DISTRICT 3-AAAA BOYS' BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
8 York (YAIAA, 21-6) vs. 3 Cedar Crest (L-L, 25-4), at Giant Center, 1 p.m. today
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YORK
Probable starters
2 Brandon Smallwood 6-4 so F (7.9 ppg)
5 Kristopher Johnson 6-5 so G (9.4 ppg)
11 D'Montie Shaw 6-1 jr G (7.7 ppg)
15 Trey Shifflett 5-11 so G (12.1 ppg)
23 Jahaire Wilson 6-3 jr F (14.4 ppg)
Top reserves
10 Stephen Dickson 5-11 sr G (6.9 ppg)
22 Jeshaun Maddox 6-2 sr G (4.2 ppg)
32 Henry Favers 6-4 sr F (2.8 ppg)
About the Bearcats: Head coach Troy Sowers is a York High product who's been at the helm since 2008. He's previously directed the Bearcats to 3-AAAA finals berths in 2009 (lost to CD East), 2011 (beat Red Land) and 2013 (lost to Harrisburg). ... Overall, York is hunting its 11th D3 title to go along with crowns from 2011, 1995, 1980, 1971, 1960, 1958, 1950, 1949, 1948 and 1925. ... Bearcats started 8-5 this season, including an overtime loss to South Western, and finished third (10-4) in the YAIAA's Division I behind Central York (14-0) and Red Lion (11-4). The team then advanced to the YAIAA tournament championship where it lost to Central for a second time this season. Other losses this year were to Red Lion, Harrisburg and West York, though Bearcats have won 13 of their last 14 overall. ... Starts all underclassmen, accounting for the sluggish start to the season. Wilson, the leading scorer, tacks on 11.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. Smallwood grabs 5.5 rebounds per game, and Dickson pops off the bench to contribute 4.7 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. ... York scores 66.2 points per game, allows 57.4. ... Defeated McCaskey in the Round of 16, top-seeded Wilson in the quarterfinals and Hershey in the semifinals to get here.
CEDAR CREST
Probable starters
3 Seth Daubert 5-8 sr G (4.3 ppg)
5 Josh Bucher 5-9 jr G (7.9 ppg)
14 Nick Miller 6-1 jr F (7.3 ppg)
25 Andrew Eudy 6-6 sr F (10.4 ppg)
33 Evan Horn 6-0 so G (10.0 ppg)
Top reserves
11 Zach Gristick 6-0 sr G (4.9 ppg)
12 Soren Frost 6-0 jr G (1.1 ppg)
20 Jimmy Kern 5-8 jr G (1.8 ppg)
23 Dominic Garloff 5-9 jr G (3.7 ppg)
42 Andrew Eberhart 6-7 jr F (4.9 ppg)
About the Falcons: Head coach Tommy Smith, a Cedar Crest product, is in his fourth season in charge. ... The Falcons had never previously reached a District 3 championship game, let alone won one. ... Cedar Crest finished tied for first with McCaskey (13-3) in the Lancaster-Lebanon League's Section 1, beat the Red Tornado in the tiebreaker, then went on to win the program's first L-L tourney title since 1976. ... Enters the finals on a nine-game winning streak. Losses this season came to Central York, Hempfield, Manheim Twp. and Warwick. ... Smith will play 10 guys regularly, with Horn, arguably the team's premier defender, the least likely to spend long chunks on the bench. ... With only three seniors in the regular rotation, Falcons, like York, expect to be a challenger to division, conference and D3 crowns next year as well. ... Crest scores 56.6 points per game, allows 44.7. ... Defeated Exeter in the Round of 16, Cumberland Valley in the quarterfinals and Central York in the semifinals to get here.
MOVING FORWARD: The winner of this game will meet District 1's 10th seed, Haverford, next Saturday in the first round of the PIAA Class AAAA tournament. The loser will get the winner of today's District 1 seventh-place game between Spring-Ford and Central Bucks West. Both of those games next weekend will be played in District 3 venues.
ANALYSIS: This isn't your typical pressing York High team that wants to run foes out of the gym. In fact, Sowers boasts a versatile lineup that will attack a foe's weaknesses. The Bearcats can, and have, won up-tempo games, and they've also slowed things down, as they did in the semis against a previously flourishing Hershey offense. However, Cedar Crest, despite its layers of depth, doesn't push a frenetic pace. So 60 points, if we even get that high, could win this game. ... Some keys for the eighth-seeded Bearcats are building a lead and being the dictators of tempo, plus hitting the glass with bigs like Wilson, Smallwood and Johnson, as they did against Hershey (20 offensive rebounds). For the Falcons, they'll, of course, want to run things at their own pace and will need to be physical defensively and in boxing out. ... Johnson, at 6-5, presents a matchup problem because he's bigger than any guard that would defend him, and if you keep a forward on him as he roams the arc, that's one less big body inside to deter drives and battle for boards.
THE PICK: Hard to pick against either side right now, as both are riding hot. York is miles ahead of where it was in December, as Sowers points out that his sophomores are no longer playing like sophomores. Johnson was a beast against Hershey, nailing five treys and finishing with a game-high 19, though it was Wilson's interior play that sparked a game-ending 14-3 run. ... Cedar Crest, as you surely remember, scored a dramatic comeback victory over Central York in the semis, rallying from a 13-point deficit over the final 6:49 and winning on a full-length pass-catch-step-shoot from Horn to Eudy to beat the buzzer in the 49-47 triumph. There was something magical about that play and this team. That said, the Falcons were rather sluggish for three quarters against Central, so we're giving the slightest edge to the Bearcats. York by 3.