HEADED TO HERSHEY! Aces beat New Castle 67-63 to earn return trip to state finals!

How sweet it is! The Aces used a 14-2 run at the close of the first half to
overcome an 11-point deficit and held off previously-undefeated New Castle 67-63
to earn a trip to the PIAA State Finals. LM will take on Chester on Saturday
night at 8 PM in Hershey.

BJ Johnson ’13 led all scorers with 24 points, playing one of his most
complete games of the season. The 6’7 senior collected ten rebounds, dished out
five assists and hit a huge three to fuel the Aces’ decisive first-half surge.
Yohanny Dalembert ’13 came up big again, finishing with 15 points and 15
rebounds. Raheem Hall ’13 (13 points, 5 assists) and JaQuan Johnson ’14 (12
points, four steals) keyed the Aces’ lethal transition attack, and helped
pressure New Castle into 21 turnovers. Justin McFadden ’14 returned to the floor
after a foot injury in the Harrisburg game and contributed outstanding hustle
and defense to go along with four points. Corey Sherman ’15, Baird Howland ’13
and Jule Brown ’15 also saw action.

Wednesday’s contest was a roller-coaster ride of blistering runs and intense
action. The Red Hurricanes – athletic, hard-nosed and relentless — struck
first, racing out to an early 7-2 lead and controlling the opening frame. Midway
through the second quarter, New Castle led 26-15 and looked primed to extend
their advantage with Dalembert headed to the bench with two fouls. But Johnson
hit a trey to spark the Aces’ comeback. Over the next eight minutes, LM
outscored New Castle 28-6 thanks to a stifling press and a punishing fast-break,
punctuated by a rim-rattling jam by Hall.

But New Castle would not go down easily. The Red Hurricanes — champions of
District 7 and winners of 57 of their last 58 games — showed their mettle with
an 11-0 run of their own to tie the game at 43 towards the end of the third. The
Aces regained their composure, however, and scored the next four points in the
frame.

In the fourth, the Aces led by as many as nine late and made enough free
throws to hold off the Red Hurricanes in the final minutes. When the final
buzzer sounded, the Dawg Pound streamed onto the floor in celebration of a
remarkable, extraordinarily rare achievement — a state final appearance for the
second year in a row and the fifth back-to-back finals appearance in program
history. The last time it happened — in 2006 — the Aces defeated Schenley for
the title in Hershey.

Those who made the trip to Williamsport on Wednesday night were part of a
memorable evening of high school basketball in a truly incredible environment.
The Williamsport High School gym was packed to the tops of the rafters, with
some sections of standing-room only. The noise was deafening with a spirited,
back and forth between fans from both teams. New Castle’s school district closed
early on Wednesday and hundreds of Red Hurricanes faithful filled the gym hours
before the game began. The Dawg Pound, more than 300-strong, once again proved
why it is the best student section in the state, controlling the action from the
stands once the game began, fighting hard in hostile territory.

The noisy wooden bleachers, the incessant roar of the crowd, the interplay
between communities from opposite ends of the state was decidedly old school. In
LM’s first glory era of the 1930’s and 1940’s, the Aces’ strongest competition
always came from the west. The legendary Bill Anderson led his LM squads to
stirring state title victories against teams like Sharon and Farrell with guys
named “Dutch” and “Greer.” Back then, LM carried the flag of the Philadelphia
region against the tough, proud coal and steel towns of the Alleghenies that
once made up Pennsylvania’s hoops heartland. In recent years, LM has found
itself in the “western” bracket of the state playoffs, playing teams from
communities like Erie, Pittsburgh and New Castle once again and rekindling
memories of a golden, bygone era. It was an era when communities caravanned for
hours to some far-flung outpost for the chance to see their boys have it out on
the hardwood – to prove for at least one more year where the balance of
basketball power in Pennsylvania resided.

Some seventy years later, on a cold night in an old steel town, score one for
the boys from the east.