Cedar Crest 70 Hempfield 51: Wrap

Written by: Dell Jackson on December 15, 2023

Cedar Crest 70 Hempfield 51
Dec. 15, 2023

The Cedar Crest Falcons has had a LOT of trouble beating Hempfield in recent years. Each year is a bit different- this year it was a veteran Crest team taking on a fairly new group of Hempfield Knights. Fernando Marquez, Crest’s 6’2” sn, , stated that “we were tired of getting beat by Hempfield..this is the year we wanted to beat them.” Coach Smith said that “Hempfield is the champ until someone beats them.” Crest took advantage of its depth and experience to wear down the Knights in the second half to secure a ‘W’ on the first night of Section 1 play.

Crest jumped out early 4-0 on 2 fouls shots by Marquez and a drive by Owen Chernich, 6’1” sn. The Knights would answer by unleashing its not so secret weapon, Ben Troyer, 6’4” sn. Troyer popped a three-ball and then followed it up with a 4-point play to give Hempfield a brief 7-6 lead. Crest ran off seven unanswered points to take control at 13-7 lead with 2:35 left in the quarter. Enter Nick Deeg, 5’9” senior. Deeg scored the last 8 points (layup and 2 three-balls) of the period for the Knights. A Marquez follow at the end of the period gave Crest an 18-15 advantage at the end of the first period.

Hempfield used it’s matchup zone in the second period. Crest took a 25-19 advantage in the middle of the stanza, only to see the Knights to storm back and take a 29-27 lead under a minute to go. However, another follow late in the quarter by Aiden Schomp, 6’6” senior, netted the game at 29. Hempfield took care of the boards for the most part in the first half battling the taller and more physical Falcons 14-11.

With score tied at 31, Crest took control of the game in the thrid. The Falcons dominated the boards (7-2), committed few turnovers (we had them for 0 for the quarter), and got their fast break working…a LOT. My score sheet read – Layup, layup, layup, 2 fouls shots, post, follow, follow and a three-ball by Danny Speaks, 6’ jn. With 1:39 on the clock, the Falcons were up 51-39. At the end of the quarter, Crest gave a foul as Hempfield wasn’t in the bonus. The Falcons had one more to give but missed the foul on the drive and bumped Deeg on a three attempt at the end of the quarter. Deeg made 2/3 as Crest led 53-43 entering the 4th.

Hempfield tried to use a 3/4 and 1/2 trap in the fourth. The Knights had some success early turnover the Falcons a few times, but once Crest started getting the ball inside the party was over. Hempfield got no closer than 8. Crest would ripped off another run capped off by a dunk by Schomp. Crest took care of the ball (4 turnovers) and pounded the glass (12-5) in the second half.

Points
Hempfield: Ben Troyer 18, Nick Deeg 16
Cedar Crest: Fernando Marquez 24, Danny Speaks 11, RJ Young 11 (credited with 4 blocks),Aiden Schomp 11

Unofficial stats
Rebounds: Crest 23, Hempfield 20
Turnovers: Crest 8 Hempfield 18
Blocks: Crest 6, Hempfield 3

Sidelines…Special thanks to AD Rick Dissinger for giving us court-side seats…The Cedar Crest TV crew had a live stream of the game including a guest picker! LINK…Shared a table with Jason Guarante (@JasonGuarente) of LNP. Check his work out on Lancaster Online. Also photographer extraordinaire, Chis Knight (@phojoknight), was clicking photos…First LL game for both teams. ..The Falcons entertain Penn Manor(6-0) Wed.- an llhoops live stream game!