A night that started celebrating Comet seniors ended with every Comet fan in the house going crazy. With 1.2 ticks on the clock, and Manor looking at a 73-72 deficit, head coach Larry Bellew called timeout to set up a last play. Dhamir Wesley, an all-star football player, took the ball out of bounds and the rest of the Comets spread out. Now think about Duke and Christian Laettner's overtime game-winner against Kentucky when he snagged, with 2.1 seconds left, Grant Hill's three-quarter court pass, took one dribble and spun left for a prayer, which was answered! Wesley's pass looked to be high but 6'4" Ethan Benne leaped to corral the pass outside the three-point line, landed and spun to his left before unleashing a shot that swished through the net before the horn sounded. Chaos ensued.

"It was the only play we had," said Bellew. "And that was the first time we practiced it."

"I just thought to myself, 'oh, please catch it. Oh, please catch it," added Benne when asked what was going through his head.

It was a magical ending to a game that appeared the favor the Streaks. Township led 24-14 in the first and 44-31 at the break. They entered the fourth up 59-46 before the Comets poured in 31 points to steal the win.

Manor started its final rally with 2:51 left. Aidan Mattern (10 points) drilled a three ball and two straight treys by Devin Figueroa (10 points) tied the game at 67-67. Mattern's layup off a steal gave Manor its first lead since 2-0. Benne's jumper made it 71-69 with less than a minute, and Mattern's free throw with 8.9 on the clock gave the hosts a three-point edge but Township's top gun, Sebastian Henson (32 points) hit the front end of a one-and-one, intentionally missed the second and the Streaks regained possession when the ball went out of bounds off the Comets. Henson fired a catch-and-shoot baseline trey with 4.1 showing for a 73-72 short Township advantage and set the stage for Benne's heroics. The junior poured in a career-high 33 to help the Comets to a 5-5 Section One mark (11-11 overall).

Wesley added 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.

"What an emotional rollercoaster those last couple of minutes were," said Bellew. "Two amazing shots by players who played at a high level all night. We did some trapping late that forced them into quick shots, several of which we blocked (10 for the game).

"When we've been good this year we've done it with balance," he added. "This was the fourth time we've had four guys in double digits."

After a string of three losses, the Comets poured in a season-high 82 points, held Lebanon to 59 and swept the series with a Thursday, Feb. 2, road win.

Benne (14 rebounds) sparked a 25-point first quarter for the Comets, pouring in 15 of his team-high 30, including three triples. Lebanon's Emanuel Mason, with a game-high 40 points, was a one-man scoring machine for the Cedars.

Benne had help from Figueroa (12), Wesley (19 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists), and Nate Schmidtke with 10 points.

BOWLING

The Comet bowlers locked up second place in the Section One standings with a 5-2 victory over McCaskey Friday, Feb. 3 at Leisure Lanes. Also on Friday, Manheim Township, with a 4-3 nod over Hempfield, improved to 60-31 to claim the Section One crown. The Comets fell one point shy at 59-32.

"Considering the up and down season we've had, I'm happy we made the playoffs," said head coach Chris Vital, "but it was disappointing to lose the section title by one point.

"McCaskey went all out," he added. "They had four seniors bowling their last match. The biggest surprise was Corinne Smith shooting 683 which is 140 over her average. Josh Stock also bowled well. His 671 could have been a lot higher."

Smith (256) and Eva Brubaker (257) sparked the Comets to a 1061-986 first game win. Despite a 247 from Stock in the second game, McCaskey forged ahead 1003-976 to knot the score. Manor sealed the deal with a 956-918 third game win with Smith's 224 leading the way. Manor's 2993 also topped McCaskey's 2907 for total pins.

Brubaker finished with a 606, Lacey Slaymaker followed with a 519 and Chris Hull and Kayla Wasche combined for a 514 to round out the scoring.

WRESTLING

The Comet wrestlers competed in the Hershey Duals on Saturday and went 1-2 on the day. They opened the action with a 42-36 loss to Littlestown, rebounded with a 25-24 thriller over Dover and lost their final match of the day to Kennard-Dale, 42-16.

"Head-to-head we beat Littlestown going off of straight match ups," said head coach Brandon Vernalli. "It's tough, now that Teagan Rogers left, and with Gavin's recent injury. That leaves two forfeits in our lineup that we cannot fill. Unfortunately, Gavin is done for the year."

Both Travis Clawson (121) and Gabe Midile (127) went 3-0 on the day with Clawson recording three pins.

In their regular season finale at home Wednesday, Feb. 8, the Comets, in a match that featured eight forfeits and just five bouts wrestled, dropped a 42-23 result to Lampeter-Strasburg. Clawson earned a pin at 121 and Zook posted a 16-1 tech fall at 152 for Manor's earned points.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

Over the last week of 2022-23 basketball season, the Comets faced the top two teams in Section One. The results were not what they were hoping for but did show improvement.

On January 10th, the Comets dropped a 63-30 to section leader Lebanon. Thursday, February 2, the Cedars swept the series. A 23-14 run through the first quarter gave the visitors the momentum they needed. They led 36-23 at the half and outscored the Comets 30-22 after the break, finishing on top 66-45.

"Our goal is to keep teams to ten points or less per quarter," said head coach Mike Glackin. "I thought our posts competed and gave a good effort. We just got beat by a better team."

The Comets, who did not make a single trip to the free throw line, kept things close from long distance, dropping nine treys on the night, including three in the second quarter. Brin Groff and Carley Groff both finished with 13 points and canned three triples. Alayzha Twyman finished with 10 points and two three-pointers. Lilly Rineer hit one from downtown and finished with seven points.

"Brin and Carley had career-highs in points, and I believe this was the first time we've had three players in double figures," Glackin noted. "And it was our second highest offensive output this season. We had 48 against Hempfield. We did have 17 turnovers, which is still too many, but only four in the second half.

"At the beginning of the year I felt like we had flashes of doing good things," he continued. "Now I feel we have some really good stretches where we're doing the right things as a team."

Looking for an upset in their season-ender, the young Comets found themselves tied with a Manheim Township squad fighting for a playoff berth. Penn Manor battled to a 31-31 halftime knot before the Streaks went on a 25-13 tear in the third to take control. They finished in front 74-50.

"We tried to press a little in the fourth quarter because of the Township lead, but we aren't disciplined enough yet to play consistent, solid half-court defense, so when we try to play full-court defense we really get exposed," said Glackin. "However, we did have our highest scoring game of the year and Brin Groff (5 treys) had a career-high 19 points. And considering we scored just 12 points against them the first time around, this was a positive."

Rineer also hit double figures with 10 while Izzy Kligge and Twyman combined for 12.