OK, All of these teams put the women and children to bed so now it's time for the BIG BOYS to get busy.....
We have some very interesting matchups in the 2nd round of Districts so lets see how they all look....
When you look at the top half of the Tournament, it looks like a "CAKE WALK" for Harrisburg, who is the #1 seed.....
Harrisburg starts out playing CD East.... The last time these two teams met, they played at 5pm.... That time frame seemed to work for CD East because they kept the game within single digits.... OK, back to reality now!!!! This game is being played at Harrisburg, at 7:30PM and Harrisburg is a "TEAM ON A MISSION" right now.... CD East just won't have the bodies to keep up with The Cougars for 4 quarters.... Super 17 pg Eddie "Always Steady" Cowan will have his hands full as Harrisburg will throw all types of people at him.... Can his supporting cast of Joe Lemelle, Siele Johnson and Anthony "AWright" Wright step up to the plate and help handle the pressure? That has yet to be proven... Also, Harrisburg will pound the glass like normal.... With big bodies like Shoop Sheppard, UConn Football recruit Chris Britton, Steven Stoney, Dom Lewis, James Ezel (?), and Kyle Cook I don't see how IUP Football recruit Ethan "Big Coop" Cooper, AWright and Dwight "Buddy" Whitlock can keep them off the glass... Harrisburg backcourt of Jamaal Carter, Ashton Cooksey-Easter, Jerel Patterson and D1 prospect as a SOPH Jahaad Proctor will push the tempo and do what they do.... As bad as CD East would like to make this one competitive, this game will be over midway through the 3rd quarter... Harrisburg by 27pts.... Harrisburg has THE TOP PLAYER in Central PA in 6'4 sr Steven Stoney (Most under rated player in PA) and I expect him to lead them to the promise land.... Plus Assistant Coach Joe Proctor is letting the world know that Harrisburg is focused on ONE THING ONLY, STATE TITLE!!!!!!!!!
South Western and Cumberland Valley will be a very low scoring game as both teams will defend like crazy and take care of the basketball.... CV can be a very scary team in the playoffs because they have all of the tools to be a great team.... All they need now is to be clicking at the same time... Although it's a road game for CV, I can see them pulling off a 47 - 42 victory on Tuesday.... Grey Kline is one to watch out for... This kid can do it all and has a sweet stroke....
Down on the bottom half of the AAAA playoffs, you have Lancaster McCaskey vs Central Dauphin.... Most people would think that this game will be easy for JPM but this CD team can get hot at any moment.... Guys like Brian Laird, Manny Gonzalez and Ryan Beaver can light it up from the outside while bruiser Zayd Issah is a monster inside the paint... JPM loves to run and they don't defend well at all... They can put up a lot of points with guys like Diante Cherry, Devonne Pinkard, Keyon Cowan and Sha-ki Staton.... Then you have pg Aaron Swinton and combo guard Luis Fuentes so the weapons are unlimited..... JPM wins this game by 13pts because they will eventually win the shootout....
Down in the AAA land we have about 4 teams from the local area looking to move forward....
Susquehanna will take on Manheim Central in a #1 vs #16 matchup... Susquehanna is coming off of a disappointing loss by 20points to Harrisburg so I'm sure the coaching staff went back to work to re gain focus... One thing The Indians should be learning is 6'6 jr forward Savalas Pope has to get more touches... He is difficult to handle in the paint and if he doesn't get at least 18 - 20 shot attempts, they are doing themselves a dis service.... He shoots 60% from the field so that tells me that he'll make at least 12 of the 20 attempts he take, not to mention free throws.... He has some really good players around him (Jonas Page and Joe Marshall) so it will be tough for teams to double team him.... If Susquehanna can do that, they could run away with Districts...... The Mack boys are playing good basketball but Bud Mack probably should have taken time to let his ankle heel instead of playing in the Mid Penn championships tournament.... Takhi Turner will need to be tougher on defense during the playoffs in order to help his team go as far as possible.... Hanna wins this game by 14pts....
Steelton will face Boiling Springs at home and The Rollers are playing their best basketball right now... The dual of 6'3 Swingman Mark Perry and 6'1 freak athlete Dee'Quan "UP UP and Away" Fleming will be a handful for Boiling Springs.... Matt Gelber and Big Eric Contreras will have to play their best games to pull this one out for BS.... Combo Guard Austin Pettinger can knock down shots and will have to be consistently sharp against these Rollers.... The X facter for The Rollers will be two guys, 6'4 WG Jaki Bowman and 6'3 Do it all forward Sha'quinn "Q" McNeil..... These two guys are really athletic and can make plays but have to do a better job not rushing and letting the game come to them... Sharp Shooter Rameik James is always ready to let it fly while 6'7 jr high riser Mikohl Jenkins will battle inside with Contreras.... Rollers win this one by 23pts...
