CD East turns up the defense

In his third go-round with Cedar Cliff, CD East coach Bruce Leib decided to do something a little different.

He kept leading scorer Demond Bates on the bench and started Christian DeVan, a defensive specialist, in his place.

"It was pretty weird," said guard Amani Glenn, who led East with 19 points in the 63-46 win.

"We weren't used to it, [Bates] had been starting all year," Glenn said. "It was just different, it wasn't bad or anything.

"Our defense is our best offense, that's what Coach always says."

East used the jacked-up defense and Bates' 13 points off the bench to gain its third win of the season over Cedar Cliff on the big stage, in the District 3-AAAA boys' basketball quarterfinals at Giant Center.

"I knew Demond could come off the bench and he was hitting shots," Leib said. "We wanted to go man because we feed off that; that feeds our break."

The win over their Mid-Penn Commonwealth rival propelled East into the state tournament and into Tuesday's district semifinals. The Panthers (22-4) will meet Harrisburg (15-10) for a 6:30 p.m. tip at Giant Center.

Cedar Cliff (16-10) faces archrival Red Land (20-6) in a consolation semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Dallastown.

All four of Saturday's quarterfinal winners qualified for the PIAA tournament. The two remaining seeds to states will be determined by the consolation games.

East advanced after DeVan's defensive punch helped the quicker Panthers to a 15-2 advantage in turnovers.

Trailing 15-10 late in the first quarter, Cedar Cliff scored eight unanswered to go up 18-15 lead early in the second.

East then scored 13 straight amidst a 17-4 surge that padded the Panthers' lead out to 32-20.

Cedar Cliff committed six turnovers in that stretch while Bates, off the bench, scored nine of the points.

"We had too many turnovers and gave up too many second and third shots," Cedar Cliff coach Jim Rowe said. "We looked like deer in the headlights in the backcourt against the press."

Ten of Cedar Cliff's turnovers came in the first half when East had none. The Panthers used that advantage to build up a 32-22 halftime lead.

The Colts, led by D.J. Rowe's 17 points, chipped back to within eight points in the third quarter but could get no closer.