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Eli Sterling

PITTSBURGH — Greencastle-Antrim got off to a great start in Friday night’s PIAA Class 5A boys basketball first-round game in Pittsburgh.

The Blue Devils, playing on Shaler’s home court, led 18-12 after one quarter and a 3-pointer by Eli Sterling early in the second gave G-A a 9-point lead.

But the Titans swung the game back in their favor and outscored Greencastle 51-37 from that point on to grab a 73-58 victory.

The Blue Devils end a very successful season with a 20-7 record. Shaler (24-3) will play Tuesday in the second round against Mechanicsburg, a 60-52 winner over Gateway.

Conner Wright scored all 10 of his points in the first half for G-A, but he was held scoreless in the latter half. Sterling tossed in a half-court shot at the end of the first quarter.

But the Titans’ defense clamped down and held the Blue Devils to just 11 points each in the second and third quarters. That allowed Shaler to take the lead by halftime (35-31), and expand that to 55-42 after three quarters. Keeyan Smetanka led the way by scoring 14 of his 21 points in the first half.

Greencastle made 7 of its first 8 free throws in the third quarter to stay in touch at 48-41, but missed 5 of its last 6 when it got into the bonus.

In the fourth quarter, Logan Alvey made back-to-back 3-pointers for the Blue Devils with 5:40 left to pull his team within 58-50. But Kaden Orga knocked down a three for Shaler and Smetanka scored two baskets to put the game away.

Sterling, who scored 12 points, had to leave the game with about 2 minutes left in the third period with a leg injury, and he did not return. Alvey also fouled out with 4:28 left in the game.

Jordan Hunt led G-A in scoring with 13 points, Alvey had 9 and Carter McCauley scored 8. The Blue Devils banged in 10 threes.

Shaler 73, Greencastle 58
GREENCASTLE
Iyshone Coleman 0 0-0 0, Eli Sterling 4 2-2 12, Surzano Solomon 1 4-6 6, Carter McCauley 3 2-5 8, Logan Alvey 3 0-0 9, Jordan Hunt 5 0-0 13, Conner Wright 4 0-2 10, Carter Coons 0 0-0 0, Nathan Hanks 0 0-0 0, Garrett Blubaugh 0 0-0 0, Sal Bangura 0 0-0 0, Owen Plum 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 8-15 58.
SHALER
Joe DeSabato 2 0-0 4, Keeyan Smetanka 8 3-3 21, Kaden Orga 5 0-0 13, Joe Miller 4 0-0 8, Brandon London 5 3-5 13, Sam Himrod 2 1-2 5, TJ Belles 0 0-0 0, Julian Vizzoca 2 4-4 9, Zach London 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 11-14 73.
Greencastle             18     11     11     16     —     58
Shaler                       12     23     20     18     —     73 
3-point shots — GA 10 (Alvey 3, Hunt 3, Sterling 2, Wright 2); Shaler 6 (Orga 3, Smetanka 2, Vizzoca).

GREENCASTLE — Greencastle-Antrim took an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter of a District 3 Class 5A boys basketball quarterfinal game Thursday night, but had to hold its breath at the end.

Manheim Central battled back to get within 48-45 and had the ball, but a pair of missed shots and a key rebound by G-A’s Conner Wright enabled the Blue Devils to record a 49-45 victory on their home court.

The win advances No. 4 Greencastle (20-5) into the district semifinals, where it will take on No. 1 Hershey (20-2) on the Trojans’ home court Monday at 7 p.m. Hershey edged Warwick 62-58 in the quarterfinals.

The Blue Devils took a 44-33 lead early in the fourth on a basket by Eli Sterling, but managed only 5 more points the rest of the game, all by Wright.

Jackson Tracy hit s pair of threes and Ryan Kenneff hit one in the fourth quarter to help Manheim Central (19-5) make it close. Tracy’s second bomb made it 48-45 in G-A’s favor with 1:25 remaining. Wright missed a shot and the Barons called a time out with 45.9 seconds left.

G-A coach Todd Stephens said, “Our defense was fine, but they made some shots down the stretch.”

