MECHANICSBURG — The State College Little Lions’ basketball season came to an end on March 18 after a loss to District 1’s Spring Ford in the PIAA, 6A quarterfinals at Mechanicsburg High School.
The Rams, 28-3 and the No. 2 seed out of D1, took a 7-point lead into the third quarter and doggedly held on to it throughout the second half, finally coming away with a 45-39 win.
Spring Ford, a team that beat Central York and Hempfield to get to the quarterfinals, will now face District 3 champion Reading in the semifinals.
State College took an early 10-9 lead, but the Rams rallied in the second quarter and forged ahead by 7, 23-16, going into the locker rooms for halftime.
At one point early in the third quarter, State High cut the Spring Ford lead to 23-21, but the Rams got baskets from Zach Zollers, EJ Campbell and Jacob Nguyen to reestablish their lead at 31-26 heading into the final eight minutes.
From there, the teams traded baskets, but State High could not cut into the Spring Ford lead, and the Rams ultimately won the trip to the semis.
Spring Ford was led by Nguyen’s 22 points and Campbell’s 12, while State College got 18 points from Isaac Dye and 15 from Ryan Perks.
State College high scorer Braeden Shrewsberry was held to 2 points and was apparently slowed by an ankle injury that he suffered in the win over Pittsburgh Central Catholic on March 15.
The loss ended the State College season with a final record of 25-3 and with championships in the Mid-Penn Conference and District 6.
The Lions will graduate eight seniors from this team, including Shrewsberry and Perks.
