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Impact Academy pulls away from Halifax to reach Class A title game


ENOLA >> Hilda Goodling Impact Academy boys' basketball coach David Archer will finally get to wear that outfit.

Archer picked something out of his wardrobe at the beginning of the season and has not worn it to any games this year. It's the team's job, he said, to make sure he gets a chance to wear it. He now gets to break it out for the District 3 Class A championship.

Monday night, Impact Academy pulled away in the second quarter to beat Halifax, 59-35, in a District 3 Class A semifinal at East Pennsboro High School. The win places second-seeded Impact Academy (11-8) in Friday's Class A championship game against No. 4-seed Millersburg at 5 p.m. in Hershey.

"Before the game, I called up some of the younger guys and put (last year's district) medal around their neck," Archer said. "I told them this is what they were playing for in this game: A medal. We have a young team and a few of them aren't used to this kind of environment

"You never want to miss out on a chance to play at (Giant Center). Being in Class A, you have to make it to the championship game"

Millersburg (17-7) advanced to the title game by erasing a 22-point halftime deficit against top-seeded West Shore Christian (22-4) and emerging with an 83-80 overtime win.

In the nightcap of the doubleheader, Halifax (16-9) was up by as many as five in the opening quarter before Impact Academy rallied after an Archer timeout with 3:11 left. Impact scored 11 unanswered points after the timeout and went up 20-14 after eight minutes.

"I think as bad as we played, it was just a three-minute stretch," said Archer, who last year led New Hope Academy to the Class A title. "The lights, cameras, crowd, the nervousness of it came on."

Impact Academy forged to a 32-19 halftime lead as Halifax made only 2-of-9 second-quarter shot attempts.

Six-foot-two junior Ny'Kam Beverley scored six of his game-high 18 points for Impact in the third quarter as Impact built a 48-25 advantage heading into the final eight minutes.

"We just came out and did whatever we had to do," Beverly said. "We didn't want to take anybody easy. We wanted to step up and do our work.

"I didn't have a good game against Greenwood (in the quarterfinal round) and had something to prove. I wanted to show Coach that I was ready to step up and be a leader. I wanted to come out and give 110 percent energy."

Archer and his players Beverly and Elliot Wilson (13 points) were key figures in last year's run to the District 3 Class A title as part of the New Hope Academy team.

"Ny'Kam was great, Elliot was great," Archer said. "Those guys were with me last year and have been through this. Ny'Kam is so unselfish. I knew he was capable of doing what he did in this game. It was his turn."

Impact Academy 59, Halifax 35

halifax (35)

Berger 2 2-2 6, Koby Bowman 5 1-2 13, Scheib 3 3-6 9, Schadel 2 1-2 5, Osenbach 0 0-0 0, Woods 1 0-0 2, Blasick 0 0-2 0, Hoy 0 0-0 0, Young 0 0-0 0, Berzowski 0 0-0 0, Wallace 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0-0 0.

Totals — 13 7-14 35.

Impact Academy (59)

Ny'Kam Beverly 7 2-2 18, Almonte 0 0-0 0, Swanston 3 0-1 7, Valentin 0 0-1 0, Gooding 5 0-2 12, Elliot Wilson 6 1-3 13, J. Beverly 0 0-0 0, Parson 2 1-4 5, Rosa 0 0-0 0, Jimenez 2 0-0 4.

Totals — 25 4-13 59.

Halifax145610—35Impact Academy20121611—59

3-point goals — Hal, 2 (Bowman 2). IA, 5 (Beverley 2, Swanston, Gooding 2).