McCaskey 64 Lancaster Catholic 56: wrap
Written by: Dell Jackson on December 16, 2023
Fourth quarter surge leads McCaskey to victory over rival Lancaster Catholic
McCaskey trailed Lancaster Catholic at the end of the first, second, and third quarters but when the final horn sounded in Saturday evening’s non-league matchup between the longtime rivals, it was the Red Tornado who held a 64-56 edge on the scoreboard.
Trailing by three at the end of the third quarter, McCaskey turned up the pressure defensively and it in turn led to easy offense for the Red Tornado.
“We continued to stay up and press all game long and really see where both of us stood after four quarters of pressure,” said McCaskey head coach Freddy Ramos. “We felt that energy wise, our bench was phenomenal today, and from a pressing standpoint it allowed us to use our legs, it allowed us to rotate eight, nine guys we used today. I think that helped speed us up in the fourth quarter defensively, which created some transition offense for us.”
After scoring 37 points through the first three quarters, McCaskey exploded for 27 points in the final frame en route to a victory that ended a three-game losing streak.
“They sped us up and their pressure really affected us down the stretch,” said Lancaster Catholic interim head coach Cole Portz. “I think for three quarters we did a good job of understanding that’s what they wanted to do and trying to make the right play…Late in the fourth quarter, especially when we got down, it felt like the momentum swung and we were trying to get it all back in one possession and that’s not playing to our strengths. So we kind of struggled there down the stretch.”
The Crusaders jumped out to a 19-14 lead after the first quarter and carried that momentum into the second quarter when LCHS built an eight-point advantage. But right before the first-half buzzer sounded, McCaskey’s Nemias Tirado sank a three-pointer to cut Lancaster Catholic’s lead to three, 27-24.
However, LCHS came out of the locker room strong and built another eight-point lead in the third quarter after Colton Hegener knocked down a midrange jumper. McCaskey responded with an 8-2 run and pulled to within three, 40-37, by the time the third quarter ended.
The Red Tornado outscored the Crusaders, 27-16, in the final frame to pull away. The victory comes just one day after McCaskey was blown out by Penn Manor in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Section 1 opener for both teams.
“We didn’t have much energy defensively last night (against Penn Manor),” said Ramos. “Today (against Lancaster Catholic)…so what if you get a foul, you’ve got a teammate behind you that’s just as ready as you to come in the game and back you up. We call ourselves a family program. We have to feel good that one of our family members is ready to jump in and take over and it happened for us today.”
McCaskey, which returns to action next Wednesday at Lebanon, was led in scoring by point guard De’Andre Jones, who poured in 16 points. Meanwhile his teammates Jared Kuhmah and Kaiden Russell chipped in 11 points apiece.
Logan Weyforth paced Lancaster Catholic with a team-high 15 points. Brian Sowers added 14 points for the Crusaders while Leo Lambert scored 10 points.
LCHS is now looking to rebound from three consecutive losses when the Crusaders host Cocalico in a crucial L-L League Section 3 matchup Monday night.
“They have been through a tremendous amount on and off the court this season and we haven’t packed it in yet,” said Portz. “It would be easy to do at this moment but I think this team is extremely resilient and we’ll continue to see that down the stretch.”
~TJ Eck
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