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District 3: Milton Hershey tops Steel-High to stay unbeaten

12/22/2017, 12:15am EST
By Michael Bullock

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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HERSHEY — Maybe they weren’t quite as crisp as they were in most of their earlier outings, but there’s a reason Milton Hershey’s basketball team is still perfect.

They’re good. In fact, they’re mighty good.

Yet what makes Mark Zerbe’s unbeaten Spartans such a dangerous side is they’re not only skilled, but they’re quite capable of running opponents to death — and we’re talking literally here.

These guys want to play the game as fast as humanly possible … and then take the tempo up even a few more notches so only they’re comfortable. Let’s just say the flammability index is high.

Thursday at the beautiful Spartan Center — and with an appreciative crowd on hand on the night before the boarding school that sits just a long outlet pass from downtown Chocolatetown sends its youngsters home for the holidays — Zerbe’s high-octane bunch wasn’t as sharp as it can be.

Nonetheless, the Spartans (7-0, 4-0) displayed their explosive capabilities often enough to pull away from Mid-Penn Capital Division playmate Steel-High 66-51 behind 21 points from Josh Parra, 20 from Pedro Rodriguez and another 15 from diminutive catalyst Don’Yae Baylor-Carroll.

Parra completed a nifty double-double by yanking down 12 rebounds.

While first-year head coach Tristan Crawford coaxed enough from Army football recruit Tim Kater (18 points) and Amiq Jenkins (15 points) to get within five points (44-39) late in the third quarter and again early in the fourth (46-41), the Rollers (3-2, 3-2) soon were trailing by double digits.

Two stickbacks from the 6-3 Parra and a finish at the tin by the 6-2 Rodriguez — off a Baylor-Carroll delivery — soon had the Spartans up 11 (52-41).

Although Steel-High would stick a trey to edge a bit closer from time to time, Milton Hershey’s transition attack was at a full boil down the stretch as Parra and Rodriguez were getting to the hole and were a combined 8-for-8 from the floor.

“We play unselfish and we play as a team. We just want to run up and down,” revealed Rodriguez, who arrived at Milton Hershey in sixth grade from his native Allentown. “We struggled in the beginning, but through the fourth quarter we just kept playing hard and we just kept playing with energy.”

Milton Hershey even led by as many as 17 points before a track meet that doubled as a basketball game finally drew to a close. Everyone on hand may have been breathing hard — even those parked in the bleachers — except for Zerbe’s run-whenever-possible Spartans.

Steel-High was just the latest quality opponent to fall — the Rollers were among the Class 3A teams to watch in City of Basketball Love’s most-recent set of statewide rankings — but Zerbe’s Spartans also have dusted much-longer Downingtown West 64-44 and a ranked Middletown squad 83-71.

No wonder they were plugged in at No. 10 in Class 5A earlier this week.

Not bad for an athletic group without much length that was pegged to finish somewhere in the middle of the Capital Division.

Mention that in the Milton Hershey locker room and you’ll get a different response — even though the Spartans graduated five seniors and Baylor-Carroll was the lone full-time starter returning from a unit that last season finished third in the District 3 Class 5A playoffs and lost to Chester in its state opener.

“We knew deep down if we worked hard and we knew that our chemistry is good together,” Baylor-Carroll said. “We just like playing with each other and we knew we could have a big impact.”

“We just thought it would be Don’Yae and some younger guys,” admitted Zerbe, the seventh-year skipper. “They’re a good group of guys. They get along. They have good chemistry and stuff like that. They’re usually better than what they showed. But they’ve been fun to coach so far.”

So why do these guys want to play so blasted fast for so much of every 32-minute outing?

That’s easy.

Milton Hershey’s blistering attack is tailor-made for the 5-8 Baylor-Carroll, a native of uptown Harrisburg who arrived at the spacious boarding school just before starting Kindergarten.

While Baylor-Carroll is capable of knocking down shots from several sizable steps outside the 3-point arc, the electrically charged senior will slice through traffic and get to the rim whether in transition or in a fast-paced set where his creativity on the ball becomes readily apparent.

“Our pace [is key],” Baylor-Carroll. “We don’t get tired. We take pride in being a fast team and running teams out of the gym. As time goes on, a lot of teams get worn down and we keep turning it up.”

