By Ben Spector
WILLIAMSPORT- After the Middletown Knights come-from-behind victory against the Williamsport Wildcats, one Middletown parent waiting outside the Williamsport gymnasium for his son to come out of the locker room pantomimed as if he had just been given a shock by a defibrillator, sending his heart back in to action.
He then gave a modest chuckle and uttered a phrase that could pretty much describe this whole season for the Knights.
“Cardiac kids,” he said with a sly smirk that would indicate his feelings about the team who was behind this moniker.
For much of this season, the Knights have been the “cardiac kids” not only winning games by slim margins, but doing it after trailing for most of the game leaving opponents wondering how it got away from them and leaving most Middletown fans wondering how much more of these close games they could actually take.
Tuesday night’s contest against the Wildcats would be no different for the Knights as they followed suit from earlier wins against Francis Scott Key (down 19 in the first quarter), Oakdale (down five after third quarter) and Tuscarora (down nine with 2:21 left in game).
If these games are rough on the fans, than they’re equally tough on Middletown head coach Aaron White who was much more relaxed after the 63-59 win which sent his Knights up to 5-1.
“I don’t mind falling behind if we’ll win. It’s not something we want to continue to do,” White said. “The kids are pretty resilient. They’re confident.”
This game would start off with White’s team taking a lead as the Knights would go on a 4-0 run to end the first quarter with Middletown seniors Matt Considine, Clay Smith, Lucas Price, and sophomore Evan Joseph all hitting a three-pointer giving the Knights a 16-10 lead.
The Wildcats would come out with a punch in the mouth of the Knights during the second quarter as they would go on a 9-0 run to start the second quarter and never look back with multiple Wildcats playing a role.
Williamsport was causing the Knights issues as the Wildcats would double or triple team Considine or Smith when they came in to the offensive zone forcing them to find other options, or sometimes to the other team, with the Wildcats subsequently converting on lay-ups off of the Middletown turnovers.
The Wildcats would take a 32-29 lead into the half but for a team that had been down many times before and had overcome much bigger deficits it seemed like no issue for the Knights.
“We could sense that we weren’t giving as much as effort as we normally do to start the game,” said Considine who led the Knights with 20 points, including six for 17 from the field and five for eight from the line.
Middletown came out in the third quarter knowing that they needed to up the effort, but it was the Wildcats who would come out hot as Williamsport guard Michael Riley, who had 17 on the night for the Wildcats, would hit back-to-back three-pointers with a chance at a four point play on the second three-pointer as he was fouled on the shot.
Riley, however, would miss the free throw and from there the momentum of the game swung heavily in the Knights favor as Middletown would rattle off 6-2 run immediately after and would trade the lead multiple times with the Wildcats before giving it up at the buzzer as Marquil Nelson would pick up a steal and pass it to Caleb Yost ending the third quarter with the Wildcats up, 47-46.
The fourth quarter became the Matt Considine show as the Middletown senior would rattle off eight points of his own in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter taking the Wildcats on an 8-2 run of his own and giving the Knights a seven-point lead with 5:59 to play.
Smith would hit a three to make it a 10 point Middletown lead but from there the Wildcats would chip away going on an 8-2 run of their own with Wildcat junior Jake Arnone hitting back-to-back three pointers, to slim the lead down to two.
Williamsport would have a chance to tie the game after a missed free-throw by Joseph but Considine would come up with a steal and the Knights would call a time-out hoping to salt the game away. In true “cardiac” fashion the Knights wouldn’t do it as Arnone would get a steal off of the in-bounds pass allowing the Wildcats to take a time-out.
With 51.4 left in the fourth quarter Riley would take a three-point shot of the inbounds but miss with the rebound falling to Wildcat senior Bryce Ruppenthal. Ruppenthal would get fouled and have a chance to cut the lead to one but missed both free-throws forcing the Wildcats to foul and send Considine to the line.
Considine would make one, only to see the Wildcats cut the lead to two on a lay-up forcing him to be fouled again. Considine would again make just one and the Wildcats called time-out down three with 17 seconds to play. The Knights would get their big play as on the in-bounds pass Knights guard Jacob House stole the ball and got it to Considine who was fouled and would make one giving the Knights fans a chance to breathe.
The win puts the Knights at 5-1 to start Christmas Break and gives Middletown one of their best starts in recent memory.
“Our region is really tough and our league is very tough. Anytime you can have a start like this, we can build on it and have a really successful year,” said White.
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