City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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CAMP HILL — With the way things began for Milton Hershey’s basketball-playing bunch, one might have thought the Spartans were the ones who were late to arrive and needed extra time to warm up.

Once the second half began to unfold, however, Milton Hershey had the temperature cranked to a full boil and the relentless Spartans simply went on the attack and never throttled back.

Yet while its never an advised path to be staring at a huge deficit — and huge, in this case, is completely accurate — Don’Yae Baylor-Carroll, Pedro Rodriguez and the rest of Mark Zerbe’s club scrambled to get back in and ultimately captured a 78-67 victory over John Bartram.

“We talked about keeping the pressure up and focusing on defense,” Baylor-Carroll said. “It was a really slow start, so the second half we just wanted to come out and play as hard as we can.”

Baylor-Carroll collected 34 points — 24 in the second half — and the 6-2 Rodriguez netted 17 of his 20 after the break to lead the Spartans (13-3) back. Rodriguez, the only player on the floor at times taller than 6-0 for Milton Hershey, also displayed all sorts of passion by outworking the taller Braves for 10 boards.

“I just felt like I had to step up and take over the paint,” Rodriguez said. “Take over the paint and crash the boards and [make] little hustle plays. … If I do it, then my teammates will be right behind me.”

“We really wanted Pedro to really step it up on the glass, because we know he’s a fighter when the ball comes down in the paint,” Baylor-Carroll added.

“He really stepped up and let the guards run him in and out.”

What made Milton Hershey’s latest result even more amazing is Zerbe’s Spartans trailed by 27 points (39-12) midway through the second quarter before beginning to dig in and make the opening game of Play-by-Play’s Trinity Showcase Saturday in suburban Harrisburg one that will be talked about.

Especially by the youngsters who live on Milton Hershey’s sprawling campus.

“That was my first comeback [like that],” admitted Rodriguez, who was 7-for-12 in the second half after missing all seven of his first-half field-goal attempts. “We still have a lot of games left, so it was good to see that as a team. Come together on defense, come together on offense and come out with a win.

“I told them we’re just basketball coaches and not sports psychologists,” Zerbe cracked, referring to his team’s halftime discussion. “I don’t know whether it was the fourth game of the week or a little apathy or we decided we wanted to lose or whatever, but we need to come out and give our best effort. If we fall short, we fall short. I thought we just didn’t look in sync at all in the first half.

“We just wanted them to not give up.”

Milton Hershey worked its deficit down to 18 points (45-27) by halftime, then used the first 4:25 of the third quarter to outscore the Philly Public League entry 17-3 and get within four (48-44) on Rodriguez’s three-point play. Despite getting within one twice, the Spartans still were down 56-53 after three.

What also helped Milton Hershey was the trapping pressure it applied after the break, heat that wobbled the Braves — even though the attacking Spartans went really, really small and had only Rodriguez back to protect the rim.

Zerbe’s Spartans finally tied it early in the fourth when Hassan Kamara nailed a trey — Bartram (10-9) opened the game with an 11-0 burst — then moved ahead for good (69-67) with 2:47 to play when the electrically charged 5-9 Baylor-Carroll knocked down a 17-foot jump shot.

Bartram never scored again, as the Braves were whistled for three charges in the final two minutes while Baylor-Carroll went 5-for-6 at the line and Rodriguez and Kamara each added scores to close out a result that quite a bit earlier appeared implausible.

Rahsaan Brown dropped in 17 points to lead Bartram, which didn’t pull into Camp Hill until just before the scheduled noon tip. Allowed some extra time to warm up, the Braves knocked down eight first-half treys and appeared to be in cruise control throughout the opening 16 minutes.

Little did they know what they would encounter once the reinvigorated Spartans began to erupt.

Dahmir Fowlkes added 13 points and eight boards for Bartram, while Tyrae Green tacked on 10.

“I’ve never had that before,” Baylor-Carroll said of Milton Hershey’s huge second-half rally. “We know what it takes the next time we’re down and have to push back to have a comeback like that.

“It was great. We’ve just got to keep playing hard and keep pushing on out until the playoffs.”

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Late burst propels Trinity past Conestoga

Trailing by one with about two-and-a-half minutes to go, Trinity embarked on a 9-2 closing kick that pushed the host Shamrocks past Conestoga 63-57 in Game 4 of the five-contest card.

Matt Long nailed a timely trey from the right corner to ignite Trinity’s nifty finish — Long’s score pushed the Shamrocks in front 57-55 — while the Shamrocks tacked on enough made freebies to close out a District 1 Class 6A entry for the second consecutive year.

A year ago, Trinity toppled Plymouth-Whitemarsh in one of two marquee outings.

Long and Lafayette recruit Sean Good finished with 15 points apiece as the Shamrocks (13-4) prepped for a Mid-Penn Capital Division skirmish Tuesday night at home against Middletown. The 6-11 Good nearly cranked out a triple-double, finishing with 15 rebounds and eight assists.

Good also blocked a number of shots.

“Sean was a big difference in the game,” Trinity head coach Larry Kostelac Jr. said. “I don’t know how many blocks and alterations he had, but he had a ton — and he scored. He was just good.

“He just did a great job. He showed why he’s a Division I player. He was the difference.”

Trinity also pushed Mike Scarpelli and Patrick Walker into double figures, as those two Shamrocks chipped in 13 points apiece. Zach Lezanic poured in 28 points and Milton Robinson finished with 12 for Conestoga (11-6), which led by as many as 10 points in the first half.

“The kids did a great job. I thought we defended well, because Lezanic’s a hell of a player,” said Kostelac, whose team lost 6-6 junior Kalen Veres one night earlier to a slight fracture in one of his legs. “Our kids listened. They did everything we asked them to do offensively and defensively.

“They came through.”

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Coatesville wheels past Carlisle, avenges state loss to Thundering Herd

Embroiled in a tight game at the halftime break, Coatesville was able to crank up its transition game and get its frontline into the action as the Red Raiders really opened things up in the second half and popped Carlisle 67-46 in Game 3 of the five-contest event.

Chuck Smith scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half as Chuck Moore’s bunch (14-4) collared its seventh consecutive victory. Coatesville also picked up 10 points from Tione Holmes and 10 more from Eastern Kentucky recruit Tyrel Bladen.

Coatesville was searching for some payback since Carlisle ousted the Red Raiders in the opening round of last season’s PIAA Class 6A tournament.

Gavyn Barnes tossed in 23 points to lead the Thundering Herd (9-9). Barnes’ bucket just before the halftime horn had Carlisle down by three (23-20) heading to the locker room.

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Central Dauphin East displays spurtability in victory over Danville

Uncorking outbursts throughout its 32-minute exercise, CD East used those timely runs to frustrate a cold-shooting Danville squad and collect a 65-44 verdict in the second game of the day.

A 9-0 salvo at the beginning put the Panthers (7-9) up early, and they remained there throughout.

Jordan McCraw came off the bench to lead East with 13 points, while Tyree Cowan and Jaylen Hawthorne added 10 points apiece. Don Ross’ club also put seven others in the scorebook.

“That’s what we want it to look like,” said Ross, East’s third-year head coach. “When the guys are playing for the name on the front of the jersey.”

Colin Holcombe recorded a double-double for Danville (12-3), scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Ironmen had won three straight before colliding with East.