That wasn’t the case in Youngsville’s 62-32 setback against Region 3 foe Cambridge Springs on Friday, however.

The Eagles led 13-12 after the first quarter and hung right with the Blue Devils (11-3 overall, 8-1 Region 3), for a half before a 13-0 run to open the second half essentially put the game out or reach.

“We’re coming along,” said Youngsville coach Jesse DeLoof. “I thought we played hard.”

The Eagles, who start three freshmen, came out of the gates strong, as one of those freshmen, Austin Peterson, came up with a steal 10 seconds into the game and got fouled on his way to the rim.

Times Observer photo by Andy Close Youngsville’s Gage Hendrickson (11) makes a determined drive into the lane during Friday’s Region 3 contest against visiting Cambridge Springs.

Peterson knocked down both free throws, and if anything, it was an early indicator that the Blue Devils, a Class 2A honorable mention team in the state polls, weren’t going to come in and walk all over them.

Cambridge Springs tried to press Youngsville early, but the Eagles broke it consistently, as freshmen point guard Joe Mack had a couple of strong drives to the hoop and fellow freshmen Timber Bower knocked down a corner there.

Freshmen Brady Olewine came off the bench and connected on a mid-ranger jumper, as did sophomore Gage Hendrickson, staking the Eagles to their early lead after one.

Another jumper by Hendrickson to open the second gave Youngsville a 15-12 lead, but that’s about the time that Cambridge Springs, coming off its only Region 3 loss of the season to Eisenhower on Tuesday, began to heat up.

Senior guard Noah Reisenauer scored six straight points to put Cambridge up 18-17, and Jared Taylor knocked down a 3 to get the Blue Devils rolling.

Times Observer photo by Andy Close Youngsville’s Dasan McAvoy goes up over the outstetched arm of Cambridge Springs’ Reese Eakin (55) for a shot during the first half of Friday’s game at Youngsville High School.

They scored 14 of the final 16 points of the half, with Youngsville’s only dent in that span a Seth Ecelberger layup. In total, it was a 27-2 run that extended from the second quarter to third quarter.

“I talked to them a little bit about expecting more out of yourself,” DeLoof said. “Don’t be happy with playing well for a half. Expect to go out there and compete for another half.”

Turner Kurt, a 6-8 senior who is getting multiple looks from Division II schools, took over in the third quarter, finishing with a game-high 16 points.

Hendrickson had eight, Mack seven and Bower six for Youngsville (2-13, 0-8).

The Eagles are right back at it today, hosting Iroquois, with a 6 p.m. JV tip and varsity to follow.

“They’ll show up and be focused and ready to go,” DeLoof said. “I think this program, to an extent over the years, has got accustomed to a losing tradition and we need to get out of that. We need to expect to win. We need to expect to get fouled and finish. We need to expect everyone of our foul shots to go in and to make every one of our open jumpers. It’s coming along.”

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CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (62)

D. Taylor 2-2-2-6, J. Taylor 4-3-3-16, Kurt 5-4-8-16, Reisnauer 5-4-5-14, Eakin 6-1-2-14, Ferris 0-0-0-0, Luktisch 0-0-0-0, Wheeler 0-0-0-0, Shinsky 0-0-3-0, Turner 0-0-0-0, Totals 22-14-23-62

YOUNGSVILLE (32)

Mack 3-1-2-7, Hendrickson 4-0-0-8, Bower 2-0-0-6, McAvoy 0-1-6-1, Peterson 0-2-2-2, Olewine 1-0-0-2, Ecelberger 2-0-0-4, Myers 0-2-2-2, Procter 0-0-0-0, Wilson 0-0-0-0, Mercado 0-0-0-0, Dell 0-0-0-0, Totals 12-6-12-32

By Quarters

Cambridge Springs 12 18 18 14 – 62

Youngsville 13 6 5 8 – 32

Three-point FGs: Cambridge Springs (4) – Kurt 2, J. Taylor, Eakin; Youngsville (2) – Bower 2