By Levi Cressler
The Shippensburg Greyhounds entered Monday’s night’s game against Octorara from the Lancaster-Lebanon League knowing the Braves had won 11 of their last 13 games. In addition to that, the Braves had scored an average of 71 points per game over their last 5 games. Octorara jumped out to an early 4-3 lead, but from that point on it was the Shippensburg defense that took over the game in route to a 71-34 victory.
“We really wanted to exert ourselves on the defensive end and do it for all four quarters,” said Greyhound coach Ray Staver. The Braves two leading scorers, Elijah Hamilton and Zach Kirk came into the game averaging 20.3 and 13.6 points per game respectively. “We had to have two guys step and stop their two best players,” added Staver. Trey Kater and Jeremy Thomas were the two Shippensburg defenders asked to take on that defensive assignment and they passed the test. Hamilton and Kirk were held to a combined 12 points Monday evening. “Trey and JT played great defensively and it’s really remarkable they came in here and their leading scorer was held to 7 points,” said Staver.
The Greyhound offense was the beneficiary of the defensive effort time after time as the game wore on. While holding a 32-21 advantage coming out of halftime, it was just two minutes into the third quarter that the flood gates opened. A 34-23 Shippensburg led with 5:53 left in the third quarter ballooned to a 59-27 advantage after 24 minutes of play. Steals, blocks and rebounds turned into well thrown outlet passes and transition baskets the entire second half. The highlight of the fast paced flurry of offense was back to back crowd pleasing dunks by Anthony Smith and Thomas. In all, the Hounds scored 25 points over the final 5:53 of the third quarter and cruised to victory.
With the win, Shippensburg clinched its spot in next month’s PIAA 5A state tournament. However, before that tournament is the continuation of district play, which will see the Greyhounds hosting Lower Dauphin Thursday night. Lower Dauphin, the eleven seed, earned a hard fought 41-40 road victory over Elizabethtown in the first round. “They return three of their top six guys from last year’s district title winning squad, so they are battle tested,” said Staver. He then added, “ I think our guys will be ready to play.”
Shippensburg 71 Octorara 34
Octorara
Jason Johnson 3 0-0 6, Mason Lambert 0 2-2 2, Anthony Miller 2 0-0 5, Lucas Thaler 0 1-2 1, Elijah Hamilton 2 0-0 5, Zach Kirk 3 1-2 7, Josh Bare 1 1-2 3, Joe Simms 2 1-2 5. Totals 13 6-10 34.
Shippensburg
Jayden Statum 5 2-2 12, Trey Kater 2 2-2 6, Erby Weller 1 0-0 2, Jeremy Thomas 8 8-9 25, Graison Michaljuk 0 4-4 4, Anthony Smith 6 1-4 14, Drew Chamberlin 1 0-0 2. Totals: 26 17-22 71
Three Point Shots- Shippensburg 2 (Thomas, Smith.) Octorara 2 (Hamilton, Miller.)
Shippensburg 18 14 27 12–71
Octorara 8 13 6 7–34