Following ‘Nice’ And ‘Polite’ Halftime Discussion, Cedar Crest Erases Double Digit Deficit In Jaw-Dropping Fashion As Falcons Race Past Lancaster Country Day In L-L Quarterfinal Round, Move One Step Closer To Defending League Crown
Written by: Andy Herr on February 11, 2025
In terms of their similarities, just go ahead and call them next to none. In fact, it might be easier to state their differences honestly.
For starters, how about the stark separation between Section One and Section Four when talking about the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s overall landscape? Inside of District 3, yet again polar opposites at play, with one school occupying a spot inside the 6A rank and file, while the other will be found competing against only 1A foes the rest of the way this season starting next week. From there, the always prevalent topic this time of year– public enrollment versus private enrollment. Lastly, speaking in regard to this season in particular, a section champion and the other ending up their jaunt as a runner-up. And hey, just for good measure, how about one school hailing from Lebanon County while the other calls Lancaster County their home to round out this ying and yang?
Needless to say, you could perhaps not find two more differing schools inside the entire L-L League than that of Cedar Crest and Lancaster Country Day. Yet if there was one thing that could accurately describe both the Falcons and Cougars over the last handful of seasons, it’s simply this— winning.
Last year, Lancaster Country Day made it all the way the PIAA-1A state quarterfinals before seeing their season come to an end against the eventual state silver medalist, Berlin Brothersvalley, led by their all-state point guard, Pace Prosser. For Cedar Crest, they too reached the state tournament last year before they too fell to a formidable foe — arguably the most infamous in all the state — in Lower Merion.
On a much more localized level, neither Lancaster Country Day nor Cedar Crest need a GPS to figure out how to get the Giant Center considering how the Cougars have reached the District 3-1A boys’ finale now three times over since 2018, taking the crown back home with them in 2019 after knocking off Halifax. For Cedar Crest, they too have been a frequent visitor to the mid-state’s most famous arena in making the District 3 “big school” championship game two times within the last decade more or less.
But in terms of this week, L-L playoff week, the numbers there couldn’t have been much further apart.
How about 11 to 0? Or what about 5 to 0? For those numbers signify the number of times that Cedar Crest has made an appearance in the league tournament throughout the Falcons’ rich history, parlaying then half of those jaunts into eventual league titles for the five gold trophies now found sitting inside the school’s trophy case, the last of which came one year ago ironically enough. And that’s not even including a pair of runner-up finishes within there either.
Of course, if you’re keeping track at home, looking at those numbers of appearances inside the L-L playoff field and noticing that circular 0 sitting in Lancaster Country Day’s side of the ledger, yes, that would indeed signify that the Cougars were making their maiden voyage into the Lancaster-Lebanon League boys’ tourney for the first time in their history on Monday night inside the home of the defending title holders no less. But for Country Day, now an seventh-year member of the league after coming in from the Tri-Valley Conference beginning in the 2018-19 academic year, this has been a quest that Cougars’ head man Jon Shultz and his program have been on – and flirted closely with – ever since they got into the conference despite being unable to ever unseat Lancaster Mennonite nor Columbia within that timeframe.
But isn’t that what this week is all about and what makes it so great? Where else could you get two teams that have never seen each other, two that couldn’t be more direct opposites of one another on a variety of things with perhaps the only similarity being the conference they call their home to finally play each other inside of a bracket format with one making history with the other trying to defend their own slice of history?
But regardless of whether this was your very first time, or your 11th time playing in this thing, rest assured that neither Lancaster Country Day nor Cedar Crest will ever forget the way in which this game ultimately transpired.
Early on, things couldn’t have started out much better for the hosts.
There, after yielding a Danny Speaks and subsequent Isaac Wolfe trifecta within the opening few minutes, Lancaster Country Day found themselves sitting on the wrong side of a 10-3 score with not even a full three minutes having ticked off the first quarter clock by that point.
And just when it seemed as if the Cougars might have been able to garner some traction that came in the form of all six of their points tallied by way of 6’1 sophomore wing, Cam Harris, Cedar Crest was just as quick to again double up their opposition not long afterwards as a theft and layup in lieu of his on-ball defensive work netted Cameron Tirado an easy deuce as the 5’7 junior made it a 12-6 Falcons’ cushion with all of 1:45 left in the opening frame.
Yet while Cedar Crest was able to enjoy the fruits of a 15-10 lead come the end of the first quarter, the signs were there that tide was starting to shift somewhat.
