Pottsgrove gets revenge on Great Valley in District 1-5A first round

MALVERN >> Jack Flanagan has never been happy to just make the playoffs. But after the Pottsgrove boys’ basketball coach missed the Falcons’ postseason last year due to health issues, just being able to patrol the sidelines on Thursday night felt pretty special.

His team’s eventual 72-69 victory over Great Valley in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs felt even better.

“Coaches coach and players win games,” Flanagan said. “All the credit goes to the team and these kids for the win, but I was happy to be here after what I went through last year.”

With Flanagan away from the team, Pottsgrove’s season ended against Great Valley in a 42-39 nail-biter last season, but the Falcons got revenge on Thursday night, picking up the first-round victory over the Patriots behind 39 combined points from Manny Clark and Khaliym Smith.

Great Valley jumped out to a 5-2 lead early in the first quarter, but after a three-pointer from Clark evened the score, the Falcons didn’t trail for the remainder of the game. Pottsgrove opened up an 18-11 advantage late in the first quarter, but allowed Great Valley to tie the score at 23 midway through the second period.

From there, the Falcons went on a tear, finishing the first half with a 10-0 run and ripping off another 10-0 run to the start the second half, opening up a 43-23 lead with under four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“We always say to have a run, you need to get stops,” Flanagan said. “I was proud of our effort coming out of the half because it wasn’t like we built a lead, then rested. We played well, talked about what we did right at the half, then came back out and did it again.”

Great Valley cut the lead to 11 by the end of the third quarter, but found itself trailing by as many as 18 in the final quarter. Will Fredrick led the Patriots on a furious comeback in the final minutes, cutting the Pottsgrove lead to as little as two points on multiple occasions. Fredrick scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter before fouling out in the final seconds.

Pottsgrove had a chance to ice the game in the final minute, but faltered at the foul line, making just 2-of-4 free throws. A three-pointer by Philip Wellener brought the Patriots within two again. However, after a pair of missed free throws by Pottsgrove’s Jimai Springfield, Great Valley could not secure the rebound, and Pottsgrove was able to run out the clock.

“We knew they were too good of a team to not comeback,” Flanagan said. “Granted, it did get a little too close at the end, but give all the credit to Great Valley. They are a tremendous, well-coached team.”

Clark led the Falcons with 21 points, Smith added 18 and Justin Robinson tallied 15 of his own. As a team, Pottsgrove shot a healthy 51 percent from the field, but committed 17 turnovers.

Great Valley struggled from beyond the arc all night, making just five of their 22 three-point attempts. The Patriots shot north of 66 percent on two-point field goals thanks to their size advantage. In addition to Fredrick’s 22 points, Wellener scored 13 points and Josh Stehle poured in 11 points.

With the win, Pottsgrove has earned a date with Holy Ghost Prep, which defeated Upper Merion, 53-41, on Thursday night.