‘Loose’ Cougars Continue To Thrive Inside Playoff Crucible By Holding Off Phil-Mont Christian Second Half Flurry As Lancaster Country Day Makes History, Advances Beyond Second Round For First Time Ever, Draws Berlin Brothersvalley In PIAA-1A Quarterfinal Round On Friday

Written by: Andy Herr on March 13, 2024

Not bad for a reclamation project, huh? Alright. It’s not as if they were totally left for dead and needed resuscitation of course. Even still, having to reinvent yourself just prior to the most important portion of the season, the postseason, isn’t exactly for the faint of heart. Regardless, that was precisely the assignment that Lancaster Country Day was forced to undertake following their final game of the regular season, an outing that ended in a total whitewash of Lititz Christian by 35 points while also forcing the opposition into 32 turnovers in the process to boot. However, from that moment on once the final buzzer sounded that evening at Bonfield Elementary, the Cougars would spend the next week and change having to rearrange their rotations and everything else that came with it.

Why you ask? Look to the PIAA transfer policy for that.

Granted, as if losing a key piece in the lineup wouldn’t already be hard enough, how about the fact that the Cougars would be required to figure out who would be able to pick up the slack of 17 points-per-game on average?

On the year, Country Day’s multi-faceted junior slasher, Chris Dukes, a late transfer in to the school prior to the start of the season, would go on to lead the Cougars in scoring during the regular season campaign while posting that aforementioned nearly 20-point clip. And that’s saying something considering that the Cougars, always a perennial stalwart in the District 3-1A landscape, have a roster of count ‘em up, zero seniors, while also boasting the likes of arguably the most unheralded player in the entire Lancaster-Lebanon League, Jordan Ashby, the Cougars’ sophomore guard who has the potential in going off for 30 points nearly any given night. 

However, even while navigating the dangerous waters of the suddenly imposing L-L Section Four ranks –the only division within the conference that had teams make it out of the opening weekend of the state tournament this year it should be duly noted– en route to the #2 seed in the District 3 tournament, Country Day was far from a shoe-in to make to the eventual championship game. Sure enough, whether you want it to consider it some form of “sticker shock” or not that came in playing their first varsity game of the season without their ace in the hole so to speak, the Cougars fell in their opening game of districts against High Point Baptist, a team in which Country Day had already lost to just two weeks prior even with all their pistons firing at the time.

As a result, the Cougars left zero margin for error for themselves out of the 1A consolation bracket. But perhaps that’s right where they wanted to be instead? Maybe?

Now, after being forced into the textbook definition of “survive and advance,” Country Day needed to get the better part of York Country Day following the setback against High Point their next game out. Well, check that box off as Lancaster’s version of a country day well spent was apparently better than York’s this season as the Cougars’ 60-54 triumph in the playback round of districts made it a clean LCD sweep over YCD this season.

Their reward? One the biggest beasts that District 3-1A could possibly offer up.

Granted, while Linville Hill has since surpassed La Academia, a small private school located within Lancaster city, as the preeminent 1A goliath here of late, it’s not as La Academia can be treated as an also-ran these days. In fact, the Cougars knew full well what their fellow small school brethren within the Red Rose city limits was capable of as La Academia topped Lancaster Country Day by nearly 30 points back in the early nights of the season, something achieved on the Cougars’ floor no less. Again though, doubt-ridden from the outside world or not, Country Day came up with what one could argue was their finest hour of the entire year in knocking La Academia off by a 49-39 verdict, a win which gave the victor the final berth in the PIAA-1A bracket while simultaneously sending the loser home packing until spring open gyms start back up.

But the only packing Country Day would be doing was for a visit up to the Pocono’s this past weekend.

