Troyer(s) Shine As Hempfield Holds Down Penn Manor, Vaults Firmly Into Early League Tournament Picture As Black Knights Protect Homecourt In Crucial Section One Win

Written by: Andy Herr on January 6, 2024

Technically, when Penn Manor paid a visit to Hempfield’s Buchanan Gymnasium to take on the Black Knight on Friday night, the best that the victor could hope for entering the weekend would be for second place behind the current division leader in the clubhouse, Cedar Crest, with almost one full turn of Section One play already having been completed thus far. The only thing was, you’d probably think that first place, if not a title of some sort, was on the line that based upon all the anticipation and excitement that came as a prelude to when these backyard friends, nah, let’s just keep it simple and say rivals, met up with one another to close out the week for an old-fashioned Friday night donnybrook.

As of right now, and until a different program perhaps gets crowned next month at Manheim Township in the league title game, Hempfield remains the Lancaster-Lebanon League champion until they officially get knocked off their perch. That said, throughout the month of December at least, for a Black Knights’ team that figured to go through some initial growing pains at least to start following the graduation losses of the core cast that was so instrumental in seeing Hempfield finally rise to the top of the L-L League heap last year, those early pains seemed like minor cuts and scratches at best.

Yes, while there were those first two losses to begin the campaign at the hands of Lampeter-Strasburg and Mechanicsburg respectively, Hempfield has appeared to pick up right where they left off last winter –new names and faces or not – by winning five of their next six ballgames save for a loss at Cedar Crest which was the impetus for this game against the Comets being for second in the chase at this juncture. Included within that scintillating stretch though came a win in their holiday tournament championship game against an equally adept 6A stalwart, Wilson, as the Black Knights were able to slay an early beast prior to the start of the calendar year to help serve notice that a possible Hempfield dip in the section standings as perhaps desired by some may be nothing more than a foolish premonition.

One of those teams looking to perhaps seize upon the ground that Hempfield may have been believed to relinquish coming into the season? Surely their opposition on this night for starters.

Simply put, it’s been a minute since the Penn Manor Comets have played with this many eyeballs on them, particularly this early in a season no less. But when you have arguably the best player wearing your program’s uniform in a decade plus, that’s certainly a good place to start.

Sure enough, while Penn Manor’s Ethan Benne had been nothing if not sensational throughout the early quadrant of the season, he ironically –nay, cruelly — may have ended up proving his true worth in the form of his two games in sitting out with a hand injury that came part in parcel with two losses at the hands of E-town and those aforementioned Falcons from Crest by a combined total 57 points in his absence. However, since he got the green light to head back into the fire, the Comets’ 6’4 wing couldn’t have cared any less if the tape job on his shooting hand was done with scotch tape and chewing gum if it meant he could suit up again. And true to form, Benne responded in kind with a pair of 29-point outings at Warwick last week which propelled Penn Manor to a holiday tourney championship of their own as the Comets knocked off Dallastown and the host Warriors for an equal bit of tectonic plate-shaking wins across the local landscape at the tail end of last week in their own right.

However, even for all his talent, this may have been the first night all year that Benne figured to fight for the limelight.

On Hempfield’s side was his LA Elite AAU teammate, Ben Troyer, bound for York College next year, who deserves far more respect than being simply considered just a talented second fiddle to Ethan Benne in the L-L League if anyone out there has that frame of mind. You see, while these teams not only came in with their own storylines associated from top-to-bottom as mentioned, the star power on display between arguably the two best players in the entire conference in Benne and Troyer going head-to-head with each averaging a ridiculous clip of 23 points-per-game to their names which puts them both four above the next closest competitor, the star power on display could’ve been enough to not only light up Landisville, but maybe the entire western side of the county too for that matter.

But by the end of it, whether you came to the gym on Friday to see the two stars duke it out against one another directly, or rather that of these two backyard foes as teams regardless, rest assured, both aspects surrounding the evening firmly resulted in Hempfield’s clutches.

Truth be told, the Black Knights would never trail for the entire evening. And sure, while Penn Manor would cut the early gap down to a penny in the infant stages following a 3-bull sunk by 6’0 senior guard, Devin Figueroa, which made it a 4-3 contest, a Ben Troyer triple of his own was right behind it in relatively short order as Troyer’s flamethrower upped the Knights’ cushion to a half dozen, 9-3, with a tick over five minutes left in the opening frame.

In fact, in the aftermath of the Figueroa trey as it turned out, Penn Manor would draw no closer the rest of the way home.

