Thursday night basketball at home for the JPM girls, one of the rare occasions for me to see them play. Hempfield was the opponent for a divisional game, the JV lost and the varsity won. On Friday night it was the boys' turn with Hempfield, we boarded the bus for the short trip west of the city to Landisville. These games had originally been scheduled for Thursday as well, they were switched apparently because of scheduling conflicts at Hempfield. On this night the JV squad dropped its fourth consecutive game, the varsity started slowly but rallied back for a spectacular victory. We trailed by four at the quarter and nine at halftime, entering the fourth quarter the deficit was eleven. In the final period JPM responded with a twenty-eight-point salvo and held on for the 65-58 decision, the twenty-eight points equaling the output for the entire game two nights earlier in Carlisle. De'Andre Jones had a monster night with 25 points, Kamryn Pugh had 11 and Aiden Burgess scored ten, Eddie Bencosme added nine key points, Cesar Peguero had six, Avery Stauffer and Sincere Diego had a field goal each. Hempfield is in the running for league and district playoffs, this is a result that few expected but for JPM it's a breath of fresh air in what has been an exceptionally difficult season. The win ends a four-game losing streak and brings the mark to 7-14 with one last game on the slate on Tuesday the 6th when we make the trip to Cedar Crest. Take care thanks for reading.
