Lewisburg uses fast start to hold off Central Mountain

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: December 23, 2021

Lewisburg 52, Central Mountain 31

LE 13 12 15 12 – 52

CM 8 2 13 8 – 31

Scoring: Lewisburg – Devin Bodden 0 2-2 2, Khashaun Akins 2 1-3 6, Jacob Hernandez 4 4-7 12, Joey Martin 3 1-2 9, Cam Michaels 3 2-2 8, Henry Harrison 1 0-0 3, Forrest Zelechoski 3 1-2 8, Jack Blough 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 11-18 52.

Central Mountain – Hayden Pardoe 1 3-6 6, Brett Gerlach 4 0-2 8, Owen Person 1 0-0 2, Cayde McCloskey 2 0-0 5, Brady Myers 1 0-0 2, Ashton Probst 1 2-2 4, Levi Schlesinger 1 2-2 4. Totals 11 7-12 31.

Played but didn’t score – Sam Barrick 0 0-0 0, Noah Pawling 0 0-0 0. Central Mountain – Dom Longworth 0 0-0 0, Ryan Pentz 0 0-0 0, Jack Shields 0 0-0 0, Connor Foltz 0 0-0 0.

Three-point shots: Lewisburg – Martin 2, Akins, Harrison. Central Mountain – Pardoe, McCloskey.

By Kenny Varner

LOCK HAVEN – the Central Mountain boys basketball team highlighted their contest against visiting Lewisburg with its strong defensive effort. The Wildcats went airborne numerous times and finished with seven blocks of Lewisburg shots.

However, the Wildcats Achilles heel was its offense as it fell to the Green Dragons 52-31.

But it was a game where the Wildcats produced two second half runs, closing the gaps when needed.

Lewisburg though had an answer for each run as it was able to push their lead back to double digits when it had to.

Leading the way offensively were Brett Gerlach who finished with an 8-point performance and Hayden Pardoe who finished with six points.

Teammate Cayde McCloskey had five.

“I actually thought we defended really really well. Lewisburg is a very good offensive team. We had to pressure a little bit there at the end, which we didn’t want to do and it gave them some easy ones,” said Central Mountain coach Tyler Bardo. “Just to hold them to 52 points and forced 18 turnovers we must have did something right.”

Lewisburg was led by Jacob Hernandez who posted a game-high 12 points and Joey Martin finished with nine.

Both Cam Michaels and Forrest Zelechoski finished with eight to round out the top scorers.

In the first quarter, Central Mountain opened strong posting a 4-0 advantage.

Pardoe hit a triple and one out of two from the free throw line.

But Lewisburg battled back and went on a 10-0 run to take control.

The Green Dragons would continue its run to the end of the first, finishing on a 9-6 scoring spree, taking a 19-10 advantage after one.

Defensively, Lewisburg came out in the second quarter and clamped down and allowed only two Wildcat points in the period.

When the two teams went into the intermission, Lewisburg led 25-12.

Coming out of the half, the Central Mountain offense came alive as it pushed the ball down inside and opened with an 8-0 run, putting themselves back within striking distance at 26-16.

With two free throws by Ashton Probst and a triple by Cayde McCloskey, cut the lead to just five with 4 minutes left in the third.

However, the Green Dragons rallied back to extend its lead back to double digits finishing the quarter off with a 14-0 run.

Trailing 40-23 in the final stanza, the Wildcats again was able to make a small run but it wasn’t enough as Lewisburg would hold onto the win at 52-31.