It was advertised as a clash of unbeatens atop Section Four, but it turned out to be one very lopsided battle.
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Lancaster Catholic led wire-to-wire and used a dominating third quarter to blow past Annville-Cleona, 52-31, Friday night in Lancaster.
The win pushes the Crusaders' section record to 5-0 and overall mark to 7-2, while the Little Dutchmen fell to 4-1 and 8-3.
"They were coming to our place so we wanted to make sure we came out and were very aggressive and we were going to dictate the pace," said Crusader coach Joe Klazas. "We were going to play the way we play and see what happens."
The way they played this night was a smothering, press defense that created havoc pretty much from start to finish for a Dutchmen starting lineup that features four underclassmen.
"We knew they were going to trap, but my young guys weren't quite ready for that kind of pressure," said A-C coach Mark Linebaugh. "They made us sloppy. They're a physical team, they're aggressive and they really caused us a lot of issues."
Tyler Purvis scored a game-high 14 points to lead three Crusader scorers in double figures. Will Schlosser had 13 points, while Phil Wenger added 12.
Purvis scored nine of his points in the opening quarter when Catholic began to prove who the cream of the crop in the section is.
Leading 13-12 with 1:28 left in the quarter, Schlosser scored two straight buckets and the Crusaders led 17-12 after one. Schlosser (13 points) wasn't done. He scored the first five points of the second quarter and Wenger added a third unanswered basket and suddenly the Catholic lead grew to 24-12.
The Dutchmen cut the lead in half and trailed 26-20 with 2:16 left in the half, but on three subsequent trips down the floor, A-C turned it over and the Crusaders converted the turnovers into four points in the final minute to take a 30-20 lead into the locker room.
"We were trying to keep it close, within striking distance," said Linebaugh, of the closing moments of the first half. "To give up four straight and go from six to 10 was really demoralizing, I think, for this group."
A-C's Trey Blanding opened the second half with a bucket at the 7:27 mark. After that, things quickly went downhill for the Dutchmen. They didn't score for the rest of the quarter and watched Catholic reel off 13 straight points, extending the lead to 43-22 heading into the final quarter.
In the quarter, the Dutchmen shot 1-for-8 from the floor and had three turnovers.
The Crusader eruption continued into the fourth when they seven straight out of the gate, making it a 20-0 run in all that gave them a 50-22 lead with 5:04 to play.
"We talked about how every possession defensively was important and we couldn't take breaks," said Klazas. "It was important that we consistently played solid defense."
A-C went 10:40 without scoring a point, until Tyson Hayes finally found the net with 4:47 left to go.
"It really came down to effort and the physicality part of the game and they just whipped us and took it to us in every part of the game," said Linebaugh.
Just as an unbeaten, first-place team should.
