Silver lining no solace for Tiburcio, Mounts
HERSHEY – Hector Tiburcio couldn’t hide his disappointment. The Antietam senior slumped during the postgame awards presentation as Mounts coach Mike Green awarded silver medals to his players at Giant Center Saturday afternoon.
Tiburcio had golden aspirations for his team’s third trip to the District 3 Class 2A championship game during his four seasons. He came home with silver twice before; he wasn’t looking for a third.
He and his teammates played proudly, and effectively, and led Lancaster Mennonite much of the way before a cold stretch at the end cost them and they fell to the defending champs 52-46.
“I wish it could’ve been a different outcome,” Tiburcio said quietly after the game. “The thing that bothers me the most is that it was my last opportunity to get it done. After this, there’s no more. I won’t be here at Giant Center any more. I didn’t get it done.”
The top-seeded Mounts (20-5) led 46-43 with six minutes to go, which was a bit of a minor miracle the way things unfolded in the early minutes.
Tiburcio pick up three personal fouls in the first 4 1/2 minutes and took a seat on the bench. He was soon joined by teammate Jovan Hollis, who picked up his third early in the second quarter.
Both picked up their fourth fouls before the first half was over.
“I thought I would be able to play more aggressive defense,” Tiburcio said. “It is a district championship game. I felt some of the calls were a little soft, but I told myself I was gonna keep playing aggressive.”
That certainly affected the Mounts, playing at times without their best players on the floor, and for the entire second half with each of them limited in what they could do because of their foul situation. Still, they played with poise and battled the third-seeded Blazers (15-9) throughout.
“They stepped up,” said Green. “Maximum effort. That’s what I wanted and they gave it to me.”
Despite the foul situation Green started the second half with both Tiburcio and Hollis on the floor and the move paid dividends. Tiburcio made it through to the end without fouling out and finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, both team highs. Hollis scored 10 points before fouling out with 22 seconds left and the issue essentially settled.
“What’s the point in being down 15 going into the fourth quarter?” Green said of his rationale. “I’d rather lose them late in the third with a fifth foul and give it our best shot.”
“Our team plays better when I’m on the floor,” Tiburcio said. “It’s a championship game, just because I have four fouls doesn’t mean I have to sit the bench. You’ve just gotta play basketball. If I get my fifth foul, I get it, but I’ve gotta play.”
The Mounts did indeed give it their best shot. Four times they fell behind and came back to take the lead. Antietam led 41-39 after three quarters and 46-43 after Tiburcio snared a rebound and fired upcourt to Hollis for a transition bucket.
They were in control at 46-45 and took the air out of the ball with 4 ½ minutes left, hoping to shorten the game. After holding the ball for about a minute Tiburicio missed a 3-pointer and Carson Lubas rebounded and missed his shot.
“We were out of our rhythm,” said Green, “and it was tough to build that rhythm back up.”
Mennonite took the lead for good at 47-46 with 3:34 left when Jaedon Mast fed 6-7 David Weaver for an inside bucket. Camden Hurst, an All-State pick last year as a sophomore, essentially closed it out by hitting both ends of a one-and-one with 35 seconds left to make it a six-point game.
The Mounts went cold at the end, though, missing their final six shots and going scoreless on their final five possessions.
“They just hit a few shots (at the end),” said senior Alejandro Montero, “we didn’t.”
Hurst finished with a game-high 19 points. The Mounts didn’t allow him to run wild as he did in last year’s championship game, when he scored 32 points.
“The first time we played ‘em we really beat ‘em up and down the floor,” said Mennonite coach Seth Buckwalter of a 74-65 win in December. “They did a better job containing our transition game this time.”
Green was pleased with his defense. The Mounts used a 2-3 zone the whole way. In the second half he put the 6-2 Hollis and the 6-2 Tiburcio out front, at guard, to minimize their chances to pick up fouls. It was effective. The Blazers were held to fewer points just once this season, in a loss to Columbia.
“Defensively, that was one of the better games we played in our zone,” said Green, “and I didn’t have to come out of it, which was phenomenal.”
Tiburcio sat for a total of about six minutes. Even when he was out there, he said, he wasn’t himself; the foul situation limited his game.
“It was real tough knowing I couldn’t play how I wanted to play,” he said. “It didn’t only mess up my defensive game, it also messed me up on offense. I wasn’t fully there. I was kind of playing hesitant the whole way through.”
Sophomore Josh McKoy scored 11 points for Antietam before fouling out in the final minute. Hollis scored 10 points.
The Mounts move on to the PIAA Tournament Wednesday. They’ll play at Holy Cross, which beat Old Forge 39-27 Saturday for the District 2 championship.
“I’m very proud of my guys, especially the younger guys,” said Montero. “We all gave it our best effort.”
“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.