Manheim Central used up most of the clock against an active Greencastle defense before Tracy took a contested 3-point shot from the corner that missed. The Barons missed a rebound bucket, then Wright grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 0:08.1 left.

“I was a little surprised, coming out of a timeout, they didn’t run a play,” Stephens said, “But maybe they did have one and our defense may have stopped it.”

Wright made the second of two foul shots, then Manheim Central missed two desperation shots before the final horn sounded.

Stephens said, “We spent the last two days on (defensive) strategy. The guys bought into it and we understood their personnel.”

Logan Alvey was on fire from long range for the Blue Devils, hitting five 3-pointers to lead the team with 15 points. He one at the end of each of the first two quarters and hit back-to-back threes in the third quarter to give G-A its first double-digit lead at 32-22.

Sterling added 12 points and Jordan Hunt scored 11, including a trio of 3-pointers. Wright scored 7 of his 9 points in the second half.

“Alvey and Hunt both shot the ball with a lot of confidence,” Stephens said. “And their teammates did a nice job of finding them.”

For the Barons, Tracy had 16 points and Kenneff 11, but leading scorer Aaron Enterline was held to just 4 points.

The task now is to find a way to turn around the result against Hershey, which hammered the Blue Devils 77-49 in a Mid Penn semifinal game last week.

Stephens said, “We’ll see if we can make some adjustments. But we just weren’t ourselves on defense last time, so hopefully we can do better this time.”

With Thursday’s win, Greencastle assured itself of at least a fourth-place finish in districts and a top-4 seed for when the state pairings are released.

Greencastle 49, Manheim Central 45
MANHEIM CENTRAL
Aaron Enterline 1 2-4 4, Ryan Kenneff 3 4-5 11, Jackson Tracy 6 0-1 16, Chase Book 4 0-0 9, Mason Rodgers 1 0-0 3, Sam Witmer 1 0-0 2, Zac Hahn 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 6-10 45.
GREENCASTLE
Eli Sterling 6 0-1 12, Surzano Solomon 0 0-0 0, Carter McCauley 1 0-2 2, Logan Alvey 5 0-0 15, Jordan Hunt 4 0-0 11, Conner Wright 3 3-4 9. Totals 19 3-7 49.
Manheim Central               8     12     13     12     —     45
Greencastle                        12     14     16       7     —     49
3-point shots — MC 7 (Tracy 4, Kenneff, Book, Rodgers); G-A 8 (Alvey 5, Hunt 3).

What an atmosphere for HS basketball tonight, thank you to all the fans who made the trip to Hershey tonight for the District 3 semifinals. Hard fought loss tonight for the GA Boys team, as they drop to Hershey 76-61. GA will now play at York Suburban on Wed, Feb 28th at 7p in consolation round. GO GA!!!

Another milestone achieved last evening went to senior Connor Wright. Connor reached the distinguished honor of 1,000 pts. scored during his varsity career at GA. Outstanding job, Connor!

Congratulations to the boys’ varsity basketball team on their exciting win last night. The Blue Devils defeated Lower Dauphin 58-45 in the first round of the PIAA District 3 championship tournament. In addition to claiming the victory, the team has also secured a berth into the PIAA State Championship tournament.

The Blue Devils will play at home on Thursday, February 22 in the quarterfinal round against #5 seeded Manheim Central.

Who: #4 seeded Greencastle-Antrim vs. #5 seeded Manheim Central

Where: Greencastle-Antrim High School gym

When: 2/22/24 – 7:00 PM game time

Doors open for tickets at 6:00 PM

Tickets are available online ONLY. No cash sales at the game site.

Tickets are $6 (plus a convenience fee) and must be purchased online through Hometown Ticketing. https://piaad3.hometownticketing.com/embed/all

Please note the following:

Tickets for basketball games may not yet be available.

No cash sale tickets at event site.

NO signs, posters, banners, noise makers are permitted at any PIAA District 3 or State events.

NO standing is permitted at PIAA District 3 basketball games.

There is currently no plan to live stream basketball games at Greencastle.

Visit [www.piaad3.org]www.piaad3.org to view full brackets and complete playoff information.