La Academia Muscles Its Way Past Lancaster Country Day As Leones Stave Off Cougars, Prevail In Neighborhood Tussle
Written by: Andy Herr on January 6, 2022
Admittedly, when Lancaster Country Day came into the Lancaster-Lebanon League a few years ago now, the jury was out as far as what to expect out the small private school located a stone’s throw away from Franklin & Marshall College. After all, Cougars would automatically have the distinction of being the smallest school in the entire L-L League, a feat best exemplified by their single-A classification level which makes them the lone school in the conference to claim that distinction. However, with a few years’ worth of a resume already having been completed for hard evidence to judge them on, it seems rather apparent that the Cougars’ narrative will more than likely follow the same familiar script on perennial basis.
First and foremost, Country Day will fear no one when it comes to their specific division within the league itself. In fact, while Columbia and Lancaster Mennonite more often than not seem to take the champion and runner-up distinctions between the two of them on a yearly basis, LCD is most often the school making life extremely difficult for the rest of group, typically fighting to collect one of those two precious bids into the league tournament fray before finishing just outside the lead pack. But aside from their L-L League slate, the Cougars routinely find themselves in the mix for a District 3-A title come the latter stages of February. Case in point, their 2019 district title which was the first in school history. Suffice to say, while the Cougars ultimately reap the benefits of playing nothing but competition above them in terms of the classification system landscape that comes from playing within the L-L League from a mathematical standpoint as it relates to their year-long District 3 power rating, the nightly wars of the L-L competition undoubtedly give Lancaster Country Day an added boost when it comes to competing against the rest of their single-A adversaries once the District 3 tournament rolls around. And wouldn’t you know it, but this year too seems to be taking on that same type of trajectory when you consider that Country Day entered Thursday night with ownership of #9 seed in the single-A field, putting them right on the outside cutline for making the postseason.
Of course, as fate would have it, their closest nemesis in terms of the current District 3 power rankings just so happened to not only be their neighbors from just a few blocks away, but their Thursday night competition as well.
When the school known as La Academia burst onto the basketball scene last winter, it took everyone a bit by surprise. After all, while the private school in Lancaster city had existed for quite some time, no one had ever really heard of it- at least from an athletic standpoint that is. However, when you enter into the mix arguably two of the greatest players to ever suit up in a McCaskey Red Tornado uniform, your product receives instant credibility almost overnight in local hoops circles. So, with Jerry Johnson taking over athletic director duties along with the boys’ head basketball head coaching position with Dustin Salisbery alongside, the Leones came out of nowhere last season and nearly hit it big -like all the way big- considering La Academia not only took home last year’s District 3-1A title, they came within a whisker of playing for the state championship had it not been for an overtime loss at Lancaster Catholic -due to La Academia not having a home gym to call their own-to Pottsville Nativity in the state semifinal round one year ago.
Of course, when you make it that far, your schedule for the next season would figure to tell an awful lot about the aspirations you’re shooting for this season as well. And if that’s the true metric to use, look out. La Academia has dodged absolutely nobody.
To be frank, La Academia’s slate of games so far this season reads like a who’s who of Pennsylvania high school basketball on the eastern side of the state. Bethlehem Catholic, Valley Forge Military Academy, Dock Mennonite, and oh yeah, Westtown to name just a few. Yes, that would be the same Westtown from the outskirts of Philadelphia that is routinely ranked in the Top 25 national rankings of high school basketball that just so happens to also have the top recruit in all of America in the class of 2022 on its roster in Dereck Lively, a 7’2 athletic freak that has already signed his letter of intent to be a Duke Blue Devil at this time next year. So yes, La Academia is more than grizzled for seemingly anything else thrown at them for the remainder of this season.
And with that, for two teams that certainly are more than equipped for navigating their way through the District 3-A field should they earn the opportunity to compete in the dance once again this year, Thursday night’s tussle on the campus of Lancaster Country Day figured to be battle between two teams that may make a legitimate run at nabbing gold medals for themselves about a month and a half from now.
But on this night at least, La Academia would be the ones to help better solidify their case for making that very argument.
In the initial few minutes on Thursday night however, Lancaster Country Day had no intentions of letting the Leones get comfortable in terms of working themselves into an offensive rhythm and flow. In fact, the homestanding Cougars would be able to build themselves a 5-0 lead through the first 2:40 of the opening period, an early salvo that was capped off by way of a smooth jumper knocked down by junior guard, Toby Ashby.
Granted, while La Academia would come right back by knotting the score up at 5-5 over the course of the next few minutes, a tough bucket inside courtesy of another junior, big man Mick Cook, put Country Day back into the lead at 7-5 with roughly three minutes still left to tick off the first quarter clock. But as was to be the prevailing storyline throughout much of the first half, neither team would be able to create much in terms of separation from their competition, especially considering the opening eight minutes would eventually expire with the score remaining deadlocked at a 7-7 stalemate.
If you were on the prowl for any bit of distance generated by either club, you’d get a small semblance of your wish being granted in the early moments of the second quarter on Thursday night. There, after going back and forth with LCD with the two teams trading buckets against one another, the Leones went on to grab their largest lead of the early evening at 14-10 following a steal and finish courtesy of 6’0 junior wing, Joanathan Orr, before seeing that cushion seemingly go up in smoke on the Cougars’ ensuing offensive trip given that Lancaster Country Day sophomore guard, Jake Kumah, proceeded to bury a trifecta the next time down, effectively slicing La Academia’s lead back down to the slimmest of margins at 14-13.
