History Repeats Itself As Lancaster Country Day Vanquishes Phil-Mont Christian In PIAA-1A Second Round For Second Straight Season As Cougars Prevail In Thrilling Overtime Affair
Written by: Andy Herr on March 12, 2025
As far as the numbers of it all are concerned, there are 192 boys’ basketball teams from all around the state of Pennsylvania that make it into the state tournament on annual basis ever since the implementation of the six-classification rule as decided almost a decade ago now. All that is to intimate, surely the sheer odds and mathematics would suggest that some matchups, particularly in some of the earlier rounds of the tournament especially, would bend towards unfamiliar foes that aren’t exactly commonplace, yes? Perhaps so, but then again, the 1A bracket would like to beg to differ with such an outward assumption.
To see the Lancaster Country Day Cougars make their way in Tuesday night’s second round of the PIAA-1A bracket was anything but a surprise to put it mildly. Granted, while the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s smallest school from an enrollment perspective would have to start their journey in a place far, far away from home on Friday night –three hours away as a matter of fact – as District 3’s fourth-seeded team had to travel north of Williamsport in order to take down the District 4 champs, North-Penn Liberty. Simply put, the Cougars’ long business trip was indeed a successful venture come late Friday night considering that LCD was able to travel back home joyous in advancing onward in states following their 57-46 road triumph to begin this form of the postseason.
And as fate would have it, even with nearly 200 teams put inside the entire concoction nonetheless, it would’ve been nothing if not understandable if Country Day had a case of déjà vu prior to their second state playoff game this season as well considering what had transpired a year ago.
366 days ago. That’s the last time in which these two programs last encountered one another.
Granted, while only the only date on the calendar (March 12th) and location (Upper Merion High School) were the only things that were largely different, the stakes and the opponent for either side were exactly the same.
Just like last year, following the successful takedown of a district champion as they had done in knocking off Notre Dame East Stroudsburg in 2024’s opening round, Lancaster Country Day found themselves back in the round of 16 awaiting a date with Phil-Mont Christian for the second time in as many years on Tuesday night at Pottstown High.
And if you’re wondering how last year’s affair transpired, it wouldn’t be all that blasphemous to suggest that it was the Cougars’ biggest win ever tallied in program history in that game a year ago considering that it formally marked Lancaster Country Day’s longest run through the state tournament in having reached the quarterfinal round before LCD would then bow out to eventual state runner-up, Berlin Brothersvalley, in that very next game.
As far as this year’s this iteration of Phil-Mont Christian was concerned, it would be quite the tall task. Literally.
In terms of the Falcons’ listed size on the available roster, Phil-Mont Christian can enjoy the overall luxury of rolling out the likes of 6’5, 6’5, 6’3, 6’1, 6’0, to name just a few. Suffice to say, for a Cougars’ bunch that features nary a very generous 6’3 listing in terms of their primary rotation of players, LCD would be looking up at their competition on this night in a very literal sense.
But then again, it’s not as if Country Day would need to be totally intimated by the task at hand.
Aside from last year’s fruitful 56-43 verdict against Phil-Mont most specifically, the Cougars could easily look back on their stellar first half performance that came against the L-L’s eventual champs, Cedar Crest, in a double digit halftime lead that centered around the Cougars’ ability to stymie the biggest young man playing in the conference in 2024-25, 6’7 RJ Young of Cedar Crest, with a flood of double teams thrown in Young’s direction in that opening round of the league playoffs back in February. Then again, a nearly 60-point second half barrage put on by Cedar Crest made for a quick and untimely exit for Country Day’s first-ever foray in the L-L tourney once the curtain was lowered.
So, what would it be and how would history repeat itself while at Pottstown? Would Country Day be able to play down the sheer height disadvantage that was most certainly not in their benefit and discard Phil-Mont Christian for the state playoffs for the second year in a row? Or would this instead be another instance in which a taller group of blue and white-colored Falcons would put an end to a Lancaster Country Day postseason excursion, albeit this time with much, much higher stakes involved?
Fortunately for Country Day, although there was far, far more drama involved in this iteration than in their matchup found almost a year ago to the very day, the Cougars would yet again use Phil-Mont Christian as their proverbial on ramp when it came to reaching the state quarterfinal round for the second year in a row come the final gun on Tuesday night.
And although this was a much-ballyhooed matchup between two worthy opponents from top-to-bottom, it seemed as if an impromptu game of one-on-one had broken out at the start of this one.
