By Dom Reed

LEWISTOWN- The Mifflin County Boys Basketball team welcomed in the Milton Hershey Spartans.

Both teams would battle strong as Milton Hershey would defeat the Huskies in overtime 63-59.

“I’m proud of the way our guys competed anytime you can take a team into overtime and you fight from behind you have to be proud of that effort. There’s a lot of cleanup work for us,” said Mifflin County coach Wade Curry. “We gave up 10-12 points on inbounds plays really not well contestested we shot 10-17 from the foul line. We had a lot of opportunities to control the lead and to win this game. Hats off to Milton Hershey. They are a very athletic team and they have some size. They have players 6’6” and 6’4”. Their  lineup also has athletic guards to go along with that. “I’m  certainly proud of the way of the effort. That points out on what we need to work on and that’s what we will do tomorrow and prepare for Redland on Friday.”

The Spartans started out the game with a blast, knocking down a three from Aryan Sandhu to give Milton Hershey a 3-0 advantage.

Huskies Aidan Attivo gave MIfflin County their first points of the night on a two pointer.

Josh Hartzler followed that up with a three pointer to give the Huskies a 7-5 lead.

Mifflin County would lead the Spartans after the first period 22-15.

MIlton Hershey 6’6 giant Abdoj Diene had a strong game putting up 18. He had a strong first half as well as the second half. He blocked Hartlzer’s shot with 1:43 to go in the first half.

Diene knocked down a three before the time would expire to only trail by two going into halftime 29-27.

Mifflin County’s Zach Keller hit three three pointers in the 63-59 loss on Wednesday night but it’s something the Huskies can take into their road trip against Redland Friday.

He played really well totaling 13 points on the night.

Attvio also matched Keller’s points with 13 knocking just a pair of three pointers down.

Hartzler finished with seven points while Evan Strohecker had six.

The Spartans were led by Joshua Sessoms totaling 19 points on the night.

“We saw for the first time this season a kid bigger that was a 6’6”sophomore,” said Keller. “We got to learn when to put up a shot you have to get the rebounds. Josh (Sessoms) got a bunch of rebounds with 18. That really killed us. We got to box out. I think we got killed on the boards tonight. I think if we rebound I think we win that game. We also go to hit foul shots which we usually do but unfortunately we went 10-17 at the foul line. If we knock them down we win that game.”

There’s certainly a lot this good Mifflin County team can learn and take from this overtime loss.

The Huskies will look to put this one behind them and focus on getting ready to travel to Redland on Friday to take on the Patriots.