‘You can’t get that back’ says Muhls’ Mosquera of fateful call
CAMP HILL — When Jarrett Jackson’s 3-pointer fell in the final minute Tuesday the Muhlenberg Muhls knew they were just one defensive stop away from completing an incredible comeback.
They thought they had it, too, when Edwin Suarez reached in to poke away an entry pass to Cedar Cliff big Tyler Houser.
The ensuing whistle indicated otherwise.
“We ended up coming back, then taking the lead, then that happened,” said Muhls point guard J’Daniel Mosquera after an excruciating 55-54 loss to the fifth-seeded Colts in a District 3 Class 6A opener. “I really thought we had the game. It was crushing.”
The foul — Suarez’s fifth — sent the Colts’ best player, and a 78-percent foul shooter, to the line with 5.9 seconds left. The VMI recruit hit both to put his team ahead for good.
“I thought he played amazing defense,” Mosquera said of Suarez on the pivotal play. “He tipped the ball out. I replayed the video (in the locker room), and it looked clean to me, but they called it.”
There’s no video replay in high school basketball. No second chances. Only a long offseason of wondering what might’ve been. That’s what’s in store for the 12th-seeded Muhls (18-7), who were playing their best ball over recent weeks, were full of confidence and positioned to make an extended playoff run.
Then, as Mosquera said, “that happened.”
“It was a great game,” said Muhlenberg coach Matt Flowers. “Kudos to Cedar Cliff. But at the end of the day it should’ve been decided by the kids. It was a whistle that was blown at the end of the game.”
That it even came down to such a sequence in the final seconds was a bit of a miracle. The Muhls trailed throughout as Suarez got in early foul trouble, and they had trouble penetrating a Cedar Cliff zone that had the 6-9 Houser or his 6-10 brother, sophomore Justin, in the middle, swatting away shots.
Muhlenberg was down 10 after one quarter and 12 late in the third quarter after Tyler Houser, who went 7-for-7 from the line and finished with a game-high 25 points, knocked down a pair of free throws.
Desperate to make something happen the Muhls attacked full bore over the final quarter, with a pressing defense and by challenging every pass in the halfcourt. They managed to force nine turnovers over the final eight minutes and almost had a 10th — before Colts coach Tigh Savercool called a timeout just before a five-second call on an inbounds play with 45 seconds to go.
That saved his team momentarily, but the aggressive Muhls got the steal on the ensuing inbounds play and seconds later Jackson hit his second 3 of the quarter to give his team a 54-53 lead, its first since the opening minutes.
The Muhls’ burst came too late, Flowers said.
“Our intensity finally picked up to where we wanted it to be all game,” he said of the final quarter. “I wanted to see that the whole game.
“I don’t think we responded in the first half, the first three quarters. We figured it out in the fourth, and unfortunately (the game) was taken from us.”
Suarez, who spent 12 minutes on the bench over the first three quarters because of foul trouble, finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
He needed to be on the floor longer for the Muhls to have their best chance. His absence because of fouls cost them last week, in a Berks Conference semifinal loss to Reading High.
“It hurts every time (he’s out),” Flowers said. “He’s a major piece of your team. You lose a rebounder. You lose a shot-blocker.”
Getting him out of the game was part of the Colts’ strategy.
“We wanted to go right at him, try to take charges,” Tyler Houser said. “He’s phenomenal (on the glass). It was huge (to see him go out), because he’s their guy.”
Jackson, who finished with 13 points, sparked the late rally with a 3-pointer with 3:37 to go that made it a six-point game. Tashiro Alexis hit a 3 with 1:13 left to cut the deficit to four, and Luis Valentine’s floater with 46 seconds to go made it a one-possession game.
Cedar Cliff didn’t make a field goal over the final three minutes. It’s only points came from four Tyler Houser free throws.
The Muhls had the lead for all of 21 seconds in the final quarter, then it was gone. So was their season.
“I thought we were gonna win the game,” Mosquera said. “I didn’t think they were going to call that foul, but they did. We fought all the way back, just for that to happen — it was a heart-breaker. You can’t get that back.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
| Muhlenberg | 8 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 54 |
| Cedar Cliff | 18 | 15 | 10 | 12 | 55 |
| Muhls (18-7) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Suarez | 6-13 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 11 | 13 |
| Mosquera | 2-7 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Alexis | 2-8 | 1-2 | 2-5 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Tomlinson | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Robertson | 1-5 | 2-2 | 0-4 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Branch | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Jackson | 5-11 | 0-0 | 3-7 | 0 | 1 | 13 |
| Alcantara | 2-3 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Adonis | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Valentine | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Totals | 21-58 | 4-6 | 8-25 | 3 | 26/31 | 54 |
| Colts (20-4) | FG | FT | 3’s | A | R | Points |
| Werner | 0-2 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Frey | 4-6 | 1-2 | 1-1 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Grube | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Smith | 4-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| T. Houser | 8-13 | 7-7 | 2-3 | 1 | 8 | 25 |
| J. Houser | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Armanini | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 21-36 | 9-14 | 4-6 | 12 | 20/24 | 55 |
Turnovers: Muhlenberg 15, Cedar Cliff 19.