Harrisburg downs CD East...

After playing perhaps its best quarter of basketball this season, the Harrisburg Cougars still found themselves in a neck-and-neck scrap with Mid-Penn Commonwealth foe CD East late Friday afternoon.....

From the Patriot News Staff:

East not only rallied from an early double-digit deficit, the host Panthers led briefly at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth. But Harrisburg, buoyed by terrific bench play, emerged with a 69-67 victory....

“Everybody has to step up,” said Cougars starting guard Haiishen McIntyre, who sat much of the second half in foul trouble but still finished with a team-high 17 points. “The bench has to step up. And tonight that’s what they did.”
Sophomore James Ezell, filling in for McIntyre, scored all 10 of his points in the second half. His 3-pointer 10 seconds into the fourth quarter gave the Cougars (15-4, 11-2) a 56-55 lead they would keep.....

Fellow reserve Jamaal Carter, a junior, ran a splendid point guard down the stretch, taking care of the ball, issuing a couple of assists and sinking six of eight free-throw attempts.
“They put us in situations like that in practice,” Carter said, “and we know when we have to step up. [Late-game pressure] doesn’t faze us because we’re used to it.”
Marty Hasenfuss’ Panthers (12-9, 8-5), who lost their fourth straight, were almost helpless to stop Harrisburg in the first quarter.
The Cougars hit nine of 15 shots, and six different players scored. Jerel Patterson (14 points, four assists) sank a pair of 3-pointers, and McIntyre scored seven points. The lead reached 14 points (24-10) late in the frame....


“The way they were making shots, they didn’t do that the first time,” Hasenfuss said. “But we played hard and stuck with what we wanted to do. I was pleased with the effort. It would have been easy to give up being down like we were.”
Thanks to a parade to the free-throw line, the Panthers cut the deficit to five points (36-31) by halftime. East shot 18 freebies in the second quarter, sinking 12 of them.....


Eddie "Always Steady" Cowan, who scored 13 of his game-high and career high 23 points in the second quarter, also took advantage of a couple of technical fouls called on the Cougars — one on McIntyre in the second quarter, the other on the bench in the third. Cowan, the Panthers’ junior point guard, finished 13-for-18 from the line while contributing seven rebounds and four assists....   He's stepping up to the plate when he's needed to and this is what big time players do for their team.... 


Teammate Reggie Dudley (21 points, eight rebounds) caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 11 points. His three-point play with 1:24 remaining actually put East in front 50-49.
But it was Ezell, Carter and crew helping the Cougars surge back in front shortly thereafter.
Dom Lewis added 12 points and nine boards for Harrisburg, which won despite committing 28 fouls and surrendering 44 free-throw attempts (vs. 29 of its own).