Jonas Page changed not just the outcome of Wednesday night’s Mid-Penn Keystone slugfest, but the 6-6 senior swing man from Susquehanna Twp. changed the headlines, too.
In what was originally shaping up to be a story about Bishop McDevitt junior transfer Justin McCarthur tearing through his old team, Page and the visiting Indians swiped the Tracy Hall spotlight in the fourth quarter.
Battling back from 14 points down, Vince Rogers’ Indians stunned a capacity crowd and TV audience by claiming a 58-56 triumph in each team’s Keystone opener.
VIEW JOHN C. WHITEHEAD'S PHOTO GALLERY
Page finished with a team-high 22 points, including a runner from the stripe with 15 seconds left to snap the tie.
Savalas Pope, a 6-6 forward, popped off the bench to contribute 10 points and nine rebounds for the Indians (3-0, 1-0).
And reserve guards Jordan Millberry and Takhi Turner keyed a ferocious late-game defensive effort that helped force nine second-half turnovers and held the Crusaders (2-1, 0-1) scoreless for 6+ minutes sandwiching the third and fourth quarters.
McCarthur scored 23 for the Crusaders, 16 in the second quarter alone, and fellow guard Daquan Phillips added 12 points.
Combined they were 12-for-17 from the floor, but neither attempted a field goal in the fourth quarter, Millberry shadowing Phillips and Turner on McCarthur.
“McCarthur was unstoppable in the first half,” Page said of his former teammate. “We went into the locker room and said we got to shut him down and stop some of the their jump shots. ... We started getting stops, and I had my breakaway [early in the fourth quarter], and that’s when it started happening.”
The Indians trailed 52-38 after a Phillips jumper with 1:16 left in the third quarter.
Page had a pair of steals, both leading to breakaway buckets — including a thunderous dunk — to spark the comeback.
Nehemiah Mack tied it, 52-52, on a 3-pointer with 4:06 left, and then it was back-and-forth until Page tallied the final points after his team burned precious time from the clock.
“We couldn’t get into our half-court sets, and that’s to their credit,” said Crusaders coach Jeff Hoke, whose club also received 16 points from Dyllon Hudson-Emory and a team-high nine rebounds off the bench from Will Pierce.
“Jordan Millberry may not light up the stat sheet, but he changed the complexion of this game,” Rogers said of his generously listed 5-8 guard. “The first half [Susquehanna Twp.] had an offensive flow. The second half, with Millberry out there, there was no flow.”
And the drought lasted long enough for Page and crew to erase the deficit and leave victorious.
MORROW ON TWITTER: @patriotnews_gmo
JONAS PAGE VIDEO
<object id="flashObj" width="486" height="412" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=2032048901001&playerID=649725615001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAQBxUw0E~,DELAM66vw4ytHzgLe6gL8tgddwTWDoX7&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=2032048901001&playerID=649725615001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAQBxUw0E~,DELAM66vw4ytHzgLe6gL8tgddwTWDoX7&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="486" height="412" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object>
POLL QUESTION