Basketball Game Preview: Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers vs. Ephrata Mountaineers

The Lampeter-Strasburg Pioneers are taking a road trip to take on the Ephrata Mountaineers at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Lampeter-Strasburg is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 56.1 points per game this season.

Last Thursday, in a tight game that could have gone either way, Lampeter-Strasburg made off with a 61-60 victory over Lower Dauphin. Given the Pioneers' advantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 137th, while the Falcons are ranked 286th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Chase Smucker

Points

02/06/25 vs Lower Dauphin	26
02/04/25 @ Octorara Area	16
01/30/25 vs Manheim Central	25
01/27/25 vs Oxford	19
01/24/25 vs Donegal	19

Chase Smucker was his usual excellent self, going 9 of 22 on his way to 26 points. The match was his fifth in a row with at least 16 points. Another player making a difference was Jared Hostetter, who went 5 for 12 en route to 11 points.

Lampeter-Strasburg was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in December of 2024.

Meanwhile, Ephrata came tearing into Thursday's contest with three straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.7 points) and they left with even more momentum. They walked away with a 56-45 win over the Indians.

Ephrata's record is now 16-7. As for Lampeter-Strasburg, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last nine games, which provided a nice bump to their 16-6 record this season.

Everything came up roses for Lampeter-Strasburg against Ephrata in their previous meeting back in February of 2022, as the team secured a 73-37 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lampeter-Strasburg since the squad won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.