Monday afternoon at McCaskey for an "impromptu" junior varsity basketball game. In 2019 our JV squad played a game at Lancaster Catholic which came about largely due to Freddy's former association there, after a one-season absence (where a lot of other things were absent as well) the teams met on this day at 3:00. There was no admission charged and no other game before or after but I'd estimate there were at least a hundred fans in the house give or take. Those in attendance saw a good ballgame which regrettably did not not go JPM's way, the visitors won 38-36. The thought of an annual LCHS-McCaskey varsity game would be intriguing but from an enrollment/power ratings standpoint it would not benefit us to play it, at the JV level there are no such concerns and it gives the teams an extra game to play during a time when they would otherwise be idle. On Tuesday night we were back at JPM for the opening night of our holiday tournament. This was the first time since 2017 we actually had four teams committed, in 2018 we had only three teams involved and the tournament didn't happen at all in '19 or That Year We Don't Mention. In the opener York defeated Mastery Charter South (from Philadelphia), in the nightcap JPM lost to Harrisburg 73-66. Hasan Williams had a huge night with thirty points, J'Nai Ayala-Hunter hit double figures with eleven. Jared Kumah scored nine, Shamell Burke had six, Jonathan Byrd and De'Shaun McFadden had four each and Eric Centeno rounded out the book with a field goal. The key issue in the loss was rebounding, Harrisburg has a good deal of height which our squad always seems to lack. Year in and year out we always have speed, skill and raw athletic ability but rarely a big man who gets the dirty work done inside, I don't know why but we never seem to get some 6' 9" monster who can dominate the backboards. JPM meets Mastery South in the consolation game when the tournament wraps up on Wednesday, I am scheduled to be absent for hockey in Reading. Take care, thanks for reading.
