Twice before in his varsity basketball career, Lancaster senior standout Jakob Jerebko took the court against his pals from St. Mary’s and walked away on the short end of the stick.
On Friday night, the Legends took their turn on top. Lancaster seized control in the first half and then held on for a 76-71 win over the rival Lancers in the AdPro Public/Private Challenge at St. Mary’s.
“This is one of our biggest games of the year,” Jerebko said. “It’s The Battle of Lancaster; some of my best friends are on that team and they have been since our sophomore years. Three years of battles with them and it’s nice to finally get a win.”
The Legends took control with a 15-2 run in the first half and built a lead as many as 15 in the second half. But as they’re known for, the Lancers kept battling right down to the final buzzer. Led by Brady O’Brien – who scored 12 of his team-high 21 points in the final quarter – the Lancers got within seven on three occasions in the final minutes and within four in the final seconds.
“We gave up many threes (10), that’s for sure, that seems to be our big problem right now,” Lancaster coach John Otto said. “But like I just said to them in the locker room, we battled through the adversity. We could have just folded when they made that run but we didn’t. We knuckled down and made some free throws.”
Indeed, the Legends sealed the deal at the free throw line. In the final two minutes, Giancluca Fulciniti, Jon Kisker, Trevor Reformat, Jerebko and Justin Hughes went a combined 8-for-10 from the stripe.
“It’s all composure,” Reformat said. “We shoot tons of free throws in practice so it just comes naturally at this point.”
As he has in the last two seasons for the Legends, Jerebko played a starring role in the win. He entered the game leading the team with 15.8 points per game and added to that nicely by pouring in 27 points to lead all scorers.
He had plenty of help, too. Kisker scored 13 points, Reformat netted 12, Joe Harrington tossed in nine and Hughes scored eight for Lancaster (3-3).
“A couple of their players that I didn’t expect to make as many shots as they did … did,” St. Mary’s coach Paul Rath. “And I don’t know how many Jerebko had but it seemed like he had a lot. Give them credit, they made their shots.”
Luke Szablewski scored 20 points for St. Mary’s, including four 3-point field goals. Brandon Thome added 14 and Trent Rumley nine for the Lancers (1-2).
“The kids fought hard and got back into the game,” Rath said of his team. “We have some things to work on but we’ll get better.”
