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CM boys play barnburner but fall to Williamsport

By Kenny Varner

MILL HALL – This one was a barn burner from the beginning.

Central Mountain hosted Williamsport Thursday in its last regular season basketball game.

From the beginning, the two combined for 70 first half points combined.

In the end, it would be the Millionaires that came out victorious 76-66.

Central Mountain got a huge game out of senior Collin Jones as he finished with a game-high 28 points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

Teammate Conner Soo followed up with a 15-point effort.

The Millionaires were led by three players in double figures.

Ahmir Elley posted a team-high 20 points in the victory while teammates Ethan Williams and Marcus Simmons both finished with 12.

It would be a tale of two halves as the Wildcats took the first two but Williamsport would take the third and forth, outscoring Central Mountain 43-29 in the second half for the 10-point victory.

“I was pleased with our second half effort. I thought we got after it a lot better defensively. I thought we did a good job of breaking the zone and kicking it out for some decent three looks,” Williamsport coach Allen Taylor said. “Then we were able to get the ball inside and we able to mix things up a bit. I was very happy with the way we closed the game. Those were games that we lost early in the season when it came to that situation.”

Coming out of the intermission, Central Mountain held a 37-33 advantage.

Like he did for most of the first half, Jones went right at the heart of the Williamsport defense, scoring an old fashioned three-point attempt, hitting the shot and the free throw, upping it to 40-33.

Elley got Williamsport on the board in third on a 1-of-2 appearance at the foul line.

With buckets by Jones and JT Pentz, the Wildcats held a 44-34 advantage.

From there, the Millionaires started to chip away at the Wildcats’ lead.

Elley stepped behind the three-point line and netted a triple, cutting it to a7-point game with 5:01 left in the period.

After a Wildcats turnover, Williamsport went from beyond the arc once again,  this time Williams hit it, making it a 44-40  game with still 4:23 left.

After a missed shot by Central Mountain, the Millionaires went into its run and gun mode and got it Williams who layed it up to cut it to a 2-point contest.

With the bucket, Central Mountain called a time out.

However, the momentum shift had already taken place as Williamsport would roll off another six points before the Wildcats would get back on the board.

Now with the Millionaires leading 48-44, Jones, who was battling foul trouble for much of the second half, scored to cut it back to just a 2-point contest.

But Williamsport would finish off the period outscoring Central Mountain 5-1.

Going into the final stanza, Williamsport led 53-47.

Things started to work out for the Wildcats to open the fourth quarter as they went on a 10-3 run to pull within one at 56-55.

However, the Millionaires defense became very stingy in the final 4:33 to hold onto the 10-point victory.

Williamsport broke out to an early lead, posting an 8-2 lead.

Six of those points came from Nassir Jones.

But Soo and Jones led a rally that would pull the Wildcats to within one at 13-12 with 3:40 left in the first.  In the 9-5 run, Soo had five while Jones had four.

But Williamsport got into early foul trouble, posting eight fouls early in the second to Central Mountain’s one.

Though the scoring was close early, Central Mountain held the 20-18 advantage.

Jones led the way with 11 of the 20 points. 

Williamsport got six from Jones to keep them in close striking distance.

In the second, Central Mountain continued to look tough in the paint on both ends, outscoring Williamsport 17-15 in the period.

Conner Nyman led the Wildcats with six.

When the two went into the intermission, Central Mountain led 37-33.

Jones finished the first half with a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds. Teammate Conner Soo had a 10-point first half to lead the Wildcats in their halftime lead.

“That is definitely the style of play we are used to playing both offensively and defensively and what we prefer to play,” Central Mountain coach Tyler Bardo said about the team’s first half success. 

With the loss, the Wildcats finish with a record of 5-17 while Williamsport improves to 7-12.

In the JV contest, Williamsport led the way,  winning 82-36.

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