February 1

The new month began with another shot of the white stuff, it started overnight and continued throughout the day. It was never a hard snow but it was steady and just enough to be a nuisance. There were reports of road accidents all around the area, as the day progressed several of the scheduled high school athletic events were being postponed but our game at McCaskey went on as planned. The boys were on the floor against a live opponent for the first time in a week as Cedar Crest visited from Lebanon County. Under other circumstances this game might have been rescheduled but the fact is we're running out of available playdates. At game time the crowd was light because of the weather, those who were there saw a game that started out as a clunker but turned into a classic. In the first quarter JPM came out flat as a pancake while CC did just about anything they wanted, at the buzzer it was 20-4. We were down by as much as twenty-one in the second quarter but managed to chop the deficit to fourteen at half, we were down eight entering the final quarter. At that point the alarm clock rang and the bells were loud and clear, JPM rallied to take the lead in the closing moments. The score was tied when CC was called for a five-second violation with 2.5 seconds left, on the inbound play Isaiah Thomas found Makai Ortiz in the corner. Makai made a move to the hoop and put up a one-hander, the ball hit the backboard and fell into the net as the buzzer sounded on a 60-58 victory. The crowd erupted and many fans stormed the court, it was a wonderful scene that we haven't seen much in recent seasons. This was easily one of the program's biggest wins in some time and that takes into account that we've won championships as recently as 2016. The victory improves the league mark to 7-4 and pulls us even at 9-9 overall but the boys have little time to enjoy it, they are back at it at home on Saturday the 2nd against Exeter. I'm out because of the Royals but I'm good for the next week (Monday at home, Tuesday and Thursday on the road).