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Evan Laudenslager produces double-double in South’s win over Hughesville boys

Evan Laudenslager is a guard playing a big man’s position. On a team lacking significant size, the senior being nearly 6-feet tall is good enough.

So is he.

Laudenslager has become an excellent forward and what he lacks in size he compensates for with strength, toughness and pogo-stick like jumping ability. Combine those qualities with his guard skills and one has a super all-around threat. Have all those qualities come together on the same night and one delivers a performance like the beauty Laudenslager did Thursday against visiting Hughesville.

Laudenslager took the game over during a game-breaking second-quarter run, produced 19 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and four steals and helped South defeat Hughesville, 55-40. Laudenslager grabbed four offensive rebounds during that critical 20-4 second-quarter flurry and made Senior Night one to remember. South (10-3) defeated Hughesville for the first time in more than 15 years while winning for the 10th time in 11 games.

“We like to shock people with our size. Even though were smaller, we can get up pretty high and grab those boards really well,” Laudenslager said. “The hustle players help a lot. That gets the bench going and get the whole team into it.”

Laudenslager had all the Mounties into things when he dominated the second quarter. After Hughesville (2-11) pulled within a point early in the second, Laudenslager started owning the offensive glass. He produced five points off three offensive boards in less than two minutes, then fed Grant Bachman inside for a layup which capped a 13-0 run and gave South a 25-11 lead which never would shrink below double digits.

Laudenslager scored seven points, pulled down five rebounds, made two steals and added an assist during the second quarter as South built a 32-15 halftime lead. The senior forward also helped the Mounties hold a 20-11 rebounding advantage at that point and the relentless work on the glass dramatically altered the game’s complexion.

“On the biggest stage tonight, on Senior Night, that’s great for him to do that,” South coach Rob Houseknecht said. “He can do that every single night if he wants to. Tonight, it really helped when we were struggling a little bit.”

Bachman formed a dynamic rebounding duo with Laudenslager, going for 10 points and 10 rebounds. Bachman is the team’s tallest starter at 6-2, but he and Laudenslager have been playing like 7-footers in recent games, combining for 19 rebounds in Tuesday’s win against Muncy. Both continued hurting Hughesville in the third quarter, combining for eight points and helping stifle any momentum each time the Spartans attempted rallying.

By late in the third quarter, Laudenslager already had a double-double and Bachman joined him later in the fourth.

“We don’t really have huge size on our hands. Both of them are both very athletic and I keep asking them to give me more and more on the offensive boards and tonight it showed,” Houseknecht said. “They were after it all night long which helped us get on that nice little streak that we went on.”

They had plenty of help, too. Houseknecht is receiving positive contributions from every player he uses and reserves like Lee Habalar and Ben Manning provided outstanding minutes Thursday. Trent Hampton scored eight points, Secoy Roberts dealt three assists, Lee Habalar set an early tone with a 3-pointer and the defense swarmed.

“Being my senior year, we’re trying to prove ourselves this year and go on a pretty good run,” Laudenslager said. “We don’t care who scores. Whoever is playing the best we’re going to get him the ball. Everyone out there is pretty solid.”

South’s strong performance overshadowed one of the area’s top individual defensive performances this season. Hughesville guard Mikey Dylina was sensational and stuck to the prolific Roberts like glue. Despite not playing last year, Dylina has proven a quick study and has made immense progress on both ends.

Given his toughest assignment this year, Dylina put on a defensive clinic and consistently prevented the explosive Roberts from getting to the basket. Of Roberts’ seven points, none came from the field when Dylina was guarding him.

“He was phenomenal. It was fantastic,” Hughesville coach Nick Tagliaferri said. “That was one of the more impressive individual defensive performances I’ve seen from one of our guys in four or five years and that’s saying a lot for our guys because we have some dudes that can guard, He did a great job. That was a definite bright spot.”

Carter Cowburn returned from injury and provided Hughesville 11 points and eight rebounds. Dylan Bieber added 10 points and four rebounds. The Spartans have no seniors and have been decimated throughout the season while competing against one of the district’s toughest schedules.

There is plenty of upside, but Hughesville often has experienced one bad quarter in most of its losses which has doomed it. It happened again Thursday when South outscored it, 20-6 in the second quarter. Tagliaferri is optimistic about the team’s future, but also would like to see the Spartans respond better in those situations.

“Not having an offseason certainly didn’t help when you have a really young team. We’re getting exposed to the situations that we would have been exposed to in April, May, June and July,” Tagliaferri said. “It is what it is. We have to be stronger mentally. There’s no doubt about it.”

HUGHESVILLE (40)

Dylan Bieber 4 0-0 10, Nick Trevouledes 1 0-0 2, Carter Cowburn 4 3-7 11, Mikey Dylina 0 0-0 0, Trent Knarr 1 0-0 2, Ethan Woolcock 0 0-0 0, Luke Kaiser 2 0-0 4, Brady Snyder 0 0-0 0, Landen King 1 0-0 2, Logan Kiess 0 0-0 0, Logan Armstrong 0 0-0 0, Justin Fowler 2 0-0 6, Cam Fetterman 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 3-7 40.

SOUTH (55)

Secoy Roberts 2 3-6 7, Evan Laudenslager 8 3-5 19, Grant Bachman 4 2-4 10, Ben Manning 2 0-0 5, Trent Hampton 2 2-2 8, Landon Sanford 1 0-0 3, Lee Habalar 1 0-0 3, Aaron Akers 0 0-0 0, DJ Gantz 0 0-0 0, Conner Apker 0 0-0 0, Noah Banzhof 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-17 55.

Hughesville 9 6 13 12–40

South 12 20 15 8–55

3-point goals: Hughesville 5 (Bieber 2, Fowler 2, Fetterman 1), South 5 (Hampton 2, Manning 1, Sanford 1, Habalar 1).

JV Score: South, 39-30.

Records: South (10-3), Hughesville (2-11).

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