State College basketball clinches Commonwealth Division with win vs. Cumberland Valley
Braeden Shrewsberry and the rest of his State College boys basketball team clinched a share of the Commonwealth Division of the Mid-Penn Conference on Friday.
But head coach Brian Scholly wanted more than just a share of the division — he wanted the entire thing. Shrewsberry answered his call with a 25-point performance and a 61-45 win over rival Cumberland Valley on Tuesday night.
“It feels amazing to be honest,” Shrewsberry said. “We clinched it last Friday, but Coach (Brian) Scholly said he ‘doesn’t like sharing’ and I don’t like sharing either. So, we had to come out tonight and handle business and win the Commonwealth.”
With less than four minutes left in the game, Ryan Perks drove strongly to the basket and scooped the ball in to the basket, giving the Little Lions a 50-39 lead. Issac Dye followed with a 3-point field goal. The game was iced and State College could breathe a sigh of relief. Perks finished with 11 points and Dye had 17 for the Little Lions. Jack Morris, Kevin McKenna and Lake Black each finished with two points.
It was a total team effort.
“It’s a team accomplishment, and it’s a testament to all of the work we put in,” Perks said.
The team grew from a 9-15 record last season with a rag-tag group of transfers and new varsity players. Then, they all joined forces during the offseason to prepare to improve. It featured long, grueling exercises that included wind sprints and stairs, along with a ton of time figuring out the idiosyncrasies of each other’s games.
It took honest conversations about how the team got beat in the past, according to Scholly. It all started with discussions about defense, toughness and commitment to the team.
“Credit to these guys, they put a focus on those things every single day to improve those,” Scholly said. “You saw this year, we rose above in the toughest moments; whereas last year, I think we got beat in those moments.”
It resulted in a 19-2 regular-season performance this time around.
“We’re a defensive team, and last year we didn’t want to be that,” Dye said. “I think we wanted to outscore people, but this year, we are a defensive team. I don’t think anybody can really score on us when we’re playing at our best, and I think we just realized that. Coach Scholly has been great — he’s been pushing to be a great defensive team, and we just worked on it so much that it’s just become who we are.”
The Little Lions began the game trailing 16-15 at the end of the first quarter. Cumberland Valley’s Nolan Buzalka had five points, followed by J.D. Hunter with four and Nolan Gilbert with four. Shrewsberry scored in a plethora of ways with 10 points on pull-up jumpers, 3-point shots and free throws. Dye had a 3-pointer of his own, and Morris added two.
Shrewsberry boosted his scoring output to 14 points at the half with Dye scoring two more and Perks adding a 3-pointer that tied the game at 26-26. The Little Lions took the lead in the third quarter and never looked back with Shrewsberry and Perks scoring on back-to-back possessions with 2 minutes, 27 seconds left, giving them a 40-32 lead. State College went on to hold a 42-35 lead at the end of the third. The Little Lions went on to pull away by going 6 for 6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.
State College awaits its next opponent in the Mid-Penn Conference tournament.
State College 61, Cumberland Valley 45
SC (19-2): Shrewsberry 25, Dye 17, Perks 11, Morris 2, Furmanek 2, Black 2, McKenna 2
CV (19-3): Hunter 12, Buzalka 11, Gilbert 9, Levis 4, Austin 3, Ogunnaike 2, Snyder 2, Gottlieb 2
This story was originally published February 7, 2023 at 10:26 PM.
