Warwick Shoots Their Way Past Conestoga Valley As Warriors Ride 11 Triples En Route To Ninth Straight Victory, Finish Off Unbeaten January In The Process
Written by: Andy Herr on January 31, 2024
In a lot of ways, this is exactly how we thought things would eventually play themselves out. That of Chief among them being the Warwick Warriors sitting all by their lonesome atop the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two boys’ basketball standings through the first cycle and change of conference play. Fair enough, but it might also be fair to say that it’s been a bit of winding road that the group from Lititz has been traveling on at times along the way.
Coming into the year, Warwick was right near the top of the discussion when talking about some of the L-L’s better teams who figure to cause a lot of wreckage and carnage once the postseason begins. And rightfully so too considering how the Warriors made the 5A state tournament last year while also achieving an almost more impressive feat that came in not losing a single minute, point, insert whatever metric you want, to graduation in the summer. Ironically, for it was maybe that reason, the high expectations most of all, that made Warwick’s 4-5 overall record at the start of the calendar year create a bit of legitimate pause, if not outright trepidation.
That said, after testing themselves against a bevy of heavyweights from both near and far during the month of December, you’d have to believe that those battles were now worth their weight in gold given how the red and black proceeded to rattle off an eight-game winning streak, all against sectional foes, as Warwick began this week with a more much comfortable –and fitting—12-5 overall mark that had them a full game ahead of their next closest challengers found in Ephrata and Manheim Central respectively, as Warwick was able to drive an early stake into the Section Two race by defeating both of those teams on each’s home floor. For their troubles in a much broader sense, Warwick had largely elevated themselves past that dangerous bubble line as the Warriors began the week at the #9 hole in the District 3-5A standings amongst a bracket that will award 14 teams with an opportunity to compete once the dust settles in couple weeks’ time.
Suffice to say, there didn’t appear to be much in the way of perhaps stopping the Warriors’ onslaught against the rest of the division up until this point. Unless of course the Conestoga Valley Buckskins had anything to say about it.
Admittedly, it’s been a bit of a grind for the Bucks so far this season. In fact, you could essentially find CV’s and Warwick’s seasons inside a fun-house mirror situation. Well, “fun” for one perhaps given CV’s 4-13 overall mark and 0-5 record in section play by comparison’s sake however. And while that factoid may hold water, so too does the element that there is more to the Buckskins’ record than what may originally meet the eye.
Case in point, the element that CV was essentially within a whisker (or two) of winning the Eastern York Holiday Tournament in late December as the Bucks fell to the hosts in a tough 56-51 overtime game in their first matchup before then seeing another L-L League foe, the ELCO Raiders, storm back with a fourth quarter comeback to win, 41-40, signifying that the Buckskins finished in fourth place coming of that tourney in Wrightsville despite being anything but outclassed and overmatched.
To their credit though, CV has been able to achieve something that not every L-L team can claim this season, a winning streak, as head coach Jim Shipper and his Bucks were able to knock off both E-town and Manheim Township in successive fashion in the middle of this month, just a few hours apart no less, considering how those outings took place on a Friday night and an early Saturday afternoon.
And while those were the primary highlights –and justifiably so—for CV so far this season, rest assured that being able to knock off Warwick, in the Warriors’ house while in the midst of riding an absolute heater, would be without question not just the top moment for the Buckskins up until this juncture, but arguably the high-water mark for the entire conference as a whole should they be able to pull off such a landmark upset.
However, while Conestoga Valley was seen trading early volleys back and forth against their hosts in this Tuesday night sectional affair, as the Bucks were about to soon discover, the Warwick-induced barrage, whenever it may take eventually place, is almost always far too much to truly overcome.
As mentioned though, CV began the evening behind a torrid start. So much so in fact that the Buckskins rattled off a 5-0 lead following their first two possessions of the evening that became punctuated in the aftermath of a 3-ball bombed in by 5’11 senior guard, Nigel Marquez.
Yet in no time whatsoever it largely felt, Warwick had erased that early deficit and then some within the blink of an eye.
Okay, maybe not the blink of an eye, but within the span of just a few minutes worth of game action in all reality as a trifecta sunk by the Warriors’ 6’3 junior wing, Caleb Johnsen, gave the hosts their first lead of the ballgame at 8-7 before an immediate rebuttal put forth by CV’s Jackson Esbenshade on the Bucks’ ensuing trip down the floor courtesy of a 3-ball in his own right gave the lead right back to CV quickly.
That said, even while Conestoga Valley may have been enjoyed the benefit of owning the lead at that particular moment in time, they certainly were not enjoying the idea of trying to defend, much less slow down, Caleb Johnsen. Easy to recognize such a feeling considering how the Warwick 11th grader came up with a take to the cup at the 3:20 mark of the opening frame which handed the lead back to the Warriors at 12-10 with Johnsen having tallied nine of Warwick’s dozen at that time.
Yet again though, besides Caleb Johnsen being the primary spark in Warwick’s early evening, the other underlying fact that made up Tuesday’s first quarter of play between these Section Two foes just continued to lob volleys back over the fence at one another.
In fact, CV wouldn’t let Warwick get out of their sights whatsoever as the Buckskins trimmed the Warriors’ lead back down to one, 17-16, following a tough drive through traffic courtesy of their 6’0 sophomore guard, Cordell Bair, which is precisely where the count remained after a wildly entertaining opening eight minutes eventually concluded with the Warriors owning the narrowest of margins.
But even the second stanza, at least the first portion that is, kept the earlier theme of Conestoga Valley simply refusing to allow Warwick to run away and hide alive and well.
