RALPH WILSON/For the Express Jersey Shore's Breylon Guerrero (31) is fouled by Central Mountain's Carson Couturiaux (4) while trying to make a shot during a high school boys basketball game at Jersey Shore earlier this season.

JERSEY SHORE – Prior to Monday’s contest, Montoursville head coach Mike Mussina asked Jersey Shore head coach Jon Boob how his second season at the helm was transpiring. Boob gave an honest answer, ironically predicting his squad’s next four quarters in the process.

“25 to 40 percent of the time, we’re the greatest basketball team on planet Earth and about 50 to 60 percent of the time, we look like we don’t know what we’re doing,” Boob told the esteemed coach. “After the game going through the lines, I said, ‘Told you so.'”

Through the first two quarters of Monday’s matchup against Montoursville, the Bulldogs played their best basketball of the season, leading the current No. 3 seeded Warriors by three points at the break. But through the second half, their chances of picking up the biggest win of their campaign completely fell apart.

Behind struggles against the press, consistent turnovers and poor shooting and an exhausted tank of gas, Jersey Shore lost its spark in what had been an even game against a strong foe. Montoursville (16-6) made the most of the collapse, outscoring the Bulldogs 35-11 to cruise to a 59-38 victory in front of Shore’s home crowd.

While disappointing, the loss featured plenty of positives and notably had no impact on Jersey Shore’s postseason standing. With Central Columbia falling to Wellsboro on Monday night, it maintained its No. 5 seed in the District 4 Class AAAA standings and could clinch it with a win on Wednesday.

“I think we’re close to putting our best basketball together,” said Boob when discussing his team. “Even though the scoreboard showed a 21-point loss, anyone that was at this game knows how good we can be. We just died out late. We just stopped doing the little things in the second half.”

“I think we just took care of things a little better in the second half, and our press gave them some fits,” said Mussina on the difference in halves. “We got the ball inside, were able to score there and got to the foul line at least twice as many times as we did in the first half.”

The contrast between halves was deafening. Through the first half, there were eight lead changes, with the Bulldogs taking control late in the second. And through the second, there was just one, as Montoursville took a 13-0 third-quarter run and ran with it.

After a five-point sequence from Shore senior Jacob Lorson, one which featured a crowd-igniting three that forced a Warrior timeout, Montoursville came out of the brief break cool and collected. It wasn’t fazed by the 32-25 deficit, quickly getting back on track and turning the game on its head.

Three layups and multiple forced turnovers helped it cut the deficit to one. And when Elijah Eck missed his potential lead-taking free throw at 32-32, he was able to grab his own miss, kicking it out to teammate Shea Ulmer for a three that completed a four-point play and gave the Warriors a 35-32 lead.

Shore would briefly fight back, cutting a six-point deficit to two with two free throws from Landon Lathan and an acrobatic, reverse layup from Khani McCray. But Montoursville would respond with a 6-0 run to close the stanza. And through the fourth, it completely shut the Bulldogs down.

Five-and-a-half agonizing minutes for Shore fans came and went without a Bulldog basket, as the Warriors turned that upped that run to 19-0 and churned out a 20-point lead. Tucker Hanna would finally close the drought with a contested layup at the fourth quarter’s 2:24 mark, but by then, it was far too late.

“We hadn’t played since last Monday, so it took us a little while to get our game legs under us,” said Mussina. “We just had a better second half, looked more like us and were able to take control of the game.”

Despite its shortcomings, Jersey Shore’s first half was worth remembering fondly. It was a two-quarter sequence that showed what the Bulldogs could do with a full tank of gas, one which saw it put a 16-win squad on its heels.

After going down 6-0 in the blink of an eye, Shore gathered itself and quickly made it a game. Lathan hit a running, midrange two while drawing contact before completing the three-point play from the line. And two minutes later, he was tying it at 8-8 from the line, aided by layups from McCray, Tucker Hanna and Carson Watkins.

A Carson Watkins three out of an inbounds play gave the Bulldogs their first lead at 11-10 shortly after, and the teams would trade leads six times through the next three minutes. Ultimately, Shore would gain its edge from fouling, going 10-for-14 from the line through the second quarter while obtaining leads of 22-17 and 27-21.

“We showed it in that first half. I told them to just take away the good,” said Boob. “That first half was phenomenal. We guarded our butts off. We were moving the basketball, and the right guys were getting the ball. When the ball moves and the right guys end up with it, that’s just the tick of basketball. That’s how it should work.”

From there, Montoursville’s Isaac Erlandson would close out the half with a three-point play, setting the stage for an eight-point half that saw him finish with a game-high 15 points. Brennen Imbro made two double-figure scorers for the Warriors, logging ten points and hitting three crushing layups early in the fourth.

For Jersey Shore, Khani McCray led the way with 12 points, ten which came in the first half, and also attributed five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Landon Lathan followed him up with 11, going 7-for-10 from the line. Jacob Lorson added six points, three offensive rebounds and two assists, and Tucker Hanna and Ty McDermit contributed five rebounds each, with McDermit coming off the bench.

Montoursville closed out its regular season with a 16-6 record while Jersey Shore heads into its final contest at 9-12. The Bulldogs will look to finish the regular season strong on Wednesday, playing host to St. John Neumann (11-10) at 7:30 p.m., before setting their sights to the postseason alongside the Warriors.

“I know if we win Wednesday, we’re locked into the No. 5 spot, so we’re really trying to do that because if we lose, we’re leaving it up to the mathematicians at PIAA to figure it out,” laughed Boob when discussing what lies ahead. “That first half is the best basketball we’ve played all year. If we can just put it all together at the right time, we are fine.”

Montoursville 59, Jersey Shore 38

MONTOURSVILLE (59)

Cam Cintron 3 0-0 6; Isaac Erlandson 6 3-7 15; Shea Ulmer 2 1-2 7; Brennan Imbro 5 0-0 10; Adam Shearer 1 0-0 2; Carson Menne 2 0-2 4; Elijah Eck 1 6-10 8; Zack Neill 1 0-0 3; Kingston 2 0-2 4. Totals 23 10-23 59.

JERSEY SHORE (38)

Carson Watkins 2 0-0 5; Khani McCray 4 4-6 12; Landon Lathan 2 7-11 11; Jacob Lorson 1 3-4 6; Ty McDermit 0 2-2 2; Tucker Hanna 1 0-0 2.

Montoursville 14 10 20 15 – 59

Jersey Shore 13 14 9 2 – 38

Three-pointers: Jersey Shore 2 (Watkins, Lorson); Montoursville 3 (Ulmer 2, Neill 1).

Records: Montoursville 16-6; Jersey Shore 9-12.

JV score: Montoursville 62-54.

JV high scorer: Christian Wood 30.