A ticket to Gene Evans Gymnasium for Thursday night’s matchup were hard to find. In fact, they were sold out beforehand and seats were hard to find. All eyes were focused on a Cumberland Valley freshman in the corner for what his teammates called a “Ray Allen type 3.” Needless to say, Dolimpio hit the three, tying the game at 66 with 2.8 seconds of basketball to play.
All year, Cumberland Valley and Carlisle have competed in the Mid Penn Commonwealth division. The top five in PIAA District III 6A standings have four Commonwealth division teams in them, and they’ve all had some intense matchups throughout the season.
It started with Creston Austin and Aiden Diehl in the first quarter. Two three pointers from Diehl, a Cumberland Valley freshman, paved the way for an early Eagle lead, 9-2 just 3:35 into the game, forcing Carlisle’s Andre Anderson to call a timeout. Cumberland Valley would continue this pace through the first quarter, leading 17-8, thanks to Creston Austin’s eight points.
The second quarter was a chance for the Herd to get back on track. Carlisle forced a CV timeout with 2:01 remaining in the half, due to the fact that the CV lead was down just 6. After the timeout, the Eagles brought their lead up to 8, where’d it nest for the intermission. Creston Austin and Aiden Diehl still led all scorers, Austin with 14 and Diehl with 9.
Anderson had his Carlisle players ready in the second half, as they came out swinging to start the back half of play. The Herd cut the Eagle lead to 34-31 in just a minute and 46 seconds. Later on, that lead was just one, initiating a seemingly endless cycle of lead changes for the final quarter of regulation.
JJ Lebo has been a great shooter for Cumberland Valley this season. Tonight, he didn’t score, and was called for a technical foul with 1:24 remaining. The game was still far from decided, but it inched Carlisle closer as Jaydon Smith, the veteran leader and soon to be Shippensburg Raider, knocked down both compensatory free throws to give his squad a 62-60 lead. In less than a minute’s time, Carlisle was still up, now by three points. That, of course, prompted David Vespignani to call a timeout and draw up a play to shoot a three pointer and send this game to overtime. He designed a play for Aiden Diehl to get a chance at a shot, as Diehl had been electric from three earlier in the game.
The ball ended up in another freshman’s hands, Jared Dolimpio, who nailed a corner three, igniting an eruption from Eagles fans, and silence from everyone else. With 2.8 seconds to go, Jaydon Smith threw up a half court short which missed.
Cumberland Valley looked far from fatigued in extra play. The Eagles shot 16 free throws in overtime, and made all but one to lead them to a larger and larger lead. The lead continued to grow, as did the excitement for Cumberland Valley, who ultimately took home the prize, winning 83-77.
The win solidified Cumberland Valley’s champion status of the Mid Penn Commonwealth division and a berth to the four team playoff bracket for the Mid Penn conference next week. The Eagles will face Capital division champion Trinity, last year’s Mid Penn conference runner up.
The win also means Cumberland Valley jumps up to the second seeded spot in the PIAA District III standings, behind Central York. Carlisle fell to the third spot.
As of Thursday night, Cumberland Valley would face the winner of Cedar Crest and Red Lion. Carlisle would face the winner of Reading and Penn Manor.
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