True to form, even when the Warriors proceeded to race out to a 21-16 advantage inside of the opening minute following a take to the cup by way of 5’10 junior guard, Parker Horst, CV only kept rising to the occasion. For that, in the immediate afterglow of a pair of freebies sunk at the charity stripe courtesy of CV 5’10 senior guard, Nathan Showvaker, the Buckskins had successfully climbed back to within one at 21-20 with 4:50 left in the opening half.
That said, from that moment on however, forget any sort of narrative involving the game turning on a dime. Instead, this dramatic about-face in the game from there on out seemed as if it had ushered in a new form of currency altogether.
As far as the one doing the bulk of the damage, that would be next to impossible to ignore. For those honors would be bestowed upon 6’1 senior guard, Carter Horst, quite possibly on his 8th year of eligibility it seems at this point, as the Warriors’ battle-tested and capable sharpshooter proceeded to bury a pair of back-breaking trifectas in succession to immediately put Warwick up by a half dozen at 27-21 with 3:10 left in the second quarter by that point.
And if Horst’s flamethrowers weren’t already torching enough when they came in back-to-back fashion, another of his first half buckets dialed up from bonus distance were just as lethal as Horst had singlehandedly shot (literally) Warwick into their current position of a 32-22 lead inside of the final minute of the second frame which is where things would remaining standing firm once the buzzer sounded as a dramatic turn of events in the back half of the second quarter rightfully ushered the Warriors into the locker room with an extra pep in their step with CV on the other hand likely trying to make sense as to what had just taken place in front of them seeing as how all of the buckets that had transpired during said rally occurred on the end of the floor where the Buckskins’ bench was found sitting.
Unfortunately, from CV’s perspective, the dam at that point had already been broken and was beyond repair.
Yes, while CV’s Nathan Showvaker was able to come up with a nice pilfer and finish in transition en route to his team-high 14-point showing which at the time cut Warwick’s lead down to a 39-25 difference with five minutes remaining in the third quarter, even more daggers were about to thrown at the Buckskins in relatively short order.
Ironically, for a sizable gap which Warwick was able to administer by virtue of the three-point shot, a Tyree Hughes take to the cup would later show the Warriors flirting with the 20-point plateau as the 5’11 senior’s finish at the tin made it a 43-25 ballgame with 3:40 left at that particular time.
But c’mon. You had to realize that the Warriors’ three-point shooting prowess wouldn’t ever leave them, right? Right?
Well, if you weren’t already a believer by that time, how about when Caleb McCamant, a Warwick 6’1 junior forward, proceeded to fire in a long ball of his own to make it a 46-28 contest before yet another Carter Horst trifecta right behind it made it a 49-31 contest with inside of two minutes remaining in the game’s third act.
Not yet? Okay, how about poetic justice then being served at the third quarter buzzer once Tyree Hughes was able to rise and fire in the final triple to an already dizzying shooting performance demonstrated from the hosts as the Warriors carried the commanding 54-34 lead with them into the final stanza.
Uh oh. With another full quarter to go yet, surely that meant that any time still left up on the game clock wouldn’t slow down Warwick’s appetite for bombing in even more triples. No, in fact Warwick only continued to gorge themselves to be honest.
At least the proverbial feast continued onward once, yeah, Carter Horst of all people, fired in what was another of his five treys tallied throughout the evening on the initial Warwick offensive possession of the final period before the other member in the Horst tandem, Parker, followed suit with one of his as a pair of Warriors’ trifectas opened the fourth quarter scoring on Tuesday night. Because they simply had to based upon the nature of how this game had suddenly morphed and taken shape, right?
If you’re wondering as to how many triples it was exactly in totality, it would be a rather boring eleven 3-balls knocked down by Warwick on this night. No, not boring in that they were the unquestioned reason as to why the Warriors won this game running away unscathed, but boring because there isn’t a name or cool moniker that you can really use for 11. I mean, at least 12 gets you a “dozen.” C’mon fellas. Pick it up. Anyhow, back to the game not yet finished.
Perhaps it was rather fitting then that, oh yeah, a Warwick 3-ball of course, put a game that was once knotted up at 21-apiece at the midway point of the second quarter somehow into mercy-rule status once Caleb Johnsen, the architect who had helped lay the bulk of the groundwork for much of Warwick’s offensive prowess to start the evening, peppered in a trey of his own to make it a 68-36 contest with 4:45 left. Equally fitting too then once Johnsen went on to conclude the evening with game-high scoring honors in bucketing a 22-point night at the office once the dust had settled.
Then, in the waning stages, it was time for some of the Buckskins’ and Warriors’ young guns to get a crack at things with the running clock having already been triggered into effect.
From Conestoga Valley’s standpoint, another solid take to the cup by their up-and-coming sophomore point guard, Cordell Bair, helped to get things back inside of 30 at 68-40 before an equally adept take to the cup by way of Warwick 6’2 junior forward, Jacob Spade, put that 30-point gap back into existence as the Warriors were well on their way towards remaining perfect inside the calendar year of 2024.
And once the clock did indeed reach nothing but zeroes, while the score reflected a game which had largely gotten away from CV despite an impressive strong start from the Buckskins in going tit for tat against arguably the L-L League’s hottest team at this moment in time throughout much of the first half, the Buckskins unfortunately became the latest victim to the oft-seen barrage, blitzkrieg, onslaught, yadda yadda, real-life instance of prolific Warwick shooting in the Warriors’ house as it crystalized into nine wins in a row for the gang from Lititz following a 72-43 final verdict against Conestoga Valley on Tuesday night.
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