February 17-20

Nothing special going over the last few days, for the most part the weather has been bitter cold and windy. On Wednesday night at McCaskey the district tournament got underway as the Red Tornado hosted Central Dauphin. CD was seeded at #18 in the field of twenty, they defeated the #15 seed in a preliminary game to earn the right to meet us in the official first round. We came in as the #2 seed but anyone can tell you that the seeding means nothing, you still have to play the game, On this night JPM advanced to the quarterfinals with a convincing 81-51 win. The boys led by nine at the quarter and thirteen at halftime, in the third quarter they lengthened the margin to eighteen and took it home from there. Sha-ki Staten led with 19, Devonne Pinkard had 16, Diante Cherry added 14 and Keyon Cowan scored 12. The boys will play on Saturday the 23rd at the Giant Center in Hershey, the opponent will be a familiar one as Reading HS advanced into the quarterfinals on our side of the bracket. JPM beat Reading back in December but that means nothing at this point. Traditionally the "big" district games are played in Hershey, this will mark the first time for JPM in the big arena since the quarterfinal round in 2007. The boys are guaranteed at least one more game beyond Saturday, that would be the semifinals in Hershey on Tuesday the 26th if they win or a consolation round playback game elsewhere if they lose. Saturday will be a busy day, after we return to Lancaster from the basketball game the ladies and I will be headed right back to Hershey for the evening's hockey game as the Hershey Bears (the Royals' "big brothers") host the Adirondack Phantoms (the Flyers' AHL club). Take care, thanks for reading.