Antietam Takes Home Silver

The Mounts were trying to make history at the Giant Center in Hershey. Mt. Penn won the school’s last District 3 title in 1972. Antietam had been close to claiming gold before. The Mounts were the District 3 runner-up in 1994, 2019, and last year when they fell to Lancaster Mennonite 80-67. They got another shot at the Blazers on Saturday afternoon and this was a much closer contest. Jovan Hollis finished a fastbreak with six minutes remaining to give Antietam a 46-43 advantage. The (20-5) Mounts wouldn’t score again. Third-seeded Mennonite scored the final nine points for a 52-46 victory. It’s the Blazers’ third District 3 championship. David Weaver’s layup put them on top 47-46 with three and a-half minutes to go. The 6’7 junior was a factor on both ends of the floor with twelve points and six blocks. Camden Hurst’s nifty assist to Jaedon Mast made it 49-46 with 1:45 left. Hurst poured in a game-high 19 points. The 6’2 junior is up to 1,083 career points. He dropped 32 on the Mounts in last year’s District 3 Final. Antietam junior guard Carson Lubas missed an open 3-pointer from the right wing with just over one minute to play. Mast and Hurst went 3-4 from the free throw line to seal it. The (16-9) Blazers were 11-16 from the charity stripe, while the top-seeded Mounts went 8-11. Antietam connected on just two of its thirteen attempts from beyond the arc. Hector Tiburcio had a team-high twelve points, but was plagued by foul trouble. The all-county selection picked up his third foul with 3:21 left in the opening period. The 6’2 senior got his fourth two minutes into the second quarter. Tiburcio stayed on the floor. He had six points at the break. Hollis was also whistled for four fouls in the first half. A total of 19 fouls were called in the first 16 minutes. The Mounts raced out to a 6-0 lead. Hurst’s layup in transition gave Mennonite its first edge at 19-18 three minutes into the second period. Sophomore Jadyn Taylor (8 points) knotted the score at 25 with a layup in the closing seconds of the first half. Antietam moved in front 41-39 after the third quarter. The Mounts, who average 58 points, were outscored 13-5 in the last period including the six minute drought. 6’2 sophomore guard Josh McKoy provided eleven points. Hollis chipped in with ten and Lubas had seven. Tiburcio will enter the state playoffs with 1,409 career points. He erupted for 29 in last year’s District 3 championship game. Tiburcio had 23 in Antietam’s 74-65 loss to the Blazers on December 18th. Mennonite was the runner-up this season in Section 5 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League. The Mounts won the Division 4 title in the Berks Conference. Both teams will begin the Class 2A state tournament on Wednesday.