South Western's Jordan Smith dribbles down court as he is covered by Central York's Darian Hampton during Friday night's game at South Western. (The Evening Sun -- Shane Dunlap)

The Central York High boys' basketball team prides itself on having a balanced offense.

On Friday night, that balanced offense played a huge part in their 58-49 win over host South Western.

The Panthers only had two double-digit scorers, but saw 10 players contribute to the scoring sheet.

"This was a good win for us," Central York head coach Kevin Schieler said. "Aside for the last 90 seconds, I thought our defense played extremely well all evening. We take pride in being able to have contributions from a host of guys. We don't have that 20-point scorer, but we always have four or five guys around 10 points."

South Western (4-5, 3-2 YAIAA I), on the other hand, relied heavily on seniors Parker Bean and Mike Duffy as they have all season to provide the bulk of their scoring.

Bean led all scorers with 28 points and Duffy chipped in 14. The rest of the Mustang offense struggled to get going and only accounted for seven points.

"We knew that (South Western) would try to get the ball to Bean a lot," Schieler said. "He scored more points than we would have liked, but we were able to limit the rest of their team pretty well."

Central York's (5-5, 3-1) man-to-man defense prevented the rest of the Mustang offense from ever being able to get into a rhythm.

The Panthers got their offense going immediately and in a big way. They jumped out to a 19-15 lead at the end of the first quarter behind six 3-pointers,

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three from Royce Clemens. Of South Western's 15 first-quarter points, Bean accounted for 12 of them, including two 3-pointers.

South Western had plenty of chances all game long but always appeared to be just slightly off all night. Bean uncharacteristically missed four free throws, the Mustangs missed almost a dozen easy layups, saw multiple passes go off their fingertips out of bounds, and always appeared to be a second late in challenging the Central York shooters from behind the arc.

Central York's Sam Saxton grips the ball as South Western's Austin Cook covers defense behind him during Friday night's game at South Western. (The Evening Sun -- Shane Dunlap)
That resulted in Central York's nine 3-pointers, eight in the first half.

"I wouldn't say they rely on (3s)," South Western head coach Nathan Brodbeck said. "Varsity players can hit open threes."

"We struggled to run our offense tonight," he added. "Whether that was them playing great defense or us not running our offense well is something I have to go back and check."

Leading 33-27, the Panthers came out of the half playing stingy defense, limiting the Mustangs to three third-quarter points, all from Bean, who until this point accounted for 22 of the Mustangs' 30 points.

The Mustangs battled back in the fourth quarter behind nine points from Duffy and six points from Bean. They got as close as nine, but were unable to close the deficit anymore.

Central was led by Darian Hampton's six fourth-quarter points to keep their lead out of reach. Hampton finished the game with eight points having sat out the entire first half

South Western will be able to try and right the ship today as they travel to McSherrystown for a non-division contest against crosstown rival Delone Catholic.

mrubin@eveningsun.com; 717-637-3736, ext. 143. Twitter: @michaelrubin6.

 
CENTRAL YORK (58)
   Royce Clemens 5 0-0 13, Sam Saxton 3 3-3 11, Hampton 1 4-6 8, Salter 3 0-0 7, Savers 2 0-0 5, Hartz 1 2-4 4, Snyder 1 0-0 3, Falci 1 0-0 3, Gardner 0 2-2 2, Gingrich 1 0-0 2, Shaffer 0 0-0 0, Wagner 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 11-15 58.
SOUTH WESTERN (49)
   Parker Bean 11 4-8 28, Mike Duffy 5 2-3 14, Cook 2 0-0 4, McKercher 0 2-2 2, Hess 0 1-2 1, Geiman 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0, Lane 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 9-15 49.
Central York   19  14  11  14 -- 58
South Western   15  12    3  19 -- 49
   3-point goals -- Central York 9 (Clemens 3, Saxton 2, Salter, Savers, Falci, Snyder); South Western 4 (Bean 2, Duffy 2).
   JV score -- Central York 43, South Western 33.

Central York's Darian Hampton leaps to score in the final period of Friday night's game as South Western's Scott Hess attempts to stop him. (The Evening Sun -- Shane Dunlap)