The week leading up to the alleged holiday weekend was of little import save for two nights of basketball, one involving McCaskey and one not. On Wednesday we boarded the bus for the ride north on route 72 across the county line. Lebanon is historically one of the league's most successful programs, their nine championships are second-most only behind McCaskey's fourteen and they won it as recently as 2021.After another playoff appearance in '22 the program fell off severely, they were 0-22 the next year and entered this night on a winless streak approaching thirty. All of that seemed to matter little once this game started, Lebanon rallied from a four-point deficit entering the fourth quarter to force overtime on a three-point goal at the buzzer (for the night they scored thirty points on "threes" and twenty-six on "twos"). In the OT JPM outscored Lebanon 7-2 and finally claimed victory 66-61. De'Andre Jones led the Good Guys with 23, Jared Kumah hit double figures with 14. Aiden Burgess had seven, Kamryn Pugh and Ja'Loney Porter added six each, Cesar Peguero scored five, Nemias Tirado had three and Kaiden Russell rounded out the book with a field goal. This game was just another example of how there is no such thing as easy money, as the late Steve Powell often said "against us, the crippled can walk and the blind can see". The win draws the club even in league play at 1-1 and the overall mark to 3-4, the next action is in the annual holiday tournament starting on the 28th. On Thursday night we were at Stevens College here in town, old friend Jerry Johnson's squad from La Academia Charter School played the first of their three home dates. L.A. has no spectator-friendly gym of its own and plays most of its games on the road, whenever Jerry can secure a facility for a home game he asks me to help out if I'm available. From the It's a Small World Department: the opponent was from Quakertown (about fifteen miles south of Allentown), their head coach works at Alvernia University in Reading and is a member of the Berks County Convention Center Authority, the overseeing body for the Arena. He recognized my voice and approached me after the game to say hello. La Academia won the game 69-40, they play at Stevens again on January 8. Take care, thanks for reading.
