The thing is, momentum is a fickle beast.

The Knights inbounded the ball with just five seconds remaining in the opening period. Tajah Warren took a few dribbles and passed over to Nick Smelko. Smelko made a move and casually put up a three-pointer as the horn sounded.

The ball banked off the glass and into the hoop. Suddenly, the pendulum was swinging in Eisenhower’s favor.

“That was a huge play,” Eisenhower coach Ryan Williams said. “It really just happened. I was getting ready to get players set for the second quarter and it just happened. It was big for momentum.”

Eisenhower’s Ross Venman (4) just gets a jump shot past Cambridge Springs’ Deryk Taylor (1) during the third quarter of their game at Eisenhower High School, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018. Venman had nine points off the bench to help the Knights pull off an upset win over the first-place Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils took a 20-18 lead into the second, but Eisenhower tied it in the first minute and took the lead 30 seconds later.

The Knights wouldn’t trail again in the game on their way to a 64-58 upset of the Region 3 leading Blue Devils.

“I want to treat this win like it’s any other game,” Williams said. “But I can’t. This is a big win.”

Eisenhower (8-6 overall, 6-2 Region 3) came out of the gate strong, building a 12-5 lead midway through the first quarter. Then Cambridge Springs (10-3, 7-1) came to life with the 15-3 run.

“It was a wild game,” Williams said.

Another key play came early in the second quarter. Eisenhower’s Jaydon Hayes took a charge from Cambridge Springs’ Turner Kurt. The foul was Kurt’s second personal and limited the Blue Devils’ leading scorer the rest of the way.

Leading by one with five minutes to go in the half, the Knights played a little “keep away” and passed the ball around the perimeter. Eisenhower was able to maintain possession for nearly 2 1/2 minutes before Ross Venman came free on a backdoor cut and made an easy layup.

“They’re starting to trust each other,” Williams said of the possession. “Jaydon was out with foul trouble and it gave us a chance to rest him for a couple minutes. I was really happy to see it.”

Hayes returned soon after and brought the faster tempo with him. Cambridge Springs tried to hit some perimeter shots in the final minute, but they would not go. Hayes closed out the half with another buzzer-beating three for the Knights and Eisenhower took a 33-26 lead into the locker room.

The Blue Devils moved to a press defense to start the second half and began trimming the Knights lead. Zack Fincher hit a three with just over four minutes to go in the third quarter to put Eisenhower back up by seven, 40-33. Cambridge Springs looked like it might be swinging the momentum back in its favor when a steal led to an easy transition basket. The problem was, the Blue Devils forgot Hayes was trailing the play and the Knights hurled the inbound pass right to him for an easy layup. Hayes was fouled on the shot and completed the three-point play to put Eisenhower up 41-35 with two minutes to go in the stanza.

The Blue Devils appeared to be getting frustrated in the early minutes of the fourth quarter. They got caught on transition a couple times and got themselves in foul trouble, helping push the Knights lead to 10 at 49-39. Cambridge Springs was able to right the ship a bit and cut the lead to 56-51 with two minutes to go. That was as close as it would get the rest of the way as Eisenhower was able to close the game going 4-8 from the free throw line to seal the upset.

“This was a good team effort and we’re going to need that going forward,” Williams said.

Hayes finished with a game-high 38 points. Venman added nine points off the bench.

“I’ve been telling the guys all year we have eight strong players and it could be someone different each night,” Williams said.

Kurt led a trio of Blue Devils in double figures scoring with 26 points. Noah Reisenauer had 13 and Reese Eakin had 11 in the loss.

The Knights travel to Cochranton Friday as they look to close the regular season strong.

“This was the biggest game of the season so far,” Williams said. “We needed this confidence boost.”

– – –

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (58)

D. Taylor 2-2-4-6, J. Taylor 1-0-0-2, Kurt 5-15-18-26, Reisenauer 5-3-5-13, Eakin 4-3-4-11, Turner 0-0-0-0, Welker 0-0-0-0, Babb 0-0-0-0, Ferris 0-0-0-0, Shinsky 0-0-0-0, Leandro 0-0-0-0, A. Wheeler 0-0-0-0, Kingsley 0-0-0-0, Andrews 0-0-0-0, Lucktish 0-0-0-0, Bidwell 0-0-0-0, T. Wheeler 0-0-0-0

EISENHOWER (64)

N. Smelko 1-0-0-3, Myer 1-2-2-4, Z. Fincher 1-0-0-3, Warren 1-0-1-2, Venman 4-1-2-9, Hayes 13-10-17-38, Hazeltine 2-1-1-5, Alexander 0-0-0-0, L. Smelko 0-0-0-0, Williams 0-0-0-0, A. Fincher 0-0-0-0, Trumbell 0-0-0-0, Martone 0-0-0-0, Beers 0-0-0-0

By Quarters

Cambridge Springs 20 6 11 21 – 58

Eisenhower 18 15 14 17 – 64

Three-point FGs: Cambridge Springs (1) – Kurt; Eisenhower (4) – Hayes (2), N. Smelko, Z. Fincher

– – –

JV CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS 49, EISENHOWER 22

Cambridge Springs outscored Eisenhower 18-1 in the fourth quarter and the Blue Devils rolled to a 49-22 win in junior varsity action.

Jared Martone led the Knights with nine points while Owen Trumbell and Jared Beers had five each in the loss.

– – –

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (49)

Lucktish 3-0-0-8, Turner 2-0-0-4, Shinskey 2-2-4-6, T. Wheeler 3-6-8-13, Leandro 3-0-0-6, Kingsley 3-2-2-8, Bidwell 0-0-0-0, Welker 0-0-0-0, Taylor 0-0-0-0, Ferris 0-0-0-0, A. Wheeler 0-0-0-0

EISENHOWER (22)

Alexander 0-1-2-1, L. Smelko 0-0-2-0, Williams 1-0-0-2, Trumbell 1-3-4-5, Martone 2-4-4-9, Beers 2-1-2-5, Rohlin 0-0-0-0, Robinault 0-0-0-0, Jones 0-0-0-0, Gray 0-0-0-0, Schwanke 0-0-0-0, Pollard 0-0-0-0

By Quarters

Cambridge Springs 8 12 11 18 – 49

Eisenhower 8 7 6 1 – 22

Three-point FGs: Cambridge Springs (3) – Lucktish (2), T. Wheeler; Eisenhower (1) – Martone