Gettysburg and Palmyra will be a VERY GOOD GAME.... I can see this game going into overtime.... G-Burg is playing at home but Palmyra is battle tested.... Playing in the Keystone division against the likes of Susquehanna, Trinity, McDevitt should have them a little more prepared for the playoffs.... For G-Burg, they just faced a Harrisburg team that they will never see again... They played good but just didn't have enough bodies vs The Burg even though they lost by almost 40pts.... This game will go down to the wire with Palmyra pulling it out in the last minute.... Cody Kiefer is the real deal and Ben Kroll is very good at handling that ball..... Adam Newhard is the engine for Palmyra but he isn't alone... Logan Stovall and Trey Baker can drop 20pts at any given time.... This will be a classic....
McDevitt vs Eastern York could surprise some people... On paper McDevitt slaughters Eastern York but I can see EY trying to stall the basketball to stop MCD from pushing the tempo.... EY can't run with MCD as guys like Justin MacAuthor and Milik Gantz love to get it and go.... Those two guys can really get up the floor and Gantz has incredible eyesight for a 6'3 soph so guys like Donte Vaughn and Caleb Barwin just has to find the open spots and get ready to fire.... Also on the wing is 6'6 Dyllon Hudson-Emery who loves to hit the pull up J but can also slash in the paint for a nice slam.... Throw in 6'3 Bruiser Will Pierce who loves to play physical and you have yourself a complete team.... I can see this game picking up in the 2nd half as it will be close for a while... MCD should end up winning by 10 or more....
Milton Hershey will play Lancaster Catholic on the road and I smell an upset here... Ron Adams and company are upset about that last loss to Steelton and feel that they are better than what they get credit for... Joret Chambers will have to come ready to play because he'll be one of the biggest guys on the floor Tuesday night.... Tariq Bennett and Kendale Chase will have to be ready to hit shots as well because LC will design their defense to slow Adams down.... Ibn Short is another guy who can turn it on at any time.... MH wins this game by 5 pts.....
We have some very interesting matchups in the 2nd round of Districts so lets see how they all look....
When you look at the top half of the Tournament, it looks like a "CAKE WALK" for Harrisburg, who is the #1 seed.....
Harrisburg starts out playing CD East.... The last time these two teams met, they played at 5pm.... That time frame seemed to work for CD East because they kept the game within single digits.... OK, back to reality now!!!! This game is being played at Harrisburg, at 7:30PM and Harrisburg is a "TEAM ON A MISSION" right now.... CD East just won't have the bodies to keep up with The Cougars for 4 quarters.... Super 17 pg Eddie "Always Steady" Cowan will have his hands full as Harrisburg will throw all types of people at him.... Can his supporting cast of Joe Lemelle, Siele Johnson and Anthony "AWright" Wright step up to the plate and help handle the pressure? That has yet to be proven... Also, Harrisburg will pound the glass like normal.... With big bodies like Shoop Sheppard, UConn Football recruit Chris Britton, Steven Stoney, Dom Lewis, James Ezel (?), and Kyle Cook I don't see how IUP Football recruit Ethan "Big Coop" Cooper, AWright and Dwight "Buddy" Whitlock can keep them off the glass... Harrisburg backcourt of Jamaal Carter, Ashton Cooksey-Easter, Jerel Patterson and D1 prospect as a SOPH Jahaad Proctor will push the tempo and do what they do.... As bad as CD East would like to make this one competitive, this game will be over midway through the 3rd quarter... Harrisburg by 27pts.... Harrisburg has THE TOP PLAYER in Central PA in 6'4 sr Steven Stoney (Most under rated player in PA) and I expect him to lead them to the promise land.... Plus Assistant Coach Joe Proctor is letting the world know that Harrisburg is focused on ONE THING ONLY, STATE TITLE!!!!!!!!!
South Western and Cumberland Valley will be a very low scoring game as both teams will defend like crazy and take care of the basketball.... CV can be a very scary team in the playoffs because they have all of the tools to be a great team.... All they need now is to be clicking at the same time... Although it's a road game for CV, I can see them pulling off a 47 - 42 victory on Tuesday.... Grey Kline is one to watch out for... This kid can do it all and has a sweet stroke....