Alright, while it wasn’t exactly the type of trip that most would associate with heading up north that is usually filled with nothing but rest and relaxation, this was instead a rather tenuous and arduous task to the say the least by comparison. After all, as if from being two hours away from home in a far away distant land was already hard enough, how about having to extend your season against a district champion, one who is competing in their own backyard no less? But, as they had so often demonstrated over the last few weeks here of late, for whatever the reason, even more remarkable seeing as how they again have no quantifiable senior leaders on the roster as mentioned, Lancaster Country Day continued to perform best with their backs up against the wall with this most recent example bearing fruit in a 41-33 win against Norte Dame East Stroudsburg, District 11’s 1A champion, in the opening round of the 1A bracket last Friday evening.

And so, for a team that has been living on the proverbial knife’s edge for the better part of two, three weeks now, that meant another chance to crisscross the state. This time to King of Prussia.

For it would be a game held much closer to the Lancaster Country Day campus on Tuesday night given that their second-round opponent hailed from the town of Erdenheim, PA, located in Montgomery County. The opponent in reference waiting for the Cougars on this night at Upper Merion High School?  One that has made a habit of making it into the state bracket these last couple of seasons most especially.

Save for the 2021-22 campaign, Phil-Mont Christian has been a constant member of the state’s 1A bracket over the span of the last four seasons. In fact, not even the COVID year of 2020-21 which took district champions only seemed to deter the Falcons all that much given how they were even able to make it into the dance that year too, albeit falling, ironically enough, to La Academia at Lancaster Catholic in the opening round of that much-condensed state playoff field. Going back to last year though for just a moment, Phil-Mont was able to ride through and into the quarterfinal round of states before they succumbed to Berlin Brothersvalley by 27 points. No real shame in that however seeing as how Berlin Brothersvalley went all the way to the state final last season before finishing second to the powerfully constructed Imani Christian school out of Pittsburgh in the title fight at the Giant Center.

The game that got off Phil-Mont Christian off to that powerful start you may be wondering? A nip-and-tuck win in the opening round at District 3’s lone public school, Greenwood. Funny though how history sometimes has a way of repeating itself considering how Phil-Mont was forced to head back to the very same place, in the very same game, this past Friday night where they would yet again head home victorious after vanquishing Greenwood to march on to the second round for the second year in a row.  

Suffice to say, while many of the same elements involving the 1A bracket’s overall construction seemed to remain etched in stone as it had going back 12 months ago now, Lancaster Country Day was certainly looking to avoid playing the role of another District 3 outfit, Mount Calvary, as the tiny Christian school from E-town would prove to be Phil-Mont’s second round victim a year ago. Oh yeah, should we mention at this point that Berlin Brothersvalley could be seen lurking in the shadows in the next round for the eventual winner here?

But that would be a worry for Friday night. For you wouldn’t be able to make it to Friday if you first couldn’t get through Tuesday. For either Lancaster Country Day or Phil-Mont Christian, getting out of King of Prussia unscathed was the only thing that mattered. And the ones getting a clean bill of health coming out of the second round of this 1A affair? The now “historic” Cougars of Lancaster Country Day.

More on why this particular 2023-24 Cougars’ edition cemented a legacy coming out of this one a bit later on. For now, once the ball was tipped off between these two foes hailing from District 1 and District 3 respectively, neither of which ended their district playoff jaunts with championships, a nip-and-tuck affair figured to be the overarching storyline. Sure enough, as far as the first few minutes would indicate, that’s precisely the narrative that rang true.

In fact, as far as any sort of distance garnered from either side against the other, that would be nonexistent. For that bit of evidence, look no further than the 7-7 knotted up score following a bucket by Country Day’s Kane Kirby, already having tallied five of the Cougars’ first seven to begin the evening, as the 6’0 sophomore wing put his fingerprints all over the early action.

Despite that, on Phil-Mont Christian’s ensuing possession down the floor no less, did the Falcons’ 5’11 senior guard, Gabriel Williams, counter Kirby’s latest punch with a trifecta of his own to put his side back in front by a 10-7 count after the ever-continuous back-and-forth opening three minutes.

