At McCaskey on Monday evening (loose tooth, scabs and all) for the first games of the calendar year, York Suburban (from-you guessed it-the suburbs of the city of York) was the opponent for a non-league matchup. The JV squad won by three points, in the varsity game JPM lost 60-52. It was a tie game entering the final quarter, in the fourth period we were outscored 19-11 which proved to be the difference. DeMere Salisbery led with eighteen, Kyle Brown had twelve and Amir Thompson Hanson added ten points. EJ Abernathy scored seven, Jaloney Porter had four and JV player Nikola Draguljic (dra-GOOL-yitch) went 1-2 at the line in his varsity debut. On Wednesday morning I was able to see my dentist, he surveyed the damage and formulated a plan which begins with a return visit on the 26th. In the evening we traveled southwest of the city as league play came back into session with games at Penn Manor, The JV made it two in a row with a nine-point win, the varsity finally snapped its four-game skid with a 61-39 victory. JPM was in control practically from the outset, a 22-8 fourth quarter blew the game open. Eleven players got in and eight scored: DeMere led with fifteen, EJ had thirteen, Marrcus Laureano and "Niko" Draguljic added ten points each. Kyle Brown had five, Laron Gray scored four, Carsyn Haines and Amir Thompson-Hanson added two each (an off-night for Amir but he'll bounce back). The record stands at 6-7 overall, 3-1 in the division. One last basketball game for the week on Thursday night, old friend Jerry Johnson's La Academia squad faced Lincoln Leadership Academy (from Allentown) in one of their rare home games. Whenever I can help Jerry out I'm glad to do it especially since this night was their Senior Night, before the game Zach Stoner, Elijah Perez, Kellan Jones and Trevor Orr were recognized. La Academia won the game 36-34 on a last-second shot sending the Senior Night crowd home happy. Take care, thanks for reading.
