Basketball

Dragons getting another chance

By Kevin Petrochko

For the Mirror

MARTINSBURG -- The Central boys basketball team came into its District 6 Class 4A semifinal matchup against the Juniata Indians, looking to bounce back from a loss suffered to end its regular season, but a loss to Greater Johnstown that may be growing into a rivarly. That's the team Central gets to play again next because of what the Scarlet Dragons did Friday night.

The Dragons finished the job with a 67-43 win at home to eliminate the Indians and move on to the title game.

"I thought our pace, and the pressure we put on them was effective," Dragons coach Paul Frederick said as he watched his club jump out to a 15-8 lead after one quarter. "In the second quarter, we started to turn it over a good bit more, and we were able to get some easier transition buckets."

Junior guard Eli Muthler led all Central scorers with 28 points in a game his team led at the break, 32-14. Senior forward Hunter Smith contributed 10 points. Fellow seniors Nick Garver and Brady Albright each tallied eight points.

"He's the guy were trying to get shots for," Frederick said. "We had some other guys make some buckets to, so it was just a pretty good effort for us offensively."

Muthler tallied 14 points in the first half.

"We played really well, especially on the offensive side tonight," Muthler said. "We hit some shots at the start of the second half, and that really boosted us to this win."

Juniata, which finished its season 12-11, struggled to defend Muthler all night long.

"The difference was that their team is deep, and they're long, they're physically strong, and they got a kid that can shoot lights out," Indians coach Al Ream said. "Tonight, he was on fire."

Sophomore shooting guard Jasper Shepps led all Indian scorers with 13 points.

"I thought he played well," Ream said. "They knew coming in that he was the guy who can score for us."

Central, which improved to 19-5, will now face Greater Johnstown for the third time on Tuesday for the title at Mount Aloysius.

"They're an exceptional team," Frederick said. "They're hard to score against and hard to stop; it will be a tough challenge on Tuesday."

After playing the Trojans twice this season, Central knows what they're facing on Tuesday night.

"We know how they play," Muthler said. "They like to run; were going to try and slow it down a little bit and just try and guard them as best as we can."

JUNIATA (43): Shepps 5 1-2 13, Guante 2 0-0 5, Reinhold 2 0-0 4, Swailes 4 2-4 10, Stoner 4 1-1 11. Totals -- 17 4-7 43

CENTRAL (67): Smith 4 2-2 10, Muthler 10 2-2 28, Butler 1 2-2 4, Garver 4 0-0 8, Albright 3 2-2 8, Long-Yarrison 1 0-0 2, Bettwy 2 0-0 5 Lingenfelter 1 0-0 2. Totals -- 26 8-8 67

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Juniata 8 6 18 11 - 43

Central 15 17 20 15 - 67

3-point field goals: Juniata 5 (Shepps 2, Guante, Stoner 2), Central 7 (Muthler 6, Bettwy)

Records: Juniata (12-11), Central (19-5).

Officials: Dan Amrhein, Neil Cobaugh, Pat Hall