What we learned from Dunks for Drew showcase
As expected, CASHS Field House was packed to the brim by the end of Saturday night for the 10th annual Dunks for Drew showcase, which benefits the Drew Michael Taylor Foundation.
"I think it was great just seeing so many people come to the games and be excited to not only watch two good basketball teams play, but the reason why," Chambersburg boys basketball coach Shawn Shreffler said. "Some people may not even like basketball, but they want to contribute to the foundation and believe in what the foundation does. Seeing so many fans was tremendous."
All four games remained relatively close, with the largest point spread going in Mechanicsburg's boys favor. They defeated Greencastle-Antrim by 16, and the Trojan boys also put up a 13-point win over Shippensburg. But the girls games were both decided by nine points or fewer.
Here are the most important things we learned from the Dunks for Drew showcase:
Trojans are game-planners: Chambersburg's boys (9-5) have been putting on some strong defensive displays of late.
The Trojans held Mifflin County to 22 points on Friday night before turning around to defeat Shippensburg, 52-39.
"We're starting to do more with our pregame scouting," Shreffler said. "They're doing a great job of buying in: 'I'm a stopper defensively on this guy,' or 'We have to make sure we guard the arc on these guys.' They're really doing a nice job of locking onto that."
Against the Greyhounds (9-4), the Trojans executed their game plan nearly flawlessly. After a 12-12 tie ended the first quarter, Chambersburg locked down defensively and held the Hounds to just two baskets in the second.
"Tonight, one of the keys was to limit them from the arc and take away some of their perimeter shooting," Shreffler said. "We didn't want Carter (Van Scyoc) to get a whole lot, so we really wanted to deny him some touches. They have some really good pieces, so the defensive effort tonight was really, really good."
Locals struggle outside of league: Much like Waynesboro's loss to under-500 Spring Grove, Greencastle-Antrim's girls basketball team suffered a defeat at the hands of Mechanicsburg (6-8).
And just like the Maidens, what gave the Blue Devils the most fits was Mechanicsburg's quick, deep defense.
"You can't (emulate that)," G-A coach Mike Rhine said. "We just don't have the depth that they do. What we do is take our top six players and do a lot of 3-on-3 and 2-on-3, so you're playing against your own best players. But you can see that people don't like pressure."
Greencastle (10-2) committed 15 turnovers and scored its second-lowest point total of the season.
Turnovers galore: Sloppy turnovers and missed jump shots were factors for both girls teams in Shippensburg’s 38-27 win over Chambersburg.
The Lady Hounds (6-7) started out ice cold, scoring only four points in the first quarter.
“That’s plagued us the last five games,” Ship coach Andrew Markel said. “We know we’re going to see a lot of zone for the rest of the year, and we're struggling with it. Our kids just need to see shots go down.”
Chambersburg's downfall was once again turnovers. Despite starting out well against Ship's full-court press, ill-advised passes began to hurt the Lady Trojans.
“We know how to handle that pressure,” Chambersburg coach Barry Purvis said, “We just played slow, sloppy, and our guards didn’t handle the ball well against the pressure. The game just got away from us late.”
Foul trouble plagues G-A: “When your top two scorers pick up early fouls it certainly puts you in a bind,” said G-A coach Rick Lewis following a loss to Mechanicsburg. “But before that, we put ourselves in a bind offensively by just not shooting the ball well and Mechanicsburg had something to do with that.”
Early fouls devastated the Blue Devils (8-5). Early in the third quarter, leading scorer Casey Hoover picked up his fourth foul and had to set for the rest of the quarter. Just a few plays later, Brandon Stuhler joined Hoover on the bench with his own fourth foul.
When Hoover and Stuhler went to the bench, the Blue Devils' offense struggled to find good shots. Mechanicsburg quickly extended its lead to double digits in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter.
“We have to play with a certain energy level and we didn’t play with enough energy today and that feeds a lot other things,” Lewis said, “But it’s hard to play without your two leading scorers, that’s for sure."
Lack of contributors: For much of the season, Shippensburg's boys team has been carried by Van Scyoc and Cody Gustafson, and Saturday was no different.
Gustafson led the way with 16 points, Van Scyoc scored 10, and the rest of the Hounds combined for just 13.
"We just had times where we had trouble scoring," Ship coach Ray Staver said. "Some of our other guys have got to step up and score in games like this for us to be successful. You don't have to watch more than one game film to know who we go to, so the other guys have to pick up the slack."
So far, the Hounds are still looking for that person. Gustafson and Van Scyoc have combined for 24 double-figure performances, while the rest of the team has had a total of six.
— Noah Shatzer contributed to this report.