Dell’s Column Feb 17: LL playoffs, Districts, LLhoops livestream
Written by: Dell Jackson on February 18, 2019
Column Feb 17
LL playoffs
The LL tournament took place last week. With a few cancellations, the finals were “finally” played at TWP Feb. 16, where the Manheim TWP Streaks defeated Warwick 69-58.
With the new 5 section format, more teams qualified for the tournament. Congrats in no particular order: Spot, Columbia, Etown, ELCO, TWP, LS, Warwick, Crest, Lanc. Mennonite, Lanc. Catholic.
We updated the LL history page, which folks find very helpful at playoff time. For example, TWP was runner-up 4 times before their W on Saturday. We continue to provide this service as we love to talk about LL history – a good one it is 🙂
LLhoops was live streaming (with the normal tech difficulties), but the full re-play is up on our tube page.
Marrk 22 provided us with some great picts. Check out his photos on his site.
LL Boys Final Brackets
LL Girls Final Brackets
First round—
Garden Spot 60 Columbia 56 (andy’s wrap)
Etown 64 ELCO 48 (gallery)
Quarter finals
TWP 73 Spot 34
Etown 47 LS 44
Warwick 64 LMHS 62
Crest 56 Lancaster Catholic 44
Dell was at both the Crest/LCHS and TWP/Spot game- (Soundcloud wrap)
Semis- at CV
TWP 63 Etown 52
Warwick 72 Crest 47 (Andy’s wrap)
Some video interviews (Zach Oldac and Coach Johns)
Finals
TWP 69 – Warwick 58 (andy’s wrap)
LLhoops live stream replay
2018-19 L-L League boys’ basketball championship, Warwick vs. Manheim Township in Lancaster, PA on February 16, 2019. Mark Palczewski Photo.
Game…
Warwick needed to hit its three balls in order to get a W and the final total was 3 for the Warriors.. The Streaks did a good job chasing Warwick off the line. The key to the game was that Warwick could not put together any runs more than 6 -0 . The Warriors had a 6-0 at the beginning of the second period on baskets by Caleb Schmitz (6’4” soph), Colby Martin (5’11” sn) and 2 foul shots by Joey McCracken (6’2” soph). They also had a 5-0 run In the middle of the third.
TWP, on the other side of the ball, put together two killer runs. The first run was a mini-run of 5-0 to counter Warwick’s first run (fouls by Zach Oldac (6’2” soph), a three ball by Tyler Crespo (5’10” sn), and a layup by Brendan Mellot (6’1” sn). With the score tied at 34, TWP caught “Mr. Mo” (Three ball by Crespo, layup by Oldac, three ball by Crespo, and then a follow by Crespo) making the score 44-34 towards the end of the third.
Neither team could get more than a 4-0 run in the fourth. Warwick tried some traps (dissected by TWP) and then the foul game…Tyler Crespo picked up his 4th with 2 plus minutes to go. Coach Johns got him in and out in the last minutes but TWP did not turn it over when Crespo was sitting.
VERY unofficial stats:
Rebounds: TWP 20 Warwick 18
Turnovers: Warwick 9 TWP 6
Blocks: Warwick 4 TWP 4
Points:
TWP
Tyler Crespo 26
Brendan Mellot 19
Warwick
Joey McCracken 17
Ryan Shirk 11
Key Stat: Both teams had 3 three balls
% provided by our new Statisticians
(Kaleb Eshleman,- a Duke fan and Tate Guthrieand a UNC fan. Both boys are in 5th grade and part of the LA Elit3 11U AAU team)
Warwick 18/52 = 35%
TWP 26-47 = 55%
Dells basic thought re the finals….
Lots of chatter about TWP being the home team. This was the first time in 12 yrs that the Streaks played at home for the finals. I know a few folks talked to us about it and finding new places to play in case TWP was there. I know there is a lot that goes in behind the scenes to get a site for the game (staff, access, and of course money issues). The LL used to play at Hershey for their finals- that was great when Sam Bowie and Jack Hurd were bringing in folks. However, the LL lost a bunch of money in the last few years when going to Hershey…enter TWP. I’m sure there will be more discussion about this in the future…We talked with Coach Christensen, and he did not have a problem with it (BTW Warwick defeated TWP on the same floor earlier in the year).
LLhoops live stream was up and down. Some wifi issues…but graphics and audio were outstanding. Tim Speraw – Lebanon – provided excellent takes during pregame halftime and post-game. Bruce Badgley of the Berks beat was forced into play by play- his enthusiasm could be felt during the game for sure “OH My”. Warren Goodling is great at the X/0 side of the game. Eric Thomas is a pro’s pro…his interviews were outstanding. The replay is up HERE. ..as I write this we are up to 400 plus views. Interviews with Brendan Mellot, Coach Matt Johns and Tyler Crespo can be viewed at the end of the video–slide slide slide…:) and some great PR for LLhoops -t’s and banners…now we need Eric to wear his staff shirt 🙂
2018-19 L-L League boys’ basketball championship, Warwick vs. Manheim Township in Lancaster, PA on February 16, 2019. Mark Palczewski Photo.
Special thanks to Coach Johns, Ryan Landis (Warwick) game manager, Roger Czerwinski (TWP AD) for getting us in and setup. The Boosters for Warwick and TWP both kicked in to help with our costs for the game – greatly appreciated….The LL coaches help keep our site running as well (we have a great bunch of coaches who take time to share with us during the year.
& 
Fan sections…I have to admit, that both fan sections at the finals were really good. They were loud..had some cute chants…and not negative at all. Hats off to the fan leaders and their schools. I’ve been at some games this year and others where I could not say that about the fans.
This From A-C AD Tommy Long
“A student section that is positive, what a refreshing idea! Also noticed from the videos that the entire section was into the game, not on their phones. Great job Warwick! Setting a great example for other schools to follow! “ via twitter.
I’d say ditto for TWP Dawg pound too.
Districts
Up next for some LL teams are the districts. The District 3 site updates their brackets quite often. Click here for the site. We will not be posting brackets for the districts but will be updating scores for the LL teams…and perhaps the district games as the tournament progresses.
The schedule for this week is HERE.
There is always a concern for a bit of let down coming off the LL finals (Warwick, TWP) with quick turnaround games on Tues.
Andy and I will be out this week…and hoping that some of the LL teams are playing in Hershey or Reading(6A) the following week.
Crest gets a first round game at home Friday (winner of Harrisburg/Hempfield). Coach Smith informed us that if they get a win they will qualify for the PIAA tournament. If they lose Friday, they will be in the dreaded playback games.
LL seeded teams:
6A Crest #4 5A LS #2 1A LCDay #2
Best to all in the Districts this week. We will be updating scores and new schedules as they come in.
Have a great week!
~Dell Jackson
Follow LLhoops on Twitter @LLhoops