From there though, the Leones would be able to handle Country Day’s counterpunches for the most part over the final few minutes of the second quarter considering the visitor’s lead would swell to as many as five following a take to the cup by way of 6’7 senior stretch, Jamal Lebedev, making it a 20-15 La Academia lead with two minutes and change left to play before the halftime recess. And once those final couple few minutes would eventually melt away into finality, it would show La Academia trotting off into the locker room while taking the 20-17 lead with them.
In the third though, the Leones finally built themselves a solid ledge to stand upon.
All told, La Academia would begin the third quarter proceedings by rattling off a 7-0 run -much of which came by way of tough buckets inside- as a man’s-sized offensive rebound and put back by 6’5 senior big man, Jaquis Heath, made it a 27-17 affair in favor of the Leones with nearly half the third frame already having been expired.
But to their credit though, Lancaster Country Day was warm to the fight.
Even despite spotting La Academia the early salvo to begin the second half of play while adding another couple few minutes without scoring a bucket to make matters even more arduous, the Cougars finally got into a groove in the most typical of fashions -a Grant Landis trifecta- as the senior marksman fired in a key triple to get the Cougars back within a touchdown at 27-20 near the two-minute mark of the quarter. Then, on their very next offensive possession, LCD was able to cut into the Leones’ lead even further with a deuce inside from Mick Cook, suddenly making it a 27-22 ballgame with momentum staring to nudge its way into Country Day’s direction.
However, whatever momentum the Cougars were able to muster for themselves by that point in time seemed to get wiped away down the final stretch of the third period.
With things starting to go somewhat sideways for La Academia just then, it became paramount for the Leones to gather themselves down on the offensive end of the floor. Well, fortunately for them, they had Eliyah Gantt who was up for the challenge as the 5’8 junior guard promptly canned an enormous triple to push La Academia’s back up to double digits at 32-22. And while getting the lead back out of single numerals was indeed key, adding to that cushion would be even greater. For that, the Leones would bestow their heartfelt thanks upon the right hand of 5’8 senior point guard, Tarrell Wright, as the undersized yet determined Leones’ floor general worked himself free of a Cougars’ double-team near the midcourt line before firing off a 3-ball just before the third quarter horn was getting set to expire as Wright’s last-ditch heave rolled around the rim for what felt like an eternity before ultimately falling through the net to give La Academia the 35-24 advantage by the time the final quarter rolled around.
But here they were again, refusing to give an inch.
In the early portion of the fourth quarter in this out of conference, backyard clash, Lancaster Country Day just kept pushing and pushing in terms of getting right back into the thick of things to try and mount a feverish late game rally. In fact, following a pair of Landis free throws, the La Academia lead had been trimmed right back down to five at 37-32 with 6:03 still left to play. Speaking of the Cougars’ battle-tested guard, Grant Landis would leave little doubt as to who would be the one to inflict the greatest amount of damage upon La Academia given his game-high 20-point outburst to lead all scorers.
Yet just when Country Day likely felt as if they may have finally solved the La Academia riddle, the Leones would put together a back-breaking rally to close things out.
Granted, while the Leones’ lead would get shriveled all the way down to four at 38-34 following a Toby Ashby take to the cup, an enormous and equally picture-perfect triple dialed up by Jaquis Heath plus a foul underneath capped off an impromptu 4-0 blitz that pushed La Academia’s lead back up to eight at 42-34 within the blink of an eye with under four minutes left to play. Speaking of continuations, La Academia would author another one down the homeward stretch as an old-fashioned three-point play thanks to the handiwork of Jamal Lebedev would make it a 45-34 Leones’ lead with time starting to run out on a possible Country Day comeback bid. On the night, Lebedev would prove to be a force inside for which LCD would struggle to contain given his team-high 17-point effort to pace the La Academia charge.
And while the Cougars would be able to dip back within nine at 49-40 following another Ashby lay in at tin later on, one more colossal bunny chipped in from point-blank range by way of Lebedev helped punctuate the evening for good as the Leones would make the very short trek back down to North Ann Street with a hard-earned 58-44 victory for their troubles.
NEXT UP: For Lancaster Country Day, while they most definitely wanted to be the ones to head home with a win on this snowy night, seeing La Academia up and close personal so to speak will surely help give the Cougars a litmus test of sorts for what they can expect should they make their way into the District 3 tournament field and possibly match up with La Academia yet again. Speaking of which, and in the most apropos of ways, the Cougars’ upcoming schedule seems to be the perfect balance of handling their mandated L-L Section Five assignments, while also trying to level things out against other single-A opponents as well. In fact, over the course of the next few weeks, Country Day will bob and weave their way into both pools considering the Cougars’ next batch of games features York Country Day, Annville-Cleona, Lititz Christian, before rounding out their season series against Lancaster Mennonite and Columbia respectively after that. In short, as is the case seemingly every year in early winter, the prevailing thought seems to be that if Lancaster Country Day can get into the dance, don’t worry about their seed-line. Chances are, whatever it is, they’ll be wildly under-seeded.
Follow LLhoops on Twitter @LLhoops
