Notes from York Suburban-West York

It was a fitting ending, a chaotic sequence to close out a back-and-forth game.

In the end, both teams had to ad-lib during the final 20 seconds of a District 3-AAA first round game between York Suburban and West York.

Let's set the scene.

York Suburban's Evan Eberhardinger hit a reverse lay-up to put the Trojans up, 58-55, with about 20 seconds to play. West York took over a promptly raced downcourt. Bulldogs coach Bill Ackerman opted not to use a timeout.

"I didn’t call timeout because I wanted us to get in transition and get to the hoop," Ackerman said. "I think that’s the easiest way to score.

"I probably should have called timeout there. But what are you going to do?"

Instead, the Bulldogs tried to set up a 3-pointer for senior Luke Cable, who hit four treys on the night en route to 22 points.

Meanwhile, York Suburban coach Tom Triggs was trying to signal to his team to foul West York -- and thus prevent it from attempting a potentially game-tying 3-pointer.

"I thought the kids did a great job. I thought I did a poor job," York Suburban coach Tom Triggs said. "We should have talked more (during a timeout with 33.7 seconds left) about if and when we scored, especially if we’re up three, we need to foul in that possession.

"I was trying to communicate, but there was just no way."

So West York went for 3 instead of a 2. And Suburban defended man-to-man instead of fouling.

Of course, it all worked out in the Trojans' favor. Some fine defense led to a contested, desperation 3-pointer by Cable that ended up short. Suburban lived to fight another day.

Rice leaves game: A scary moment occurred late in the second quarter, when West York sophomore Kevin Rice slammed into the padded wall behind one basket as he was trying to contest a shot.

The guard stayed down for several minutes before being led off with a towel held up to his mouth. Ackerman said Rice was going to "lose a front tooth."

It was not Rice's first incident at Suburban this year.

"Last time we were here, back in January, under that same basket, we thought he broke his wrist," Ackerman said. "He came back five days later.

"He was here at halftime begging to play in the second half. So he’s a tough son of a gun. He is the bulldog. He wears the uniform and he acts like one. And he’s only a sophomore.

"You talk about having the kids that literally try to run through a brick wall for you. Kevin tried to prove that tonight. I wish he’d done it differently. He’s going to be sore. But he’s a tough nut."

No kidding. During the fourth quarter, Rice sent me this tweet. From the ER.

Yeah, I'd say the kid's pretty tough.

Eberhardinger's big bucket: Suburban's junior guard had some rough moments Tuesday. After scoring six points in the first quarter, he added just one in the second and third quarters.

But with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, Eberhardinger added two big buckets. The first came on a transition lay-up of a long pass from Hinnenkamp.

Then, out of a timeout with 33.7 seconds left and leading 56-55, Suburban coach Tom Triggs opted to run a give-and-go to score, rather than hold the ball and wait for a foul. The ball came to Eberhardinger on the left sideline. The guard drove in a twirled in a reverse lay-up to push the lead to three.

"You talk about a gut-check," Triggs said. "There’s a kid who struggled most of the game offensive and defensively, then stepped up there and made a big play."

Added Hinnenkamp: "That was awesome. When he made that, I though it was game-over.

"Evan’s very confident in his scoring ability. I knew for a fact he was going to make that shot."

Eberhardinger finished with 12 points.

Cable's last game: Ackerman had plenty of positive things to say about senior Luke Cable, who closed out his fine career with a stellar, 22-point performance that included four 3-pointers.

"I think Luke, the last half of the season started pressing a little bit," Ackerman said. "The first half of the season he was really in his element and letting things come to him. Luke wants to do what’s best for the team at all times. When he does something wrong, he really takes it personally. We’ve been trying for four years to get that out of him. But he’s his own worst enemy at times and his own harshest critic."

"But as far as I’m concerned, without Luke where would we be? For the last two years I have leaned on Luke Cable really as my go-to guy. He organizes the guys. He gets them in the weight room. I literally have to make one phone call. Anything I want, I make one call to Luke Cable and he says ‘I got you coach.’

"He’s going to be sorely missed. The nice thing is I think he taught some younger guys what it’s like to be a leader"

Cable averaged 16 points per game this season. He's one of eight seniors West York will lose to graduation.