Huskies take contest down to the wire against Wildcats, falls late

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 5, 2022

By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – They battled to the bitter end!

Mifflin County hosted Mid-Penn for Mechanicsburg Saturday night after having the contest cancelled the day before.

Refusing to go down without a fight, the Huskies stayed within striking distance until the last minute of the game before falling to the Wildcats 65-53.

Most of Mechanicsburg came from free throws (8) as MIfflin County was forced to foul late.

“I thought overall we made progress tonight. We were down by 10 at the half and chipped our way back and put ourselves in a position that we were down only three,” said MIfflin County coach Wade Curry. “At the end, we didn’t make the right decisions. We turned the ball over four times in the last few minutes. That hurt. But I give the guys a lot of credit, they fought and really played them neck-and-neck the second half.”

Conner Zimmerman led the way offensively as he posted a hard earned 18 points.

Landon Eichhorn was the other double-digit scorer with 11.

Mechanicsburg was led by the hard driving play of Rayshawn Early-Jones who finished with a game-high 20. Teammate Lukas Rhodes tallied 17.

Mifflin County was able to cut the lead to single digits in the third as they started the final stanza trailing 50-42. Both teams scored 19 points each in the period.

Tagg Selfies, who finished with nine, opened the fourth with a triple to cut the Wildcats’ lead to only five points.

Mifflin County forced a Mechanicsburg turnover, giving the ball to Zimmerman. Zimmerman missed an early one-on-one opportunity but redeemed himself on the next play as he cashed in another Wildcat turnover, making it a 52-49 contest with 7:20 left.

For most of the contest, Mechanicsburg had answer for a Huskies scoring drive.

The fourth quarter was no exception as they took the ball down court and got the ball to Lukas Rhodes on the inside. He made his move straight at the bucket and he went up for the shot and was hacked on the way down, giving him a chance for a 3-point play. He was automatic on the free throw, upping their lead to 55-49.

After a MIfflin County turnover it was Early-Holton’s turn to take a hard look in the middle. The shot was good and the lead swelled back to eight.

From there the Wildcats continued to force turnovers inside the key, allowing them to hustle down court and get fouled to save time.

However, Mechanicsburg was the stronger team on this night as it outscored MIfflin County 7-2 en route to the victory.

Mechanicsburg started off the contest strong as it was able to outscore MIfflin County 19-14 after one.

The Wildcats padded its lead in the second as it held the Huskies’ offense to a single digits with nine.

Mechanicsburg nailed a 14-point second to take a 33-23 advantage at the intermission.

In the JV contest, the Wildcats outlasted MIfflin County 57-44.

Editor’s note: The team honored Football and Track and Field coach Scot Sechler who is has battling an illness .

During the intermission, also honored were new indoor track and field record holders. Dillon Wert, Josiah Sechler and Kylee Cubbison.

Mechanicsburg 65, MIfflin County 53

ME 19 14 17 15 – 65

MC 14 9 19 11 – 53

Scoring: Mechanicsburg -Sam Burch 1 1-2 6, Josh Smith 3 3-6 9, Spencer Nolan 1 2-2 5, Rayshawn Early- Holton 8 4-4 20, Lukas Rhodes 6 5-8 17, Sam Deluca 1 0-0 2, Michael Jones 3 0-0 6. Totals 24 15-18 65.

Mifflin County – Cade Penepacker 0 6-10 6, Alex Kline 2 0-0 5, Tagg Selfies 2 3-4 9, Connor Zimmerman 7 2-4 18, Quint Hepner 1 2-3 4, Landon Eichhorn 3 4-4 11. Totals 15 17-25 53.

Played but didn’t score: Mechanicsburg – Seth Brubaker 0 0-0 0. MIfflin County – CJ Gill 0 0-0 0, Isaac Curry 0 0-0 0,

3-point shots: Mechanicsburg – Burch, Nolan. Mifflin County – Kline, Selfies 2, Zimmerman 2, Eichhorn.