the Indians’ contingent to then witness Ephrata surge back in front following a pair of takes to the cup in the form Marqus Hardin and Grayson Shellhamer respectively, giving the Mounts their largest lead of the evening at that point, 21-15, before the first quarter score would later read out 21-17 in the visitor’s favor.
Yet from the second quarter onward, just when it had seemed as if Donegal would be up their usual offensive tricks demonstrated thus far on the season which helped propel the Indians out to a 5-2 overall record coming into the night while riding a 65 point-per-game clip in those five triumphs considering their flirtation with 20 already on the heels of the first eight minutes on Wednesday, that would somehow prove to be just about the end of the Donegal-led mojo for the rest of the contest.
Sure enough, following another of Truesky’s seemingly trademarked and patented triples inside the first half, the Ephrata lead had immediately swelled upward to a 30-19 difference with the Indians forced into burning a timeout to try and stem the tide rising against them.
In short, that would to no avail.
Sure, while the Mounts’ offensive firepower was on display throughout the opening 16 minutes, their defensive proficiency was somehow that much better. If not, then it was at the very least a remarkable case of complimentary basketball taking place. In fact, while continuing to hold down the potent Donegal offense to just a pair of points near the 2:30 mark of the second quarter, Marqus Hardin decided to pour salt into the Indians’ existing open wound.
Remarkably, for a player that has seemed to come out of almost nowhere, the Mounts’ bouncy and wiry 6’1 wing seemed totally at home and comfortable while playing in the varsity limelight inside a critical game that also happened to be taking place in hostile territory no less. And while he would understandably end up stealing the show by posting a well-rounded 23-point explosion by the time the night was over with that saw the junior’s scoring coming from a variety of different levels, his seven-point salvo that came exclusively at the tin –one instance being of the old-fashioned three-point variety of course – made up it a somewhat staggering 37-19 Ephrata lead with time winding down on an incredible first half effort from the Mounts. And once the first half buzzer did ultimately blare, it punctuated a thoroughly dominant 19-2 second quarter in favor of the visitors as it appeared for all the world that Ephrata was already well on their towards claiming their third straight win.
But even in the second half, just when it may have seemed as if the Donegal engine would finally get rolling and moving downhill, the Mounts were waiting right there to put a kibosh to those best laid plans.
Finally, after would be just their third, fourth, and fifth points since the end of the first quarter that came in the form of a Joey Williams triple which made it a 41-24 contest with roughly five minutes still left to play in the third frame, a back-breaking 5-0 swing exclusively stockpiled by, you guessed it, Marqus Hardin, upped the Ephrata cushion to a 46-24 difference not long thereafter. And by that point, with the Mounts’ 11th grade rising star doing his best to add fuel to the already blazing fire, it was almost to be expected that Ephrata carry a sizable fourth quarter lead with them into the final act. Not only would they, but they would proceed to do so while also having the opportunity of invoking the mercy rule in relatively short order considering that mile marker was just six points away given the 48-24 score after three.
As it turned out, even the final few minutes continued to be the “Marqus Hardin Show.”
In that regard, his undeniable high motor was on display for all to bear witness to as Hardin would simply not be denied when it came to chasing down an offensive rebound following the carom on a missed free throw attempt from one his fellow teammates. And once he finally got the pill in his grasp, the Ephrata underclassman would turn and pivot around his left shoulder before coming up a man-sized put-back at the cup along the baseline that seemed apropos in the way in which Ephrata had by and large taken the fight to their opposition throughout the entirety of this night. Oh, by the way, the Hardin bucket would also signify the Mounts scoring half a hundred officially as the junior made it a 50-26 difference with six minutes still left to go.
However, even with the eventual outcome all but a formality by that juncture, other members of the Mounts’ collective cause decided to get in on the act down the final stretch.
For that, following a highly successful football season from his running back spot in the Ephrata backfield that saw he and the Mounts reach the school’s first-ever District 3 championship game this fall, Brayden Brown continued to be his usual bullying self with a pair of takes to the rack that ballooned the Mounts’ lead up to 56-29 thanks to the junior big man with understandably sweet feet.
