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McHenry, Mounts chop down Cedars in OT
- 15 December 2005
If Tuesday night's Section Two opener at Ephrata is any indication of
the type of season it’s going to be, well then it’s going to be quite a
ride. "I have a feeling this section is going to be a bear," Ephrata
Coach Dave Dubbs concurred after watching his team upend a strong
Lebanon squad 57-54 in an overtime thriller.The Mounts actually trailed for most of the contest Tuesday before clawing back to tie it behind a big second half by senior forward Paul McHenry, who led all scorers in the game with 28 points.
Then in the extra session, McHenry went 4-for-6 from the line in the final 1:24 to give the Mounts their second-straight victory after opening the season at 2-2.
"Paul came up big", Dubbs said. "He played the way a senior is suppose to play. He just came up big. We ran things for him and he delivered. That’s a sweet thing."
Lebanon, playing its first game of the season with 6-6, 295-pound center Jared Odrick, controlled play in the early going and owned the glass for most of the night.
However, the Cedars never could shake the Mounts, who started three sophomores (Steve Tretter, Morgan Bartholomew and Josh Peifer) to go along with the steady senior tandem of McHenry and Mark Sweigart.
It was Tretter who pulled the Mounts out of an early hole with a pair of clutch threes in the opening eight minutes as Ephrata actually took a 15-14 lead into the second.
"In our last game against Central a lot of the sophomores stepped up, and the same thing tonight. They played real well made some big plays," McHenry said, deflecting the praise from himself.
Lebanon (1-4 overall, 0-1 section) wasn’t going to go away, and sparked by the play of 6-2 junior forward Jeremy Granger, the Cedars responded to take a 26-24 lead into the locker room.
Granger (10 points) was a thorn in the Mounts' all night, particularly in the paint where he constantly kept balls alive and several times scored hoops on second chances.
Lebanon opened the lead up to six early in the third at 32-26, and had a few chances to increase the advantage. But it seemed every time they were going to pull away, McHenry would come up with a big play to draw his team closer.
First, it was a tap-in of a miss to get Ephrata off the schneid in the third quarter, then later he buried a three-pointer to bring his team briefly back to within two at 33-31. The EHS senior scored all 11 Ephrata points in the third, but the Mounts still trailed by four (39-35) going to the fourth.
Ephrata senior Kyle Sensenig hit the first three Mount baskets early in the fourth to tie the game at 41-41, and it was nip and tuck the rest of the way.
McHenry converted a steal into a layup to give the Mounts their first lead of the fourth at 43-41, and Brent Weaver and Peifer added key hoops down the stretch, but Odrick scored the final six points of the fourth for Lebanon with his two free throws at the 1:14 mark tying the game at 47-47 to force the overtime.
The Mounts despite getting outrebounded 21-6 at the offensive end, stayed in the game by taking care of the basketball, which is a good sign for such a young team.
"We didn’t have many turnovers," Dubbs said. "I thought we ran our offense well, we were patient and we didn't lose our composure when we were in that two-four-six margin...We never lost our composure."
"I'm also pleased with the play of our young players," he continued. "It is growth and development, but when you got three years to work with some of these guys, it’s a good thing. They are very receptive, they do anything you ask and I think that was evident tonight."
In addition to McHenry’s 28, Sensenig chipped in with 10 points off the bench.
Lebanon was led by Anthony Trautman, who scored 15 while Odrick added 13.
We here at www.ephratamounts.com are proud sponsors of the Dodgeball for Diabetes tournament.