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Northern Lebanon Fends Off Frantic Lancaster Catholic Fourth Quarter Rally As Vikings Topple Crusaders, Secure Three-Game Winning Streak In Memorable Divisional Contest
 

Northern Lebanon Fends Off Frantic Lancaster Catholic Fourth Quarter Rally As Vikings Topple Crusaders, Secure Three-Game Winning Streak In Memorable Divisional Contest

Written by: Andy Herr on January 26, 2022

 

Before this past Friday night, the news coming out of Lancaster Catholic’s camp so far this season was admittedly rather quiet all things being considered. After all, while most everyone knew and understood the Crusaders would certainly look much different as comparted to the team that they suited up and brought with them onto the floor last year, it’s a pretty remarkable statement to make that the defending District 3-3A champions, a state quarterfinalist, were somehow flying under the proverbial radar. But all that seemed to change late on Friday evening.

If there had been a hotter team in the entirety of the Lancaster-Lebanon League not named Manheim Central just one week ago, that list would have admittedly been rather short in stature. And sure, while the Barons’ momentum had been halted somewhat earlier in the week given their rather surprising defeat that came in resounding fashion on the road at the hands of Donegal, the larger assumption at play was that the slipup against the Indians was nothing more than a one-off. The problem was though, nobody seemed to relay that same message to the Crusaders.

Using a stifling defensive performance sparked by a great mixture of both energy and emotion that had the Crusaders seemingly locked-in right from the opening jump this past Friday night, Lancaster Catholic was able to withstand every Barons’ punch along the way before ultimately staving off a late Manheim Central charge at the end of the contest within the final few seconds, effectively handing the visitors arguably their best win of the season yet to date in knocking off the Barons on their “temporary” home floor at Doe Run Elementary. And with that landmark win, Catholic was suddenly right back in the L-L Section Four discussion considering they found themselves entering this week in the second-place spot, a full game ahead of the aforementioned Donegal Indians given the Crusaders’ double-overtime victory over the green and white in the previous matchup between the two earlier in the season. Oh yeah, if you’re wondering as to what that is a noteworthy development, the L-L tournament this season is once again planning for a full field, 10-team gauntlet which means that the top two teams from each specific section will find their way into the festivities with one of those precious dance tickets come the second week of February.

Yet for all the mojo that the Crusaders gained coming out of this past weekend, they were most certainly aware that all that precious momentum could just as easily go up in smoke on Tuesday night when they traveled to the venerable snake pit that is known as Northern Lebanon.

Speaking of those Vikings, while their home gym is widely-regarded as one of the toughest places to play, the team that plays on the floor itself this year just so happens to find themselves on a bit of an uptick here of late as well. In fact, while the Vikings only currently possess one league win so far this season, it just so happened to come in their most recent outing inside that arduous building that they call their own with a 51-42 victory over Section Three’s Garden Spot Spartans, a victory that undoubtedly also raised a few eyebrows across the league Friday evening as well. Then, roughly about 16 hours following their win against Garden Spot, the Vikes were able to follow that up with an impressive Saturday morning road triumph at one of their rivals, Annville-Cleona, in a commanding 61-41 encore over the Dutchmen which effectively signified for certain that Northern Lebanon was currently in the midst of playing their best basketball of the season.

So, suffice to say, the two prevailing storylines coming into the night at Northern Lebanon couldn’t have been any more obvious. Would Lancaster Catholic either keep on the straight and narrow in their chase to hunt down a league playoff berth, or would the most venomous place of all rise up and claim yet another victim?  Well, simply put, the “Snake Pit” would end up claiming yet another victim by the time the night was through yet again as it so often seems to do.

