Ephrata Holiday Tournament

The holiday season began with the boys having three days off to celebrate with family and friends.  The team regrouped on Monday and began preparations for a matchup versus District 3 powerhouse, Dallastown.  Led by Division I recruit, Four McGlynn, Dallastown entered the contest undefeated and would strongly test the Indians ability to win a big game. 

Donegal arrived a full hour before game time and began warming up.  Taylor Nauman instantly became a fan of the rims, "They're great rims.  I don't know what it is, but they're just great."  At least the Indians had the
fortune of having the Ephrata Middle School's great rims on their side for holiday tournament.

The game opened with Dallastown jumping out to an early lead.  Donegal worked its way back by making a few big shots and closed the first half with a slight advantage, 32-31.

At the conclusion of the halftime warmup, the question was how would the Indians begin the second half.  The hope was the first half momentum would carry over and feed the emotional play of senior captains, Austin Musser, Drake Brumfield, and Taylor Nauman.  Unfortunately, the third quarter made the difference in the game as McGlynn and company outscored the Indians 20-10.  Both teams traded baskets during the majority of the fourth quarter and  the Indians couldn't cut into the lead .  Dallastown made clutch freethrows down the strectch en route to a 73-62 final.

The consolation game featured the host school playing the Indians.  The first quarter was played at a fast pace, often becoming sloppy, and Coach Butt was forced to call a timeout early to settle the players down.  Senior, Jon Heisey, was a zone killer early on scoring 10 points; two 3's and two fastbreak buckets.  *Side Note - Jon's older brother, Cincinnati Reds outfielder, Chris Heisey, was in attendance.  He laughingly joked how he had missed Jon's first 10 points of the game*  Fortunately, the elder Heisey witnessed Jon's last 9 points of the game. 

After the first quarter, Donegal played a strong game overall and clearly was the better team that night.  Eleven players scored and everyone received some playing time in the 74-35 win.