Coming off a tight 54-53 victory at Cocalico on Thursday, January 28, the Garden Spot boys' basketball team went on the road to face another Lancaster-Lebanon League team on Wednesday, February 3, visiting Manheim Central.

The Spartans got off to a fast start, outscoring the Barons 19-10 in the first quarter. They carried a five-point advantage into the second half where they saw the Barons finally take the lead on a 20-8 run. The dominant second half led to the Barons' 61-45 victory.

Central improved to 6-4 on the year (3-3 league) while Garden Spot fell to 3-5 (2-3 league).

Jahvar Hammond's 10-point game was the top scoring performance for Spot. Joseph Sharp added nine points.

The overtime victory at Cocalico improved the team's L-L League mark to 2-2 as the Spartans battled back from an early 22-14 hole to cut the deficit to 31-26. Needing to outscore their hosts by five points or more in the fourth quarter, the Spartans did just that, closing out regulation with a 10-5 run before outscoring the Eagles 7-6 in OT.

John Dykie led the Spartans with 12 points while Jesse Martin compiled 11 in the win. Brendan Weaver finished with 10. Jonathan Vega's nine points all came from three-point range.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

In their quest for their first win of the season, the Spartans kept pace with Cocalico through three quarters of the Section Three game in New Holland on Thursday, January 28. The Eagles pulled away gradually in the final period for a 48-41 win.

The second half began with Cocalico holding a one-point lead. Garden Spot went into the fourth quarter down by only a basket.

Having another stellar game for Garden Spot was Erin Gonzalez, pouring in a team-high 19 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Taylor Soehner added 13 points.

The Spartans' next outing was a Section Three match at home, facing Manheim Central. The Barons used a stingy third quarter to build on their 25-17 halftime lead, going on to top Spot 48-28. The Barons held the Spartans to one point in the third quarter and escaped a Garden Spot comeback bid in the final period.

Maddie Knier was virtually unstoppable, scoring 26 of the Barons' 48 points.

Gonzalez scored nine points - all from three-point range - while Morgan Pavelik scored seven for Spot.

WRESTLING

The Spartans are having a strong season with returning upperclassmen as well as a few freshmen contributing to the wrestling team's success.

The efforts were showcased at Red Land over the final weekend of January as the Spartans squared off against Dover, Red Land and Central Dauphin East on Saturday, January 30.

In a pair of tightly contested matches, the Spartans defeated CD East 39-29 and edged Red Land 42-27. In the match against the host school, the Patriots climbed to within three points of the Spartans at 30-27 before an Adam Hahn pin and a Patriots' forfeit sealed the victory.

The Spartans used seven pins to trounce Dover 60-18. Seniors Aaron Martin and Mason Casey, who wrestled at the 145-pound and 126-pound weight classes, respectively, each notched a pin as did juniors Jeremy Schilling (132) and Garrett Gehr (138).

Mason Musser notched a pin at 215, earning the six team points with one second remaining in the second period against Anthony Barrett. Fellow sophomore Blake Weaver earned a pin at 172 while freshman Jayden Redcay earned a first-period pin in the 152 bout.

At 120, Freshman Diego Portales posted a pin in the Red Land match and earned a 15-2 major decision at the 113-weight class in the win over CD East.

Schilling notched a pin 23 seconds into the 132-pound bout of the Red Land match.

Along with the pin in the Dover match Gehr dominated CD East's Aden Floyd for a 19-1 technical fall at 138. He also pinned his Red Land opponent. Sophomore Brice Brady also pinned in the Red Land match. Martin (152) pinned Brandon Paul in the CD East match and earned a 4-2 decision in the Red Land match.

The CD East match was a close battle with the Panthers posting wins on technical falls in three different weight classes and a pin at the 160-pound class. The Spartans eked out a victory thanks to the Panthers forfeiting five weight classes to only one by Garden Spot.

On February 3, the Spartans earned a big L-L League victory over Warwick at home. In the 43-18 win, the Warriors forfeited in the first five weight classes. Hahn and Portales lost a couple of close decisions in the 106- and 113-pound weight classes.

Casey came through with a 15-5 major at 126 and Schilling earned a 3-2 decision over Bryn Hess at 132.

Gehr notched a pin at 138 while Martin suffered a close setback, losing 7-6 at 145, facing Andrew McClune of Warwick.

AIR RIFLE

The air rifle team picked up two more victories in the final week of January, improving to 9-1 on the year. Garden Spot posted winning scores of 495-490 and 498-495 over Ephrata on January 28.

Tanner Donahue posted perfect scores in both matches. In the 495-490 win, Donahue joined Leksi Bender in the century club. Amanda Wolfe narrowly missed posting a perfect score with her 99 while Matthew Sauder and Jack Werner both shot 98's.

In the more closely contested battle that ended in a three-point victory for the Spartans, the visiting Mountaineers featured two marksmen reaching 100 as Avan Howard and Sawyer Boll gave Garden Spot's top shooters a good run.

Werner, Donahue and Wolfe each registered 100's while Bender and Sauder each finished at 99.

The only loss suffered by the Spartans this year was a one-point loss early in the year to Manheim Central.

BOWLING

Garden Spot nipped Manheim Central in pins Wednesday afternoon at Cain's Lanes. The 4-3 win improved the Spartans' record to 25-24 (20-15 league).

Garden Spot was coming off a 5-2 loss to Cocalico at Dutch Lanes the previous Friday. Owen Colby bowled a 218 in his first game and 216 in his third game, finishing with 629 total. As a team, the Eagles outscored the Spartans 2845 to 2713.