Wilson shut down by second-seeded Cumberland Valley

Wilson is headed back to the playback bracket after a 59-38 loss at second-seeded Cumberland Valley Friday in the District 3 Class 6A Tournament.

The seventh-seeded Bulldogs (18-8) struggled to score; they had just seven field goals through three quarters and trailed 46-19.

Wilson was held to a season-low 30 points in a Berks Conference semifinal last week against Reading High.

Cumberland Valley (20-3) used a 10-1 run to end the first quarter leading 15-7; the Eagles scored the final nine points of the second quarter to lead 28-12 at the half.

Cumberland Valley coach David Vespignani said some new defensive looks were key in holding Wilson to 19 points through three quarters.

“With us having a 17-day layoff, we tried to come up with some different things and some different ideas we could do to combat some of these teams we’re going to play moving forward,” Vespignani told cumberlink.com. “That zone and our press, which we hadn’t really pressed much this year, was just kind of a wrinkle that we wanted to throw out there and our kids executed it tremendously.”

Cam Jones led Wilson with eight points.

Nolan Buzalka and Nolan Gilbert each scored 16 points for Cumberland Valley. The 59 points are the most Wilson has allowed this season.

The Bulldogs need a win in one of their next two games to earn a berth in the PIAA Tournament, either Monday at Central York at 7 or Thursday in the seventh-place game. The top seven teams from District 3 advance to the state tournament.

Wilson was sent to the playback round last season after a quarterfinal loss to Reading High. It lost 56-47 at Hempfield and was eliminated by Cumberland Valley 44-41.

Cumberland Valley clinched a state berth with the win Friday and advances to the semifinals where it will play No. 3 Hempfield, a 61-58 winner over Central York Friday.

The Class 6A championship game is Thursday at 7:45 at Giant Center.