Metzler Brothers puts in extra work to earn title
mansion park summer basketball league finals
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Metzler Bros. Transport's Braden Kitt is pestered by Beating the Odds' Nate Gearhart.
Metzler Brothers Transport won the Mansion Park Summer League Division 2 basketball title. Team members include (from left): Front row — Jacob Muthler, Felix Warren, Brayden Williams, Zach Slagenweit. Second row — Braden Kitt, Eli Muthler, Joey Smith, Ben Smith. They are joined by league director Skip Dry.
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Metzler Bros. Transport's Braden Kitt is pestered by Beating the Odds' Nate Gearhart.
Metzler Brothers Transport won the Mansion Park Summer League Division 2 basketball title. Team members include (from left): Front row — Jacob Muthler, Felix Warren, Brayden Williams, Zach Slagenweit. Second row — Braden Kitt, Eli Muthler, Joey Smith, Ben Smith. They are joined by league director Skip Dry.
Trending
Metzler Brothers Transport defeated Beating the Odds both times the two teams played during the regular season of the Central Blair Recreation Commission Lakemont Park Summer Basketball League.
Wednesday night's Division 2 championship game looked to be headed for an easy win for top-seeded Metzler Brothers.
However, BTO showed plenty of fight to make it a game that Metzler Brothers Transport took control of midway through the second half, and then knocked down its free throws down the stretch in a 51-46 victory.
"We got the right guys on the line down the stretch," Metzler Brothers Transport's Joey Smith said.
Beating the Odds had a three-point lead (9-6) early on when Blake Brooks knocked down a 3-pointer.
However, Braden Kitt jump-started a 14-0 run by Metzler Brothers with a layup.
Kitt and Smith were a force inside the paint as the duo combined for 21 of the 24 points scored in the opening half.
"Before this game, and before every game really, we want to come out and set the tone physically with energy and with pace," Smith said. "For me, for Braden, for our big guys, that's getting downhill and getting inside. That's what we did."
Kitt, who led with 11 in the first half, buried a triple at the 13-minute mark to account for the first outside make and gave Metzler a 19-6 edge.
Smith, who tacked on 10 points in the first 20 minutes of action, gave his team a 20-9 lead off a steal and layup.
Just as quickly, BTO answered right back with a 15-4 spurt of its own.
Tony Politza got a layup to go around the 11:23 mark to get Beating the Odds off on the burst.
An old fashioned three-point play by Jarrett Taneyhill, who collected 11 points in the first half, with 3.9 ticks left before halftime allowed BTO to knot the score at 24-24 at the break.
Eli Muthler's trey to begin the second half for Metzler Brothers put them ahead for good.
A pair of free throws by Cortlynd Rhodes pulled Beating the Odds with one at 29-28, but a Joey Smith layup followed by five points from Jacob Muthler and another Eli Muthler make from deep had Metzler up 39-30.
An 8-2 spurt from BTO capped off by a putback from Politza got the game within a single possession again at 41-38.
"We kept reminding ourselves that basketball is a game of runs and ups and downs," Smith said. "You just stay the course and keep trusting your shot."
Smith, who led all scorers with 16 points, converted a spinning layup and Kitt made good on two foul shots to put Metzler Brothers Transport up 45-38.
Metzler had missed five straight foul shots but it was able to convert its final six of the night down the stretch.
Smith got loose on a full-court inbound pass with 12.2 remaining to put his team up 49-43.
Brooks buried a 3-pointer with 3.5 to go to make it one possession again, but Eli Muthler's two make from the free throw line with 2.3 left set the final tally.
METZLER BROTHERS TRANSPORT (51): Williams 0 0-0 0, E. Muthler 2 2-2 8, Slagenweit 1 2-2 4, J. Smith 8 0-1 16, J. Muthler 3 3-3 10, Warren 0 0-0 0, B. Smith 0 0-5 0, Kitt 5 2-6 13. Totals: 19 9-19 51.
BEATING THE ODDS (46): B. Gripp 1 0-0 2, Brooks 2 0-0 6, D. Gripp 0 0-0 0, Rhodes 2 3-3 7, Wigfield 0 0-0 0, Politza 5 2-2 12, Taneyhill 5 1-1 13, Gearhart 5 1-1 13. Totals: 17 7-8 46.
Halftime, 24-24. 3-point field goals: Metzler Brothers Transport 4 (E. Muthler 2, J. Muthler, Kitt); Beating the Odds 5 (Brooks 2, Taneyhill 2, Gearhart).