Downingtown West routs Octorara for first Ches-Mont Final Four title
EAST MARLBOROUGH — When you have a group of young men pulling in the right direction for a common goal and sacrificing every day to achieve it, the group — or team in this instance, is very hard to deny.
All off-season the Downingtown West boys basketball team wanted to be noticed as one of the best teams in the Ches-Mont league and District 1. Not many people listened to the players, coaches or fans. All this did was make the Whippets work that much harder to reach their goals.
At Unionville High School on Tuesday, Downingtown West, behind a superlative 27-point, 11-rebound, three-blocked shot night from center Josh Warren, showed the doubters how truly good they are. Downingtown West won its first Ches-Mont title since 2008 and its first Final Four crown with a convincing 68-53 triumph over Octorara before a packed house in the Ches-Mont championship game.
“Coaching did not have that much to do with it,’ Downingtown West coach Jason Ritter said. “When you have the best players you are supposed to win. And we had the best players. Josh Warren is the best player in the league, no doubt about it.’
The Whippets (20-4) outscored the Braves (22-2), 17-5, in the second period to build a commanding 27-19 lead at halftime. The period highlighted the advantage the taller Whippets had under the basket. Octorara was able to survive that disadvantage in the semifinals against Coatesville on Saturday, but not on this night.
The West guards consistently got the ball down low to Warren in good position to score. The 6-foot-8 junior had his way under the basket, scoring with both hands and generally making life miserable for the Braves.
“He is the best big man we have seen all year,’ Octorara coach Gene Lambert said. “He has great moves and he can score with both hands. He is a great player.’
Dom Guerrera, who had a big game offensively and defensively adderd 15 points and threw down a monstrous slam in the second give West a six-point lead at 25-19. Guerrera also did a magnificiant job on Octorara star Tarojae Brake, holding him to no points in the first half.
“I had to guard Brake and he is a great player,’ Guerrera said. “I did not get tired because we work on conditioning every day and the guys on the bench push me. This is a great win for us because we did not get picked to do anything this season. Some people even had us picked third or fourth in the league, so we wanted to prove them wrong.’
Guerrera came out on fire in the second half, draining a 3-pointer early on. Then, after a turnover, George Gordon took a nice feed from Ryan Betley to score to make it a 32-19 game. Another long Guerrera three followed to make it 35-19, forcing Lambert to call a timeout.
“We came out strong in the third period and we wanted to put the game away right there,’ Guerrera said.
Octorara tried to hang around. They shot better after making just one of 12 attempts in the second period. But, even though Brake warmed up after the break and hit a three at the end of the third, the Braves still trailed 45-29 going into the fourth.
Warren scored six points in the period and almost took the game over himself.
“We knew we had a big size advantage on them,’ Warren said. “And our guards did a great job getting the ball inside to me tonight. They take a lot of criticism, but they do a great job. This win means so much to us because we wanted to show people how good we are. We wanted to be Ches-Mont champs, and now, we are.’
With the Whippets holding a 16-point lead, it looked like it was all over for the Braves. But, Brake led a charge with his outside shooting.
Octorara went on an 11-0 run fueled by Brake’s three 3-pointers and a big bucket from Andrew Forman. Octorara closed to within 50-42 with 4:52 to play, but once again Warren was the man for the Whippets. He scored off a follow of a Doug Conrad miss for a 52-42 lead. Brake then came down the floor and glided to the hole, but needing a stop, they didn’t get it. Guerrera came right back to score from the right side to restore the 10-point lead.
Brake was not done yet. The senior — who had 12 of his team-high 18 points in the period — scored on a driving layup to cut the deficit to eight. But, the Braves turned the ball over after a and Betley drained a long 3-pointer to end any hopes of a comeback.
Moments later, Downingtown West was the Ches-Mont League champions for 2014-15.