And shift it would while on the heels of a Chris Tucker trifecta as the Cougars’ 5’11 sophomore guard was able to rip the cord from beyond the arc, awarding Country Day their first lead of the evening at a 16-15 count with 5:20 left to play in the opening half by that point.
From there, after being shutout throughout the entirety of the first quarter, Chris Dukes more than made up for lost time once inside the game’s second stanza.
Sure enough, following a pair of 3-balls knocked down from the 6’0 lefty sniper, the Cougars’ lead had suddenly ballooned out to an emphatic 22-15 difference before a crucial Isaac Wolfe pullup jumper on the ensuing Cedar Crest possession gave the Falcons their first points of the second quarter, a period now well past its halfway mark.
Yet for anyone that has seen Lancaster County Day play the last two seasons, while the sum of their parts does in fact make them a more than formidable foe for most everyone standing in their way, the fact of the matter without much debate is that the Cougars’ backcourt that takes the form of Jordan Ashby and Chris Dukes is undeniably the head of the LCD collective snake. And while Dukes had demonstrated his wears after being held scoreless throughout the opening frame as mentioned, his backcourt mate wouldn’t be far behind either.
In terms of game-altering moments, the exploits from both Dukes and Ashby were impossible to undersell. And in a mimicking fashion to follow suit, a pair of Ashby treys in the waning stages of the second quarter poured in the by the 5’10 junior guard not just allowed Country Day to force a stunned hush over the partisan Cedar Crest crowd save for the few Cougars’ faithful who made the trek just south of Lebanon, but it more importantly propelled the Section Four runners-up into the halftime break with a double digit lead while inside the home of the Section One champs proven in the form of a headline-stealing 28-17 advantage with Country Day shutting off the Falcons’ water off defensively at nearly every turn.
Suffice to say, if things continued on the trajectory in which they had appeared to be heading, Cedar Crest almost seemed destined to surrender their league crown — while on their home floor against a team hailing from Section Four no less — provided that a dramatic about-face did ensue come the start of the second half. Simply put, while not only would the Falcons “Wake up,” as instructed to them by their student section as the team trotted past them heading into the locker room, they would do far better than that. In actuality, there may not be a better half of basketball that Cedar Crest has ever played than their second half showing against Lancaster Country Day on Monday night.
Okay, maybe seeing Cedar Crest 6’0 senior guard, Danny Speaks, score a reverse finish at the cup to conclude the Falcons’ first offensive possession of the third quarter was just a mix-up defensively out of the gate on the Cougars’ part. Tip your cap and move on. Isaac Wolfe nails another 3-ball en route to his 21-point night despite it still being a six-point difference at 28-22? Sure, not ideal by any means, but you’re still leading by two possessions all the same. But okay, maybe after seeing Speaks pour in yet another 3-ball to what would culminate in his 20-point body of work on Monday night as well, a hoop that would trim your lead down to the slimmest of margins, 30-29, with 5:18 left to go in the third? Yeah, maybe then it was time to officially start feeling queasy from Lancaster Country Day’s perspective.
Rest assured, while most every Cedar Crest Falcon who stepped onto the floor — especially within the second half in particular — brought something positive with them to the table against the LCD Cougars, it was next to impossible to overlook the shared efforts of both Danny Speaks and Isaac Wolfe.
On the night, aside from what would result in the senior duo accounting for 54% of the Falcons’ total points tallied on the evening overall, certainly not the least of which included their 27 points sprayed in from bonus distance across nine triples shared between them, both Speaks and Wolfe served admirably in helping to turn the Cedar Crest ship around amid these extremely treacherous waters.
Then, following a jumper sunk by Wolfe at the 4:40 mark of the third frame, Cedar Crest had just as quickly regained control with a 31-30 lead.
And not only would the Falcons never relinquish that lead the rest of the way, but they would also effectively drive a stake through any lingering possibility of Country Day perhaps scoring a mammoth-sized upset victory.
Speaking of everyone from Cedar Crest offering solid contributions, those wouldn’t be difficult to spot either.
Case in point, 6’8 senior forward, RJ Young, taking his turn at stepping out from beyond the arc to nail one of the Falcons’ 13 trifectas on the night, this one here making it a 38-33 Cedar Crest lead with 2:45 left in the third.
Later, with two more within that baker’s dozen splashed down by way of the senior tandem of Dylan Groff and Jackson Custer respectively, the Falcons would then enjoy their largest lead of the evening at the time, 44-34, before another Wolfe triple that came mere moments before the third quarter horn put Cedar Crest on the verge of running away and hiding given their 47-34 lead after three.
And run away they would.