To say that neither Lancaster Catholic nor Northern Lebanon were able to get much separation between each other in the opening few minutes of the contest on Tuesday night would be a bit of an understatement. In fact, neither side was able to see any of their leads grow any larger than two-points, if not seeing the deficit get erased entirely, something that proved to be true following an offensive rebound and stick-back courtesy of Lancaster Catholic 6’3 senior forward, Ryan Koltunovich, making it a 6-6 ballgame at the 3:20 mark of the opening quarter as Koltunovich was able to have his hand in four of the Crusaders’ opening half-dozen points on the evening as Catholic once again found themselves on level-ground with their hosts.

Yet in the final three minutes and change, Northern Lebanon began to make the game’s first push.

As he has been able to do countless times throughout his Vikings’ career up until this point, NL’s Peyton Wolfe has proven himself to be one of the league’s most prolific shooters from beyond the arc. And with that in mind, it seemed apropos to see the 5’6 senior guard make good on his hoist from deep at the 2:15 mark of the opening frame by bombing in a trifecta which successfully capped off an impromptu 5-0 Vikings’ rally, a salvo which then prompted a Lancaster Catholic timeout given their existing 11-6 hole. From there, Northern Lebanon was able to expand their cushion outward slowly but surely as an old-fashioned three-point play just before the first quarter horn by way of 6’1 senior guard, Simon Grimes, helped send the Vikings in the second stanza with the touchdown advantage, 16-9.

But even in the second frame, Northern Lebanon simply refused to give in to the Crusaders’ advances.

Granted, just when it may have appeared that the purple-clad visitors were getting back into the swing of things midway through the second quarter, especially given a Jack Engle triple which sliced the Vikings’ lead down to five at 19-14, NL’s Mitchell Hetrick was right there with a timely answer inside on the ensuing offensive trip to make it a seven-point margin yet again, 21-14, with 3:05 left to go before intermission.

The thing was though, the late second quarter Northern Lebanon onslaught was only just beginning.

Sure, while Northern Lebanon’s lead in the latter stages of the second quarter might have surprised some in attendance, the Vikings themselves certainly didn’t seem all that taken aback by it. No, not when you consider a clean rejection on the defensive end courtesy of James Voight, only to then witness the Vikings’ 6’0 junior forward finish off what he himself had just started moments prior as the Voight triple down of the offensive end following the swat allowed Northern Lebanon to enjoy their largest lead of the evening up until that point, 26-14, which is precisely where things would remain the rest of the way into the halftime recess with the Vikings clearly making a statement that they were up to the fight throughout the opening 16 minutes.

Yet try as they might, Lancaster Catholic only continued to get stymied by their opposition, even in the second half as well.

All told, many of the Crusaders’ offensive possessions, particularly in the third quarter, were seemingly defined by nothing but one-and-done’s given the Vikings consistently and persistently coming away with defensive rebounds to shut the door on the possibility of any prolonged Lancaster Catholic offensive forays. That said, just when they needed it most, a timely Jack Engle triple seemed to have given the Crusaders a bit of life as the senior point guard’s 3-ball was good for three more en route to his game-high 18-point effort to spearhead the collective Lancaster Catholic effort on Tuesday evening.

However, even though the Engle 3-ball would cut the hole back down to 11 at 28-17, Northern Lebanon would continue to be remain unphased.

There, even after having to call a timeout as a means to try and stem the tide following the aforementioned Engle trey with 3:54 left to play in the third, the Vikings just kept on keepin’ on. For that, look to a Riley Clinger floater in the lane through contact, an exchange which then upped the Vikings’ lead to a 30-17 count before another runner in the lane, this one thanks to Simon Grimes with 45 seconds left, put Northern Lebanon up by a dozen at 32-20, only to then have the Vikings witness their cushion swell up to a baker’s dozen in the waning stages of the frame seeing as how Northern Lebanon was able to carry the 33-20 lead with them into the final eight minutes.

Simply put, if Lancaster Catholic had any desires of coming back, time was of the upmost essence for the Crusaders to try and rally back. Fortunately for them, they happened to have Bam Aikens on their side.

