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Lisembee helps Muncy surge past Montgomery

By Chris Masse 6 min read

MONTGOMERY--Shortly after Stiles Eyer earned co-Mid-Penn Defensive Player of the Year honors a year ago, Muncy teammate Kyran Lisembee delivered him a message.

"I’m coming for you."

The sophomore was not joking. The bigger winner in that competition is the entire team. Now, Muncy has two defensive stoppers and, well before he sealed Tuesday’s hard-fought win against rival Montgomery with a late scoring flurry, Lisembee made a huge impact.

Lisembee locked down explosive Montgomery guard Parker Bennett, scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds, helping Muncy defeat the Red Raiders, 64-42 in front of a loud, large crowd. The sophomore point guard was one of four Indians who reached double figures as Muncy (16-2, 6-0 Mid-Penn) delivered one of its most complete performances this season while winning a seventh straight game.

"I wasn’t lying when I told Stiles I was coming for him," Lisembee said. "I’m trying to make a name for myself, and I’ll be a defensive player if I need to."

Lisembee started making that name as a freshman and was a valuable reserve on a team which repeated as District 4 Class AA champions. Now, he has taken the point guard role and become one of the area’s best perimeter defenders. Lisembee’s ability to stick with the opponent’s best guard allows coach Jason Gresh to use Eyer in a variety of ways, making Muncy more dangerous as a whole.

Tuesday, Lisembee faced the difficult task of guarding Bennett, a hard-working, athletic and versatile guard. He embraced the challenge, however, and held him to 11 points, nine fewer than his average. Lisembee sticking like glue to Bennett set the tone and Muncy played super team defense, giving up good looks at a premium while building a 34-17 halftime lead.

"Parker is a really good basketball player, and I just wanted to slow him down. We all played well on defense," Lisembee said. "We wanted to hold them around 40 and we all did our jobs."

"I’ve said so many times that Kyran and Stiles are such a luxury to have because that defense is what they care about. Kyran canceling out their best player is a huge piece," Gresh said. "The team defense did a good job of listening to the game plan and executing the game plan."

Growing up, Lisembee said his defensive skills far surpassed his offensive ability, so that’s what he focused upon. As his defense has kept improving, however, Lisembee also has come light years offensively and now provides Muncy a quality all-around threat running the offense. A player who often fills up the stat sheet with assists, rebounds and steals showed off his explosive streak at a crucial time.

After whipping a pass to Kohen Meyer for a buzzer-beating layup before halftime, Lisembee helped Muncy drop the hammer by scoring six points in under a minute late in the game after Montgomery had closed within 13. His 14 points also were a season-high and Lisembee added three assists.

"Before the game my dad was talking to me on the car ride up to the school and telling me that if I know I have a physical advantage against someone I need to use that advantage to help my team out, so on offense once I got the switch with someone who wasn’t as fast as I was, it was one move and I just had to go," Lisembee said. "I was confident I was going to make it because I need to help my team out in those clutch situations because I know my teammates depend on me."

All those players competing as one helped Muncy continue surging as the playoffs draw closer. The Indians never trailed and dissected a tough defense early and often, taking a 20-10 first quarter lead and never letting Montgomery (11-5, 2-3) draw within single digits again. Highlighting the team’s balance, all five starters scored and all five had assists less than six minutes into the game.

All five starters scored at least seven points, four were in double figures and Kohen Meyer and Jaxton Frantz played well off the bench. It was hard stopping Muncy Tuesday because someone consistently had a hot hand, and different players constantly found a way to get that player the ball.

"We did a really good job of running our offenses and running our sets to get things we wanted and things that we thought we could exploit," Gresh said. "As a team that’s a pretty good team win. That’s basically who we are right now. That’s basically who we are, period. We had four guys in double digits and that’s kind of the way it is. We controlled the boards and that’s what you’re looking for."

Eyer (12 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists) and Ken Hampe (13 points, 10 rebounds) both produced double-doubles and were a big factor in Muncy holding a decisive rebounding edge. So was Nate Rogers who added eight boards and Dominic Guardini who finished with 11 points and five rebounds.

Muncy’s ability to defend, efficiently move the ball and find the open player had it holding a 45-27 lead entering the fourth quarter. Montgomery fought hard and did not go away with Ethan Tupper finding Briar Persing and making it a 47-34 game 5 minutes, 41 seconds remaining. The Indians, however, responded with a 7-0 run before Lisembee put an exclamation point on his stellar performance with his six-point spurt.

"These guys were very workmanlike. They are very workmanlike during practice and games," Gresh said. "They’re not too high, not too low. They just keep playing. We don’t get ridiculous out there and that’s the key."

Bennett added six rebounds to go along with his 11 points, while Hayden Wilt played an excellent game for Montgomery, scoring 11 points and adding four assists. Persing scored eight points and Brady O’Rourke added seven with five rebounds off the bench.

Montgomery trailed 16-10 late in the first quarter but the Indians went on a 10-0 run which stretched into the second quarter and had the Raiders in a precarious situation from there.

"Even though we were up big at times, it was a battle until the clock hit zero," Lisembee said. "It was loud and kind of chippy, and the crowd was involved which made it a really fun game."

MUNCY (64)

Nate Rogers 2 3-4 7, Kyran Lisembee 6 2-4 14, Stiles Eyer 6 0-2 12, Jaxton Frantz 1 0-0 3, Dominic Guardini 5 0-0 11, Kohen Meyer 1 2-4 4, Ken Hampe 6 1-4 13. Totals 27 8-18 64.

MONTGOMERY (42)

Hayden Wilt 5 0-0 11, Damaj Stewart-Williams 0 0-0 0, Jace Hanford 0 2-2 2, Briar Persing 3 1-4 8, Ethan Tupper 1 1-4 4, Brady O’Rourke 3 0-2 6. Totals 16 7-16 42.

Muncy 20 14 11 19--64

Montgomery 10 7 10 15--42

3-pointers: Muncy 2 (Frantz, Guardini); Montgomery 3 (Wilt, Persing, Tupper).

Records: Muncy 16-2, 6-0 Mid-Penn. Montgomery 11-5, 2-3.

Starting at /week.