That said, the Comets’ star, Ethan Benne, tried his best to power through it as tough take to the cup whittled the difference back down to four, 9-5, before an opening eight minutes that it largely felt as if Hempfield had effectively controlled nonetheless resulted in the hosts claiming the somewhat miniscule 12-9 advantage after one.

However, Troyer continued to shine on Friday night. Oh, did we fail to mention that there are actually two of them in the Knights’ rotation?

It’s true. And while older brother Ben is obviously priority 1A for opposing teams on their scouting reports on a nightly basis, little bro Spencer is far better than just an afterthought as the 6’4 sophomore forward would demonstrate in the initial stages of the second act with a bucket inside that increased the Hempfield lead up to five at 16-11 before the other portion of the Troyer sandwich, Ben, pumped in another first half triple right behind his sibling which made it a 19-11 Black Knights’ momentum swing with 5:20 left in the opening half by that point.

But by that point, it wasn’t even really slipping away from the Comets. Instead, it probably felt more like an avalanche was heading in their direction as far as they were concerned.

Easy to assume that notion once Ben Troyer leaked out behind the Penn Manor defense in transition and threw down a one-handed dunk which could’ve been seen coming all the way from Millersville as the play itself started to develop. From there, following a steal and finish courtesy of Black Knights’ 5’9 senior guard, Nick Deeg, which preceded another Spencer Troyer bunny inside, the Hempfield cushion had swelled up to a dozen at 27-15 with Penn Manor burning a timeout with 1:46 left to play before the halftime reset.

Yet again, while to the naked eye it almost felt as if Hempfield had dictated almost all the terms of engagement throughout the opening 16 minutes, Penn Manor just kept hanging around and hanging around.

And never was that on display more than with Ethan Benne narrowly beating the first half horn with a triple splashed down in between the three-point arc and the timeline to help send his fellow troops into break with a bit of momentum, albeit while still trailing by a 27-18 count.

But while a momentum-tilting bucket such as that could’ve easily carried over into the third quarter once action resumed, Hempfield wasn’t all that interested in playing nice.

No, especially not when Nick Deeg opened the frame with a trifecta to get the Knights off on a bit of a groove. And while Ethan Benne would continue to try and play the role of Hercules –something perhaps no better than exemplified than with his eventual 20-point outing  — a triple of his which got the Comets back within single figures at 32-24 was immediately rebuked by way of Ben Troyer knocking down one of his own on the ensuing Hempfield offensive trip with a shade over five minutes left to play in the third by that point.

All told, that would largely be where the window remained as the third quarter drug onward as another Troyer bucket, this of the turnaround jumper variety, made it a 37-27 ballgame before brother Spencer followed suit the next trip down with a two-point addition to what would end up as his impressive 15-point night overall, making it a 39-27 affair in the waning stages before the final eight minutes rolled around with Hempfield holding serve by virtue of their 41-28 lead.

By this stage, it was nothing if not evident that while Hempfield had proven themselves to be more than a formidable opponent, time was perhaps the Comets biggest enemy.

Even still, Benne tried his best to weather that storm too seeing as how a timely 5-0 spurt by the future Millersville Marauder cut the gap back inside of ten, 41-33, with only 50 seconds elapsed from the fourth quarter clock.

But from there on out, Ben Troyer left little in the way of doubt that this night belonged to he and his teammates.

Ironically, right on the heels of his AAU teammate’s three-point play, he too would tally one of his own before sauntering off on his own 4-0 personal salvo as a complement to put Hempfield on the 50-point mark at 50-37 with 4:40 left to play. In fact, Troyer would then punctuate his earlier three-point play with another one later as well, good for what would be a six-point snippet into what was an absolutely marvelous 28-point night at the office next to his name once everything drew to a close.

And while Penn Manor’s Asher Peters would tally a pretty jump shot in the waning stages, the Comets’ 5’11 senior guard’s bucket would unfortunately prove to be far too little and far too late as far as their side was concerned as Hempfield was able to not only vault into second place behind Cedar Crest in L-L Section One, but also make another resounding statement if they felt the need to do so as the Black Knights were able to notch a decisive 63-43 victory against Penn Manor on this night. And not for nothing, but perhaps the most impressive stat of it all? The brothers Troyer tallying 43 points amongst themselves. Yes, meaning Ben and Spencer Troyer would’ve had to go to overtime against Penn Manor as a whole if we’re only looking at numbers alone.

Afterwards, while he easily could’ve gotten swept up in all the pregame fanfare that came with a Benne vs Troyer duel, Ben Troyer proved himself to be far more mature than that.

