GREENCASTLE — You’d need to be a seasoned detective to find anything negative about the Greencastle-Antrim boys basketball team on Monday night.

Conner Wright

— The Blue Devils played three quarters of exceptional defense, enabling them to turn a 6-point deficit in the second period into a 58-45 victory over Lower Dauphin in a District 3 Class 5A first-round game on the home court.

— The win pushes G-A (19-5) into the quarterfinals on Thursday, which will be a home game for the No. 4 seed against No. 5 Manheim Central (20-5), a 59-47 winner over Gettysburg in the first round.

— Reaching the quarterfinals also qualifies Greencastle for the PIAA State Championships, because all of the top eight 5A teams in the district advance.

— And, on top of all of those positives, workhorse senior Conner Wright — on his final chance of the game — scored his 1,000th career point. He needed 13 points, and he scored exactly 13 points.

When asked if he was getting concerned about not reaching the milestone, Wright gave an honest answer: “Well, I was focused on the team getting the win, but I have to admit, (getting to 1,000) was always in the back of my mind. My teammates helped me keep my head up and we just chipped away at it.”

With the Blue Devils ahead only 43-39 early in the fourth period, Wright rebounded his own miss and scored to get within two points. With 2:38 left and G-A leading 50-41, a designed play had Logan Alvey lob the ball in to Wright, who turned and guided a soft shot toward the basket. It bounced off the rim twice before settling into the twine.

“I knew I’d get a good pass — we drew it up perfectly,” Wright said.

G-A coach Todd Stephens said, “Conner is such a great young man and I’m very happy for him. His teammates helped him out, but everything just seemed perfectly set up for tonight.”

Based on the first quarter, it looked as if it was going to be Lower Dauphin’s night. The Falcons (12-11) came out smoking hot from the field, going 8-for-9 in the first period — including 5-for-5 on 3-point shots — to take a 21-15 lead.

But Greencastle’s defense came alive. For the final three periods, LD scored only 9 baskets in total, for 24 points. After hitting all of those threes early, the Falcons were just 1-for-15 after that.

Stephens said, “We started playing with some energy and were locked in more on defense. They showed us the kind of team they are in the first quarter by scoring 21, but we adjusted and concentrated on their personnel. We tightened up on the things we worked on (in practice).”

Lower Dauphin had scored on a number of layups with cutting players coming free in the lane, but the Blue Devils cut that off. And G-A did not give LD as many open looks from long range.

Wright said, “We knew we had to step up our pressure, get on the shooters and play the bigs tough.”

After Lower Dauphin built a 29-23 lead in the second quarter, a three-point play by Wright and back-to-back steals by Wright and Surzano Solomon gave Greencastle the lead, 30-29, at halftime.

A low-scoring third quarter was highlighted by a pair of baskets from Eli Sterling and a 3-pointer by Logan Alvey, and G-A led 40-36 after three quarters.

A three-point play by Sterling to begin the fourth pushed the lead to 43-36 and LD never got closer than four points again.

Sterling and Carter McCauley each scored 17 points to lead Greencastle. McCauley was the recipient of some excellent passes underneath, plus he hit a clutch corner three in the fourth quarter.

Stephens said, “I think our timing and spacing on offense were good tonight. We know we’re being scouted this time of year, and our good habits showed up in a big way tonight.”

Brady Hofsass, who banged in a trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter, led LD with 14 points, while Nick Fry scored 10.

Greencastle 58, Lower Dauphin 45
LOWER DAUPHIN
Brady Hofsass 5 1-1 15, Nico DeFrank 3 0-2 6, Wes Heagy 1 0-0 3, Nick Fry 3 2-2 10, Landon Miller 3 2-2 8, Corlan Zalonis 0 0-0 0, Evan Deibler 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 5-7 45.
GREENCASTLE
Iyshone Coleman 0 0-0 0, Eli Sterling 7 3-5 17, Surzano Solomon 2 0-0 4, Carter McCauley 8 0-0 17, Logan Alvey 2 2-2 7, Jordan Hunt 0 0-0 0, Conner Wright 6 1-1 13, Carter Coons 0 0-0 0, Garrett Blubaugh 0 0-0 0, Nathan Hanks 0 0-0 0, Owen Plum 0 0-0 0.
Lower Dauphin      21       8       7      9     —     45
Greencastle             15     15     10     18     —     58
3-point shots — LD 6 (Hofsass 3, Fry 2, Heagy); GA 2 (McCauley, Alvey). Shooting — LD 17-46 (37%); GA 25-49 (51%). Turnovers LD 9; GA 8.