Largely kept in check throughout much of the evening before entering the final quarter on Tuesday night, much of which was due to foul troubles, Nahjeir “Bam” Aikens certainly saved his best for last in terms of making an impact on this contest.

With his team staring down the barrel of a game which they most definitely could ill-afford to drop, the Crusaders’ 5’9 senior guard wasn’t about to go quietly into the cold, dark night. Especially not when you consider his pair of steals and finishes to start the fourth quarter of play off, a key spark of energy that breathed life into the Lancaster Catholic troops with Aikens trimming the Northern Lebanon lead down to a 35-25 count all by his lonesome. However, Aikens only kept going onward from there. While his pair of layups were good and all, Aikens’ trey with 4:30 left to play, a 3-ball which sliced the Northern Lebanon down to a half-dozen at 35-29, effectively handed all the momentum over the Crusaders’ bench while also punching Northern Lebanon right in the gut given things appearing to go totally against them almost instantaneously. Yet fortunately for the Vikings’ perspective, they appeared to be no worse for the wear later on as yet another tough bucket in the paint tallied by Grimes made it a 37-31 Northern Lebanon lead before a pair of Engle takes to the tin in the immediate aftermath whittled the Vikings’ lead back down to three, 40-37, with the energy inside in the close confines only starting to ratchet up despite time also running out.

But for a game that figured to be memorable for either one of the two teams depending on what the eventual outcome would play itself out, surely both sides would end up remembering this night given what was about to take place.

With Northern Lebanon having the ball along with ownership of the 40-37 lead following the Engle bucket just moments earlier, the Vikings were trying run a delay game of sorts, all while trying to evade and elude the persistent and pesky Lancaster Catholic defensive traps. That said, the late-game tactics quickly took a turn given that a, shall we say, “internal situation” would soon take place with 1:13 left in the contest that led to a real-time stoppage of 5-10 minutes in order for the janitorial staff to complete the clean-up effort.   

Then, once play did ultimately resume, Northern Lebanon’s Tyler Wolfe found himself toeing the charity stripe with 1:10 left to play. And while the Vikings’ 6’0 senior forward would split the offering, an Engle bucket in transition just as quickly made it a two-point affair at 41-39 within the blink of an eye.

Later, after stopping yet another Lancaster Catholic trip without any further damage being inflicted upon them, it was another senior with the last name of Wolfe, Peyton, this time on the line to try and put this one on ice. The good news for the Northern Lebanon contingent would be that Wolfe would indeed make good on both attempts at the line, upping the Vikings’ lead to a 43-39 count with 20.8 seconds remaining. Then, after forcing Lancaster Catholic into an ill-timed turnover on the Crusaders’ ensuing offensive possession, another 2-2 trip to the line, this time from 5’11 sophomore, Riley Clinger, just six seconds later seemed to all but put the game out of reach. Finally, after securing yet another defensive rebound on the Crusaders’ next trip, yet another pair of freebies, these cashed in by Tyler Wolfe once more, helped put the final bow on things as Northern Lebanon was successfully able to author yet another homecourt stunner of sorts in their 48-39 defeat of Lancaster Catholic, a game which officially signified a three-game winning streak for the Vikings here in the final few weeks of the regular season.

As mentioned, while this win would figure to be memorable for a variety of different reasons in the long-term for everyone inside Vikings’ camp, it was something surely not lost on their head coach either.

“I told the kids in the locker room, it’s certainly one to remember for a lot of different reasons and then you get the puke job there on the baseline with a minute left,” Northern Lebanon head coach Chris George quipped after addressing his guys in the postgame locker room. “Obviously it worked out well for us in the end, I can’t say that it didn’t. It just gave us a little more time to talk to our guys,” said George of the stoppage in play while the Northern Lebanon custodial staff got their moment in the spotlight with the game on the line. “It gave me a chance to go over a whole bunch of stuff, defensively in particular. Yeah, we missed a bunch of free throws there in the fourth quarter, but what we were concerned about the most was that (Lancaster Catholic) was just coming down and getting whatever they wanted with layup after layup after layup.”

