The Blue Devils ultimately came away with a 56-46 win, but the Eagles put the rest of Region 3 on notice that they won’t be an easy out.

“No doubt the effort was there,” Youngsville coach Jesse DeLoof said. “There was not a second of the 32 (minutes) that we were not playing as hard as we could.”

Youngsville (2-3 overall, 0-2 Region 3) was without Timber Bower for the game due to injury, and starting point guard Joe Mack played limited minutes due to foul trouble. Still, the Eagles hung with the Devils (4-1, 1-0) all game long.

The Eagles played tight defensively and forced the Devils into some bad shots early in the first. Gage Hendrickson was waiting in the paint to clean-up and grabbed four defensive rebounds in the first four minutes of the game. As would be a theme through the first half, Cambridge’s Lance Welker got open for a pair of 3s to put the Devils up 7-5 midway through the opening frame. Welker’s third 3-pointer of the quarter put Cambridge up 12-7 with 40 seconds to go. Hendrickson made a free throw and Nyko Mercado put in a layup at the buzzer to cut the lead to 12-10 heading to the second.

Youngsville’s Joe Mack (5) locks eyes with Cambridge Springs’ Jared Taylor (11) during the first half of their game at Youngsville High School, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. The Devils defeated the Eagles, 56-46.

Cambridge’s Jake Ferris and Youngsville’s Brady Olewine traded 3s early in the second to knot the score at 15-15. Welker’s fourth 3-pointer gave the Devils a 21-15 advantage with 4:30 to go, but Hendrickson answered with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 21-18. With just under two minutes to play in the half, Mercado drained a pair of free throws and Cambridge, attempting a long in bounds pass play, hit the net hanging above midcourt. Hendrickson was fouled on the ensuing in bounds play and made both free throws to give the Eagles a 22-21 lead. Cambridge ended the half with a 5-0 run to take a 26-22 lead into the locker room.

“We knew we had to hold (Welker) and (Matt Andrews) to under 19 points combined,” DeLoof said. “In high school ball, you must make someone other than the top guys beat you.”

Just 15 seconds into the third quarter, Mack picked up his fourth personal foul and spent most of the rest of the second half on the bench. Cambridge started to pull away, leading 30-24, but Olewine hit a field goal and Hendrickson knocked down a pair of free throws to get Youngsville back within two at 30-28. The Eagles moved to a press defense following the free throws and Hendrickson got a steal. He passed to Austin Peterson who was fouled on a layup attempt. The ball bounced once on the rim and went in and Peterson connected on the free throw to give the Eagles a 31-30 lead midway through the quarter. Welker, who had gone cold to start the half, came up with another 3-pointer and the Devils closed the quarter with a 6-0 run to take a 36-31 lead into the fourth.

Cambridge led 40-33 early in the fourth when Peterson had a chance to complete another 3-point play, but missed the free throw to keep the Devils ahead 40-35. A 7-2 Cambridge run over the next two minutes pushed the margin to 10 at 47-37. Mack reentered the game and hit a floater to cut it to eight, and Olewine connected from downtown to get the Eagles within seven at 49-42 with just under four minutes to go. Mack fouled out with 1:17 to play and Cambridge went into stall mode to close out the game.

“Credit to them, they made their free throws,” DeLoof said.

Youngsville's Gage Hendrickson (11) goes up for a shot during the first half of a game against Cambridge Springs at Youngsville High School, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. Hendrickson had 14 points for the Eagles, but the Devils came away with the 56-46 Region 3 win.

Welker had a game-high 21 points and Ferris added 14 in the win.

Olewine led the Eagles with 16 points, while Hendrickson had 14.

DeLoof couldn’t have been more pleased with the effort, especially coming on the heels of a tough loss at Cochranton Tuesday.

“We took a step back Tuesday,” he said. “We came back and took a step forward today. There was a different feel in the locker room (after the game). They felt like they should have won this game.”

The Eagles travel to DuBois Saturday for a matchup with DuBois Central Catholic, a game they feel they can win.

Youngsville's Austin Peterson (22) drives the lane against Cambridge Springs' Jayden Shinky (50) during the second half of their game at Youngsville High School, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018.

“We’ll have a good practice tomorrow,” DeLoof said. “We need to be dialed in with the game plan, dialed in mentally and execute.”

Michael Crane’s buzzer-beating layup in the fourth quarter of the junior varsity game wasn’t enough as the Eagles fell to the Devils, 42-18.

Crane stole the ball at midcourt and took a pull-up jumper from the free throw line. The shot missed, but Crane got the ball again under the basket, missed the first attempt, got the rebound and buried the layup just before the final buzzer.

Dominic Dell led the Eagles with eight points. Xavier Mowrey added six and Crane and James Sober chipped in two each.

– – –

Cambridge Springs (56)

Welker 5-6-9-21, Ferris 5-3-8-14, T. Wheeler 2-2-2-6, Taylor 1-4-7-6, Leandro 2-0-0-5, Kingsley 1-2-4-4, Andrews 0-0-0-0, Henderson 0-0-0-0, Shinky 0-0-0-0, A. Wheeler 0-0-0-0, Team 16-17-30-56.

Youngsville (46)

Olewine 6-1-2-16, Hendrickson 3-6-8-14, Mercado 2-3-4-7, Peterson 2-1-2-5, Mack 2-0-0-4, Kesterholt 0-0-0-0, Dell 0-0-0-0, Team 15-11-16-46.

By quarters

Cambridge Springs 12 14 10 20 – 56

Youngsville 10 12 9 15 – 46

3-point FGs: Cambridge Springs (7)-Welker 5, Ferris, Leandro; Youngsville (5)-Olewine 3, Hendrickson 2.