Central York boys' basketball wins rivalry showdown vs. Red Lion in state playoffs

It seemed as if the entire York County basketball community congregated at Dallastown High School on Wednesday evening to see the Central York and Red Lion boys in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs. Both fan bases packed the gym well before the opening tip, and there was hardly an empty seat to be found.

What began as the latest thrilling showdown between the two York-Adams League rivals, however, morphed into a Central York coronation.

The Panthers pulled away for a 70-54 victory over the Lions, punching their ticket to the state quarterfinals with a dose of revenge. Nineteen days after Red Lion stunned top-seeded Central in the District 3-6A playoffs, the Panthers left no doubt.

Central York (26-3) will battle District 7 (WPIAL) champion Upper St. Clair in the Elite Eight at 2 p.m. Saturday at Altoona Area High School. The Lions closed their season at 20-10.

“After that loss (to Red Lion on Feb. 23), we locked in,” Panthers coach Jeff Hoke said. “Last week was the best week of practice I’ve ever had at Central York. It was focused. It was business. I thought, ‘Let’s play our game and we’ll be fine.’ And that’s really what we did.”

PIAA girls' playoffs:Delone Catholic girls' basketball gets revenge, beats Allentown Central Catholic at states

Weekend preview:Long road trips await York-Adams League's 3 state basketball quarterfinalists

Central slammed the pedal to the floor at the end of the third quarter after Red Lion had whittled a double-digit deficit down to five. After 3-point plays by juniors Ben Rill and Ben Natal, Panthers senior Greg Guidinger added the exclamation point with a smooth turnaround jumper just before the buzzer. The 9-0 run to end the period stretched Central York’s lead to 52-38, and the Lions never got back within single digits.

Natal led all scorers with 25 points, while Guidinger notched 19 of his 23 after intermission. Rill added 14 points, including 10 in the second half. Red Lion senior Joe Sedora reached 1,000 career points in the second quarter and finished the contest with 18. Fellow seniors Dakarai Dennis and Chris Williams added 12 apiece for the Lions, who also got 10 from freshman Isaiah Ogurcak.

The buildup to Wednesday’s clash had been mounting all season. Central York beat Red Lion twice on its way to the York-Adams Division I title, including a 64-62 triumph at the buzzer on Feb. 8. The Lions missed their chance to play the Panthers again in the league title game, but they made the most of their opportunity in the district quarterfinals, pulling off a 66-65 stunner on the road. It took Red Lion placing third in the district tournament, Central winning twice to finish fifth and both teams earning state playoff victories last Saturday for another meeting to be possible. Many games at this stage are played at neutral sites multiple hours from both schools, making Wednesday's atmosphere that much more special.

Natal scored five points in the first 31 seconds, but the Lions answered with a 10-2 run to take a three-point lead. Central York, though, led 14-12 after the first quarter and took the lead for good early in the second period. The Panthers closed the first half on a 9-1 run, punctuated by a wide-open Natal dunk at the halftime horn that made it 30-19.

“Ben Natal was absolutely unstoppable,” Hoke said of the junior, who had 15 points at the break. “He was unstoppable and unselfish.”

There were a few instances in the third quarter where it seemed the momentum might swing toward the Lions. Ogurcak sank a 3-pointer to close the gap to 39-33 in the middle of the frame, but the Panthers responded. Red Lion also caught a break when Rill was whistled for a travel on a breakaway dunk, and layups by Williams and Sedora suddenly had their team back within five. After Central’s big run, though, the Lions got no closer than 10 points in the fourth.

As reality sank in and fans started to trickle out of the gym, Red Lion coach Steve Schmehl pulled his seniors — Sedora, Williams and Dennis — to a standing ovation in the final minute.

“It’s a special group,” Schmehl said of the trio. “Those three guys have been through a lot, and not only are they great basketball players, but they’re a lot of fun to be around. We’re gonna miss them.”

Sedora reaching the 1,000-point milestone seemed inconceivable when the 6-5 senior broke his ankle in October. After initially hoping to return sometime in February, Sedora was able to return on Jan. 5 and ultimately appear in 21 games. The Lions started 1-4 in his absence but won four straight to close December and closed the regular season 15-7. Their fifth and final postseason victory was the program’s first in the PIAA tournament since 2004.

“At the start of the year, we didn’t know what was gonna happen with our best player. We didn’t know if he was gonna play at all. We didn’t start well — at that point, it’s like, ‘We have no idea if we’re gonna win five or six games,’” Schmehl said. “So it’s really, really cool to be able to get to this point and have the guys stick together.”

Central York, meanwhile, stuck together after a gut punch of a loss 19 days ago. Guidinger recalls being “shell-shocked” in the locker room after that Red Lion game and screaming in the bathroom out of frustration. This time, those were screams of elation.

“At the end of the day, I see it as a blessing in disguise, because I think it really turned our season around,” Guidinger said. “It gave us the motivation and the fire to kind of mature and level up, in a sense, because we realized we weren’t invincible and that if we didn’t play to our best — if we didn’t go out there and play like dogs, play hard — we were gonna lose a game. 

“This is it. This is it for me. And my guys stepped up, the coaches stepped up and we got it done.”