Times Observer Photo by Steve Younger Eisenhower’s Kael Hunt blocks a shot attempt by a Cambridge Springs player during Friday’s PIAA District 10 Class 2A consolation game at Cathedral Prep’s Hagerty Family Events Center in Erie.

ERIE — The Eisenhower Knights took on Cambridge Springs in the District 10 Class 2A consolation game Friday night at Cathedral Prep’s Hagerty Family Events Center for the right to advance to the PIAA state playoffs.

The third time playing the second-seeded Blue Devils this season was not the charm for the fourth-seeded Knights as they fell 59-43.

Eisenhower allowed Cambridge Springs to build a 14-point lead in the first quarter and it was too much to overcome.

The Blue Devils came out shooting and they were hot from the start, behind balanced shooting in the opening quarter. Six different players from Cambridge Springs scored in the opening eight minutes. The Knights only made three baskets and got down quickly, behind 16-7 at the end of one quarter of play.

The Knights’ shots began to drop in the second quarter as junior Kyler Black had 5 points and freshman teammate Gavin Lindemuth scored 4 to pull Eisenhower within 10, 30-20 at halftime.

Cambridge Springs’ plan on defense was to shut down senior Wyatt Lookenhouse, the Knights’ leading scorer. The Blue Devils were able told him to only one field goal and one free throw, as he could not get a clean shot off the entire game.

Eisenhower was able to battle back and cut the lead to four points in the third quarter before the Blue Devils went on a 5-0 run to make it 43-36 with eight minutes to go.

Cambridge Springs played a tight defense on the Knights’ shooters in the fourth quarter and the Blue Devils padded their lead by going 13 for 16 at the foul line in the final period.

Black led the knights with 17 points, while the Blue Devils were led by Parker Schmidt, who took game honors with 21 points.

“Cambridge played a very good game. We needed a better performance off the boards to beat them and we just didn’t have that tonight,” Eisenhower head coach Ryan Mangini said. “Our guys still played hard and we had a nice three-game playoff run. I’m proud of how our guys played down the stretch.”

EISENHOWER (43)

Black 7 0 17, Lookenhouse 1 1 3, Palmieri 2 0 4, Bunk 3 2 8, Seymour 0 0 0, Hunt 3 0 7, Lindemuth 2 0 4. Totals 18 3 43.

CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS (59)

Counasse 3 5 13, Reisenaur 4 3 11, Schmidt 6 7 21, Troutman 0 0 0, Mazzadra 0 0 0, Campbell 2 0 4, Riley 3 1 10. Totals 18 16 59.

3-point goals–Black 3, Hunt, Counasse, Schmidt 2, Riley 3.

Eisenhower 7 13 16 7 — 43

Cambridge Springs 16 14 13 16 — 59