McCaskey Finds A Way As Red Tornado Use The Charity Stripe To Help Seal The Deal, Push Away Ephrata For Important Road Triumph
Written by: Andy Herr on January 20, 2022
Sometimes, tangible progress isn’t something that can always be demonstrated in a straight line. No, in some instances, definitive improvement isn’t a topic of conversation that can succinctly be defined by your win/loss record alone. Just take the Ephrata Mounts for example.
Sure, while the Mountaineers’ 4-8 overall record and 0-5 league likely won’t blow anyone’s socks off at first glance, that would prove to be a fatal flaw on any of the Mounts’ opponents should they happen to take this particular Ephrata squad for granted this season. To be sure, four wins at this point in the campaign alone is finite proof that the program is undoubtedly trending in the right direction under second-year head coach, Scott Gaffey. In fact, in their most recent stretch alone here of late, the Mounts have put some of Section One’s largest of heavyweights on notice by inflicting quite a scare upon them. Case in point, Ephrata by and large giving a one-loss Hempfield squad all it could handle over the course of 32 minutes on the Black Knights’ home floor before eventually surrendering a 54-45 defeat at the hands one of the entire league’s strongest clubs. And yes, while the Mounts would proceed to drop their next three following the Hempfield contest, it wasn’t as if the Mounts were totally outmatched against their competition either given a four-point loss to another Section One outfit, Penn Manor, a 52-37 loss against a rapidly-improving E-Town group, all before taking the lead into halftime on Tuesday night against the current Section One leader, Cedar Crest, before later falling in a 53-42 final decision to the Falcons. The ironic thing though? Their most recent triumph came at the hands of their most ardent adversary, Cocalico, as the Mounts were able to stave off a miraculous late-game comeback bid by the Eagles in posting a definitive road win for their troubles that undoubtedly was a very large brick inserted into the reconstruction of this program. Anyways, long story short, Ephrata appeared to be right on the precipice of coming away with a signature win sooner rather than later. Well, it just so happened that the Mounts’ next opportunity would not only come a mere 24 hours later following their setback at the hands of Cedar Crest, it would also come against arguably the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s strongest franchise.
Speaking of progress, the McCaskey Red Tornado has been on a bit of a tear here in their own regard of late.
Since the calendar turned itself over and into the month of January, it’s largely looked as if an entirely different Red Tornado group has emerged from the shadows. In fact, while Ephrata may have put a scare into Hempfield on their home floor, the Red Tornado were to do one better, successfully upsetting the Black Knights in Landisville to knock Hempfield from the ranks of the unbeaten. From there, McCaskey was able to put a nice 2-1 stretch together afterwards seen in a pair of home triumphs against Conestoga Valley and CD East respectively. All told, it seemed as if they too were on the verge of perhaps breaking through and turning the back-half of this season into an upward climb upward to prominence inside the ranks of the L-L Section One field.
So, the question of the night remained at large. Would Ephrata finally be able to snatch that signature victory, or would McCaskey keep on keepin’ on in this crossover tilt? Well, while it certainly wasn’t easy, the Red Tornado would indeed be the ones to blow through the Mounts’ home gym and take a hard-earned road win back home with them to Lancaster city by the time the evening was through.
To start things off, Ephrata had a nice concoction of an offensive/defensive game plan that seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. With the McCaskey offense having to play almost exclusively between the rings while operating within the half court, the Mounts were able to keep the clamps down on McCaskey from getting out and running in transition. From there, with one facet appearing to be in a good spot, the Mounts decided use their decided height advantage to their benefit as three consecutive points all tallied by way of sophomore stretch forward, Trent Wolf, helped usher the hosts out to an 8-5 lead just over the halfway mark of the opening frame. Speaking of their inside play, the Mounts continued to lay the hammer down later on in the quarter as a sweet lob play off of an inbounds play that ended in an easy bucket from point-blank range courtesy of senior big, Mason Campbell, allowed Ephrata to double-up their guests as McCaskey was forced to call a timeout while staring at a 12-6 hole with 2:47 left to tick off the first quarter clock.
And while the Tornado wouldn’t be able to inflict a great deal of damage into the existing Mountaineer cushion following the timeout, a timely and smooth pull up jumper sunk by senior guard, Grady Bachman, allowed McCaskey to get back within four at 12-8 which is precisely where the count would remain following the final 40 seconds of the first quarter from there.
Speaking of Bachman, he would continue to maintain his hot shooting touch once the second stanza got underway as well. In fact, while another of the senior’s trademark J’s got the Red Tornado within a pair at 12-10, Bachman’s shooting prowess seemed to be contagious amongst his fellow troops seeing as how an Eric Centeno jumper would later follow suit, making it a 12-12 affair with 5:10 left to go before the intermission. From there, the remainder of the quarter seemed to be mired in neither club being able to generate much of anything in terms of separation against the other. Case in point, a Hasan Williams’ take to the cup which knotted things back up at 16-apiece roughly three minutes later, before a pair of Mason Hagen free throws within the final 20 seconds of the quarter ultimately proved to be the difference between the two sides at the end of the opening 16 minutes of play with Ephrata taking the slim 19-17 lead with them into the halftime break.
At the onset of the third frame though, McCaskey finally took control of the scoreboard.
