One month after winning a historic state championship, Central York boys basketball is on the PIAA Class 6A all-state team.
Head coach Jeff Hoke was named 6A Coach of the Year, and all three of the Panthers' biggest stars earned all-state honors. Senior Greg Geidinger was selected to the first team, and juniors Ben Lill and Ben Nuttall were selected to the second and third teams, respectively. The trio headlined a group of six star players from the York-Adams League, an all-state boys team.
Central York became the first York County public school to win a state basketball title by defeating Parkland 53-51 on March 23 at Hershey's Giant Center. The Panthers are 29-3 overall, having struggled in December with two losses. Although they suffered a setback in the District 3 quarterfinals, they bounced back and won all the games.
The selection was made by a statewide media committee and officially announced just after midnight Wednesday.
“This is a reflection of the kids,” Hawk said of the recognition. “It's an honor and it's great and it's because the kids are really great kids and they work really hard. And I have a great staff and administration that really supports me from top to bottom. It's really amazing.”
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For Hawk, who is always keen to heap praise on his players, this honor held a bit of special meaning. He dedicated the award to his father, Don Hoke, who became his first basketball coach when he was 3 years old. He attended every Central York game last season, even though he was unable to attend the games in person due to illness.
“It means a lot to me because of him,” Hawk said. “I'm 54 years old, but I still want to make my dad proud.”
Geidinger is a two-time All-State selection after being named to the 6A second team in the 2022-23 season. The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 18.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists, according to the all-state poll. He became Central York's all-time leading scorer in December, finishing his career with 1,621 points.
Geidinger, who had been interested in NCAA Division I since his sophomore season, finally found his college basketball destination last week, committing to Loyola Maryland on Friday. New Greyhounds coach Josh Loeffler, who previously led the Johns Hopkins program, has been friends with Hoke for 15 years, and one of Loyola's new assistants recruited Geidinger when he was in his former spot. When Loeffler asked Hoke about his star player, Hoke called Geidinger “the perfect player.”
“I went out with Greg and his father (former NBA player Jay Geidinger) for a day, and when they offered him the next day, it was a no-brainer,” Hawk said. “I'm so proud of Greg…he's won everything.”
Geidinger joins Archbishop Wood's Jalil Beshear, Parkland's Nick Koval, Roman Catholic's Shareef Jackson, Reading's Yadier Cruz and St. Joseph's Prep's Jaron McKee on the top team in Class 6A. Central York defeated Cruz's Red Knights and Koval's Trojans in the state semifinals and title game. Bethea was named Player of the Year.
Rill, a 6-foot-8 forward, averaged 14.8 points and nine rebounds all season, but some of his biggest games came in the state playoffs. The junior left-hander scored 28 points in the Panthers' PIAA semifinal win over Reading and averaged 17.4 points in Central's last seven games while playing exemplary defense in the post.
The 6-foot-2 Natal spearheaded a deep Panther backcourt with 15.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and four assists per game. He scored his 1,000th career point on February 8 against the Red Lions, capping the game with a buzzer-beater. Natal added 15 points in the state final. Because of his strong senior season, it would be easy to track Geidinger's scoring record for the 2024-25 season.
When the York-Adams League All-Stars were announced in late February, Red Lion's Steve Schmale and Dallastown's Mike Glassell shared Division I Coach of the Year honors at Hawk's expense. Lil was a DI second-team all-star and eventually made the All-State second team.
Statewide Superstars: Three other local boys standouts earned All-State honors. Littlestown senior Christopher Meakin was selected to the Class 4A first team and Eastern York junior Carter Wamsley was selected to the 4A third team. Meanwhile, York Catholic junior Jake Dallas was a Class 3A second-team honoree.
The league's total of six all-state selections far exceeds last year's number, when only Geidinger (6A second team) and Eastern York's Austin Bousman (4A third team) were honored.
Meakin, a 6-8 center, averaged 22.1 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunderbolts, who remained undefeated in YA Division III and finished 19-9 overall. He became the program's all-time leading scorer in the district playoffs, surpassing Logan Collins' record, and finished his distinguished career with 1,666 points, second all-time by an Adams County male player (Fairfield's Andy Winebrenner graduated He scored 1,929 points in 2002). Meakin is also a star goalie in soccer and will play basketball at Division II Frostburg State University, Littlestown head coach John Foster's alma mater.
Wamsley led Eastern York to the District 3 Class 4A title with 20 points and 11 rebounds in the second half of the Golden Knights' 55-50 win over Big Spring on March 1 in Hershey. Ta. The 6-foot-6 junior averaged 15.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game overall for Eastern, who reached the state quarterfinals in his first year under award-winning coach Troy Sowers. Wamsley shared the frontcourt with his cousin Justin Strausbaugh this season, but will be the unquestioned centerpiece in 2024-25. He has offers from multiple of his DI colleges.
Dallas led the league in scoring with 23 points per game and led a young York Catholic team to a 12-13 record. He hit 51 triples and made 80.5% of his free throw attempts. Dallas, who came on as a sophomore, scored a career-high 36 points against York Tech on February 2, pushing his career scoring to over 1,000 points. The Fighting Irish plan to return the majority of their roster next winter.
Perhaps the most decorated York Adams League players who did not make the all-state team this spring are York Suburban freshman Nasir Burns in Class 5A and Red Lion senior in Class 6A. That would be Joe Sedra. Burns, who was named D-II Player of the Year, averaged 18.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists for a Trojans team that improved from 7-15 to 23-8. Cedora missed the first nine games with a broken ankle, but returned to action in 21 games, averaging 19.7 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists as the Lions enjoyed their most successful postseason in two decades. , advanced to the District 3-6A semifinals and the PIAA second round. .
The All-State girls basketball team will be announced Friday afternoon.