Yet for as much as these two clubs took their respective jabs against one another out the chute with both offenses looking to be nothing less than proficient and efficient, while it may have appeared rather innocuous at the time, a Jordan Ashby trifecta for Country Day which made it a 13-12 Cougars’ lead with 2:55 left in the opening frame proved in many ways as a harbinger of things yet to unfold both on the micro and on the macro as well.

For the here and now portion, it would be prove to be a personal 8-0 salvo throughout the final furlong of the opening quarter tallied by the Cougars’ 5’10 stick of dynamite in the Country Day backcourt as Ashby’s late first period burst eventually put the bow on an opening stanza in which the team from Lancaster County led the team from Montgomery County by an 18-12 difference.

But as far as the big picture was then concerned, that aforementioned Ashby 3-ball which had put the Cougars up by the slimmest of margins at 13-12 moments earlier would prove to the very last instance in which the lead would ever change hands again for the remainder of the evening.

With that in mind, seeing another of the incredibly young riches found on this year’s Country Day roster, Cam Harris, come away with a theft and finish in transition on the opening possession of the second quarter certainly didn’t hurt matters as the 6’1 freshman went on to finish with the silver medal in terms of the Cougars’ scoring output on the entire evening in posting a baker’s dozen to help assist in the overall LCD charge.

Steadily though, Country Day just kept piling the points up and piling the points up against Phil-Mont Christian.

So much so in fact that while a Kane Kirby triple –good for three more en route to his 12-point evening — allowed the Cougars to flirt with a double figure lead at 25-16 with a shade over half the second quarter still left unaccounted for, a tough take to the cup by Harris would later help that dream blossom into reality for the Country Day contingent as the Cougars were then found possessing the 29-17 advantage with 1:55 left before the halftime break.

And while Phil-Mont would try and find anything to counter against the ongoing Country Day methodical procedure in which the Falcons were serving as the Cougars’ patient there on the operating table –such as the case when 5’7 junior guard, Jameer Zachary, came away a scoop shot from point-blank range to stem the tide somewhat for the Falcons– the fact of the matter was that Lancaster Country Day simply refused to play nice following the first few minutes of the contest as the realization that the Cougars were getting essentially whatever they wanted on the offensive end while contrasted with Phil-Mont Christian’s offense stuck in the mud by comparison, seeing Country Day head into the halftime break with the benefit of the 33-19 lead behind them wasn’t exactly a surprise per se.

Yet methodical would remain the most apropos word for Phil-Mont Christian to abide by once the second half began from their perspective too. For them, while they wouldn’t be able to bite into the Cougars’ sizable cushion in one fell swoop, the Falcons would have to do so by gradually chipping away at things.

Well, while a Ben Sponaugle bucket inside which helped to raise the curtain on the third quarter action certainly didn’t help matters considering the Cougars’ 6’2 junior big man would make it a 35-19 difference with 5:45 left in the quarter following the easy deuce, Phil-Mont did indeed steadily chip away and chip away from there on out.

Sure enough, while maybe it wasn’t in the most glamorous of fashions necessarily, Ethan Giddens’ bunny from within the paint was nonetheless crucial as the Falcons’ 5’11 sophomore forward got Phil-Mont Christian back within a dozen, 35-23, making it the closest that the black and blue-colored runners up from District 1 had been in quite some time with 4:45 then left on the third quarter clock. After that, a much louder bucket, a 3-ball sunk in by 5’11 senior guard, Gabriel Williams, got Phil-Mont Christian to within single digits at 37-28 with 95 seconds left in the penultimate frame by that point.

But as he would all evening long, Jordan Ashby would simply prove himself to be the itch that Phil-Mont Christian just couldn’t scratch.

Case in point, with things starting to go somewhat sideways from Lancaster Country Day’s perspective at the time, a crucial Ashby triple, good for one of his four fired in on the evening from bonus distance while en route to a game-high 20-point showing overall, gave the Cougars just a bit more breathing room with all of eight minutes left from having them achieve something in which they not yet done before as a program with the scoreboard difference standing at 40-31.

