Monday afternoon on the bus with the boys for the first of two consecutive trips into Lebanon County (whoever scheduled this particular week should be boiled in oil). JPM defeated Hempfield in my absence on Friday, on this night we were in the city of Lebanon proper. A few years back Lebanon won the league title, that was immediately followed by a losing streak that reached almost fifty games before it mercifully ended. The program has improved over the past two years or so but there is still a lot of work to do. This gym has never been easy to play in and this night was no exception, after a 24-point JV win the varsity followed suit with a tough 66-63 victory. Lebanon led by eight at the half but in the second JPM outscored them by eleven and pulled it out. Eight players got into the game and six scored, four in double figures: DeMere Salisbery had twenty-five, Jaloney Porter scored fifteen, Amir Thompson-Hanson added eleven and Kyle Brown had ten. EJ Abernathy had three points and Carsyn Haines rounded out the book with two. After two nights off we were back on Thursday for the trip to Cedar Crest, about two miles south of where we were on Monday. CC is another place that isn't exactly friendly territory, this night was their Senior Night (in a scheduling rarity, this was in fact their last game on their home floor). The JPM JV lost badly, the varsity game was like walking down the pier and there was no ship. The final was 80-72 which ends the club's three-game winning streak, DeMere Salisbery (29) and Jaloney Porter (13) were the only two in double figures. JPM is back in action on Tuesday the 20th with a non-league game at Lancaster Catholic. Take care, thanks for reading.
