January 28

Saturday afternoon on the bus with the boys as we traveled up 222 to Reading HS. Every other year we play a non-league game against RHS in their gym and it always seems to fall on a night when the Royals are at home (see December 17, 2011), this was the first time I've been at RHS in several years. We concluded our non-league slate with a game against Cedar Cliff (not to be confused with Cedar Crest), a Harrisburg-area school on the west shore of the Susquehanna River. McCaskey and Cedar Cliff were once league opponents in the now-defunct Central Penn League but that ended when the LL formed in 1972. This figured to be a tough test for several reasons, for starters CC was 14-2 coming in and for seconds this was our fourth game of the week while they had not played since Tuesday. In the early going fatigue may have been a factor as we trailed by eight after one quarter but by halftime the deficit was just two. CC led by four after three quarters but in the final period we outscored them 24-12 to pull out a tough 66-58 win. A key to the victory was foul shooting, JPM went 10-for-14 at the line in the fourth quarter. Eight players got into the game and they all scored, Aaron Swinton hit double figures with 17 while Diante Cherry had 11. There was good balance underneath as Shaki Staten had nine, Luis Fuentes and Devonne Pinkard had eight apiece. This was a huge win over a quality opponent but it has to be kept in perspective, it's entirely possible we may see them again in district playoffs when the stakes will be much higher. We finish our non-league schedule with four wins in six games, with an overall mark of 14-4 the focus now is on the homestretch of the league schedule. On Tuesday the 31st we play at Warwick, on Friday Manheim Township will visit JPM. Take care, thanks for reading.