Did we mention that Jordan Ashby was a consistent problem for Phil-Mont Christian across all 32 minutes on Tuesday evening? Well, if we hadn’t, here was yet another example of that coming to fruition.

While 20 points in a state playoff game is typically good enough to stand alone on its own merit by and large, the aspect of Ashby’s buckets within this particular contest were somehow even more valuable in that they seemed to come at the most opportune times for Lancaster Country Day. Such as the case with his latest bomb from beyond the arc here with 6:46 to play which saw the Cougars’ lead swell back upwards to a dozen, 43-31, with the Falcons needing to burn all the possible gas they still had left in their tank.

As if to be standing at stage right, here the Falcons came.

After turning up the dial considerably behind a run and jump, trapping-style press in which they would employ to try and speed Country Day up, the idea seemed to work wonders and bear fruit as time went on. In fact, following a steal, finish, and free throw added on top following the harm, Phil-Mont Christian’s 5’8 fiery senior floor leader, Luis Torres, had successfully helped his squad claw all the way back to within five at 43-38 with just 2:36 left remaining at that time.

Insert Country Day’s cut-stopper, Jordan Ashby.

With his team yet again starting to teeter while amid the ongoing Phil-Mont surge, getting the ball to the lime green-shoed guard was the most pressing of matters for the Cougars. And wouldn’t you know it, but Country Day’s sophomore All-State caliber guard would come up with the goods again, this time finishing through contact while after being left alone underneath, as Ashby’s momentum-tilting bucket made it a 45-38 LCD advantage following the earlier Torres’ haymaker before Ashby’s final field goal of the evening, also from point-blank range, largely helped to make it a hill far too steep for Phil-Mont Christian to try and summit with all of 90 seconds remaining at the time.

From there, after Jeremy Ouilikon and Kane Kirby took their turns in going 2-2 from the charity stripe respectively in the waning stages, the junior and sophomore’s pair’s combined 4-4 showing at the foul line helped to push the gap back upwards of ten, 52-41, with Country Day starting to sense history afoot.

But before that could happen, it seemed to emblematic that one of Country Day’s final buckets come in the same manner in which they were essentially able to get out of dodge while inside King of Prussia in living to fight another day, by breaking the Phil-Mont Christian press, as a Cam Harris bunny inside behind the Falcons’ defensive troops proved to be the icing on the Cougars’ cake.

And for a game in which many of the same familiar themes that have encapsulated Lancaster Country Day’s overall season at large and here of late in particular –getting out to a fairly comfortable start which has you feeling good about things, only to then encounter difficulties before then being up against the wall and forced to prevail with one more loss being the eventual death knell in your campaign – it seemed fitting that Lancaster Country Day pass this test too as the Cougars were able to prevail over Phil-Mont Christian by a 56-43 final verdict in the second round of state playoffs to move on where they will now face last year’s state runners-up, Berlin Brothersvalley, at a site and time yet to be determined for Friday night following their largely dominant win over Lancaster County Christian also held on Tuesday night.

Oh yeah, if you’re wondering by now as to why this would prove to be a historic victory for Lancaster Country Day, the Cougars now find themselves in the quarterfinal round of the PIAA state tourney, the Elite Eight if you will, for the first time ever in the program’s history. Not too shabby for a bunch of young pups who are essentially learning all this on the fly while seemingly unphased by the enormity of it all.

“We tend to have lulls in games, but at the same time, we’re able to figure things out as we go,” Lancaster Country Day head coach Jon Shultz admitted following his team’s triumph against Phil-Mont Christian. “They’re smart kids. They figure things out as they go,” Shultz continued of his almost unheard-of roster piled high with not just exclusively with underclassmen, but young underclassmen too for that matter. “They won’t listen to us,” he said with good-natured and lighthearted humor with “us” being he and his fellow coaches before quickly adding, “But they’ll listen to each other. They’re good dudes in that way.”

