And then there were two: L-L Final preview

(E-town fans were giving it to CV star Jeremy Skoloda in the last meeting, and he took it with a smile.)

Tonight's the night. E-town. CV. Lancaster-Lebanon League finals. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. at Manheim Township tonight, and it should be a great game. Story lines are plentiful for this game, so let's take a look at them.

THE GAME: Elizabethtown Bears (22-2 overall, Section Two champions) vs. Conestoga Valley Buckskins (16-7 overall, Section Two runner-up). 7 p.m., Manheim Township.

Playoff Journeys:
E-town: The Bears started the league playoffs with a 63-51 win over L-S. In the semifinals, they won their 10th straight game by beating Lancaster Catholic 76-61 behind a 17-for-21 shooting performance in the second half.
CV: The Bucks took it to Cocalico in the first round, winning 63-42. In the semis, they upset Hempfield, which hadn't lost a league game all year, 51-45.

Quotable:
"They know us and we know them. An all Section Two final is kind of nice, but I'm sure it's going to be a dog fight. They're a great team, well coached, and I'm sure it's going to be a fun night." – E-town head coach Kevin Dolan.

"We've got to keep doing what we've done all year. We've got to shut down the players we need to shut down, play team defense, box out and sprint in transition and that will create our offense for itself." – E-town senior forward Chad Styer.

Top Scorers:
E-town:
Kyle McNeil, 13.3 points per game; 18 ppg in playoffs; 9 ppg against CV this year.
Chad Styer, 12.1 ppg; 15.5 ppg in playoffs; 10 ppg against CV this year.
Quinn Cozzens, 11.7 ppg; 8.5 ppg in playoffs; 8.5 ppg against CV this year.
Jeremi Jones, 11.7 ppg; 11.5 ppg in playoffs; 9.5 ppg against CV this year.
Andrew Placeres, 8.9 ppg; 8.5 ppg in playoffs; 7.5 ppg against CV this year.
Bradley Garber, 5.8 ppg; 6.5 ppg in playoffs; 4.5 ppg against CV this year.

CV:
Jeremy Skoloda: 18.9 ppg; 16 ppg in playoffs; 15.5 ppg against E-town this year.
Jae Pugh: 9.7 ppg; 14 ppg in playoffs; 0 ppg against E-town this year.
Joel Lapp: 7.6 ppg; 5 ppg in playoffs; 7 ppg aginst E-town this year.
Josh Cody: 6.4 ppg; 8 ppg in playoffs; 1 ppg against E-town this year.
Leonard Williams: 5.2 ppg; 4.5 ppg in playoffs; 7.5 ppg against E-town this year.

Team Stats:
E-town:
Points per game: 70.3 (69.5 in playoffs, 51 vs. CV).
Points allowed per game: 55.4 (56 in playoffs, 44 vs. CV).

CV:
Points per game: 55.7 (57 in playoffs, 44 vs. E-town).
Points allowed per game: 48.2 (43.5 in playoffs, 51 vs. E-town).

Prior meetings this year:
E-town 45 - CV 44
In their first meeting this season, E-town escaped CV with a one-point win on Dec. 23. With the score tied at 44-44, Placeres was fouled with no time remaining. He sank his first free throw attempt to give the Bears the win. CV played this game without Pugh and were led by 17 points from Skoloda. McNeil led E-town with 12 points.

E-town 57 - CV 44
One month later, on Jan. 23, E-town and CV met again, this time in E-town. The Bears got 14 points from Jones and 13 each from Styer and Cozzens as they cruised past the Bucks, clinching at least a tie of the Section Two title. Skoloda was held scoreless for the first three quarters of this game, but finished with 14 points, all coming in the fourth quarter. Pugh played this time around, but was held scoreless by McNeil.

Matchups to watch:
(Kyle McNeil, left, and Jae Pugh, right, will be battling in the paint tonight.)

Jeremy Skoloda vs. Bradley Garber
Skoloda is arguably the best player in the league. He was fourth in the league in scoring and has hit 61 3-pointers this year. The last time these two teams met, Garber was put on Skoloda, and hounded him all night, holding him scoreless for three quarters. That matchup will likely be the same tonight, but it will be interesting to see what CV learned from the film of that game. E-town likely won't be able to hold Skoloda scoreless for three quarters again, but where ever he goes, Garber will be there with a hand in his face. This is probably the most important defensive matchup for the Bears. They can't let Skoloda get hot and start hitting from the outside. To stop him, Garber (and Jeremi Jones) will have to fight through a ton of screens.

Jae Pugh vs. Kyle McNeil
Pugh, CV's 6-6 x-factor, has been marvelous in the playoffs, scoring 13 in the first round against Cocalico and following that up with a 15 point, 11 rebound night against Hempfield on Wednesday. But he has yet to score a point against E-town this season. As I said earlier, he missed the first matchup, but was a non-factor offensively in the second with McNeil locking him down. Pugh does have a few inches on McNeil, and he'll score more tonight, but if McNeil can take away CV's best inside threat, they'll have to rely much more on the outside game. On the other end of the court, E-town will need McNeil to establish himself against the bigger Pugh, but if he can't get it going offensively, the Bears have more players capable of picking up any slack.

Game thoughts:
This one should be a dandy. CV is riding very high right now after upending Hempfield on Wednesday, but the Bears will be ready. E-town has the confidence of beating CV twice this year already. But it wasn't easy either time. CV plays outstanding defense, and held E-town to nearly 20 points below its season average. And CV held the Bears to their lowest scoring output of the season (45) in their first meeting. That said, CV has only managed 44 points both times out against the Bears this year.

E-town is coming off of, arguably, its most efficient shooting night of the season. Everyone knows E-town's offensive game is to get out and run, and when the Bears do that, they're tough to stop.

What makes E-town so good is the fact that it has so many players with scoring ability. Six of E-town's guys can go for double digits on any night, and five of them got there on Wednesday night. They have so many weapons that it's almost impossible to focus on shutting down one player. If CV focuses its energy on stopping Jones or Cozzens or Styer or Placeres or McNeil or Garber, one (or four) of the others will kill them. Conversely, E-town knows it needs to stop Skoloda first and foremost, and dare the rest of the Buckskins to beat them.

Both teams are playing at an extremely high level right now, and we'll see tonight who comes out and doesn't let the nerves of playing in the league championship game get to them.

They say it's tough to beat a team three times in one season, but I just think E-town has too many weapons for the Bucks to keep up with.

PREDICTION: E-town by 8.