Hershey Races Out To Early Lead, Flashes Remarkable Balance As Trojans Make Quick Work Of Lebanon In Monday Night Nonleague Affair
Written by: Andy Herr on January 16, 2024
At first glance, it might be easy to just flatly assume that Hershey and Lebanon boys’ basketball programs might not have all that much in common with one another. After all, aside from the most elementary of examples being that of physical differences with one school residing inside the confines of Dauphin County while the other is located in the county named after itself, even the more intricate instances of uniqueness come into focus once you get down to the sport itself. Chief among them, the fact that Hershey calls the Mid-Penn Conference its home while on the other hand, Lebanon competes inside the Lancaster-Lebanon League during the season. Beyond that, Hershey is a labeled as a 5A school in the state’s classification system whereas Lebanon gets the bump up to the 6A threshold. Then, when you dive even further down and look at this year specifically within a vacuum, the fact that Hershey entered this week while placed at the #2 line in the District 3-5A crop with Lebanon conversely located at the #26 spot inside 6A, these truly did seem to be two remarkably different programs squaring off against one another on Martin Luther King night.
But for those who run inside these very close-linked basketball circles, they knew far better than to just assume that these were two foes totally unaware of each other’s existence in the world. And what better way to thread the needle of it all than by starting off at the very top of the food chain.
These days, Paul Blackburn is best known for leading the Hershey Trojans much in the same vein as he did not all that long when he was captaining the Lebanon Cedars’ program to incredible heights that included the likes of a 3rd place District 3 finish and subsequent state playoff appearance in 2003 before following that up with the pinnacle of a 2004 L-L League championship that came in knocking off the previous year’s state champion, Lancaster Catholic, back in the days of the Lancaster-Lebanon League crowning it’s victor within the town limits of Hershey believe it or not.
Recently, just this past week in fact, Blackburn was able to pass a career milestone of his own doing in surpassing the 400-win plateau throughout his career, 132 of which came during his nine-year run in directing the Cedars ironically enough from 1998-2007. These days, while his former Lebanon players are now into their adult years –not the least of which includes a pretty phenomenal big man who just so happens to be on the Cedars’ staff right now leading the JV program in Franklin Minaya – Blackburn hasn’t appeared to lose any steam whatsoever albeit far removed from yesteryear on the Lebanon bench that included coaching guys the likes of Niko Traykov, Anthony Trautman, Jared Odrick, and Tyler Spancake to name just a very few almost 20 years ago. Not losing steam considering how the Hershey Trojans’ squad he is now tasked in overseeing came into the evening while riding a 10-1 overall record, while Lebanon unfortunately on the other hand was still searching for their first win in over two years.
So yes, while most of these current players weren’t even born back when the current Hershey coach was then the Lebanon coach, there was an undeniable feeling of old acquaintances being renewed once the Cedars rolled into Derry Township on a snowy Monday night. However, warm feelings or not, there was business to attend to in this one. In that regard, not only would the Hershey Trojans start the project, but they would efficiently finish the job in relatively short order against Lebanon.
In fact, the Trojans’ initial blitzkrieg certainly and understandably knocked their guests back on their heels right from the outset.
For that, sparked by a nice mix of inside/out play that began with a Derek Guzman trifecta that would precede an Isaiah Danner bucket inside, Hershey had already climbed out to an early 5-0 advantage with folks still filing into the gym. From there tough, Hershey, namely Logan Richards, continued to be as white-hot as the predominant color on their jerseys as two more treys sunk by way of the Trojans’ 6’2 senior guard made it a commanding 14-0 hole of which Lebanon needed to call an early timeout to try and dig themselves out of.
Suffice to say, Lebanon second-year head coach Kris Uffner needed to press some different buttons with his team already down by two early touchdowns and this being a basketball game. And to his credit, he would get the spark he had desired once he promptly inserted five players off the bench in lieu of the nearly 20-point gap with the opening quarter only having been a mere three seconds past its halfway point.
The one igniting the fuse you ask? None other than Robert Santiago as the Cedars’ junior wing splashed in the first Lebanon points of the evening with a corner trey to make it a 14-3 contest in the immediate aftermath of his team’s earlier timeout. And when Santiago wasn’t scoring points, he was equally as dominant on the defensive end seeing as how he would later selflessly give himself up for his squad by fearlessly taking a charge, helping to give a bit of momentum back into the Cedars’ bench with the first quarter rapidly winding down by that point.
And while the Trojans’ lead would later swell upwards to baker’s dozen at 19-6 following a tough bucket inside by their physically imposing 6’6 senior big man in Isaiah Danner with 90 seconds remaining, Lebanon had effectively held their own in the latter stages of the first eight minutes considering how their bench had outscored the Hershey starters by a 9-7 clip which ultimately culminated in a first quarter where Hershey was still well in control by virtue of their 21-9 lead.
