City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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MECHANICSBURG — Since District 3’s Class 5A bracket said they were about to collide with Hershey for the third time, an anxious Bob Strickler was determined not to let his Mechanicsburg Wildcats fall prey to some old adage.

Well, they didn’t.

So what Strickler did was turn senior lead guard Kyle Scheib loose by cranking up the pace somewhat, hammering it inside whenever they could to big man Cade Alioth and guarding their Mid-Penn Keystone Division playmates as if there was no tomorrow.

As a result, Wildcats bounced out of Mechanicsburg High School Monday night with a convincing 73-48 victory that earned Strickler’s second-seeded club a spot in Thursday’s quarterfinal round and a date at home with No. 7 Lampeter-Strasburg.

Mechanicsburg also secured its first PIAA tournament berth since 2008.

Scheib pocketed 27 points and dished out a couple of assists as Mechanicsburg (20-5) led from opening tip to final buzzer against the windburned Trojans, who were down by as many as 14 points (19-5) before the opening quarter came to a close.

“We tried to get a good jump on them early and stay ahead,” Scheib said.

Alioth added 21 points and nine rebounds for the Wildcats, who saw their lead dip below 10 just once the rest of the way. The 6-5 Wheaton (Ill.) recruit also blocked three shots and delivered one assist — despite some foul issues.

And when Mechanicsburg gets solid contributions from other parts of their hard-working lineup, that’s when Strickler’s cohesive group becomes even more dangerous.

Shane Homick, a 6-2 senior sporting the same hairstyle as former Indiana great Steve Alford, tossed in 10 points, grabbed a handful of boards and dropped six.

Drew Painter’s nine points paced Hershey (11-12), which still has a chance to play back for ninth place. The Trojans will visit Ephrata on Thursday night.

“Very uncomfortable,” the candid Strickler admitted after his Wildcats played in their first District 3 game since 2014. “I respect the daylights out of Paul [Hershey head coach Blackburn] and I’ve watched [Jake] Wilson all year. I’ve watched [Luke] Hedrick all year.

“They’re good kids. They knew us. They weren’t gonna play intimidated, not that we intimidate anybody,” Strickler continued. “I’m not trying to say that, but sometimes 2 vs. 15 you think you have an advantage — and I didn’t think we had that psychological advantage on them. But we executed tonight. We were pretty good.”

And the 5-11 Scheib was exceptionally good piloting a Mechanicsburg attack that’s gathering more and more steam, whether the Wildcats were motoring up and down the floor in transition or probing for a quality look in one of their half-court sets.

Scheib knocked down seven of his nine field-goal attempts — his trey had the Wildcats up 19-5 late in the first quarter — connecting on a series of pull-up jumpers, penetrating to the rim off the bounce or merely beating defenders down the floor on the break.

Putting more jump in the attack has been a plus for Mechanicsburg — the Keystone Division champs dropped a 77-68 decision to State College in Thursday night’s Mid-Penn championship game — and no one has benefited more than the elusive Scheib.

“We’ve been working on that a lot,” Scheib said of playing faster. “We’ve been working on getting the ball out and going almost every day at practice.

“It’s starting to be a normal thing at practice,” continued Scheib, who was chatting with a Wilson College recruiter afterward. “It gets us some momentum and gets us going.”

He also made regular appearances at the free-throw line, canning 12 of 14.

“We’ve made a conscious effort to try and turn Kyle loose a little bit,” Strickler stated.

“Kyle was pretty good tonight. He was unguardable, truthfully.”

With Scheib darting into the paint with regularity, that prevents opponents from ganging up on the slender Alioth on the blocks. Gives wing shooters such as Homick, Nathan Mayernick and Ty Deiter time and space to line up deep looks.

Hershey tried desperately, but could not collar the Mechanicsburg playmaker.

“Wouldn’t trade him for anybody right now,” Strickler said of Scheib, whose father, former Susquehanna University great Mike, captured the Frances Pomeroy Naismith award in 1978 as the country’s best player under 6-0. Scheib’s great uncle, Carl, spent 11 seasons in the big leagues as a pitcher, debuting at age 15 for the Philadelphia A’s.

“Wouldn’t trade him for anybody. Kyle’s shown a lot of toughness under a lot of adversity. He’s battled. He deserves a night like he had tonight,” Strickler continued. “What’s nice is he’s continuing to get better.

“When we didn’t have anything in transition, he got us into something.”

Although Hershey was able to close within nine (28-19) on Jake Wilson’s runner with 3:36 remaining in the first half, Mechanicsburg promptly responded by draining six straight freebies — two by Homick and four by Scheib — to open it back up.

Once the second half began, the Wildcats went back on the attack.

Scheib’s short pull-up jumper and two more free throws had Strickler’s club up by 20 (49-29) with 1:33 remaining in the third. The Wildcats led by as many as 28 (70-42) midway through the fourth following a pair of Alioth free throws.

Before the game came to a close, Mechanicsburg connected on 21 of its 34 field-goal tries (61.7 percent), buried half of its eight looks from beyond the arc and sank 27 of its 34 free-throw attempts (79.4 percent).

So, Strickler was right.

His Wildcats were pretty good in beating the Trojans — and that old adage.

“Hershey’s a good team, they’re well-coached,” Alioth said of a Trojans squad Mechanicsburg defeated 65-49 and 49-35 in divisional play. “That whole beating a team three times is hard. We just stressed at practice that we’re not gonna buy into that.

“We knew they were gonna come out, that we just had to bury them early and I think that’s what we did,” Alioth added. “It’s fine that we’re going to states, but that’s in the back of our minds. Now it’s the next game, let’s win a district championship and let’s give us the best possible state berth.”

Strickler was extremely pleased that his Wildcats — none of whom had experienced District 3 play before Monday night — performed so well in front of a large crowd that was still coming in when the ball went up at the start.

Now they’ll get another chance to play at home Thursday night when L-S (17-8) — the Pioneers rallied from an 11-point deficit to best Ephrata 38-37 — checks in.

Win then and they’re headed for Hershey for the semis, but first things first.

“These guys have paid their dues. I’m just happy for them because the pressure tonight was big,” Strickler said. “They answered the bell. They deserve everything they get. They deserve to play in front of a packed house. They deserve to be Keystone champions.

“The next step is I want them to experience the Giant Center as a player, because that means we’re in the semifinals and two steps away. We’re gonna have to be good again. Like I’ve said, if you don’t play good basketball games this time of year you get beat.”