HERSHEY — There was simply no stopping the Hershey offense.

Greencastle-Antrim played much better than it did 12 days ago in a loss to the Trojans, but it didn’t make a whole lot of difference, as Hershey claimed a 76-61 victory in a District 3 Class 5A semifinal in boys basketball Monday night on the Trojans’ floor.

Carter McCauley

In the Mid Penn semifinals, Hershey won 77-49, getting out to an 18-point halftime lead. This time, the Blue Devils kept it closer — an 11-point deficit at halftime — but could never really slow the Trojans’ offense.

“The main thing is, the first time, we didn’t play our best defense,” G-A coach Todd Stephens said. “Tonight, I thought we played hard, made some adjustments and gave it everything we have. But they made their shots.”

In the first meeting, Hershey shot a sizzling 77% from the field. Monday, it shot “only” 52%, which was good enough.

Greencastle (20-6) will now play Wednesday at 7 p.m. at York Suburban for third place in the district. The winner hosts a first-round state playoff game, while the fourth-place team must travel to the Pittsburgh area. Suburban fell 59-50 to Mechanicsburg in the other semifinal Monday.

Hershey (21-3) received five 3-pointers from Cameron Sweeney, and the hulking presence of 6-foot-6 wide body Isiah Danner inside made it very tough for the Blue Devils to defend. Danner scored 16 points near the basket, and his passes kicked out to the shooters were very effective.

“Conner (Wright) is our biggest and strongest guy and he did everything he could (against Danner),” Stephens said. “But he got in foul trouble.”

The Trojans’ ability to shoot well from the outside — they had nine 3-pointers from 5 different players — and having Danner inside make them nearly impossible to defend. In addition, Hershey made only two turnovers in the game.

Sweeney finished with 21 points, Danner had 16 and Derek Guzman totaled 11.

Greencastle put together a good night offensively, too, scoring more than its season average. The Blue Devils made an effort to attack the rim, whether it was guards Eli Sterling (13 points) and Surzano Solomon, or forward Carter McCauley (15 points). And Wright (14 points) tossed down a trio of threes before fouling out.

But G-A simply could not get enough stops to put together a long run.

“McCauley was doing a great job,” Stephens said. “We tried to put Carter in positions that brought Danner out away from the basket, and Carter had more of a scoring mentality tonight. I thought our offense had good execution, we shared the ball and we made great reads.

“We lost by 28 the first time and I’m sure not many people gave us much of a chance tonight. But we attacked the basket and I don’t think we ever thought we couldn’t beat them.”

NOTES: Hershey was 9-for-18 on 3-pointers, including 8 of 11 in the first half … The Blue Devils ended up with more threes (10), with Wright and Jordan Hunt draining 3 each … As well as the Trojans shot the ball, they made only 7 of 17 free throws … Stephens said, “Our message is going to be: ‘Our best basketball is ahead of us. We have at least two more games and the goal is to get that first-round home game.”

Hershey 76, Greencastle 61
GREENCASTLE
Eli Sterling 4 3-4 13, Surzano Solomon 1 3-4 5, Carter McCauley 5 4-6 15, Logan Alvey 2 0-0 5, Jordan Hunt 3 0-0 9, Conner Wright 4 3-4 14, Carter Coons 0 1-2 1. Totals 19 14-20 61.
HERSHEY
Cameron Sweeney 8 0-3 21, Derek Guzman 5 0-2 11, Logan Richards 1 2-2 5, Aiden Miller 1 0-0 3, Eamon Callahan 3 0-0 6, James Campbell 3 3-3 9, Alex Murray 2 0-2 5, Isiah Danner 7 2-5 16. Totals 30 7-17 76.
Greencastle              16     15     13     17     —     61
Hershey                     22     20     13     21     —     76
3-point shots — GA 10 (Hunt 3, Wright 3, Sterling 2, McCauley, Alvey); Her 9 (Sweeney 5, Guzman, Richards, Miller, Murray). Shooting — GA 19-44 (43%); Her 30-58 (52%). Turnovers — GA 13; Her 2.