Case in point, Country Day’s Cam Harris coming out of the chute in tallying LCD’s first five points of the evening before Phil-Mont Christian’s Malik Minor would respond in kind as the Falcons’ 6’5 junior forward would compile the first nine points for his squad by comparison, including finishing off a baseline out-of-bounds set that awarded Phil-Mont their first lead of the night, 9-8, with a shade over three minutes left in the opening frame.
Yet when it came time for someone other than Malik Minor to hit the scoring column for the team dressed in white, even those dividends would be just as fruitful from their perspective.
In that regard, Phil-Mont was able to ride the hot shooting of their 6’0 junior sniper, Titus Waggoner, as a pair of triples sunk by Waggoner helped to close the book on a wildly entertaining first eight minutes with Phil-Mont holding serve by virtue of their 18-14 lead at the end of the first period.
But just for as quickly as it may have seemed that Phil-Mont Christian was perhaps starting to take off and take flight, Country Day was right there on the scene to reel them right back in.
Truth be told, it didn’t even take the Cougars all of two minutes once inside the game’s second act to regain control of the scoreboard when it came to 6’0 senior guard, Chris Dukes, playing in his first-ever state tournament after having to sit out last year due to PIAA transfer rules, bombing in a silky-smooth trifecta to put LCD back in front by the slimmest of margins, 19-18.
However, did we mention that Malik Minor was on an absolute heater in terms of his first performance against Lancaster Country Day? If not, let us allow him to continue to illustrate.
Later, after scoring two more buckets in successive fashion with the game starting to come right up against the halfway point of the second stanza, Minor would be nothing if not major as his far and away team-leading 15 points by that juncture had helped propel Phil-Mont Christian back to the lead, 22-19, almost one minute following the aforementioned exploits from Dukes. Then, when it came time for their most recent 1,000-point career scorer in program history, Kendall Bratten, to get in on the action himself, he too would not disappoint as the Falcons’ lanky 6’5 senior forward would score his first field goal of the evening near the 2:45 mark of the second quarter with a bucket that awarded Phil-Mont their largest lead of the evening by that point in time, 24-19.
But yet again, even when it may have seemed as if Phil-Mont Christian was about to run and away and hide, Country Day simply wasn’t having any of that.
And while the Cougars would head into the halftime intermission with an existing deficit in the form of a 25-23 score in their opponent’s favor, the team from the outskirts of Lancaster city certainly had to like their current positioning all things considered at the end of the first 16 minutes.
Then, come the start of the second half on Tuesday night, not even a brief respite in between periods seemed to deter this tennis match turned basketball game.
Granted, while Phil-Mont would proceed to race out to a five-point gap in the aftermath of a third Titus Waggoner triple which helped to usher the Falcons out to an early 28-23 advantage at the start of the quarter, a timely and deeply critical 5-0 rally authored by way of Country Day’s Chris Tucker, who had sat out for the entire first half, made the most of his minutes once he checked in as the spurt compiled by the Cougars’ 5’11 sophomore guard knotted things up at 32-apiece with just 2:20 left in the third by that point.
Afterwards, while Country Day would go on to reclaim the lead following a triumvirate of free throws sunk by Chris Dukes — the Cougars’ eventual game-higher scorer found tossing in a 19-point body of work against Phil-Mont Christian — after getting fouled in the act of shooting directly in front of his team’s bench as Dukes’ freebies made it a 32-29 LCD lead, that slim advantage would then be wiped away entirely at the end of the Cougars’ ensuing defensive possession courtesy of the Falcons’ leading scorer, Malik Minor, seen etching a solid 25-point evening next to his name in the scorebook, as Minor’s three-point play made things all square once more at 32-32.
And speaking of 3’s, Country Day would have the last laugh in that regard come the end of the third frame as Jordan Ashby was mysteriously left all by his lonesome in the far corner as the Cougars’ 5’10 junior guard made string music with a dead-eye triple mere moments before the third quarter came to a close with Country Day heading into the final minutes with the aid of the 40-37 lead following the Ashby trey.
Or so we thought when it came to needing only eight additional minutes when it came to determining an eventual victor in this one.
To say that the game itself was wildly entertaining through the first 24 minutes would be selling it wildly short quite frankly. In fact, just a quick glimpse at the first few possessions of the final quarter helped to demonstrate as to just how volatile each team’s momentum had seemed to be.
