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A shot to remember

COCOLAMUS – Nick Lorenz scored 23 points Friday night, giving him 1,020 points for his career to become just the sixth player in East Juniata High School history to break the 1,000 point barrier.

“Obviously, Nick scoring 1,000 points is a true dedication to his work ethic in the time he’s been here,” East Juniata coach Brock Anders said. “He’s worked harder in the offseason than most kids would think about during the season. When he’s in season, he works harder than anyone would think of during the season. It’s a tribute to his dedication to this game.”

Lorenz’ 23 coupled with Bailey Coder’s 27 points and 16 rebounds lifted East Juniata to a 72-51 victory over Upper Dauphin in the Tri-Valley League boys basketball matchup.

Less than a minute into the game, Coder got a rebound and sent a pass down the floor.

With 7:04 to play in the first quarter, a Tiger found an open Lorenz beyond the 3-point arc and Lorenz drained it to give him 1,002 points for his career.

The game was stopped for approximately one minute and the basketball was taken out of play for Lorenz to keep as a memento.

“Hopefully, it’s a stepping stone,” Lorenz said. “Hopefully as a team, we have much bigger things to come.”

East Juniata came out fast and furious, scoring 14 points in the first three minutes and 40 seconds of the first quarter and 26 in the quarter.

“There was a good emotional ride at the beginning,” Anders said. “The leadership qualities that Nick displays and the guys follow by his example. Setting a good tone early helped us out.”

The quarter could have been summarized on its final play when Lorenz had the ball a few feet inside half-court.

Lorenz blew by his defender, elevated and found Coder for the basket with five seconds to play in the quarter.

Lorenz scored 13 in the quarter, while Coder added seven points and seven rebounds.

While everything was going in for the Tigers in the quarter, they suffered a bit of a lull in the second stanza.

Coder scored six of the Tigers’ eight points in the period, but at the same time, the Tigers’ defense picked up, holding Upper Dauphin to 10 points.

Coder recorded a double-double in the first half, as he grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with his 13 points.

“It’s been fantastic,” Lorenz said of Coder’s increased offensive production. “He’s a force in there. He’s massive. He cleans up everything I put up there. He does a nice job.”

Lorenz and Coder each scored 13 in the opening half.

East Juniata used an 11-2 run over a three-minute stretch toward the end of the third quarter to separate from Upper Dauphin.

Everyone had a hand in the Tigers’ run.

Coder started it off with a drive and score.

Lorenz added a deuce with an offensive rebound and a putback and David Brantley capped it off with a steal and transition layup, giving the Tigers a 49-35 advantage.

“I thought David being able to get to the basket and get easy baskets really propelled us to the finish,” Anders said. “He came up huge in the fourth quarter with some nice drives and buckets to compliment what Nick and Bailey were doing throughout the night.”

In case Upper Dauphin needed another reminder that it was Lorenz’ night, he made back-to-back acrobatic layups with about four minutes left in the game.

The second was an under-handed layup.

Lorenz added another basket about 30 seconds later to give him 23 for the night to go along with seven rebounds and five assists.

Upper Dauphin won the JV game by a 59-37 final.

East Juniata (2-0, 2-0) will be in action Tuesday when it travels to Belleville Mennonite.

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