Down on the bottom half of the AAAA playoffs, you have Lancaster McCaskey vs Central Dauphin.... Most people would think that this game will be easy for JPM but this CD team can get hot at any moment.... Guys like Brian Laird, Manny Gonzalez and Ryan Beaver can light it up from the outside while bruiser Zayd Issah is a monster inside the paint... JPM loves to run and they don't defend well at all... They can put up a lot of points with guys like Diante Cherry, Devonne Pinkard, Keyon Cowan and Sha-ki Staton.... Then you have pg Aaron Swinton and combo guard Luis Fuentes so the weapons are unlimited..... JPM wins this game by 13pts because they will eventually win the shootout....
Down in the AAA land we have about 4 teams from the local area looking to move forward....
Susquehanna will take on Manheim Central in a #1 vs #16 matchup... Susquehanna is coming off of a disappointing loss by 20points to Harrisburg so I'm sure the coaching staff went back to work to re gain focus... One thing The Indians should be learning is 6'6 jr forward Savalas Pope has to get more touches... He is difficult to handle in the paint and if he doesn't get at least 18 - 20 shot attempts, they are doing themselves a dis service.... He shoots 60% from the field so that tells me that he'll make at least 12 of the 20 attempts he take, not to mention free throws.... He has some really good players around him (Jonas Page and Joe Marshall) so it will be tough for teams to double team him.... If Susquehanna can do that, they could run away with Districts...... The Mack boys are playing good basketball but Bud Mack probably should have taken time to let his ankle heel instead of playing in the Mid Penn championships tournament.... Takhi Turner will need to be tougher on defense during the playoffs in order to help his team go as far as possible.... Hanna wins this game by 14pts....
Steelton will face Boiling Springs at home and The Rollers are playing their best basketball right now... The dual of 6'3 Swingman Mark Perry and 6'1 freak athlete Dee'Quan "UP UP and Away" Fleming will be a handful for Boiling Springs.... Matt Gelber and Big Eric Contreras will have to play their best games to pull this one out for BS.... Combo Guard Austin Pettinger can knock down shots and will have to be consistently sharp against these Rollers.... The X facter for The Rollers will be two guys, 6'4 WG Jaki Bowman and 6'3 Do it all forward Sha'quinn "Q" McNeil..... These two guys are really athletic and can make plays but have to do a better job not rushing and letting the game come to them... Sharp Shooter Rameik James is always ready to let it fly while 6'7 jr high riser Mikohl Jenkins will battle inside with Contreras.... Rollers win this one by 23pts...
Gettysburg and Palmyra will be a VERY GOOD GAME.... I can see this game going into overtime.... G-Burg is playing at home but Palmyra is battle tested.... Playing in the Keystone division against the likes of Susquehanna, Trinity, McDevitt should have them a little more prepared for the playoffs.... For G-Burg, they just faced a Harrisburg team that they will never see again... They played good but just didn't have enough bodies vs The Burg even though they lost by almost 40pts.... This game will go down to the wire with Palmyra pulling it out in the last minute.... Cody Kiefer is the real deal and Ben Kroll is very good at handling that ball..... Adam Newhard is the engine for Palmyra but he isn't alone... Logan Stovall and Trey Baker can drop 20pts at any given time.... This will be a classic....
McDevitt vs Eastern York could surprise some people... On paper McDevitt slaughters Eastern York but I can see EY trying to stall the basketball to stop MCD from pushing the tempo.... EY can't run with MCD as guys like Justin MacAuthor and Milik Gantz love to get it and go.... Those two guys can really get up the floor and Gantz has incredible eyesight for a 6'3 soph so guys like Donte Vaughn and Caleb Barwin just has to find the open spots and get ready to fire.... Also on the wing is 6'6 Dyllon Hudson-Emery who loves to hit the pull up J but can also slash in the paint for a nice slam.... Throw in 6'3 Bruiser Will Pierce who loves to play physical and you have yourself a complete team.... I can see this game picking up in the 2nd half as it will be close for a while... MCD should end up winning by 10 or more....
Milton Hershey will play Lancaster Catholic on the road and I smell an upset here... Ron Adams and company are upset about that last loss to Steelton and feel that they are better than what they get credit for... Joret Chambers will have to come ready to play because he'll be one of the biggest guys on the floor Tuesday night.... Tariq Bennett and Kendale Chase will have to be ready to hit shots as well because LC will design their defense to slow Adams down.... Ibn Short is another guy who can turn it on at any time.... MH wins this game by 5 pts.....
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