Then again, good luck trying to convince Phil-Mont Christian’s Jameer Zachary of that notion considering how the Falcons’ 5’8 senior guard helped to raise the curtain on the fourth period by coming up with a 6-0 run all by himself as his traditional 3-ball was followed suit by one of the old-fashioned variety, putting Phil-Mont back in front, 46-43, with five minutes and change still left outstanding up on the game clock.
And while you don’t want to necessarily skim and cut out all the tiny details, let’s just hit fast forward things to inside of a minute left to play.
There, it seemed as if the Cougars would be on the verge of playing with the lead for the last handful of seconds on Tuesday night considering how a Chris Dukes’ NBA-range triple from the top of the key made an entire rotation around the rim before eventually falling out of the cylinder, keeping the existing score at a 47-47 stalemate with Phil-Mont Christian appearing to have the opportunity of securing a walk-off victory to vanquish this personal demon known as Lancaster Country Day School.
However, after a prolonged Phil-Mont Christian final possession ended without even a shot attempt going up as the Falcons turned it over inside of the last five seconds, a last-ditch heave just inside the halfcourt line by LCD hit nothing but backboard glass, sending this game into a much-deserving extra frame with not even 32 minutes having decided a thing with the score deadlocked at 47-47.
All that is to say, it wouldn’t have been totally farfetched to suggest that the team with the ball last might end up being the one who would go on to claim victory it felt.
Hard to argue considering how Julian Sheppard proceeding to get the ball following the opening tap of the overtime session and race home to the hole with an easy layup to put Phil-Mont up within a flash to get things started. Next in line, a fearless take to the rack by way of Dukes with a subsequent finish, this now putting the Cougars back in front, 51-50, with the baton going back to Phil-Mont Christian. There, the Falcons would indeed regain control following a hoop plus the harm courtesy of Kendall Bratten as the senior big man put his troops up by a 52-51 count with all of 2:37 remaining in overtime.
Yet speaking of Dukes, for someone making his first appearance in a state tournament this season as mentioned, the bright lights and big stage didn’t seem to deter his motor whatsoever on Tuesday night with the game hanging in the balance. Truth be told, it would be his fuel.
In fact, just as he had done just prior, another hard-nosed take to the tin and finish by the critical transfer student in prior to the start of last school year allowed Country Day to surge back in front, 53-52, with now just a hair inside of two minutes left in OT.
As fate would have it, that would prove to be the last time that the lead would exchange hands for the remainder of the evening from there on out.
Afterwards, it seemed only fitting that LCD 5’10 senior guard, Jeremy Ouilikin, fresh to the Cougars’ rotation near the back half of this season following a broken leg suffered playing a fall sport, got lost amid the Phil-Mont Christian defense who gambled on trying to snatch up a steal as Ouilikin’s bucket from point-blank range made it a 55-52 Cougars’ cushion with 52.1 seconds left.
But there was still time for some final drama of course.
A short time later, with Bratten getting fouled in the act of shooting on Phil-Mont’s ensuing offensive trip down the floor with 31.9 seconds left, a 1-2 trip to the charity stripe resulted in an extended possession all the same with Country Day securing the defensive rebound, yet falling to floor, resulting in a travel being called against them with the score standing at a 55-53 difference with the Falcons maintaining possession while in the halfcourt.
That said, Country Day was able to avoid disaster as a possible go-ahead triple by Phil-Mont bounced off the rim with LCD being able to come away with this one without incident, negating a possible back-breaking trip down the floor from the Cougars’ perspective.
Even still, with Country Day only splitting their own offering at the line with 4.6 seconds remaining, the Cougars weren’t out of the woods quite yet given the 56-53 margin with Phil-Mont Christian having one final opportunity to try and extend this one.
And while the Falcons would indeed get a final shot up prior to the buzzer going off, what would become the final field goal attempt of their season went begging at the horn meaning that for the second time in as many seasons, Lancaster Country Day had proven themselves to be Phil-Mont Christian’s kryptonite by virtue of this thrilling 56-53 overtime triumph to move into the Elite Eight round and a new date awaiting them come Friday evening.
But make no mistake about it, with the game teetering on the knife’s edge throughout a variety of points Tuesday night at large, while it does indeed take an entire team effort in order to seal the deal, it also requires those with an assassin’s mentality to take things over when the opportunity presents itself. Fortunately for Lancaster Country Day, they have a variety of guys who are capable of fulfilling such a role. In this one, it just so happened to be Chris Dukes’ turn to land the fatal blow.