Yet here again though, while they may not have had the distinction of hearing their name called at the outset of the contest in the form of the starting lineups, the Cedars out on the floor didn’t seem to care all that much. Especially not in Jaydyn Wolfe’s case in particular as the Lebanon junior guard began the second quarter by burying a triple before chipping in another from bonus distance not long afterwards that had effectively sliced the once sizable Hershey lead down to a much more modest ten, 25-15, with roughly 5:30 left before the halftime break.
However, even despite this quick bit of Wolfe-induced momentum in the Cedars’ favor, Hershey would retaliate right back by ripping off a timely 9-0 salvo over the final few minutes as a largely dominant first half of play would fittingly conclude in the Trojans’ benefit with Hershey retiring to the locker room with the benefit of enjoying at 34-15 halftime cushion.
If you’re wondering as to how exactly Lebanon found themselves with 15 points after the initial 16 minutes of play, simple math would do the trick. Sure enough, while not only were all the Cedars’ points throughout the opening half scored by way of their bench players who certainly did more than yeoman’s work given their much earlier insertion than perhaps expected on Monday night, all of their points in general came from beyond the three-point line. Finally, once inside the third quarter, Lebanon was able to chip in their first points from somewhere other than beyond the arc as a pair of free throws knocked down by junior guard, Manny Suarez, made it a 38-17 ballgame with 6:59 left in the third.
Unfortunately for the visitors, even when they tried to find a bit of tangible momentum of which they could potentially work with, their hosts wouldn’t have any of it.
At this particular point, the one with the easiest of ill intentions to spot on Hershey’s side of the equation was Derek Guzman as the Trojans’ 6’0 senior guard answered the Suarez freebies by giving Lebanon a taste of their own medicine so to speak with a trifecta on the ensuing Hershey offensive trip down the floor before another Guzman bucket, this one from within the paint, later made it a 47-19 Trojans’ lead with 5:05 left in the third.
By this point, the margin of separation was so great between these two that only two more points being tallied by Hershey would trigger a running clock the rest of the way. For that task, while Alex Murray who be the one who officially put the mercy-rule into effect with a take to the rack which made it 49-19 with a shade over four minutes still to play inside the third, the Hershey senior big man would do far more than just that one thing alone.
Case in point, Murray would proceed to have a hand in essentially all of the Trojans’ points in the waning stages of the third quarter whether directly or indirectly as Murray would immediately follow up his earlier bucket with one from the beyond the three-point line which then made it a 52-24 contest before Murray would get into the act via the assist game as a sweet find from Murray to junior forward, James Campbell IV, right before the horn made it a 56-28 lead which Hershey was able to carry with them into the final eight minutes. On the night, while scoring across both teams was remarkably well-balanced, Alex Murray would play the leading role when it came to game-high scoring honors as Murray was able to pace the field by bucketing 13 points to his name once the evening was through.
In the final act, with the running clock obviously making for a far quicker quarter, moments of opportunity were at a premium.
On Lebanon’s side, Emmanuel Suarez was the one who seemed to relish the most in said occasions as the Cedars’ guard was seen taking it strong to the tin inside of the opening minute as a two-addition to Suarez’s team-best nine-point showing overall helped to bring Lebanon inside of 30 points at 56-30.
That said, even with their role players now getting their well-deserved time to shine as well, Hershey wasn’t about to let Lebanon exactly coast home while riding the waves of good momentum.
In that regard, look no further than an Aidan Miller 3-ball as the Trojans’ junior upped his team’s lead back over the 30-point barrier, 61-30, with five minutes and change still left to melt off the game clock. Then, in the waning stages, a Roman Panko take to the cup, obviously the highlight of the entire night given the reaction exuded from the Trojans’ bench once the 6’2 junior was able to crack the scoring column, seemed to be the perfect bow to wrap this businesslike performance up with.
And once the clock did ultimately reach nothing but zeroes, there was little doubt as to what had just transpired. Specifically, while the evening would in a final 67-34 count which went in Hershey’s favor, the fact that every Trojan who suited up on varsity was able to see the floor for extended minutes, much less each one of them being able to score save for four, it was certainly a most productive night in that regard if you fancy yourself with a rooting interest in the Hershey Trojans. Yes, while there will still assuredly be plenty of things left to clean up and address as the season plunges past its halfway mark we now find ourselves at, perhaps that was either the most impressive and/or the scariest thing to come out of Monday night.
Impressive in that Hershey surely pitched far from a perfect game while still being able to lay claim to a 33-point win versus a school larger than themselves. Scary then in that a far more polished version of the Hershey Trojans isn’t what the rest of the District 3-5A field is exactly clamoring for once the postseason begins here just a handful of weeks out on the horizon. In many ways though, as Monday night helped to illustrate above everything else, whether he wants to call himself either a Cedar or a Trojan, there is one label that fits Paul Blackburn no matter where he happens to be. That of course being, winner.
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