Donegal drops non-league road game at Eastern York
Written by: TJ Eck on January 10, 2024
For three quarters Wednesday night, the shots were falling for Donegal.
“For the most part I can’t really complain with how we shot the ball,” said Donegal head coach Ryan Shipper.
Unfortunately for Shipper and the Indians, the one quarter where the ball wasn’t going in the net turned out to be the difference in a 67-53 non-league loss at Eastern York.
Led by senior guard Evyan Patel and junior forward Sawyer Floyd, Donegal knocked down eight three-pointers in the first half and went into the locker room trailing the Golden Knights by two, 35-33.
The third quarter told a much different story.
“I said just be disciplined with what we are doing,” said Eastern York head coach Troy Sowers. “Game plan was to stay out on their shooters. I thought we worked a little bit harder in the second half.”
The Indians went cold from the field and Eastern York took advantage. The Golden Knights ripped off a 17-0 run to open the third frame before Donegal point guard Jonzel Morant made a three-pointer at the buzzer to keep the Indians from going scoreless in the quarter.
“I think in that third quarter, we took a couple of bad shots that led to some easy points for them,” said Shipper. “Defensively I didn’t think that we were in the right spots.”
Sowers added: “Just hard work, effort, determination fueled our defense and we ran our stuff offensively.”
While the ball wasn’t going through the net on offense, Donegal struggled defensively to contain Eastern York’s Carter Wamsley. The six-foot-seven forward did it all for the Golden Knights Wednesday evening: scoring inside, rebounding, playing hard-nosed defense on Morant, and even handling the ball at times on offense.
Wamsley finished with a team-high 18 points to go along with eight rebounds.
“He goes as hard as anybody goes,” said Sowers. “It’s nice to have a big that can be a beast inside but then handle on the perimeter when you need it.”
Shipper also praised the play of Wamsley in his postgame comments: “He’s definitely one of the best players in our district. He can do it inside and outside.”
Helping Wamsley Wednesday night was Carter Foote Renwick who chipped in 13 points and four rebounds while Anson Morcos scored 13 points and Simon Lipsius added 12 points in the win.
Eastern York improves to 10-3 overall and will likely remain near the top of the Class AAAA District 3 standings. The Golden Knights entered Wednesday as the No. 4 team in the district power ratings.
Patel led the way for Donegal by making six three-pointers and finishing with 20 points to go along with nine rebounds. Floyd knocked down four triples and scored 15 points while grabbing eight boards. Morant added 12 points for the Indians, who made thirteen three-pointers in the loss.
Donegal drops to 8-6 overall and now looks to regroup before a road game against a tough and talented Cocalico team Friday night.
“Friday night is going to be a real test,” said Shipper. “I just told the fellas, we are getting on the bus and we are leaving this loss here at Eastern York. We gotta be prepared for Cocalico Friday night. It’s going to be a great test. A very physical, a very tough team so we just gotta be ready for that.”
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