Gallant effort by Mounts falls short in Class 2A title game (updated with boxscore)
(This story will be updated with details and postgame reaction)
HERSHEY — Somehow, the Antietam Mounts hung close to defending District 3 Class 2A champ Lancaster Mennonite throughout Saturday’s championship-game rematch.
At times it defied belief. The top-seeded Mounts saw leading scorer Hector Tiburcio pick up three personal fouls in the first 4 1/2 minutes and take a seat on the bench. He was soon joined by teammate Jovan Hollis, who picked up his third early in the second quarter.
The Mounts still led with six minutes left but came up empty on some late possessions and fell to the Blazers 52-46 in the District 3 Class 2A championship game at Giant Center.
Tiburcio, who finished with 12 points, and Hollis, who finished with 10, went the entire way in the second half, playing with four fouls, before Hollis fouled out in the final minute, as did Josh McKoy.
Antietam (20-5) led 46-43 with six minutes left but didn’t score on its final five possessions.
The third-seeded Blazers (15-9) took the lead for good on David Weaver’s basket with 3:34 remaining; they ended the game on a 9-0 run.
Camden Hurst scored a game-high 19 points for Mennonite.
Despite the early foul trouble, and playing a good portion of the first half with Tiburcio, Hollis, or both on the bench the Mounts led throughout much of the first half and went into intermission tied 25-25.
They got off to a terrific start, with Tiburcio aggressively attacking the basket for a pair of scores that sparked an 8-2 opening run. They were stillup 18-13 two minutes into the second quarter Tiburcio’s steal led to a Carson Lubas basket.
Mennonite briefly took the lead at 22-20 but the Mounts came back to lead at 25-23 when McKoy hit three free throws in a 90-second span late in the second quarter.
Hurst was at his All-State best, scoring 13 points in the first half to keep the Blazers in it. He wrecked the Mounts in last year’s championship game with 32 points.
The Mounts have put together a terrific season, one of the best in years at the school.
Mennonite’s record isn’t impressive and it doesn’t have 1,000-point scorer Cole Fisher, a second-team All-State pick, one of three graduated starters
The Blazers had a good offseason, picking Jaedon Mast from Brooklyn, N.Y.; he’s averaging 11.5 points per game, second on the team to Hurst’s 18.7.
Mennonite is battle-tested: It has played a rugged schedule that includes losses to Class 5A District 3 champion Lampeter-Strasburg, District 3 Class 4A champ Berks Catholic and two losses to Columbia, which plays for the Class 3A title Saturday. It beat Class 5A finalist Shippensburg and Class 2A finalist Antietam 74-65 in December.
The Blazers also beat the Mounts in last year’s final, 80-67. The Mounts fell behind by 14 points in the first half, then stormed all the way back to tie the game 60-60 with 6 1/2 minutes left. Tiburcio was at his best in that game, scoring 29 points. He’s been counting the days for this rematch.
“Before the season I knew it was going to be us two again,” he said. “I was confident that we’d get there again, and I was pretty sure they’d get there again.”
The Mounts, with Tiburcio leading the team in scoring average (16.6) for the third straight year, began this season 14-1, the lone loss coming at Mennonite.
They won a division title for the first time in seven years. They’ve won 20 games for the first time since 1994. Now they’d like to win a district championship for the first time since 1972, when the school was named Mount Penn.
They’ve reached the championship game four times since then, three of them in Tiburcio’s career. He was on the floor when they lost to Steel-High 92-57 his freshman year.
“I have two second-place (medals) at home and I’m ready to bring home the gold,” he said after beating Greenwood in the semifinals.
Tiburcio says this is the best Antietam team he’s played on. Coach Mike Green agrees.
“I have better athletes all over the floor than I had last year,” he said.
One of them is 6-3 sophomore Josh McKoy, who is averaging 15.7 points and has a team-leading 22 3-pointers.
“We’re coming into this game more confident than we were (last year),” Tiburcio said. “That’s a plus. We have kids that are athletic, that want to win. That’ll also give us a bonus.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Mennonite | 11 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 52 |
| Antietam | 12 | 13 | 16 | 5 | 46 |
| Blazers (16-9) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Weaver | 5-8 | 2-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 6 | 12 |
| Hersch | 2-5 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 0 | 8 | 6 |
| Hurst | 5-14 | 8-8 | 1-2 | 1 | 7 | 19 |
| Taylor | 4-9 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 8 |
| Mast | 3-8 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Halvorsen | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Shell | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Totals | 19-48 | 11-15 | 3-11 | 4 | 35/36 | 52 |
| Mounts (20-5) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Montero | 2-3 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Lubas | 3-10 | 0-1 | 1-3 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| McKoy | 3-9 | 5-6 | 0-2 | 0 | 4 | 11 |
| Hollis | 5-13 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| Tiburcio | 5-8 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| Archambault | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Williams | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rafferty | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fidler | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 18-48 | 8-10 | 2-9 | 5 | 27/28 | 46 |
Turnovers: Lancaster Mennonite 8, Antietam 6.