Baylor-Carroll, in fact, earlier this season became the ninth player in Milton Hershey’s basketball history to reach 1,000 career points when he rang up 34 in a lopsided victory over West York — with his great-grandmother in the Spartan Center stands watching him play for the first time.

Fittingly, he buried a trey to hit 1K right on the dot.

“He is our best player,” Rodriguez stated. “But he is our best player because he’s a team player. He knows when his shot’s not going down, he gets us involved and he cheers us on. He tells us to keep attacking the basket. That’s what makes him the best he can possibly be."

There’s also a school-produced video featuring Baylor-Carroll, his great-grandmother, Rodriguez and Zerbe that’s been uploaded to YouTube.

Since Baylor-Carroll didn’t shoot the ball as well Thursday night, scoring opportunities repeatedly materialized for Parra and Rodriguez once the Spartans found a way to slice through Steel-High’s stubborn 3-2 zone or fire away from the perimeter or zip past the Rollers in transition or on second and third chances under the boards.

“”It’s just about the win at the end of the day,” Baylor-Carroll said. “When teams start guarding me hard, I just tell my team to look for them and knock down shots.”

Yet even though the Spartans popped three players into double figures, they prefer to finish games with four or more youngsters sporting 10 points or more. They also try to keep a lid on turnovers, even though they play so fast and they need to board collectively since they don’t have much size.

“It’s definitely great,” Baylor-Carroll said of the Spartans’ desired balance. “It builds confidence and it makes everybody feel like they can step up and take that role when it’s a big situation.”

Jaiden Young added six points — including going 4-for-4 at the foul line late — while Naeem Cross checked in with four points. Zerbe used nine players and he would have sent more into the fray, but 6-2 Treyvon Ferguson is on the shelf with facial injuries suffered in a practice collision with Parra.

Ferguson just happens to be the PIAA’s reigning Class 3A triple jump champion.

And while a seventh consecutive victory came Milton Hershey’s way Thursday night, they won’t convene for practice again until the students return on Jan. 7 — a stretch of 17 days. Two nights later, Zerbe’s Spartans will put their perfect record on the line at Capital Division hammer Trinity.

“That’s definitely going to be a fun game,” Baylor-Carroll said with a grin.

Later nonleague matchups will come against Lower Dauphin, John Bartram, crosstown rival Hershey, Cedar Cliff and Girard College — a Philadelphia school that operates similarly to Milton Hershey. They’ll also have return engagements with Middletown and Steel-High, along with the second half of the home-and-home series with the much-taller Trinity squad they’ll meet right after the break.

So, how can these guys sustain their momentum?

Rodriguez plans to work out with teammate Carrington Smith, who lives in Easton.

Baylor-Carroll will find a way to get up some shots in Harrisburg or somewhere at Milton Hershey.

They’ve been through these lengthy breaks before and don’t seem bothered by the pending layoff.

"During the break, we just keep in touch with each other and see if everybody’s working hard,” said Baylor-Carroll, who had coaches from Mount Aloysius (Will Cabrera) and Moravian (Ricky Rodriguez) on hand to see him play. Penn State Harrisburg’s Don Friday also has been around.

“When we come back, we just focus and stay in our zone. We just want to hit as hard as we started. We’re used to it. Every year it’s been like that, so I feel like we can bounce back every time.”

While Trinity captured the Mid-Penn Capital Division title last season, Milton Hershey won it two seasons ago and went on to beat Harrisburg in the Mid-Penn tournament final. Baylor-Carroll was a big part of that win, scoring 24 points while another Harrisburg product, then-senior Tyron Brown, poured in 28 as the Spartans prevailed 97-83. Brown was on hand for Thursday night’s victory over Steel-High.

“That was great,” Baylor-Carroll recalled. “I knew some of the guys and they knew me. There was a little tension before the game because we hadn’t played Harrisburg in a little bit.”

That’s ancient history, however, because these Spartans are trying to stay in the moment and keep what they have going moving forward — despite their rapidly approaching respite. They'll deal with the postseason when and if that arrives, right now it's about staying sharp for two-plus weeks.

“I feel like we’re all going to be working and we’re all going to get to a gym. Be ready to play when we come back, because the schedule’s very hard right away," Rodriguez said, referring to Trinity. "It’s going to be a good game. ... Speed’s definitely the key.”

Hey, with these Spartans, speed is key since they want to play as fast as possible — and then some.


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