Boys' Basketball: Hounds win home tourney
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Article RatingJoe Paterno and the New England Patriots weren’t the only ones going after milestones and records on Saturday night.
Shippensburg’s Craig Van Scyoc was going after something special too, his 1,000th point, in the Championship game of the Hound Invitational Tournament (HIT), held at Shippensburg High School on Saturday.
With the Greyhounds facing the Palmyra Cougars, a team with a couple guys taller than 6-foot-6, and Van Scyoc needing 28 points, it seemed the Ship senior would have to wait another day.
“I couldn’t not think about the 1,000 points, I wasn’t in the game early,” said Van Scyoc, who was held to two points in the first quarter. “But after I hit my first 3-pointer, everything came together for me.”
Van Scyoc scored 10 points in both the second and third quarters before coming up with a score, a 3-pointer and a foul shot in the fourth to give him 1,000 points, not to mention a free basketball to add to his collection.
The honors didn’t stop there for Van Scyoc: he was named the tournament’s MVP moments after leading his team to a 75-52 victory over the Cougars.
“We were hoping that if we could get a double-digit lead, Craig would be able to go for it,” Shippensburg coach Ray Staver said. “Everything unfolded about as well as you could’ve scripted.”
Eight different Greyhounds scored in a game where Ship set a season-high for team points. Shippensburg’s previous high-scoring game came the day before, when the Hounds exploded for 64 points against Spring Grove in the first round of the HIT.
“Both teams we played in this tournament were dangerous teams who could score,” Staver said. “We’ve been using nine guys, and tonight, from one to nine, we did a lot of big things.”
Shippensburg (6-2) took a 6-4 lead early in the first quarter and never let that advantage slip away. As a matter of fact, the Hounds just got stronger as the game went on.
Shippensburg won every quarter, outscoring Palmyra 16-13 in the first quarter, 18-11 in the second, 20-16 in third and 21-12 in the fourth.
“We wanted to take advantage of our size, but they played great defense on us,” said Palmyra coach Jeff Hoke, whose team fell to 3-9. “Craig is such a great player, I’m happy for him, he really had to earn his points tonight.”
But, for a game that was all about VanScyoc, his teammates were still able to find ways to shine:
•Whit Crabtree, who was named to the All-Tournament team, made his presence known with 18 points and eight rebounds.
•Ricky Ott, who also made it on the All-Tournament team, was responsible for getting Shippensburg off to a fast start, scoring half of his team’s 16 points in the first quarter. He finished the game with 10 points.
•Kyle Plasterer came off the bench to shoot 6-of-7 from the free throw line for the bulk of his eight points.
•Role-players like Luke Winter (5 points) and Taylor Corman did an admirable job of filling in for the foul-plagued Greyhounds. Vinny Reed may not have had the same scoring numbers as some of his teammates, but he did the little things right, like boxing out (3 rebounds), finding the open man (4 assists) and playing a little defense (1 steal).
•Even JV player Tucker Wrights got into the action, canning a 3-pointer in the closing minutes of the game.
“You want to get better if you want to contend for anything,” VanScyoc said. “As a team, we’re starting to come together.”
If Shippensburg, winners of four of its last five, can keep up with the pace it’s set for itself, the Greyhounds just may be pursuing things a little more important than 1,000-point basketballs.
Shippensburg 64, Spring Grove 53
Shippensburg won the opening game of the HIT over Spring Grove.
Leading the way for the Greyhounds was Ricky Ott — the senior finished the game with 20 points while Craig Van Scyoc tallied 17 points. Whit Crabtree finished with 12 points.
