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District 3 5A: Mechanicsburg one win from first district title in 22 years

02/28/2017, 12:30am EST
By Michael Bullock

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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HERSHEY — Bob Strickler was commuting back and forth from Juniata College to his Mechanicsburg home whenever he could in 1995, as his former Wildcats basketball teammates chased down a District 3 Class 3A championship and then some.

Twenty-two seasons later, in his 13th year as head coach at his alma mater, Strickler’s Wildcats have the suburban Harrisburg community as well as the school’s hallways all hepped up about hoops once again as they wander down another postseason path.

One that has several twists and turns remaining to navigate.

Monday night, at Hershey’s Giant Center, Strickler’s gritty outfit took yet another sizable step toward Mechanicsburg’s second District 3 championship by turning back an athletic Milton Hershey group 56-45 in the first of two Class 5A semifinal-round scraps.

Lead guard Kyle Scheib banked 19 points, Nathan Mayernick racked up 10 of his 12 points in the opening half and Cade Alioth popped a big double-double (11 points/16 rebounds) as the Wildcats advanced to Friday night’s Class 5A title game.

Shane Homick also reached double figures for Strickler’s balanced outfit, pocketing 10 points and snaring eight rebounds as second-seeded Mechanicsburg (22-5) earned its shot at No. 1 Northeastern with its latest postseason success safely tucked away.

“With that group in the locker room, how are you not confident,” said Strickler, whose top assistant, Kevin Rutherford, was the center on Mechanicsburg’s 1995 team. “Respect all. Sometimes I watch all that film and I see all the special things that other teams do, but I’ve got a special group in that locker room as well.”

Northeastern raced past YAIAA playmate Spring Grove 78-58 in the other semi.

“I knew we had to get a couple guys in double figures to beat these guys, get a high-scoring game,” said Mayernick, who was 4-for-8 from the floor in the first half.

Keonte Lucas rang up 16 points and Don’yae Baylor-Carroll finished with 11 for Mark Zerbe’s Spartans (19-5), who connected on just under 26 percent (16-for-62) of their looks from the floor against a Mechanicsburg defense that contested plenty.

And missing a ton of shots really prevented Milton Hershey from cranking up its pressure and really bringing the heat to the Mechanicsburg backcourt.

“We had good D,” Mayernick said. “Strick was telling us to get hands in their faces, contest their shots. On our break, we have Kyle and he’s great at getting out of the presses that teams are throwing at us. It played in our favor.”

Chris Sampson scored just six points, but he wolfed down 14 boards for Milton Hershey, which will meet Spring Grove in 5A’s third-place game Wednesday at Lower Dauphin.

And once Sampson canned a pair of freebies with 4:23 remaining in the opening half, Milton Hershey was sitting on a tenuous 20-17 lead. By the time halftime arrived, the Wildcats raced to the locker room with a 34-24 advantage.

Mayernick had 10 points at the break — including a pair of treys — Alioth was sitting on nine and Scheib was a perfect 6-for-6 at the line en route to eight points.

“Mayernick hit some big shots,” Strickler said. “He’s a soccer guy and that’s what he’s gonna do to continue his career, but man is he a competitor.

“That’s big whenever he’s going and getting us 12.”

“He’s playing great,” Scheib said of his 6-0 classmate. “A couple from the baseline. He was just on fire. An amazing game, him and Homick.”

Mechanicsburg went at the Spartans throughout, attacking offensively and getting a step on defenders often enough that Zerbe’s club wound up fouling.

Obviously, as the Wildcats continued to go, go, go, those fouls continued to pile up.

“If you don’t [attack], you’re going to turn it over,” Strickler said. “Cause while you’re looking over one shoulder, they’re coming from another direction.”

Yet …

Although Milton Hershey was able to slice its deficit to five points twice in the second half, Scheib’s dash to the hoop led to a pair of freebies with 0.9 ticks left in the third that sent the Wildcats to the quarter break up seven and with all sorts of momentum.

“Maybe I’m partial, but we ask Kyle to do so much,” Strickler said. “Did we take him out tonight? He might have gotten 30 seconds at the end of the first quarter, but then we got the ball back and we ran him back in there.”

And when Baylor-Carroll sank two free throws with 6:10 remaining to make it 46-41, Scheib again answered with another pair to restore a three-possession lead.

Milton Hershey never got closer as the elusive Scheib used his quicks to solve the Spartans’ trapping defense and kept the ball in his hands as the Wildcats worked clock throughout the latter stages of the second half.

Before the latter stages of Monday night’s game, Scheib’s slipping past Milton Hershey’s backcourt sentries enabled the Wildcats to attack even more.

“Before the game, Strickler anticipated the press,” Scheib admitted. “If it was that two-guard front, I was just gonna try to take them if I could, penetrate and dish it off if they were picking me up. I thought we did pretty good at that.”

The 5-11 senior also converted 12 of his 14 looks at the foul line.

Mechanicsburg was not as efficient from the stripe as it was in its opening-round conquest of Hershey (27-for-34), but its 22-for-34 effort was good enough to pop the Mid-Penn Keystone champs into the school’s first district final in 22 seasons.

“We struggled there in the fourth quarter, but to Shane and Kyle and even Cade’s credit, we made enough,” Strickler said of the Wildcats’ 8-for-16 work at the line late.

Next up: Northeastern.

And that means another trip to the Giant Center for the Wildcats.

“Words cannot express how proud I am of them,” Strickler said. “That’s always been a goal of mine to get my team here, that they experience it, but they belong here. They’re good enough that they belong here. They punched their ticket to get another night here and probably what will be another neat atmosphere.

“We’re extremely excited and we’re getting somebody tough on Friday.”

Scheib, who was still somewhat winded after his Monday night workout, might encounter a similar tactic Friday night from the remarkably athletic Bobcats.

“We love playing in these kind of environments,” Scheib added. “I think our whole team’s been loving it with the whole Mid-Penns, districts.

“It’s just a fun time in basketball.”

Just as it was in 1995, when another Mechanicsburg team was thrilling its community and those in its classrooms by making a dandy postseason run.

Hershey, Lampeter-Strasburg and now Milton Hershey have fallen victim to the energized Wildcats, who have been playing at a mighty high level.

“That’s what the district semifinals are all about,” Strickler said. “Two good teams really going at it. We made a few more plays and had a couple more stops.”


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