Neuqua's all business, tops Hersey

It was a good thing Neuqua Valley put on a great show Saturday night at the York Turkey Tournament against Hersey.

After all, there were some chief executive officers in the stands.

A group of Neuqua Valley student superfans, dressed to the nines and passing out hors d'oeuvres to the crowd, called themselves the "CEOs" and said, according to senior Justin Brosseau, that they were there not only to support the team but also to "entertain the crowd."

So were the Wildcats.

Six-foot-5 Neuqua Valley senior forward Dwayne Evans scored a game-high 19 points as the uptempo Wildcats turned back a determined Hersey team 69-50 and win their third straight York title.

Huskies senior Kyle Miklasz led his team with 15 points but was held scoreless in the second half.

"We let them get to the rim," said Hersey coach Steve Messer. "We didn't take any charges, and we didn't even attempt to take a charge."

"This was a very hard-fought, physical game," said Neuqua Valley coach Todd Sutton. "We found it difficult to score on them, but I think they found it difficult to score against us."

Hersey fought back from a quick double digit deficit to get within 5 points twice in the second quarter with post players Brian Fabrizius (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Tom Sutrinaitis (11 points) giving the Huskies a spark.

But a 12-point run early in the third by Neuqua Valley, puncuated by a 3-pointer by senior Kyle Pembrook (12 points) that gave the Wildcats a 21 point lead, effectively put the game away.

So did the Neuqua defense, which allowed Hersy only 5 third-quarter points.

"We picked up our defensive intensity tonight," said Pembrook. "In our first 3 games (all wins), we let our opponents run up the score."

Center Kareem Amedu scored 10 tough points inside for the Wildcats while Sam Johnson and Rahjan Muhammad each pitched in with 8.

"We focused on our defense tonight," added Pembrook, "and let the offense come to us, because we knew we'd be able to score."