And while Northern Lebanon certainly would have preferred not having to sweat bullets over the final few minutes on Tuesday night, it certainly says a lot about the Vikings as a collective unit considering that while they may have flinched at times heading down the stretch, they certainly never faltered.

“The history here with Lancaster Catholic and us with multiple buzzers here in this gym, you can’t help but thinking to yourself, ‘Oh boy. Here we go again,”’ George went on to say regarding the state of mind as the Crusaders just kept roaring back. “Who knows. Maybe I needed a psychologist more than any of the kids did,” he added with a laugh. “I was just trying to avoid being in that position though. That’s why Peyton’s last two free throws were huge to get the lead to four. The moment where (Catholic) got it down to two, all bets are off, especially since we couldn’t seem to get a stop on the defensive end.”

Ironically though, while the Vikings’ defense within the final quarter might have been the prevailing cause for their heartburn, it was most certainly the driving catalyst prior to that which had helped put them in such a position to ultimately stave off Lancaster Catholic’s late-game rally.

“We’ve been better lately,” George acknowledged. “I was doing an interview last week where I was saying that while it’s taken these younger guys time to figure out how to be varsity players, it’s also taken us as coaches time to figure out what works best with different combinations. I thought we had the right matchups for much of the game. I thought Peyton (Wolfe) did an awesome job on Aikens most of the night….Yeah, it was just an awesome defensive effort.”

 

NEXT UP: Break em’ up gang. Northern Lebanon now finds themselves in the middle of a three-game winning streak following their triumph over Lancaster Catholic. And when asked to why he himself surmises as to why his club has been able to turn things around here of late, the Vikings’ head man seemed to know that answer as well.

“Honestly, we’ve spent a lot of time this year talking about being great people off the court. I know, it’s easier to say that when you’re not winning. ‘Oh, big surprise. They’re spending time on character stuff.’ But in all honesty, with Simon (Grimes) and Peyton (Wolfe), arguably two of the better players in the section, when you go down to 4-9 overall like I think we were, it’s very easy for those guys to just pack it in,” said George of two senior stars. “But I really think they like this team. They like the younger guys like James Voight and Tyler Wolfe, these juniors and seniors that haven’t played all that much and you can tell they enjoy being around them. That hasn’t changed. We still come to practice like it’s the first week of the season. I’ve had a lot of teams where that’s been a struggle. What usually starts to eat away at that is where the losses start to build, and psychology starts to come into play, older kids starting to the light at the end of the tunnel, realizing we’re probably not going to be making the playoffs, but we’re just continuing to get better. Even tonight, Peyton isn’t out here trying to jack a million shots to try and get to 1,000 (career points). I’ve thought all year long that he’s played the right way. He still gets the green light from half court if they’re not guarding him,” George added with a wry smile before simply adding in closing, “He’s just played the right way this entire year.”

Speaking of playing the right way, that will figure to be instrumental to the Vikings’ collective hopes heading into the final few games of the season here. First up in that list of assignments is a Saturday evening home tilt against Susquehannock in what Northern Lebanon hopes to morph into a four-game winning streak heading into next week where they will then await another nonconference foe, Schuylkill Valley, on Monday evening over in Berks County.

For Lancaster Catholic, all things being equal, Tuesday night didn’t turn out all that bad. Sure, letting this one slip at Northern Lebanon certainly didn’t help matters, but considering how Octorara was able to knock off ELCO and a would-be Donegal bucket at the final buzzer was waived off which handed Cocalico a 62-60 road win over the Indians on Tuesday night, the Section Four landscape remains relatively unchanged considering all that chaos that also enveloped all around them as well. That said, Friday night will prove to be another massive contest in Lancaster Catholic’s final stretch that is also within their total control considering how those red-hot Octorara Braves come calling for a game that will prove to be massive in terms of who may end up taking the division’s two tickets into the L-L League bracket.

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