Lampeter-Strasburg Continues Blistering Stretch Post-Octorara As Pioneers Turn Away ELCO, Pick Up Third Straight Win To Remain Hot On Braves’ Heels In Section Three Title Chase
Written by: Andy Herr on January 19, 2024
There’s that adage in sports that goes somewhat along the lines of, “You want to be peaking at the very end of the season.” Fair enough. And while we’re not exactly at the finish line quite yet, please don’t find much in the way of fault with either the ELCO Raiders or the Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers if they are just fine playing some of their best basketball this season at this moment in time, yes, albeit in the middle part of January.
From the Raiders’ perspective, you’d be hard pressed to find a much better win that the fellas from Myerstown have been able to put forth thus far in the 2023-24 campaign than their utter thrashing of a fellow Section Three foe found in Donegal their last time out on Wednesday night, in the Indians’ house no less, by a nearly 40-point margin at 86-50. Simply put, certainly not a bad way to follow up a recent stretch that saw ELCO drop three of their previous four before heading into Mount Joy mid-week.
On the other side though? Well, forget about their win on Saturday solely being the best that they themselves had been able to tally so far throughout 2023-24. Instead, how about coming home with the best victory that the Lancaster-Lebanon League can claim as that of an entire group?
On Saturday, fresh off a decisive Section Three road win of their own last Friday night in a nearly 30-point win at Northern Lebanon, L-S promptly followed that up with a commanding and eye-popping 62-38 triumph over Chambersburg, a preeminent 6A stalwart, in the “Hoops for Harmony” showcase event held at York Tech last weekend in a game that was never truly ever in any real doubt or danger. Ironically, much in the same vein as their counterparts on Thursday night in ELCO, the Pioneers’ latest prolific jaunt wasn’t a bad way to break free from what was at the time a stretch of play that saw Lampeter-Strasburg drop four of five prior to last Friday night, not the least of which included a heart-breaking 61-56 overtime final verdict at the hands of Octorara that gave the Braves sole possession of the section lead, something even significantly more painful seeing as how it came on the Pioneers’ home floor.
That said, the absolute last thing that the Pios could afford to do was to immediately follow up that brilliant nonconference Chambersburg win with another instance of ill-timed graciousness in allowing another Section Three squad to prevail in their house once ELCO rolled into Lampeter on Thursday while fresh off their arguably their best win of the season just 24 hours prior as mentioned. And while ELCO certainly made L-S stick around and battle throughout every bit of 32 minutes, it again seemed as if this L-S squad has finally started to find its mojo and moxie right at the exact time of year.
Despite a team coming off its highest scoring total of the year by a pretty wide margin that came part in parcel in flirting with 90 points against Donegal the night before, ELCO it seemed couldn’t replicate any of those same haymakers when it came throwing it in the ocean even if they happened to be standing on the boardwalk in the early going on Thursday against L-S. That said, while the ball may have failed to make its way through the twine, the Raiders’ overall feistiness on the offensive glass in being to snare down a plethora of offensive rebounds was at least a most welcomed sight all things considered. For that, it didn’t feel abnormal whatsoever to see the Raiders grab the 6-4 lead following a Micah Gray layup in transition with 3:45 left standing on the first quarter clock with both teams clearly struggling to find any sort of early traction against the other.
However, that would later prove to be a prime example when it came to famous last words.
Truth be told, L-S really didn’t need to find footing. No, not when they able to have the benefit of riding on a cloud instead in the immediate aftermath of Gray’s go-ahead bucket as the Pios proceeded to bury a pair of triples via the handiwork of Chase Smucker and Dean Herr respectively, allowing the hosts to race out to the 10-6 lead with inside of three minutes left to tick off the first quarter clock.
And while Kaden Shultz-Tillison, perhaps best remembered for his 20-point afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center back in December against Wyomissing, would offer up a deadly triple of his own to knock the difference down to the slimmest of margins at 12-11 with roughly 90 seconds left, a second first period trifecta splashed in by Herr inside the waning stages allowed L-S to saunter into the second with their lead standing at a 17-11 count.
In the second quarter, L-S only continued to open things up from there.
