Guidinger set to close Central York career in state championship game

Central York boys’ basketball senior Greg Guidinger shared an emotional embrace with head coach Jeff Hoke as the clock struck zero on Tuesday night.

He ran to the other side of the court to celebrate with the Panthers’ student section. He and his teammates rapped Meek Mill lyrics — “I used to pray for times like this” — in the victorious locker room. At the end of a postgame interview, he shouted: “Yes sir!”

The most decorated player in program history has one game remaining in his high school career — the most important of them all.

Central York is set to play for a state championship for the first time ever. A win Saturday night in Hershey would mark the first PIAA title in history for a York-Adams public school basketball team.

The Panthers secured 79-65 victory over Reading on Tuesday in an action-packed Class 6A semifinal showdown at Warwick High School in Lilitz. They’ll play Parkland for a state title at 8 p.m. Saturday on the floor of the Giant Center.

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Guidinger, the 6-foot-7 son of an NBA player and a Division I college prospect, is one of several Panthers who’ve long seemed destined for the big stage. But this moment felt so far away just a month ago.

On Feb. 23, Central York left its home floor “shell-shocked.” The Panthers had earned the top seed in the District 3 Class 6A tournament and were well on track to play for a district title at the Giant Center. But with the clock winding down in a tie game against York-Adams Division I rival Red Lion in the quarterfinals, Guidinger reached in and was whistled for his fifth foul of the game, disqualifying him from the contest. Joe Sedora gave the Lions a 66-65 lead with a free throw, and Central York couldn’t get a last-second shot to fall.

The sting of that setback lingered, but it quickly became a turning point.

“The realization we had after the loss to Red Lion was so, so, so important for us, because we realized that we weren’t invincible if we didn’t work hard — that we will lose games,” Guidinger said Tuesday.

The Panthers bounced back with a pair of wins in the District 3 consolation bracket. They opened the state tournament with a victory over District 1 runner-up Garnet Valley on March 9. They earned a rematch with Red Lion and won by double digits, then knocked out District 7 champion Upper St. Clair last Saturday in Altoona. Tuesday’s win over Reading brought the season full circle, as Central York backed up its opening-night win over the Red Knights with a playoff triumph.

Guidinger’s 22 points on Tuesday brought his career total to 1,614. He reached 1,000 during last year’s district playoffs and broke Rob Keller’s program record of 1,252 points — which had stood since 1986 — in late December. He earned his second straight York-Adams Division I Player of the Year honor in February after helping lead the Panthers to a repeat league tournament title.

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This Central York team, though, is in the state final because of its incredible depth. Ben Rill, a 6-foot-8 junior forward who rejoined the Panthers in 2022 after playing at a prep school as a freshman, led the way with 28 points against an undersized Reading squad. Junior guard Ben Natal is a two-time division all-star. Sophomore guards Ryan Brown, Brooklyn Nace and Ryan Jackson have all made starts this year, as have freshman Doug Layer and junior Saxton Suchanic. 

With those pieces in place and additional talent waiting in the wings, Central York could have more lengthy playoff runs in its future. But there will be no “next year” at this level for Guidinger, whose freshman year coincided with Hoke’s first season at the helm.

“I don’t know any Central basketball without Greg,” Hoke said earlier this season. “As soon as I got here, he was a young 14-year-old, and now he’s 18 years old and we still go at it like a father and son sometimes.”

Guidinger comes from an accomplished basketball family. His parents, Jay and Khai, both played at Minnesota-Duluth; Jay was a 6-11 center who played two NBA seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Greg’s older sister, Jinda, played NCAA Division II hoops at Minnesota State. After the family moved to York in 2018, Gabe Guidinger starred at Central York for two seasons before a four-year career at D-III Juniata.

Greg was a breakout star as a freshman, averaging nearly 16 points for a team that went 12-7. The Panthers were 10-2 when Guidinger played as a sophomore but 1-9 while he was out with a sprained ankle, keeping them out of the playoffs. Last year’s squad went 22-8, winning division and league titles while falling short against the top tier of competition. Now Central York will take a 28-3 record to Hershey.

This program had won just three state playoff games in its history — two in 1984, one in 2020 — before this month. Central’s victory at Garnet Valley lifted the lid. The rematch against Red Lion was an exorcism of demons. And the two wins since have raised the Panthers’ confidence level to new heights with only one obstacle remaining.

“It was all about giving it our heart and our soul, because at this point in the season, everyone’s a contender,” Guidinger said after beating Red Lion. “At the end of the day, it’s whoever works harder that’s gonna come out on top.”

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