In the end though, there was no denying that Ephrata had just played maybe it’s finest game all the season while Donegal may have unfortunately played its worst all things considered seeing how the Mounts would be joyous on a trip back home across the county late on Wednesday that came packed with the trimmings of a 60-33 triumph.
Regardless, while this was certainly not Donegal’s night, that should in no way deter folks to either falling off the Indians’ bandwagon and/or take them lightly provided it happen to be a team upcoming on the Indians’ schedule. Rest assured, the Ryan Shipper-led Indians will be a massive, massive headache for Section Three to try and wrangle up this winter, especially if they can return to shooting the absolute leather off the basketball as they had done coming into the game against Ephrata.
And speaking of Ephrata, most specifically head coach Scott Gaffey, even too would admit that the Indians caused him some sleepless nights in getting ready for them.
“I thought our defense was really good tonight,” the four-year Mounts’ head coach offered in the postmortem after Donegal. “We had three days to get ready for (Donegal) and they’re so good shooting the ball, making so many 3’s, that we told our guys that they had to get out there (on the perimeter) and make their guy dribble. We had to get up in them. I thought for the most part, like with (Evyan) Patel and (Sawyer) Floyd being as good as they are, I really that everyone including Brayden (Brown) and Cayden (Landis) did a great job of that,” he lauded of his various pieces who had an instrumental role in slowing down arguably the most proficient L-L offense yet to date in check.
“We thought that we had to mix it up between man and zone defensively just to give them something different because they are so good offensively,” Gaffey continued of the defensive gameplan in going toe-to-toe against Donegal. “We didn’t do it a lot, but I think it did work. I think the other thing is that anytime you can switch up your defenses, it seems like at least the first or second time just because it’s a change of pace, usually you can really stop somebody. Then, if they get comfortable, you got to get out of it.”
In that respect, consider it mission accomplished from the Mounts’ standpoint as Donegal seemed to be the antithesis of comfortable on Wednesday. At the same time however, there was someone out on the floor who seemed so comfortable you almost expected him to kick his feet up on a lounge chair and enjoy the view while inside Donegal’s home gym. That honor of course being bestowed upon Ephrata’s Marqus Hardin.
“He’s an Ephrata kid who’s been here this whole time,” Gaffey said of his junior stalwart who has seemed to take this early season by storm and almost come out of nowhere quite frankly given his over 15-point-per-game average which certainly didn’t suffer any sort of damage once he tallied a game-high 23 against Donegal. “For whatever reason, I think he was going into 7th grade when I just got here, but for whatever reason, he just didn’t go out for the team in 7th, 8th, or 9th grade,” Gaffey candidly said. “Last year, he came out, and as a 10th grader, wasn’t a starter on the JV team solely because he didn’t know our system or anything like that and hadn’t really played organized ball,” he continued regarding his emerging star. “By the end of last year though, he was clearly the best player on JV’s and by the end of this summer he’s really just taken off.”
Speaking of taking off, if the return on Ephrata investments will end up mimicking that of what took place on Wednesday night, it’d be foolish not to consider the Mounts as a team that has the potential to make the Section Two race extremely exciting and tense. And not for nothing, but Gaffey and his crew are well-aware that they may not have been the darlings in the division coming into the season. Honestly, that suits them just fine.
“I think so, yeah. I think we wanted to prove to people that we can be pretty good this year,” said Gaffey when asked if he feels as if his group plays with chip on its collective shoulder while the likes of Manheim Central and Warwick may garner the early season discussion points amongst the divisional group thus far. “But it’s every game though,” he added. “We started off 0-2 and I think for our guys to come back, win the next three, play the like we have, that’s been really encouraging, especially since not a lot of our guys have varsity experience.”
And while it may be only one game, Ephrata seemed right at home while in the midst of the bright lights and attention that came part in parcel with Wednesday’s stage. Play their cards right the rest of the way, and the Mounts will gain all the varsity experience they can hope for then some provided that a postseason run of some form or fashion may end up being in their future. After Wednesday, that’d be hard to argue.
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