“I knew everyone was going to be talking about that, but I try to make it about team first,” Hempfield’s senior forward said after he and his team had just scored one of their best victories yet to date just shy of the halfway point on the season. “Who cares if (Benne) scores more. If we get the win as a team, that’s a win in my book.”

Even still, while they may have been opponents on this night, their friendship still appears to supersede the two scheduled meetings Hempfield and Penn Manor have on the docket against one another this winter.

“No, not really,” said Troyer when asked he if and Benne were on some sort of communication hiatus similar to what you see on the professional ranks amongst compatriots prior to an upcoming game. “We keep in touch here and there. We don’t talk smack or anything like that. We just keep it chill.”

“He’s really good in the paint,” Troyer said then in assessing his friend’s game both up close in the spring and summer and now from afar for a couple months. “That’s what we tried to focus on tonight was keeping him out of there. But then he’s also good enough to come in and hit that mid-range and 3-ball, so that allows him to get more driving lanes,” he added of Benne.

But while he might have stolen the show in terms of point production specifically, Ben Troyer was far happier for what Spencer Troyer had been able to do on this night in totality.

“It was so great,” older brother said of little brother’s game. “It’s so cool that me and him are always coming out here and getting interviewed together after games. It’s great and it gives us something to talk about after the games.”

Ironically, while Troyer tandem may be new to this whole postgame interview thing, their head coach on the other hand has probably done more interviews over the years than a sitting politician. Not that he plans on getting into that arena necessarily though. No, Hempfield head man Danny Walck is just fine in devising basketball schemes and gameplans still. Yes, even if it means having to counter against the likes of an Ethan Benne.

“He’s their Mr. Everything,” said Walck of scouting for Penn Manor’s lead dog. “When you look at him, it’s one of those things where, do you let guys like him them get theirs and care of everyone else? He’s a very good player. He’s going to get his. He knows how to create a shot, knows how to finish, knows how to make foul shots, so we need to be understanding of where the other shooters are, and then we need to win the rebounding war,” Walck stated heading into Friday. “You can’t give (Penn Manor) second and third opportunities. (Benne) is very good where if he has a miss, he’s going to get it. He’s really active. We talked about that. Like, I don’t care who gets the rebound. If you’re guarding Benne, I ain’t worried about technique. Any way you can keep him off the boards is fantastic because he is such a good player, and he plays so hard. He’s a coach’s dream.”

Speaking of that, Walck himself happens to have one that isn’t too shabby in his own right.

“So mature,” said Walck of Ben Troyer. “We’ve talked about this, but he knows that if I can go make my teammates better, mine is going to come to me. We call it, ‘Getting itchy.’ You say, ‘Hey, that kid’s getting itchy. He probably going to take some ill-advised shots.’ When that happens, it becomes one on nine because your four other teammates are looking around and saying, ‘Hey.’ And you know what? That’s really big growth for him,” he went on to highlight. “Being able to accept that, but not only that. Now, he’s carrying it out. That’s the only way we can be successful. If we’re successful, he’s going to play a lot longer than just the regular season…I’m thrilled for him because I know how much he’s invested in this game.”

But as a basketball savant the likes of someone who has prevailed in over 400 instances while sitting in the head chair over the years at various stops, he knows that having a straw is nice, but it’s a totally worthless tool if it’s not then stirring a drink. In that regard, Danny Walck is well aware that the other pieces surrounding the primary cog in the Black Knights’ collective wheel are what will truly determine this team’s fate for the rest of the 2023-24 season.

“They’ve accepted their roles,” Walck then said proudly of the group at large. “You don’t beat a team like Penn Manor with just Ben. You don’t beat a team like Wilson with just Ben. We’re 29-29 at Cedar Crest. None of that is happening with a one-man show,” he added. “So, people can keep saying that and I hope they still believe that. Go for it,” said Walck about those who staunchly are in the camp that this year’s version of the Black Knights is nothing more than Ben Troyer’s show alone. “Like, there’s some people who didn’t show up to see us against Wilson because that game was already over. Our kids didn’t think so though. Our kids didn’t think so…We just have to keep getting better and develop some guys. We need some other guys and that will come.”

And once that almost inevitably happens if we’re using history as any sort of learning tool, it’d be wise to then look out and be on alert. Granted, while we are only just now entering the dog days of the season with the league tournament still out there in the distance, only fate knows for sure what remains in store for Hempfield. True, but if we’re expecting to see the Black Knights reenter the L-L tournament fold yet again this year in hopes of defending their title straight up, wins like this one notched against Penn Manor will surely be worth their weight in gold.

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