Blue Devil Dispatch 2-17-10

BOYS’

BASKETBALL

The Greencastle-Antrim boys’ basketball team claimed a division title, punched its ticket to the Mid-Penn Conference playoffs and learned its opponent in the first round of districts last week. The squad (12-8, 7-1 MPC-Capital Division) clinched the Mid-Penn Conference Capital Division crown with a 59-49 win over Shippensburg. The title was the third in the past five years. G-A last won it in 2008.

The win over Ship included a six-point halftime lead and eventually a 20-point spread in the third. The Devils were led by Christian Hoover with 16 points. It was the seventh game in a row that the senior had poured in double figures. Eric Schanzenbacher recorded a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Eric Baymon had eight assists.

By winning the division G-A earned a home game in the conference tournament. The Devils will host Commonwealth Division runner-up Steel High Monday.

G-A went into Saturday’s Dunk for Drew event having won eight of its last 10 games and four straight. The game at the new Chambersburg Area Senior High School gym ended that streak. Despite having leads of as much as 10 points and being on top for much of the game, the Devils fell 64-55 to Milton Hershey. The Spartans kept clawing and went on a 10-2 run to finish the game. Hoover put in another 16 points. Schanzenbacher delivered 13 and had nine rebounds and Jared Grove canned 10 points. Baymon dished off eight assists.

The Blue Devils will see where the conference tournament takes them this week, but have marked their calendars for Feb. 23 and the first round of the District 3-AAA Championship Tournament.

Greencastle-Antrim couldn’t hold a 10-point lead in the third quarter in a 62-54 loss to Steel-High Monday evening in the boys’ basketball Mid-Penn Conference Tournament.

The Blue Devils will next play Feb. 23 in the first round of the District 3-AAA playoffs. The 7:30 p.m. game against Lancaster Catholic will be played at Hempfield.

G-A will be the 10th seed and will travel to Hempfield for a 7:30 p.m. game with seventh-seeded Lancaster Catholic (19-3).

The junior varsity posted a 55-47 win over Big Spring behind 13 points from Tyler Szaflarski.

GIRLS’

 BASKETBALL

The Blue Devils (8-11, 4-4 MPC-Capital) fell victim to the perimeter shooting of Big Spring in dropping a 39-28 division game to the Bulldogs. Big Spring deposited five three-pointers in the net in the first half to take the lead and never relented despite the battle of the Devils. Tache Smothers scored 10 points and Alex Nicastro pulled eight rebounds. Katrina Wright had three blocked shots.

WRESTLING

G-A’s wrestling team (4-6, 4-5 MPC-Capital) used the week before the postseason to go up against the rest of the immediate area in the Franklin County Wrestling Tournament held at Mercersburg Academy.

With two champions the Blue Devils checked in at third place behind champion Chambersburg (191 points). Waynesboro was second with 180 points. Behind individual champions, Dylan Schaeffer (160) and Denton Ensminger (285), G-A recorded 116 points, edging out Shippensburg at 110 points.

Schaeffer went 5-0 en route to the title, taking out Chambersburg’s Irving Lambert in the final. Ensminger as well was 5-0 and avenged a loss earlier in the season to Waynesboro’s Marvin Gaskill to take the championship. Bobby Burg of the Academy was the first to bypass G-A’s Tyler Ezolt all season. Ezolt suffered his first setback of the season in a close 2-1 bout to finish second at 4-1. Devil Todd DeWalt finished at 3-2 and in a three-way tie for second.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Boys’ Basketball

G-A’s freshman team (11-1) kept sailing with a 56-37 victory over Big Spring. The squad keyed the win with a 12-2 second quarter. Gabe Fridgen and Zach Faulkner each put in 14 points to lead the Devils. Josh Young added a dozen.

Girls’ Basketball

The freshman girls fell 32-24 to Big Spring. Chloe Hoover scored six points and Sharon Juarez added five.

The eighth-grade Devils scored a 24-15 win and the seventh-grade squad recorded a 23-18 victory. Jane Herman and Hannah Zimmerman scored eight points each.