“For me, as a competitor, I want to be the one taking that final shot,” Dukes admitted with the upmost confidence following his team’s victory outside a joyous locker room of assembled friends and family members alike. “But if Jordan (Ashby) is the one that takes it, I have full confidence in him too. Or Cam (Harris). Or anyone. It doesn’t really matter,” Dukes then added of his fellow teammates should such a situation arise where the Cougars need a bucket with the game on the line.
Yet don’t be mistaken and take Dukes’ assertiveness as something of folly that is just hot air and nothing without merit. For him, after seeing his brothers go on a postseason run without him last year in having to sit on the bench and do nothing more than offer moral support in wearing the team’s sweat suit while sitting on bench in lieu of the PIAA transfer rules, a fire has been building in the talented lefty guard with unlimited range that has now become a full-on blaze that burned Phil-Mont Christian most of all on this night.
“It feels great,” said Dukes with a mile-wide smile when asked what it felt like to now be a contributing member in states as opposed to a glorified cheerleader from last year. “We’re just going to keep running this up and keep going in the states,” he explained. “Hopefully we get to a state championship, but we really just want to win.”
As for his coach, one who has been in this situation once before, he was most certainly proud of his team’s collective fighting spirit more than anything to ultimately get the job done this time around.
“This was the game for us,” Country Day head man, Jon Shultz, showed of the instructions written on the whiteboard inside his team’s locker room at Pottstown High School prior to taking the floor on Tuesday evening which read out, “Limit second shot attempts!”
“(Phil-Mont Christian) did get some second shot attempts, but they got one less than they needed,” said Shultz harkening back to the end of overtime. “For us, we’re just so small. We need to get on the floor. We have to fight for loose balls and tipped balls, like the one that ended with (Chris) Tucker getting a layup because we’re hustling. All those things are what is going to do it for us.”
“I think our guys answered the call because that High Point game and then the York Country Day game the very next night, we had two offensive rebounds in those games combined,” Shultz shared of his team’s final two losses of the recent District 3 tournament which saw them enter the state bracket in this spot in large part due to their lack of ownership found on the glass in those affairs. “You’re just not going to win basketball games with stats like that. I know we’re small, but that can’t be an excuse. I thought (his players) just really fought for it tonight.”
And a result of answering the dinner bell against Phil-Mont Christian for the second time in as many seasons, Country Day’s reward – and their season at large – seems to be coming together at the most opportune of times.
“I think this has been a season of fits and starts,” Shultz remarked while still packing up prior to getting back on the bus and heading home on Tuesday. “We started finally feeling our groove towards the end of the regular season. We played pretty well during that last stretch to get into leagues when we had to beat teams like Annville-Cleona late. Getting Jeremy (Ouilikin) back was big too,” he continued. “He just takes care of the ball and is such a general on that offensive end of the floor. Now, he’s fully back and playing full time.”
“It’s tricky now because we have so many guards,” said Shultz giving creedence to his team’s overall small stature littered across the board. “When you look down the bench, you wonder who you’re going to put in. It’s basically guard for guard for guard for guard. With Jeremy being back and guys like Cam (Harris) playing bigger as the season has gone on, we’re just becoming a little bit more flexible in ourselves. We’ve finally found ourselves. Last year, we kind of found ourselves earlier, but now we’re healthy and we’re doing alright.”
Now, while they are happy to advance onward and play no matter who, no matter where, there was perhaps just a tinge of disappointment in the air surrounding Country Day camp in knowing that they won’t get a chance in trying to make amends in toppling their own archnemesis, High Point Baptist, who lost in the opposite second round game on Tuesday night to The Christian Academy from the town of Brookhaven.
“We have not beaten High Point the last few times that we’ve played them, although they’ve all been close games,” Shultz acknowledged of his team’s fellow District 3 counterpart who has gotten the better of his Cougars in recent memory. “Now we have to sort of start over because we had all the film and the entire scout on High Point if we would’ve played them,” he said with a laugh. “I do think that was a team (High Point) that would’ve been able to validate a lot of this in what we’ve been doing of late, but we don’t get them. That’s okay. We’ll take this one.”
And from Country Day’s side of things, while the next “one” is The Christian Academy at a site and time to be determined as of this writing for a date on Friday night located at a school somewhere nearby, the Cougars truly don’t care who it is. This isn’t a postseason run defined by vengeance or spite. Instead, this is about trying to make history all for themselves. With one more win, two more required in order to reach the state title game, Lancaster Country Day is certainly on the right track when it comes to doing precisely that.
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