For a team that found themselves down at the half, not evening scoring 20 points throughout the entirety of the first 16 minutes, one would’ve been right to question if a different team had slipped on the Cedar Crest uniforms prior to the start of the second half. Hard not to marinate in such conspiracy theories perhaps considering that following yet another of Wolfe’s triples to help raise the curtain on the fourth quarter of play, the Falcons’ lead had suddenly expanded out to a 20-point threshold, 57-37. Then, following another triple sunk by, you guessed it, Danny Speaks, the Falcons were firmly on the verge of triggering the mercy-rule into effect heading down the final stretch given their current 64-39 lead.
Finally, when it came to completing their dramatic second half turnaround that ultimately culminated in what would be 59 total points scored inside the game’s final 16 minutes, the punctuation mark – exclamation point really — was sealed following a 3-ball dialed up by another Cedar Crest senior, Kayden Tirado, as the 5’10 guard would indeed set the running clock into motion with the fourth quarter winding down, an incredible achievement for a team that once again was seen trailing by double digits at the intermission.
By this point, the left question left unanswered was who else would be able to get into the scoring column before the horn would blare? In that regard, Evan Kitchens would be up for the task at hand as the Falcons’ 6’3 senior forward was able to come up with a tough bucket inside, drawing what was the loudest ovation of the entire night from most all the home patrons.
For them, the home crowd that is, even for the most ardent of Cedar Crest supporters, while erasing a halftime deficit certainly wasn’t out the question for the squad they were there to cheer on, this was something altogether different considering the eventual 76-43 final score that would be cemented in their team’s favor. Hard to find the adequate words quite frankly.
“Yeah, um, they played free. Their backs were against the wall,” Cedar Crest head coach Tommy Smith tried in offering regarding his team’s second half turnaround in the postmortem. “I don’t know why it took us until the second half to get that way, but when we share the ball, we make the right plays, and we’re not worrying about scoring on an individual level, we’re talented enough to where those are the types of things that can happen,” Smith added of the second half performance.
That said, the slow start on Monday night certainly couldn’t be attributed to a lack of preparedness. Even if Cedar Crest and Lancaster Country Day had never played before.
“The one thing I take a lot of pride in is our preparation,” said Smith in gearing up for a largely unknown foe coming in. “Until this past Wednesday (once the matchup was set), I knew pretty much nothing about them,” he admitted of his team’s draw for the opening night of the league playoffs. “We studied the film, and I really thought we had a good gameplan coming in. #3 (Jordan Ashby) and #33 (Chris Dukes) are really, really good basketball players, but we lost the scout in the first half. We had to then nicely and politely remind (his team) at halftime about the scouting report on those two kids,” Smith said tongue-in-cheek regarding the discussions held during the interlude of what was probably more than just a courteous favor that was being asked. “But I thought we did a really good job come the second half.”
“I just think our level of urgency hasn’t been where it needs to be at all times,” the 200-plus winner over the course of his coaching career at this alma mater remarked tying this night to this season at large. “When you take the second half and you take the first half tonight, the level of urgency was entirely different. Everyone in the gym can see it and feel it. When we are playing at that level like we were in the second half tonight, I know we can beat anyone.”
Now, the next “anyone” on the docket is a Conestoga Valley team that will be playing on its home floor at Rill Gymnasium come Wednesday night’s semifinal round following the Buckskins’ seismic upset of Manheim Central on Monday evening, a loss in which the Barons suffered defeat at home for the first time all season. Oh yeah, this is also the same CV outfit that knocked Cedar Crest off on the Falcons’ home floor back on the third day of January too.
But for a Cedar Crest program, one that prides itself on playing with an edge, especially for this 2024-25 crew that is trying to write their own story following the departure of so many key pieces off last year’s team, the Falcons’ recipe certainly seems to be there for them now staring down the barrel of perhaps going back-to-back in terms of league titles.
“We had a great of seniors last year and a few guys on this team that played, but we’ve talked about, ‘This is your team now. It’s not about what last year’s team did. They carved the path and the standard is there, but it’s about you and what you guys are going to do.’ I think they’re taking a little of bit pride in that right now,” Smith said of this year’s bunch. “I know that some had us counted out of the section race early. (His team) took that chip on their shoulder and went ahead and won that one. Here we are again.”
“I know some didn’t pick us to win in the second round (of the league playoffs),” Smith then made sure to point out to the one interviewing him who projected that Smith’s Falcons would lose to Manheim Central in the semifinals. “They got a chip on their shoulder for that too.”
In other words, Cedar Crest, playing in the league tournament and with a score to settle, is right where they belong. Even if it may have taken an incredible second half performance on Monday night to get them there.
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