Dallastown s Ben Doorn, right, drives toward the basket while being defended by Central s Nick Salter. Doorn led all scorers with 16 points. (John A. Pavoncello photo)

Share the ball and attack the basket at every opportunity -- especially in the latter stages of a game.

Those are two cardinal rules of Dallastown boys' basketball.

The Wildcats practiced what their coaches preach on Tuesday night, and earned a 57-47 York-Adams Division I victory over Central York.

"We can shoot the basketball, but we don't want to live and die by the three (3-point shot)," Dallastown head coach Mike Grassel said. "I thought in the second half we did a much better job of sharing the basketball. Ben Doorn, Mitch Small, Andrew Henry, all of the guys did a nice job of attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line."

Doorn led all scorers with 16 points, 11 in the second half. He was outstanding

Dallastown s Ethan Sutton, right, pops a shot over Central s Nick Salter. (John A. Pavoncello photo)
at the foul line, connecting on 8-of-9 attempts. Ethan Sutton supplied 11 points for the winners, and Henry came off the bench to score nine points.

"We have a bunch of guys who can score," Doorn said. "That's how it's always been. We've been playing together since third grade. Since we're primarily a guard team, we know if we hold the ball, teams will have difficulty getting it from us."

After taking the lead near the end of third quarter on Henry's 3-point shot from the left corner, the Wildcats sealed the deal by scoring the first eight points of the fourth quarter to complete an 11-0 run. Every one of Dallastown's fourth-quarter points came on layups or foul shots. The Wildcats were 17-of-22 from the line for the game.

"Making the extra pass, getting the layups, that's Dallastown basketball," Grassel said.

Doorn, along with his scoring and foul shooting, delivered the assist on Henry's 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

"It (the shot) might have been a little quick, but I knew I had to put it up because I was open," Henry said. "I made that shot in practice and warmups, so I took it."

Henry, the Wildcats' quarterback in the fall, was also on the receiving

Dallastown s Jon Robertson, left, pulls down a rebound over Central s Nate Snyder in Tuesday night s basketball game. (John A. Pavoncello photo)
end of a nearly length-of- the-court pass from Mike Gibbs early in the fourth quarter. Henry caught the ball in stride and scored on a layup to push the advantage to 44-40.

"We work on that in practice with me throwing it, actually," Henry said. "But we switched it up, and Mike hit me with a beautiful pass, and I just finished it."

Central had no answer for Dallastown's strong finish. The Panthers didn't score for the first 3:45 of the last quarter and connected on just 2-of-10 shots in the eight minutes. Central was only 1-of-12 from behind the 3-point arc in the game.

Sam Saxton was the Panthers' top scorer with 15 points. Darian Hampton added 10 points.

Dallastown's victory came after tough losses to York High and Gettysburg last Friday and Saturday.

"I think they (the Wildcats' players) were a little ticked off," Grassel said. "We played two quality opponents, but you hate to lose those type of games. They came back hungry, and we have to keep that hunger and keep moving forward."

Dallastown improved to 8-4 overall and 4-2 in York-Adams Division II, good for a second-place tie with South Western behind York High (9-2, 6-0). Central fell to 4-7 and 3-2.

-- Reach Dick VanO linda at dvanolin da@yorkdispatch.com.