Eastern York at Steel-High in boys high school basketball

STEELTON – Young and inexperienced varsity basketball teams learn lessons from tough defeats and Steel-High’s Wednesday night non-conference overtime loss to Eastern York will likely linger in their collective minds for a good while.

The Rollers (1-3) had the game in their grasp, both at the end of regulation and in final seconds of overtime. Steel-High sophomore Kaaba Murray lofted a long 3-point attempt at the final buzzer of the extra session that missed short and Eastern York escaped with a 42-40 victory.

The game was one of peaks and valleys for both clubs with long scoreless streaks followed by double-digit runs. Steel-High went down 7-1 in the first quarter but rallied to register the final 14 points of the second quarter to take a 26-17 halftime lead.

Eastern York (2-2) took control in third behind the hot shooting of Austin Bausman to draw ahead late in the stanza, but Tristan Crawford Jr. sank a buzzer-beating trey to give the Rollers a 37-36 entering the final 8 minutes of regulation.

The fourth quarter and overtime were low-scoring chess matches with both teams trying to run out the clock to either preserve a lead or take the last shot. The Rollers, trailing 40-39, held the ball from the 1:08 mark to the 14 second mark of regulation before calling a timeout to map a possible final play.

Steel-High’s chances looked done when Eastern York’s Avant King stole a pass with 10 seconds left in regulation but couldn’t convert the ensuing layup try. The ball as awarded on a jump ball call to the Rollers with 5.5 seconds left. Tyrone Moore drew a foul on the floor with 3 seconds remaining and converted the front end of a one-and-one opportunity to send the game into overtime.

Bausman canned two free throws early in the OT session and after a Roller miss, the Golden Knights held possession of the ball for 2:30 before committing a key turnover with 1:09 to play. The teams traded scoreless possessions and the Rollers found themselves with ball and 24.3 seconds to create a game-winning play that didn’t fully materialize.

Bausman scored a game-high 26 for Eastern York from all over the floor – behind the 3-point arc, two-point goals and free throws. Murray paced the Steel-High offensive attack with 17 points.

“Our inexperience really showed tonight. It’s showed every game this year, honestly. Just got to knock down shots. We shoot on this court every day and it’s about stepping up with confidence to knock the shot down. Some of older guys, Tyrone Moore and Daivin Pryor, they are seniors, but they don’t have a lot of experience. Last year, we had seven or eight games and we shut down due to COVID. They’re going out and competing. Every single game, it’s only loss if we’re not learning from it. Right now, we have three lessons and this one really hurts, just because we were in position to win the game. Just cleaning up a turnover here or there, making a shot here or there or concentrating on knocking down our free throws. Again, we’re young, but every game is a lesson when we loss and we’ll learn when we win as well.” – Steel-High head coach Tristan Crawford.

Eastern York 12-5-19-4-2 – 42

Steel-High 9-17-11-3-0 – 40

Golden Knights (42) – Easton Smith 3, Jack Weaver 3, Simon Lipsius 8, Carter Wamsley 2, Austin Bausman 26.

Rollers (40) – Tyrone Moore 8, Kaaba Murray 17, Tristan Crawford Jr. 5, Trey Seilhamer 6, Daivin Pryor 2, Andrew Erby 2.

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