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Muncy showcases how well-rounded it is in 49-39 win against South Williamsport

By Chris Masse 6 min read

Opponents have thrown seemingly every defense Ross Eyer’s way this season. Wednesday at South Williamsport, Mountie defenders tried their best to stick like glue against the dynamic Muncy junior.

Muncy welcomes teams focusing so much attention upon Eyer. It allows the Indians ample opportunity to show everyone how well-rounded they are. Muncy provided its latest example in front of a huge crowd at South, winning a hard-fought 49-39 contest.

Eyer did his thing and produced his 19th straight double-double, finishing with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Still, it was the sum of all Muncy’s parts which again had the Indians (15-5) clicking so well. All five starters made big impacts at key junctures and Muncy led from early on, building an 18-point third quarter lead against a team it edged in overtime last month. Noah Confer scored 12 points, Branson Eyer and Gio Persun each grabbed nine rebounds and Loudon Boring effectively ran the offense as Muncy took a big step toward securing a home District 4 Class AA quarterfinal.

“What a lot of teams don’t realize is, let’s say you take me and Branson out of the game, there’s always three guys on the court who do their job and can score the basketball,” Ross Eyer said. “Whenever teams come up with a box-and-one or a triangle-and-two, we’re not worried because we know everyone is going to do their job the way they’re supposed to.”

It has been that way throughout the last two seasons with Muncy going 26-10 during that time. Branson Eyer, Persun and reserves Eli Weikle and Michael Fry all have topped 20 points in a game during the last two years, three doing so this season. Confer is one of the year’s breakout sophomore performers and has reached double figures in five of his last six games.

Ross Eyer is a versatile 6-foot-4 threat who is becoming a matchup dilemma with his inside skills catching up to his tremendous outside shooting. But he does not have to force anything and Muncy continues turning extra attention on him to its advantage. And all five on the court working as one is making Muncy look mighty dangerous in a stacked District 4 field.

“You name a defense and we’ve seen it. We’ve seen that junk all year, but we have other guys, so we don’t have a problem with it,” Muncy coach Jason Gresh said. “We have plenty of options and Loudon does an unbelievable job of keeping everyone calm and making sure we’re in an offense and executing it.”

“I feel like we’ve gotten to that point in the season where we’re all jelling,” Ross Eyer said. “We know what we’re supposed to do and Gresh has done a good job of making sure we execute our jobs.”

The coaching staff has shown the same kind of chemistry the players have and that group collectively decided Tuesday it would switch defenses up and go with a 2-3 zone. Muncy usually plays man-to-man but thought it could exploit some matchups, going zone. Neither Eyer, nor Gresh could recall the last time Muncy played an entire game in a zone defense but the Indians executed it like they had played it all year.

Muncy had South (11-9) settling for perimeter shots throughout the first half while building a 28-12 halftime advantage. South took 16 of its 26 first-half shots from behind the arc and made just one. During a stretch which bridged early in the first quarter until the third-quarter’s final seconds, South missed 18 straight 3-point attempts and by the time the streak ended, Muncy led 40-25.

“We practice it a little bit but it’s not something we spent whole season on,” Eyer said. “We kind of had it put in early in the season and we work on it here and there, but (Tuesday) we really harped on it and made sure to get low and make them shoot those jump shots. They couldn’t really hit jump shots until the end of the game so it worked out well for us.”

“We had good looks in the first half and just didn’t make them. Being home and having the homecourt advantage, we have to knock down those shots,” South coach Joe Simon said. “That would have gotten them out of that zone real quick. I don’t blame them for sitting in it the whole game.”

South was down but not out and Sequan Roberts caught fire early in the fourth quarter, scoring eight straight Mountie points. His corner 3-pointer pulled South within 42-33 with more than five minutes remaining but it could get no closer. South missed a shot and turned the ball over on its next two possessions. Ross Eyer then drained two free throws before converting a 3-point play off a Boring assist to put Muncy up 14. Boring helped clinch the game late, running the court well and finding Eyer in transition for a layup.

Lee Habalar is enjoying an outstanding junior season for South and scored 12 points while adding eight rebounds. Alex Neidig produced eight points and Grant Bachman pulled down six rebounds. Roberts played his first game in three weeks and is still working his way back into the mix, but having the versatile junior back could make South more dangerous as the playoffs approach.

“Sequan knows what the future holds for him and his position on the team coming back. The team has embraced him back in the rotation, so we’re working him back in as we need to,” Simon said. “We missed some crucial games with him being out, but the important ones are coming up this week and then in the playoffs. He definitely makes us better and he jells well with the team when he’s in there.”

Muncy has developed its bond over the last three seasons with both starters and reserves have played well together during that time. That cohesiveness was evident throughout the first half as the Indians kept extending their lead. The Indians efficiently moved the ball, set each other up for quality looks and scored 18 second-quarter points.

When Muncy was not scoring off set plays, it was crashing the boards and producing second and third-chance scoring opportunities. Muncy emphasized hitting the boards hard entering the game and put words into action, outrebounding South, 37-25. Every starter grabbed at least three rebounds and Muncy also made 12 of 13 foul shots.

“We came out in the first half and played great. We played absolutely wonderful,” Gresh said. “It started with JV. The JV executed the offense so well and that’s huge for the varsity team to see that. If they can do it they think we better be able to do it, too. The JV started the process and we were getting exactly what we wanted out of the offenses.”

MUNCY (49)

Ross Eyer 6 7-7 20, Branson Eyer 2 1-2 5, Noah Confer 5 2-2 12, Gio Persun 3 2-2 8, Loudon Boring 2 0-0 4, Eli Weikle 0 0-0 0, Michael Fry 0 0-0 0, Eli Slamka 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-13 49.

SOUTH (39)

Lee Habalar 4 3-4 12, Sequan Roberts 3 0-0 8, Grant Bachman 2 0-0 5, Ben Manning 0 0-0 0, Aaron Akers 2 2-4 6, Alex Neidig 3 0-0 8, Caden Harris 0 0-0 0, Radley Knapp 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 5-8 39.

Muncy 10 18 12 9 — 49

South 3 9 13 14 — 39

3-point goals: Muncy 1 (R. Eyer); South 6 (Roberts 2, Neidig 2, Habalar, Bachman).

Records: Muncy 15-5. South 11-9.

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