YOUNGSVILLE — In a game that was much closer than the final score indicated, the Youngsville Eagles dropped a 69-40 decision to the Cambridge Springs Blue Devils on Friday at Youngsville High School.

The Eagles trailed by as few as seven points late in the third quarter, but the Blue Devils took control late and were able to build a large cushion before the final buzzer sounded.

Cambridge Springs built a lead as big as nine in the opening quarter before Alex Hill’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 17-11 with just over a minute to play in the first eight minutes.

In what would become a common thread for the game, the final moments of the quarter belonged to Cambridge Springs. The Devils used a suffocating full-court pressure defense and were able to post two quick baskets in the final seconds of the first quarter to lead 21-11 after one.

In the second stanza, the Eagles began to chip into the lead and an impressive dish from Nathan Curry to Ethan Senz cut the lead to 25-21 with 4:15 left in the first half. Moments later, Curry did the deed himself driving to the hoop and making it 26-23 with 3:30 to play.

From there, the Blue Devils owned a 10-3 advantage over the final moments of the second quarter to again lead by 10 at the break.

In the third, a 3-pointer from Nathan Lucks made it 43-36 with 2:30 left in the third. Moments later, Lucks would pick up his fourth foul and the Blue Devils closed the stanza on a 6-0 run.

Things fell apart for the Eagles quickly in the fourth with Cambridge Springs owning a 20-4 advantage. A bank-shot 3 from Hill was the Eagles’ only field goal of the quarter.

Blake Myers, Lucks and Curry all finished with 8 points for Youngsville. The team’s leading scorer Koby Hendrickson was limited to 7 points while being shadowed by at least one Blue Devil defender all night. Hendrickson scored two quick buckets in the first and was held without a field goal the rest of the contest.

Josh Reisenhower led Cambridge Springs with 21 points and Parker Schmidt added 19 of his own.

Cambridge Springs won the junior varsity contest 54-28. Talon Mesel led the Eagles with 9 points and Cash Moore added 7 markers in defeat.

The Eagles return to action Tuesday when they travel to Union City.

Varsity

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (69)

Counasse 2 3-4 7, Reisenhower 8 4-8 21, Schmidt 7 5-10 19, Troutman 3 0-0 7, Mazzadra 5 0-2 10, Campbell 0 1-2 1, Riley 1 1-2 4, Totals 26 14-28 69.

YOUNGSVILLE (40)

Koby Hendrickson 2 3-6 7, Alex Hill 2 0-0 6, Keegan Mesel 0 0-0 0, Ethan Senz 1 0-0 2, Blake Myers 2 4-7 8, Nathan Lucks 3 1-2 8, Nathan Curry 3 1-2 8, Talon Mesel 0 0-0 0, Wyatt Dalrymple 0 0-0 0, Cash Moore 0 1-2 1, Ethan Beers 0 0-0 0, Totals 13 10-19 40.

3-point goals–Reisenhower, Troutman, Riley, Hill 2, Lucks, Curry.

Cambridge Springs 21 15 13 20 — 69

Youngsville 11 15 10 4 — 40

Jayvee

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (54)

Brown 8 5-6 23, Laniewicz 3 0-2 6, Kania 1 0-0 2, Finlay 0 0-2 0, Fink 1 0-0 2, Thayer 4 0-2 8, Simmerman 3 0-1 6, Green 3 0-0 7. Totals 23 5-13 54.

YOUNGSVILLE (28)

Cash Moore 3 1-5 7, Ethan Beers 2 2-4 6, Wyatt Dalrymple 1 0-0 2, Hudson Haight 0 0-0 0, Chris Edwards 0 0-0 0, Rodney Rowland 0 2-6 2, Talon Mesel 4 1-8 9, Brayden Baker 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 6-23 28.

3-point goals–Brown 2, Green

Cambridge Springs 12 10 20 12 — 54

Youngsville 5 7 13 3 — 28