After being ignited by a Shamell Burke layup in transition following a Red Tornado pilfer to get the third quarter underway, an old-fashioned three-point play authored by Hasan Williams wasn’t far behind as the McCaskey senior duo helped put their troops up by five at 26-21 just 2:04 into the period. And while Ephrata would be able to get back within three shortly thereafter following a Mason Hagen spinning bucket from within the paint which made it a 26-23 contest, the Red Tornado were then able to rattle off an immediate 4-0 rebuttal to counter back, a salvo which was capped off by way of an Eric Centeno steal and subsequent finish.
To their credit though, Ephrata appeared to be no worse for the wear despite spotting that McCaskey flurry.
All told, while the Mounts would be able to trim the McCaskey lead back down to just three following a pair of buckets inside thanks to the handiwork of Mason Campbell to make it a 30-27 ballgame, Ephrata would be able to do one better than that as a dead-eye triple splashed in the corner by junior forward, Dylan Kohl, brought the hosts nearly all the way back seeing as how the Kohl triple made it a 32-30 gap with one minute left in the quarter. That said, a hard and determined take to the rim by McCaskey junior point guard, Jonathan Byrd, allowed the Red Tornado to saunter into the final quarter with ownership of the 34-30 advantage.
The thing about that McCaskey lead though? It wouldn’t last for very long. No, especially not if Mason Campbell had anything to say about it.
As far as the Mounts’ senior was concerned, he would have no issue whatsoever in terms of helping to serve as the spark his team needed in order to erase this existing deficit. In fact, after starting off the quarter with a bucket through contact, Campbell’s free throw that came following the continuation suddenly got the Mounts back within one at 34-33 almost instantaneously. From there, Campbell continued to be a thorn in Red Tornado’s collective side given his take to the bucket shortly thereafter which put Ephrata back out in front, 37-36, with six minutes still left to play.
And while it may have seemed impossible to predict at the time given how Ephrata seemed to clearly be operating with all the perceived momentum at that stage of the game, McCaskey would finally be able to put their foot down for the remainder of the contest.
No more than one minute after having surrendered the lead to their purple and gold counterparts, the Red Tornado sprinted right back into the lead, a four-point lead at that following a trifecta knocked down in front of his team’s bench by Burke, a key triple which made it a 41-37 McCaskey lead with five minutes then left to go. From there, a Byrd take through Mounts’ traffic would proceed to put the Tornado up by a half dozen at 45-39, good for two more of the junior point guard’s personal tally that ended in game-high scoring honors with an 18-point effort by the time night was over with.
Then, with their offensive clearly serving as the driver behind their overtaking of the lead and then some with the game starting to wind down, it seemed apropos that a McCaskey defensive charge would help bookend the evening which is precisely what junior forward, Jared Kumah, did with 2:52 left the contest, a selfless move by the Tornado big man for the betterment of his teammates to fearlessly negate a would-be Ephrata trip down the floor by giving up his body for the collective effort. Speaking of Kumah, he would later proceed to show off his shooting talents with a perfect stretch of free throw shooting with the game hanging in the balance, most of which never even bothered to hit the rim, as a pair of Kumah freebies would later make it a 50-39 Red Tornado lead with 1:55 left to go at that time.
And while the Mounts would try their best to chip away at the sizable lead McCaskey had been able to construct for themselves within the final few minutes, something best evidenced by a Dylan Mahlandt take to the cup which made it a 51-43 game with 1:30 left to play, the visitors would be able to put a bow on things by going an almost-perfect 7-8 stretch from the charity stripe from there on out –including a 4-4 pair from Byrd alone inside the final minute—as McCaskey was ultimately able to prevail past a stingy Ephrata unit that certainly didn’t make life easy for them over the entirety of the game’s 32 minutes by way of the 58-47 final verdict.
NEXT UP: After getting a Thursday respite from competition, McCaskey will take to the floor against another Section Two competitor, E-Town, on Friday night back at home inside Shultz Transportation Gymnasium before lacing it up yet again on Saturday afternoon when the Tornado will head up to Reading to square off in a neutral site game against Hazleton. And as far as Wednesday night was most concerned however, it was a must-win game against Ephrata that they indeed did not drop. In fact, seeing as how they themselves practically blew the field wide open within Section One thanks to their earlier victory over Hempfield, the Red Tornado still find themselves within reach of perhaps securing a bid into the league tournament over the final few weeks of the regular season. More broadly speaking however, it was key win over the Mounts from a District 3 perspective as well seeing as how the Tornado still have quite a bit of ground to makeup if they want to find themselves inside that bracket as well considering that they currently find themselves sitting at 16-line with only top 12 gaining entry.
For the Ephrata perspective, this game too likely felt like a bad case of déjà vu for the Mounts. But as mentioned, the growth demonstrated in such a short amount of time cannot be denied nor overstated. Yes, while the Mounts may have yet to sign that signature win that steals the headlines across the entire league landscape, rest assured that they have far bigger plans than that. Sure, while wins here and there are great and make for a feel-good story, the Mounts would most certainly prefer sustained success above anything else. And if this program’s upward climb continues at the rate which it appears to be going at currently, those days may not be all that far off just looming over the horizon.
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