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MILL HALL – A 16-point deficit decided the game last time Central Mountain faced Mifflin County about two months ago.

That game was the season opener with a lot of unanswered questions for the future of the Wildcats without their leading scorer Cole Renninger. However, the Wildcats have improved tremendously since then and have grown through adversity throughout this season.

Despite their growth, Mifflin County won against them for the second time Wednesday, 57-52.

Mifflin County coach Aaron Gingrich said he noticed different aspects about this matchup the second time around.

“Central Mountain is definitely much improved since the first time we played them,” he said. “We knew they had something to prove in this game.”

The game was a physical battle from the start and Central Mountain’s Nicholas Moore was the player that answered the call early on as the Wildcats opened a 6-2 lead against the Huskies.

“We gave Nick some great opportunities,” said Central Mountain coach Scott Baker. “He knocked some shots down which gave him a great deal of confidence during the game. He also was able to grab 11 rebounds for us which is always something that helps.”

This offense for the Wildcats would not stop as the points kept piling on for Central Mountain’s 17-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Huskies responded in the second quarter and narrowed the lead to one bucket at 30-28 going into the half.

“Hunter Wright and Curtis Jerzerick did a nice job for us inside to combat a tough Central Mountain zone defense,” Gingrich said. “We also got great looks from some of our perimeter shooters like (Evan) Seby, (Jack) Packer and (Nate) Koller.”

The Wildcats were in for a fight in the third and fourth quarters as the physical matchup never ended for Central Mountain.

Scores from starter Travis Turchetta, Tyler Everhart and Alex Garbrick would not be enough as key players Tanner Meeker and Moore got into foul trouble, causing several different lineup rotations for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats struggled on defense as the Huskies continued to dominant inside and make shots from the perimeter.

The game concludes the Huskies’ regular season, and they await seeding for the District 6 Class AAAA tournament.

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