He's been slowed, and at times sidelined, this season by a shoulder sprain, concussion, and right and left ankle sprains.
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That Taylor McDuffie keeps coming back is one reason why the senior forward personifies a Hempfield squad that's been knocked down but never knocked out.
"We've been down so many times," McDuffie said. "We know what we have to do to come back."
Case in point came Friday in Landisville. With his injured right shoulder encased in a brace, the 6-foot-5, 240-pound McDuffie muscled his way inside to score six of his 14 points in the decisive fourth quarter.
In the process, he teamed with Zach Sheetz, Christian Walck and Ethan Strayer to rally the Black Knights to a scintillating 57-56 L-L Section One win over Penn Manor.
A Taylor-made victory?
You could say that.
"He hasn't been healthy all season, but he wants to be out there," Hempfield coach Warren Goodling said. "He's hungry; he wants to play.
"I thought we could go inside today, and work inside-out."
Sheetz hit five 3-pointers and scored a team-high 16 points. The senior guard drilled two treys in a fourth quarter that saw six lead changes, four in the final 2:50.
Walck scored the eventual winning points from the free throw line, draining two after drawing a foul on a baseline layup with 32 seconds left.
Senior swingman Pat Welsh pumped in five treys — three in the fourth quarter — and paced Penn Manor with a game-best 21 points. Guard Jon Brooks sank four treys and scored 16.
Hempfield, which has already won the section title, improved to 14-0 in the L-L and 20-0 overall with two games remaining in the regular season. The Knights are seeking to match last year's 16-0 mark and are two wins shy of becoming the first L-L boys' team to complete the regular season undefeated since 2003 Lancaster Catholic (14-0, 23-0).
Hempfield closes its regular season by playing at Manheim Township on Monday and hosting McCaskey on Wednesday.
Penn Manor (9-5, 13-7) fell to third place in the section, one-half game behind McCaskey (9-4, 13-6), which was idle Friday due to the winter storm that blanketed the area. The Red Tornado will host Manheim Township in a makeup game on Tuesday.
The Comets and Tornado are both vying for Section One's second playoff spot. Penn Manor hosts Warwick (8-5, 12-7) Monday and is at Cedar Crest (6-7, 9-9) Wednesday. The Tornado host Crest on Monday and Township (6-7, 9-9) on Tuesday, then travel to Hempfield Wednesday for the regular season finale.
The L-L boys' playoffs begin Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Yet as far as the Knights were concerned, the playoffs might as well have started Friday. It was that kind of atmosphere at Hempfield, which took center stage as host to the lone L-L boys' game to be played.
"At halftime," Goodling said, "I told our team, 'Fellas, this is a great game. This is what a state playoff game is like.'"
Fueled by Welsh, who scored 10 first-quarter points, and Brooks, who netted eight in the second, the Comets led by as much as nine early on. It wasn't until Lee Eckert, at 6-4, 270 the biggest of the Knights' "bigs," dropped in a layup late in the third that Hempfield grabbed its first lead since the opening quarter.
The final eight minutes were a tug-of-war. McDuffie filled the role of inside hammer, and Sheetz strayed to the perimeter to trade treys with Welsh and Brooks.
Welsh's lane jumper with 1:07 left put Penn Manor up, 56-53. Strayer's rebound basket brought the Knights to within a point with 36 seconds to go, and Walck's free throws completed the comeback.
"We knew it was going to be a real hard game," McDuffie said. "We knew it was going to be intense and it was, right down to the end."
