Shoemaker shines despite MC loss to Central Dauphin East

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 9, 2019

By Kenny Varner

LEWISTOWN – A lot can be learned through a loss. Good things can sometimes come out of defeat.

Such was the case Friday for the Mifflin County Huskies boys basketball team as Jace Shoemaker played a strong game in the middle and battled for all 19 points he scored in his team’s 77-42 loss against Central Dauphin East. He also was a force defensively, keeping the middle clogged and making the Panthers warm their points. Along with his 19 points he also pulled down five rebounds.

Mifflin County’s top shooter Noah Wright was held to two points but he made up for it with pulling down seven boards and dishing the ball out for his teammates to shoot.

“Jace has been amazing! He has done everything we have asked him to do. He practices hard and is always the first one on the ground to fight for the loose ball,” Mifflin County coach Scott Gaffey said. “These sophomores are moving up from playing ninth grade to now playing varsity. The speed of the game is completely different.”

Central Dauphin East has its outside shot down as it finished with 10 triples. Four of those buckets came from guard Donovin Medina, who finished with 17.

Leading the way offensively for the Panthers was Amir Jackson with 22.

But despite getting down early, the very young Huskies squad battled until the end as they posted 26 points in the second half, just 12 less than the Panthers who posted 38.

“We’ve been proud of our guys for fight til the end reguardless of what the score is. We’ve preached we got to get better every minute. I feel for the most part we’ve been able to do that and we are hoping tomorrow that all our hard work will show against Central Mountain.”

Going into the intermission, Mifflin County found itself down 39-16.

After an opening Panther bucket.

Shoemaker went strong to the hole and was fouled in the process. He made both free throws for the first of his 12-point quarter.

Tyreke Allen then responded with a bucket of his own.

Wright made it 43-20 when he hit his lone bucket of the game with 5:20 left in the period.

Back came UD East as Obiaze Chinatu went strong to the hoop and was fouled in the process and scored the bucket. However, his free throw attempt hit iron and the ball went back to Mifflin County.

With the ball back in the hands of Shoemaker, he went right back strong inside and was hacked when he went up for the bucket. He hit one-of-two.

By this time both teams were attacking the inside lanes.

Amir Jackson upped his team’s lead to 47-21 hitting on a bucket in traffic. Again the Panthers missed the free throw.

Conner Cherry stepped up on the following possession, hitting his first of two buckets, closing it to 50-24.

Back came UDE again as Jackson once again hit a shot in the paint.

But Shoemaker was starting to sizzle as he battled for a rebound and went back up with the shot, keeping pace with the Panthers shooting in the period.

Then Central Dauphin East started to send the ball back out beyond the arc for some impressive triples.

Shoemaker would score four more in the period but it would be the Panthers outscoring the Huskies the rest of the way in the quarter, 15-10.

When the two teams went into the final stanza, Mifflin County got six points on triples by Eric Shilling and Owen Wise.

But the Panthers managed nine in the period for the win.

In the first period, Central Dauphin came out with its high tempo offense firing on all cylinders, posting a 25-7 advantage.

Mifflin County battled defensively In the second as it held the Panthers to 14.

UD East continued its strong hold as well on defense, holding the Huskies to nine.

Mifflin County hopes to pick up a win Saturday in its season finale against Central Mountain.