A two-game basketball week started on Tuesday, we were back on the bus for another trip north on route 72 into Lebanon County. The club started the season with three road games within the first four, that was followed by six straight at home. This game was the last of three straight on the road and seven of the last nine (although it was played at a neutral site I consider the game in Reading a road game simply because it wasn't played in our building). We were in Lebanon County on the 12th at Cedar Crest, on this night we were two miles further north in the city of Lebanon proper. There was a time when McCaskey and Lebanon were keen rivals, the schools were together in the old Central Penn League before the LL was formed in 1972. In recent years the rivalry has cooled somewhat with Lebanon being a less frequent opponent but league realignment has brought the teams back into the same division for the first time since 2018. Lebanon has been strong over the last few seasons but they graduated just about everybody from their '22 squad, they entered this night still looking for their first win. JPM took command almost immediately, we were up by thirteen at the quarter and eighteen at the half. The final was 66-35 with four players hitting double figures: Deshaun McFadden led with twelve, Eric Centeno had eleven, Jonathan Byrd and Markelle Caine had ten each. One always tries to respect the opponent but quite frankly this was a game we had no business losing, in the locker room I joked to Freddy that maybe we should have walked home had we lost (similar to that famous occasion when a baseball broadcaster made the same statement and actually did so later for charity). On Thursday the boys were at home to host Manheim Township and a completely different game was in store. JPM had won at MT by thirteen earlier in the month, on this night the rematch was your typical LL Section One knock-down drag-out fifteen-round fight-to-the-finish. We were up by one with three seconds left and Township inbounding, Jonathan Byrd stole the inbounds pass and was immediately fouled. He made one-of-two to put us up by two, on the following inbounds play a desperation heave by MT clanked off the rim at the buzzer. The final was 57-55, Jon had a huge night with 21 points, Deshaun had thirteen and Eric added eleven. Elias Garcia, Markelle Caine and Aiden Burgess had two points each but the game's unsung hero was Kaiden Russell who scored six key points in his season debut. The week's results bring the league mark to 6-2 and the overall record to 11-9 with two big games left on the regular season slate. Take care, thanks for reading.
