Bears win, Bears win

What a basketball game last night in Central Dauphin. It was really everything I expected, two L-L teams giving it their all and never giving up. Unfortunately, one team had to lose, and that team was Cedar Crest. The Bears did everything they had to do last night and walked out of CD with a 65-57 win.

You often hear the same old cliche from coaches that a win was a "total team effort." But in E-town's case, it's really true. Everyone contributed last night, and here's how they did it.

Jordan Hallman: Jordan was on fire early on, burying two big 3-Pointers in the first half, including scoring five of the Bears' first seven points. He finished with 11 points. He also handled Crest's pressure pretty well and did an excellent job on defense, as usual.

Nate McCurdy: Nate got a lot of minutes in this game, and played well. He was very aggressive on offense, taking the ball to the basket and making some things happen, as evidenced by his three assists. He only had one basket in the game, but it was a three midway through the second quarter that extended the E-town lead to six at that time. Big shot.

Kyle McNeil: Another tough, hard-fought game for Kyle. This kid battles inside all night long, and took some shots last night, but continued to crash the boards hard and keep offensive opportunities alive for the team. He had seven points.

Chad Styer: When Styer is shooting well, you almost are more surprised when he misses than when he makes it. That was Chad last night. He was patient and didn't force much, but took advantage of open shots and knocked most of them down en route to a team high 14 points.

Quinn Cozzens: When Cedar Crest came back from a 10 point deficit in the second half to tie the game, I think Cozzens had a calming effect on them on the floor. He just seems to pick the right times to put the team on his back. And when Cedar Crest battled back to tie it, it was Cozzens who immediately answered with a tough jumper to give E-town the lead again. He finished with 12 points and five boards.

Brad Garber: This game is one that Bradley Garber will probably remember for the rest of his life. With center Nate Koach in some foul trouble in the second half, the Bears needed Garber to step up and do battle with Cedar Crest's Kevin Manno (who is about as physical of a player as you'll find), and he did exactly that. He was whacked in the face at one point and drew a foul. It was obvious that Garber could barely see at that point, but the sophomore stepped up and drained both free throws. His steal and fastbreak layup with 29 seconds left was a fantastic play that pretty much iced the game. Garber anticipated a pass from Kyle McConnell, and he was right, jumping in front of it and taking it the rest of the way to stretch the lead to six with 29 seconds left.

Nate Koach: As I was walking to the locker room after the game to do interviews, all I heard from a lot of people was how impressed they were with how Nate played. And I agree, he did a fantastic job matching Cedar Crest's physical play. Every time he got the ball in the post, he took it up hard, and that's what you need out of your center. He played with an extreme amount of heart last night, and showed some definite senior leadership.

The Bench: Sure they didn't get in the game, but they were great at keeping the spirit up. At one point in the second half when the game was close, I looked over at them and they were all there, arms interlocking, leaning forward in their seats, rooting for their teammates. It won't show up in the stat book, but the bench players were a major factor last night.

That pretty much sums it up. Kevin Dolan said afterward that, if this game had happened earlier in the season, E-town may have lost. The Bears had a 10 point lead heading into the fourth quarter before McConnell and company battled back to tie it with 3:45 to play. But E-town didn't fold under the pressure, it rose to the occasion. And for that, you have to give them credit.

E-town moves on to play 12-seeded Mechanicsburg, which beat fifth-seeded Red Lion last night. That game will be on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Central Dauphin. In other action, Harrisburg (the 18 seed) beat 2-seed McCaskey. Also, 6th-seeded Hempfield lost to 11-seed Cedar Cliff.

I'll get a preview of tomorrow night's game together and post it before the end of the day today.