Granted, while a strong take to the cup by way of ELCO’s Dallas George inside of the first two minutes of play would cut the gap back down to five at 18-13, a pair of triples splashed by the law firm of Smucker & Herr would later see the Pios’ lead swell back upwards to 24-13 with 4:30 left in the opening half by that point.
And while ELCO would continue to hang around and hang around to stay within shouting distance, a smooth pullup jumper knocked down by L-S’ 5’11 senior guard, Trent Wagner, made it a 26-17 Pios’ advantage with three minutes and change to go before a floater tallied in the lane by another 5’11 member of the L-S backcourt/senior class, Yasin Abdi, got the difference back over double figures once again at 28-17 with 1:40 still to play in the opening half at that stage.
Yet even despite playing with what to the naked eye felt like L-S having firm control of the proceedings out on the court itself, a timely steal and finish punctuated by ELCO’s Camden Marquette inside of the final minute got the Raiders back within reach at 28-19 come the halftime break courtesy of the senior guard’s pilfer.
But yet again, even here inside of the third stanza, it just seemed as if L-S refused to let ELCO break through and puncture that roughly 10-point window.
Case in point, after a wonderful offensive set out of the halftime break that resulted in L-S 6’2 junior forward, Emory Fluor, curling to the tin for an unimpeded bucket which made it a 30-19 Pioneers’ advantage to start second half action, a Dallas George triple for the Raiders’ contingent made it a 36-25 ballgame with just nary two minutes having evaporated off the third quarter clock at that time.
Granted, if there was a problem for L-S to try and deal with over the final 16 minutes, it most certainly seemed to be the Raiders’ lead guard.
To his credit, despite putting just four first half points, Dallas George seemed to reemerge out of the locker room for the second half on Thursday night with a whole different attitude and approach to things. Easy to say perhaps seeing as how the 5’9 floor general would go on to notch 14 of his game-high 18 points inside of the final two quarters. But aside from his own personal exploits alone, one could argue that George was single-handily helping to keep ELCO in the fight altogether as both a floater in the lane with 3:15 left made it a 40-29 count before a later triple to round out the third quarter scoring kept the gap at 10, 44-34, with the Raiders still largely within reach provided L-S could leave the proverbial door open for them inside of the concluding eight minutes.
Sure enough, it seemed as if that was exactly taking place as the final period got underway.
Aided by a most certain boost of momentum that came in the finite form of a step-back Camden Marquette jumper to get the fourth quarter scoring underway, a timely triple notched by the Raiders’ sharpshooting 6’0 junior guard, Micah Gray, cut the gap down to a much more modest seven, 46-39, with 5:15 left to play.
And while L-S’ Dean Herr would continue his 12-point flame-throwing kinda evening with a much-needed bucket at the rack through contact to immediately answer Gray’s trifecta, an ELCO bucket by, you guessed it, Dallas George, kept it still at seven, 48-41, with just 3:10 left at that stage.
Undeterred though, ELCO refused to head back to Lebanon County without conjuring up one final push when it came to completing what would have been a pretty remarkable comeback bid in the event they’d be able to actually pull it off.
In that regard, a critical bucket plus the foul in the paint courtesy of ELCO’s 6’1 rising sophomore, Josiah Hayes, cut the gap down to a half dozen at 50-44 with 2:30 left to play as the Raiders still had a pulse when it came to deciding the eventual victor of this one.
And while it may have seemed as if an L-S bucket after breaking free from the initial ELCO press that was scored by Emory Fluor in transition to make it a 53-46 contest with under a minute left to play was the death nail to any sort of ELCO comeback bid, the Raiders just continued to try and reel in that prized fish as evidenced by a timely triple cashed in by Logan Kless directly in front of his team’s bench which kept things more than interesting at 56-51 with just 7.7 ticks of the clock remaining.
However, unfortunately for those who indeed made their way down through the Lancaster County corridor on this particular evening, that would be all the closer their Raiders would get in terms of taking the lead for the first time since the early stages of the opening quarter as a pair of Pioneer freebies inside the last handful of seconds sealed the deal for good as L-S was able to successfully stave off a more than formidable upset attempt at the hands of ELCO, 58-51, keeping the divisional Goliath known as L-S still well within grasp of perhaps at the very least snatching up another share of a section title in just a few weeks’ time. Or, as those in and around Lampeter and Strasburg are sure to feel, back to the status quo.
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