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Boys 2A Recap: Holy Cross 66, Muncy 38
 

Boys 2A Recap: Holy Cross 66, Muncy 38

Written by: Jon K on March 16, 2023

 

 

March 15, 2023

 

Holy Cross Controls Paint in 2nd Round Matchup

 

Holy Cross 66, Muncy 38

 

By Phil T.

HAZLE TOWNSHIP – Holy Cross surged throughout the second half, outscoring their opponent 36-14 after the break, en route to their 66-38 Boys 2A Second Round win over Muncy.

The Crusaders shot 58% from the field in the first half which is often a high point for any team, however, Holy Cross then proceeded to up their field-goal percentage to 63% after the break.

Putting the ball in the bucket gets easier the closer you get to it and that’s exactly what Holy Cross did as they scored 50 of their 66 points in the paint.  The Crusaders drained all four of their attempts from the charity stripe and dropped in four triples to keep their opponent’s defense honest in the contest.

The first half was far from a cake walk as neither team was willing to bend early on.

Michael Fry and Hayden Hosie traded triples to start the game, followed by sebsequent layups from Logan Tierney and Branson Eyer that kept the game even.  Noah Confer would soon knock the Crusader ball loose and sprint down the court to give his side a short-lived, 7-5, lead.

Buckets from Tierney and Mike Hughes would quickly put Holy Cross back on top, but Fry’s second triple of the frame would place Muncy back out in front.

Tierney and Hughes would team up again, scoring two buckets, to give the Crusaders a 13-10 lead after the first horn.

The lead would change hands four times and would be even on three occasions in the opening stanza, but in the second quarter Holy Cross would begin to establish themselves.

After going quiet and missing his only attempt in the first stanza, Gabe Gonzales decided to break out.  He would score the opening bucket of the second period and finish the frame sinking five of his six attempts, with the only miss coming from behind the three-point line.

Following a Eli Weikle drive to the hoop, Gonzales would score the ensuing two baskets that gave the Crusaders a 10-2 spurt over the two periods.  Hughes would drain their only triple of half shortly thereafter to give the Crusaders a 22-14 advantage midway through the second frame.

Muncy began to garner some momentum as two buckets from Fry and quality foul shooting from Weikle pulled them to within two points, 22-20.

However, a Nick Calciano breakaway layup and a Gonzales spin move would quickly put the Crusaders up by six.

In the closing seconds of the first half, Weikle would find his way to the basket, but Holy Cross responded quickly and found a streaking Gonzales down the court who put the ball through the hoop as the horn sounded off to maintain the Crusader lead, 30-24.

Over the opening stanzas, Holy Cross was able to build their lead with success in the paint as they scored 16 consecutive points at the bucket to establish their advantage.  Muncy’s defense wasn’t able to keep Holy Cross from getting close to the rim and didn’t pick up a single foul in the first half.

Both teams maintained their competitive edge coming out of the locker rooms with Matt Lyons and Confer trading baskets to start the half.  Tierney would sink two foul shots and a layup that would extend the Holy Cross lead to double-digits, 36-26, but it would be short-lived as a Weikle bucket would bring the separation back down to eight.

Muncy’s shooting would go cold from there as they failed to score another point in the quarter.  Holy Cross, on the other hand, was heating up.  Buckets from Gonzales and Lyons with a Hosie mid-range and layup, to end the stanza, gave the Crusaders a commanding 44-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Tierney would drain two more foul shots to start the final stanza and Cullen Moran would go on a breakaway for the easy bucket that pushed Holy Cross out in front by 20, 48-28.

Weikle and B. Eyer would get the Muncy offense rolling again, but it wouldn’t matter as Holy Cross then went on a 13-0 run to give themselves plenty of breathing room to work some time off the clock.

Late triples from Ross Eyer would lessen the deficit as Holy Cross punched their ticket to the PIAA 2A Quarter-Finals with a 66-38 victory.

Gabe Gonzales led all scorers with 14 points to go with nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.  Matt Lyons and Logan Tierney each scored 12 points in the contest for Holy Cross.

Eli Weikle and Michael Fry led Muncy with ten points apiece.  Branson Eyer would only be able to score four points, but he was able to cause havoc on the other side of the ball as he came up with four steals.

With the win Holy Cross advances to the PIAA 2 Quarter-Final for the second year-in-a-row.  The Crusaders will face District 1 champion, Dock Mennonite.  The Crusaders last squared off with the Pioneers in the second round of the 2019-2020 state tournament, where Dock Mennonite walked away with a 56-43 victory.

 

 

 

 

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