Division I title game is set for Lakemont Park Summer League
Lakemont Park Summer League
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Mike's Court and HoopsFest met for the Division 1 championship in the 2025 Central Blair Recreation Commission's Lakemont Park Men's Summer Basketball League.
HoopsFest won last year's title, and Mike's Court will be looking to even the score when the two teams square off for the second year in a row in the DI championship game next Wednesday.
Both teams punched their tickets to next week's championship game with semifinal-round victories Wednesday night.
Top-seeded Mike's Court rode Justin Charlton's game-high 27 points to a 73-48 rout of Imperial Advisors, while third-seeded HoopsFest placed four players in double figures en route to a 54-46 win over second-seeded Spherion.
Mike's Court built an early lead, bolted out to a 35-21 advantage at halftime, and sailed on cruise control in the second half in its victory over Imperial Advisors.
Charlton parlayed a strong inside presence and a 3-pointer from the top of the circle into a 15-point first half.
"We were in the championship game last year, lost to HoopsFest, and we wanted to get back, so we set the tone early tonight,'' said Charlton, a 2018 graduate of Bishop Guilfoyle Academy who played college basketball at Penn State Altoona. "We weren't looking too far ahead, we were only looking at the game in front of us, and we started strong.''
Willie Whitfield dominated in the paint and added 14 points for Mike's Court, which built the 73-48 cushion before both teams mutually agreed to end the game with 1:27 showing on the clock.
Mike's Court has a skeleton roster, but its players have given maximum effort all season.
"We've been playing with only seven guys this year, but night in and night out, we have a different leading scorer in the games,'' Charlton said.
Former Tyrone High School standout Drew Escala scored a game-high 22 points for Imperial Advisors.
While Mike's Court breezed, the game between defending league champion HoopsFest and Spherion was much more tightly contested.
HoopsFest enjoyed tremendous balance, with Penn State graduate assistant coach and former Neumann University star T.J. Lewis scoring a game-high 15 points. Former Altoona High School players Jalen Triplin and Colin Lear chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively, and former Penn State men's basketball standout Tyler Smith scored 12 to give HoopsFest the opportunity to defend its title.
Triplin, a 2023 graduate of Altoona High School who played collegiately at Penn State Altoona, sparked a rally that gave HoopsFest some second-half separation as the winners put together a 10-point run to build a 34-24 lead.
After inside buckets by Smith and Lewis, Triplin cashed in a pass for a fast-break layup, converted a steal into another layup, and scored a third straight field goal on a runner to create the 34-24 HoopsFest spread.
"My teammates just put me in the right position to be able to score,'' Triplin said.
Spherion, which was led by Khalil Fortson's 12 points, could draw no closer than to within seven points twice down the stretch.
Triplin is looking forward to playing in the league championship game for the second straight summer next week.
"It feels good -- this is a great league,'' Triplin said. "And I'll be competing against a lot of my friends (on the Mike's Court team) next week.''
MIKE'S COURT (73): Colbert 4 0-1 8, Neely 2 1-1 5, Charles 3 0-0 6, Whitfield 7 0-0 14, Charlton 10 5-7 27, Barnes 3 0-0 6, Harmon 3 0-0 7. Totals -- 32 6-6 73.
IMPERIAL ADVISORS (48): Consiglio 4 0-0 10, Rabish 3 0-0 7, Escala 10 1-2 22, Repko 3 0-0 6, Cherico 1 0-0 3, Harpster 0 0-0 0. Totals -- 21 1-2 48.
Halftime: Mike's Court, 35-21.
3-pointers: Mike's Court 2: Charlton 2, Harmon; Imperial Advisors 4: Consiglio 2, Rabish, Escala, Cherico.
HOOPSFEST (54): T. Smith 4 4-4 12, Lewis 5 5-5 15, Dickens 1 0-0 2, Triplin 5 3-3 13, Lear 4 1-1 10, Way 1 0-0 2, Walters 0 0-0 0, Z. Smith 0 0-0 0, Workman 0 0-0 0. Totals --20 13-13 54.
SPHERION (46): K. Ruggery 2 0-3 4, L. Ruggery 2 2-2 7, K. Ruggery 0 0-0 0, Montecalvo 3 0-1 8, Fortson 5 2-4 12, Yingling 1 1-1 3, Acrie 3 1-2 9, Labriola 1 0-1 3. Totals --17 6-14 46.
Halftime: HoopsFest, 24-20.
3-point goals: HoopsFest 1: Lear; Spherion 6: Montecalvo 2, Acrie 2, L. Ruggery, Labriola.
Officials: Clark Adelman, Christopher Walter.