Beyond that, not a bad for a team still trying to reassign roles and responsibilities following the three-month regular season slate either.

“We miss Chris (Dukes) dearly,” Shultz made it a point to mention following Tuesday night when asked as to how things have been shifted around following the ruling stemming from transfer protocol that forced his team’s leading scorer on the year into street clothes from here on out. “He’s such a good shooter where teams have to guard us differently when he’s on the floor,” he continued of Dukes. “But you know, we have to get his shots somewhere else, right? Like we weren’t just going to throw the ball away and out of the bounds for the 15 times he’d shoot it… Now, are we getting better shots? Are we getting guys in the right positions? (Cam) Harris has played really well for us the last few games, cutting to the basket, making his layups, being a little more patient offensively,” he went on to share. “And then Jordan (Ashby) makes important shots for us. He did that for us Friday. Chris did all season, making shots to keep us in games, but Jordan’s doing that now, like making that big 3 to extend the lead here tonight.”

In many ways though, it’s somewhat enjoyable to watch this Cougars’ bunch while in the middle of this historic run they’re currently on. For most teams, while they’d normally be wound up tighter than a drum with the stakes being at their absolute highest, Lancaster Country Day on the other hand almost seems as if they just appreciate the chance to go out and keeping playing basketball games period. Not that they don’t necessarily understand where they currently stand in regard to the entire state and are totally foolhardy, but they are just a fun-loving and jovial bunch at their core. High pressure stakes and everything else be damned.

“In the locker room, I’m telling them tonight, ‘You guys are too young to really appreciate that you’re in a spot right now that most people never get to,’” Shultz shared of his message following this second-round state triumph. “There’s a little of that to them too, but that’s nice. It’s refreshing,” he acknowledged of his bunch. “They practice hard, focus on the stuff we ask of them to do, and then they just go play loose.”

“They’re loose. They’re loose on the bus. They’re loose in the locker room before the games. I’m not trying to in any freak them out with any of that,” the now sixth-year Lancaster Country Day head man continued when describing this group. “When we watch film, we show them the good things that teams do to make them a little nervous to get them to practice hard, but once the games get going, they’re like, ‘Okay. We’re ready for all these things that this team will throw at us.’”

“Our last few games, our fourth quarters have been our best quarters,” said Shultz with another tidbit that would again seem to defy logic with such a youthful roster. “Our last game, against Norte Dame East Stroudsburg, we missed one shot and only had one turnover. Against York Country Day (in a District 3 knockout game), we scored 24 points in the fourth quarter when we were down by ten and ended up winning by six. Even against High Point in the game we lost, we turned it on in the fourth quarter and came close where Jordan Ashby had a shot to tie it. La Academia too we played really well in the fourth quarter which really helped us salt that game away. But we have good ball-handlers. We have enough guys who can handle the ball. And they aren’t forcing bad shots,” he detailed. “A couple (bad shots) tonight, but in the fourth quarter, the clock is their friend, and they appreciate it.”

Fourth quarters in games, yes. But now, with the season in its own fourth quarter so to speak, while they may be a loose bunch by nature, rest assured that everyone in Cougars’ camp recognize and appreciate their current spot. Yes, while the betting odds would certainly be heavily slanted in Country Day’s favor that runs like this figure to be norm rather than the exception given that this entire roster is already in line to return next year, the fact of the matter is that nothing is ever truly a guarantee. That’s something their coach is already keenly aware of in his own right.

“There’s nothing to be taken for granted here,” Shultz said when it came to realizing he is now just one of eight head coaches left coaching a 1A boys’ high school basketball in the sixth largest state in the United States. “There’s no guarantee that any of this happens again. So, trying to get (his team) to appreciate the moment. Hopefully they do. But yeah, they’re attitudes are great. They’re having fun and that’s all we’re looking for.”

Well, that, and yet another landmark win, the type of win that would send shockwaves around the state, on Friday night to keep this historic ride going into next week likely wouldn’t be something to pass up either.  

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