Steady Eddie saves the day.....

Im going to be flat out honest....   "What an ugly game"!!!!  In a game where there was too many whistles in the first half to get into a flow, there was no telling who was going to get this win...East finally pulled it out at the end 45 - 41 vs Lower Dauphin but the game shouldn't have been that close....


No disrespect to Lower Dauphin but CD East played right into their hands.  Lower dauphin played a packed in zone to force East to shoot the ball and they shot 4 - 25 from the 3 point line and also 3 - 16 from the free throw line.......

Lower Dauphin had a lead 24 - 17 at half due to the solid play of Ben Goss (11 first half pts) and Cody Deal (7 first half pts).  CD East fell behind due to Tony McCraw and Aris Scott picking up 2 early fouls a piece in the first quarter.....

When the 3rd quarter began, LD came out strong with a bucket and a foul for Kaylor Kulina but he missed the free throw.  CD East came to life closing the gap to 30 - 27 behind the aggresive play of Siele Johnson and Tony McCraw....

The 4th quarter was all East...  McCraw turned it up on defense and began attacking the zone creating second chance opportunities for East.  Then the solid on the ball defense by Eddie Cowan began to wear down the LD ball handlers....   What hurt LD was their star forward Cody Deal picked up his 4th foul jumping on top of Johnsons back with 4:30 left in the 4th, he had to sit.  With the ball game tied with 4:10 to go, McCraw hit a three from the wing on the assist from Cowan that gave East a 3 point lead.

With 1:10 left on the clock, Cowan missed the front end of the 1 and 1 which led to a 3 point basket by Goss to make it a 2 point game.  LD then fouls Scott on a drive but he missed two free throws with 40 seconds left, up two.  After a missed shot by LD, Cowan rebounds the ball and gets fouled.  He goes on to make the front of the 1 and 1 but missed the 2nd which gave East a 42 - 39 lead with 25 seconds left.  David Nuss of LD then makes his only bucket on a drive to the basket bringing LD within 1 point with 10 seconds left.  CD East's Nate King is then fouled with 9.6 secs on the clock.  He missed the first and makes the second giving East a 2 point lead. 

With 9.6 seconds to go, Nuss got the inbound pass and was sprinting up the court but Cowan baited him to cross over and just TOOK THE BALL from Nuss and made the lay up to secure the win for East. 

Although Cowan didn't make the All Tournament team he had a stat line of 8 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assist while McCraw led the way with 15 points, 7 rebs, and 2 steals.  Nate King came off the bench and had 8 rebs with 2 blocks and was very active.

Scott never really got into a rhthym but gave some good energy in the second half making the All Tournament team along with McCraw.  Reggie Dudly who scored 28 the previous day was named MVP of the tourny....