Third time a charm for Metzler Brothers

Lakemont Park Summer League basketball championships

Led by former Central High School standout Joey Smith, the Metzler Brothers Transport Team started off its Central Blair Recreation Commission Lakemont Park Men's Summer Basketball League Division 2 championship game very strong Friday evening, before putting together a final 10 minutes in the second half that was equally as strong.

Smith, a 2018 Central grad, poured in a game-high 23 points -- including all 11 during an 11-4 spurt by Metzler's to start the game -- as top-seeded Metzler Brothers made its third consecutive appearance in the D2 title game a charm, topping third-seeded Sideline Cancer, 54-43.

Metzler's had reached the title game in both of the past two summers only to come up short, but, thanks largely to the lanky and athletic Smith, the team made up of former or current Central High School players finished the job this time around.

"We lost only one game this year, and this feels like a good way to cap off the season,'' Smith said. "This is the third year in a row that we've been in the championship game, and we lost the previous two, so three was a charm for us this year.''

Smith scored 13 of his 23 points in the first half, which ended with Sideline Cancer riding a nine-point run to close what had been a 22-12 deficit to just one point, 22-21 at intermission.

"We started the game focusing on being aggressive and asserting our will,'' Smith said. "We came out with that mindset.''

Metzler Brothers got 11 points from Eli Muthler and nine from Zach Slagenweit to hold off a feisty Sideline Cancer team that was led by current Hollidaysburg High School standout Kasen Metzger's 16 points and former Altoona High School standout Nate Cherry's 10 points.

After two free throws from Ben Smith, followed by field goals from Joey Smith and Slagenweit, staked Metzler Brothers to a 28-21 early second-half lead, Sideline Cancer responded with successive buckets by J.J. Collins, Ryan Adams and Metzger to pull to within one point again, 28-27, with 15:08 remaining.

But that was the closest that Sideline Cancer could come in its effort to overtake Metzler's, which went on a 12-4 spurt to go ahead by nine points, 40-31. Ben Smith's driving hoop and two successive close-range field goals by Joey Smith capped off that Metzler Brothers surge.

Metzger, who will be a senior at Hollidaysburg this fall, is also a member of the Golden Tigers' football team, so his time with the Sideline Cancer squad this summer has been somewhat limited.

But he said that he has enjoyed the experience of playing with the Sideline Cancer team.

"I've only played two or three games with these guys, but these guys all want to win, and they come out banging,'' Metzger said. "Our start wasn't the best today - we were getting opportunities to score, but we just couldn't get our shots to fall.''

SIDELINE CANCER (43): Metzger 7 2-4 16, Cherry 3 2-2 10, Grassi 2 0-0 4, Adams 1 2-2 4, Turner 2 0-0 4, McAdoo 1 1-2 3, Collins 1 0-1 2, Block 0 0-0 0. Totals - 17 7-11 43.

METZLER BROTHERS TRANSPORT (54): J. Muthler 0 0-2 0, E. Muthler 3 5-6 11, Slagenweit 2 5-6 9, B. Smith 2 4-6 8, J. Smith 9 5-8 23, Williams 1 0-0 3, Warren 0 0-0 0. Totals - 17 19-28 54.

Halftime: Metzler Brothers Transport, 22-21.

3-point goals: Sideline Cancer 2 (Cherry 2); Metzler Brothers Transport 1 (Williams 1).

Officials: Curtis Miller, Alan Robinson, Rod Chism.