The Knights were limited to just three points in the first 13 minutes of play against a much bigger Blue Devils team and trailed 22-9 at the half.

“We definitely weren’t ready the first half,” said Ike coach Dave Allenson. “I can’t say their size didn’t cause problems, but it wasn’t just that. We had some guys miss layups because instead of taking the ball right at them, they took it off to the side and didn’t draw the foul or make the shot. It wasn’t so much that … We didn’t work to get the ball in the middle and in the second half we did a much better job of that. When we got touches in there, we scored a lot more.”

Eisenhower’s first 12 points of the game all came from beyond the arc with Jack Reynolds knocking down three three-pointers and Jake Harvey adding another. Reynolds hit his third on the first possession of the second half, and Thomas Warren began to heat up with six points in the third quarter to help cut the deficit to five.

Another jumper by Warren early in the fourth made it a three-point game before a pair of free throws from Noah Reisenauer ended a long Ike run. The Blue Devils slowly began to pull away again, but Jaydon Hayes scored buckets on back-to-back possessions to make it 36-31 Cambridge Springs with two minutes to go.

Eisenhower’s Jack Reynolds (0) drains a three from the corner during the second half of Tuesday’s Region 3 basketball game against Cambridge Springs. Reynolds had 10 points in a 42-34 loss.

That was as close as the Knights would get, as Turner Kurt went 3-of-4 from the line in the final minute while Jordan Leandro added a basket and a foul shot to help Cambridge Springs put the game away.

Kurt finished with 14 points and Reisenauer added 13 for the Blue Devils, who improve to 4-2 on the year.

Harvey had 11 points to lead Eisenhower while Reynolds added 10 and Warren chipped in eight. The Knights are now 0-3 after three tough match-ups to start the season.

“When we played Fairview, we let Fairview dictate our offense,” Allenson said.

“Tonight I would say we let (Cambridge Springs) dictate. We took mostly threes in that first half and didn’t get the ball inside. When we start taking it to them a little bit more, then we’ll be all right.”

Eisenhower returns to action on Friday against Cochranton.

In the JV game, Drew Williams hit a pair of foul shots with 20 seconds left and the Knights held on to beat Cambridge Springs, 42-40. Jericho Johnson scored 12 points for Eisenhower, Cyrus Hazeltine followed with 10, and Jared Younger added nine.

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (42): Hahn 1 0-0 2, Babb 0 2-2 2, Kurt 4 6-8 14, Reisenauer 4 5-8 13, Leandro 3 3-4 9, Eakin 1 0-0 2.

EISENHOWER (34): Reynolds 3 1-3 10, Myer 0 0-0 0, Ta. Warren 0 0-0 0, Hayes 2 1-2 5, Williams 0 0-0 0, Hazeltine 0 0-0 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Harvey 4 0-0 11, Smelko 0 0-0 0, Th. Warren 4 0-0 8.

Cambridge Springs       12   10   6   14 — 42

Eisenhower       3   6   14   11 — 34

3-pointers: Reynolds (E) 3, Harvey (E) 3.

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Junior Varisty

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (40): Welker 6 2-2 19, Taylor 1 3-4 6, Henderson 0 0-1 0, Ferris 1 2-3 5, Kingsley 1 0-2 2, Wheeler 4 0-0 8.

EISENHOWER (42): Kehr 0 0-1 0, Fincher 1 1-2 4, Williams 0 3-4 3, Hazeltine 4 0-0 10, Johnson 5 2-3 12, Younger 3 3-6 9, Smelko 1 2-2 4.

Cambridge Springs       5   8   11   16 — 40

Eisenhower       13   18   3   8 — 42

3-pointers: Welker (C) 5, Taylor (C) 1, Ferris (C) 1, Fincher (E) 1, Hazeltine (E) 2.