CB East basketball’s defense clamps down on Pennsbury to advance (VIDEO)
FAIRLESS HILLS – Trailing visiting CB East 19-18 at the half in a District 1-AAAA playoff opener on their home court, Pennsbury began the second portion of the game with three straight field goals including a 3-pointer by junior Vaughn Ward that put the Falcons up 25-19 less than two minutes into the third period.
More play like that and 17th-seeded Pennsbury (15-8) would be on to the start of a postseason run that would earn the Falcons a third consecutive berth in states.
Little did anyone know when Patriots head coach Erik Henryson called an early third-period timeout that CB East would limit Pennsbury to just five more points on its way to a shocking 41-30 triumph that ended the Falcons’ season a little earlier than the anticipated.
“They are an aggressive team and they press and for us, it’s more about defense than offense. We wanted to limit their shots and force them to move the ball around,” said Patriots assistant coach Ryan Yannarella.
“We really tried to keep a condensed look on them and keep them from penetrating. We worked hard on fronting the post against the big guys.”
One of Pennsbury’s big men – 6-8, 250-pound junior Isaiah Carpenter – was missing from the Falcons’ lineup. Without Carpenter’s presence, CB East (14-9) could concentrate on shutting down Pennsbury’s other big man, Mark Flagg.
The Patriots did just that, limiting the 6-8 forward to 10 points including a lone field goal after the intermission.
“We knew we couldn’t guard him with just one guy,” added Yannarella. “He’s too good, too versatile. He can hit threes, he can post up.
“We always had two guys concentrating on him. We were fronting him with one guy and helping a lot with the second guy, because of how dangerous he is.”
Whatever plan Henryson made for his team during that early third-period timeout must have worked. CB East finished the quarter with a 9-2 run, a scoring spurt highlighted by a pair of field goals by junior Matt Pattyson (8 pts.).
Pattyson’s second basket was a wild shot he tossed up from well beyond the 3-point line that hit the glass first. Nevertheless, it went in, putting the Patriots on top for the first time since the first quarter.
From there, the CB East defense dominated and the visitors never trailed again.
Up 28-27 entering the final frame, the Patriots registered a 13-1 scoring run that put them on top 41-28 with less than a minute to go in the contest.
CB East senior Blake Peterson tallied a lone basket in the game but he picked a good time to pour it into the rim, opening the fourth quarter with a putback. Classmate Justin O’Neil scored the first basket in the game for the Patriots then was held off the scoreboard until the final frame.
Nevertheless, O’Neil erupted for two straight field goals, hitting a shot off the glass and a one-handed turnaround jumper in the paint that put CB East on top 32-28 with 4:30 remaining.
“Their defense pressured us into a couple of those shots,” said Yannarella. “It’s a playoff and we’ll take what we can get. We got in the lane and we got some good chances.
“They are a great team; what they can do defensively with activity from their guards, we knew would be a challenge,” “We were trying to get in the lane, kick and take the best possible shot for us.”
The Patriots closed the game out by making seven of their last 11 shots from the foul line. CB East senior Tommy Strasburger sparked his team’s offense with 11 points in the first half including back-to-back jumpers that gave the Pats a 7-4 edge with 2:30 left in the first period.
“Tommy is a captain and a four-year starter for us,” said Yannarella. “He’s been our point guard for all four years so, senior leadership; he was able to handle the pressure for us and get himself points and get other guys on our team points, too.”
For the Falcons who went to the PIAA quarterfinals a year ago and the District 1 championship in 2014, the loss ends their campaign at 15-8.
“They took us out of our game offensively,” explained Pennsbury junior Addison Howard. “They double-teamed Mark and they kept switching their guards up top so that we had a hard time driving (to the basket) so, credit to them.”
In the end, the Falcons failed to build on the momentum gained by the seven-point scoring spurt they registered to begin the second half.
“I think we relaxed up a little bit after that,” added Howard. “We were overconfident, thinking we were just going to keep running over them.
“We had to keep playing hard and we didn’t and that’s probably what happened to the outcome of this game.”
It was a tough way to end the season for the Orange & Black. While Pennsbury began its current campaign without the services of Cameron Jones (Saint Peter’s), Derrick Woods (Saint Bonaventure) and Mekhi Bryant (Baltimore County CC) – the leading scorers last year – the Falcons won eight of their first 10 games including an opening win over Catholic League power Saint Joseph Prep and an early December victory over Abington.
Pennsbury faltered however in a midseason slump that saw it drop five of six including three straight suffered at the hands of its Suburban One League rivals.
While the Falcons closed the regular season with five consecutive win against their SOL rivals, Pennsbury never seemed to find the rhythm it had in the first half of the season.
For its efforts, CB East advances to a District 1 second-round pairing on Tuesday, Feb. 16 when the Patriots will face top seed Coatesville, which needed a layup and a pair of free throws in the last 11 seconds to get past No. 32 seed Bensalem, 43-40.
Central Bucks East 41, Pennsbury 30
(Feb. 12 at Pennsbury)
CB East 7 12 9 13 – 41
Pennsbury 9 9 9 3 – 30
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST (14-9) – Tommy Strasburger 6 0-1 13, Matt Pattyson 2 3-4 8, Justin O’Neil 3 1-2 7, Elijah Segar 1 2-4 5, Ryan Plack 2 0-0 4, Blake Peterson 1 0-0 2, Chris Reilly 0 2-2 2; TOTALS – 15 8-13 41.
PENNSBURY (15-8) – Mark Flagg 3 4-7 10, Tyler Sessa-Reeves 3 2-2 8, Rob Daly 2 1-1 5, Vaughn Ward 0-0 3, Addison Howard 1 0-0 2, Joey Monaghan 1 0-0 2; TOTALS – 11 7-10 30.
3-POINT GOALS: P – Ward; CBE – Strasburger, Pattyson, Segar.
