Harrisburg and Chambersburg meet in the Finals...

OK, let's be honest, who would have predicted this match up?  In the beginning of the season most people said "this Harrisburg team is OK, but District finals?  Nah!" and the after Skyler Roman went down with a knee injury, most people had Chambersburg not even making the playoffs......    Hats off to both programs for sticking to their script and handling their business....
In the first game, both teams came out man to man but East would get some early fouls called on Anthony Wright which caused him to sit the rest of the quarter.....  That hurt East a lot...

From what I saw, the officiating was extremely one sided as Chambersburg had a 4 to 1 advantage on fouls with only 4:30 in the first....  22 seconds later, CD East bench was hit with a tech and all the momentum was with C-Burg from there on out....

AJ Maun and Kellen Williams would provide most of the scoring for C-Burg early on while Aris Scott and Tony McCraw were attacking for East....

As the game went on, C-Burg just controlled the glass on both ends of the floor....   With East being in foul trouble, I believe it cause some of the players to play a little less aggressive than normal.....

The second half wasn't much different with the officiating crew as I stated before, THE MID PENN HAS THE WORSE OFFICIALS IN THE STATE!!!!

Their first two calls were offensive fouls on McCraw and Reggie Dudley although they jumped around the defenders....  Those calls really took the life out of the East players as C-Burgs lead kept growing and growing...

East would make a small run but C-Burg countered that with two long full court passes to Kellen Williams for lay ups, winning the game 63 - 43....   By the way, Williams was unstoppable in this game...  He is the real deal when attacking the basket or spotting up for the jumper...  The kid is built like a fullback and has strength for days....

Williams led C-Burg with 23 pts and 5 rebs, AJ Maun chipped in 15 pts and Mitch Stahl came off the bench this game and scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds......

East was led by Scott and McCraw who both shared 26 pts evenly while Dudley was held in check by Williams and only scored 6 pts....

Seemed to me like East was waiting on someone to take over the game and lead but no one stepped up to that challenge....  They better figure out who the leader is soon because they play York for the 3 seed in a couple of days....


In the prime time game, I asked Coach Bair if his team is ready, his words were "WE ALWAYS READY"....   No truer words have ever been spoken as Harrisburg SMASHED York by 15 points 69 - 54...  It was only that close because Harrisburg gave up a few buckets at the end of the game...

York came out with a lineup that seemed to be more talented than what the Cougars had....  The problem with York was they only had 5 guys who could really compete in that type of game but Harrisburg had 13 guys who could.....   Smallwood used them all which just wore York down minute after minute....

From the beginning it seemed as though Yorks pg Tavon Parker was bothered by the pressure as he lost the ball a few times with Jerell Patterson turning him and making him work...   Daquan Ware had the pleasure of defending the top player for York Dejian Williams who is really crafty with the ball....  Ware did a decent job but Williams is tough to keep out of the lane...

Just as York thought they were getting into a grove, here comes Ashton Cooksey Easter for Harrisburg....  When I tell you there is NO BETTER ON THE BALL DEFENDER, believe me!  If Parker looked shaky before, he didn't want the ball now that Cooksey Easter was on him...  If that wasn't enough, Smallwood inserted JaQuale Wright along with Cooksey Easter and the two of those guys just turned it up a notch....  They both scored 5 pts a piece before the half but their pressure defense on the ball had York working for everything they got....  It allowed Haiisheen McIntyre, Chris Britton and Steven Stoney to jump into passing lanes for easy steals which led to fast break lay ups....

This was the type of game where everyone did something to contribute...  You had Patterson hitting the outside shots, Britton controlling the glass, Stoney doing everything, McIntyre attacking the basket or posting up and then each guy playing their role on defense.....

York's guard Derek Wilson did show some serious athleticism by crossing McIntyre over and throwing down a nice dunk in the middle of the lane....  That kid can jump out of the gym....

Harrisburg was up at half 36 - 27 so in the 3rd quarter they started Cooksey-Easter on Williams and the lead just kept going up and up and up....  By the 4:44 mark with The Cougars up 46 - 29, you could see that York was tired as every shot came up short....  Harrisburg stayed fresh by subbing guys in and out so they never let down on the pressure....

McIntyre, who was being watched by Marist last night, finished the game with 23pts, 5 rebs, 3 steals and 2blks..  Steven Stoney chipped in 15 pts, 9 rebs and 6 assist....  Cooksey-Easter had 11pts, 5 rebs, 3 assist and 2 steals...  Patterson scored 7pts, 5 rebs, 4 assist and 2 steals while Britton had 5 pts, 8 rebs, 2 steals and 3 blocks....

York was led by Williams with 12pts and 5 rebs, Wilson chipped in 11pts and 6 rebs while CJ Smith had 11 pts...

Harrisburg forced York into 27 turnovers for the game while they only had 11.....

Can't wait for Saturdays game, should be a classic....