Pottsgrove defeats WC Henderson in Flanagan’s debut

POTTSGROVE >> As hardwood debuts go, Jack Flanagan is too much of a taskmaster coach to give himself and his team a Hollywood four-star rating. But for four quarters, it was a pretty good start.

Pottsgrove’s boys basketball season opener was also a new beginning for Flanagan, formerly the Pope John Paul II head coach. The host Falcons were ready from the jump, playing with passion and a good amount of consistency in putting away West Chester Henderson, 57-42, Friday night on the first night of the Pottsgrove Shootout.

“The guys played hard, and we made enough plays the first three quarters to put ourselves in good position,” Flanagan said.

Seniors Steve Hein, Nik Curnew and Tre Whitehurst led the Falcons offensively. Hein, showing good acceleration to the basket, scored 16. Curnew had 15, including a couple of 3s, and Whitehurst, a driver and deep shooter, deposited three treys en route to 13 points.

“Good to get that first one out of the way. We’ve been preparing hard since last summer,” smiled Whitehurst.

So much of what the Falcons are about, though, is defense, which leads to offense. They turned over the Warriors often on the press or in half-court defense, fueling a fast break that, like past Pottsgrove editions, features a good amount of speed.

“We talked about the fact the defensive end has to feed the offensive end,” Flanagan said. “Obviously, we have the kind of group where we’re going to want to get out and run, but a lot of that comes from being smart and patient on the defensive end. We want to attack and be aggressive, but at the same time, being smart and patient allows you to run.”

“We wanted to execute coach’s game plan and play hard,” Hein said. “We’re not concerned with who scores. We’re all team-oriented.”

Henderson played hard as well, though the Warriors did yield a bunch of offensive rebounds. Pottsgrove could never quite put them away until late in the third quarter. The Warriors had players who could run up and down with the Falcons, but there were too many turnovers converted into Pottstown hoops.

Archer Reimishevsky topped the Warriors with 12, followed by smooth-shooting big man Adrian Piel’s 8 and 7 from junior guard Chuck Smith.

Pottsgrove, which faces Central Bucks East Saturday night, led 16-8 after the first quarter, its aggressiveness paying off with six made free throws, four by junior guard Ale Salata. Whitehurst hit two bombs in the second quarter but so did Reimishevsky, and the Warriors wouldn’t go away, trailing 29-21 at the break.

The Falcons suffered a scoring drought for nearly the first three minutes of the second half, but then they flipped the momentum like a light switch.

The Warriors’ Smith made a layup off a sharp feed from Reimishevsky, and an Austin Coles putback trimmed the lead to 29-25. But here came Pottsgrove in bunches. Curnew scored inside on a 20-foot laser pass from Salata. Consecutive steals resulted in buckets for Obassy and Hein. Salata made an and-one on a hanger near the basket. Hein fastbreak-finished another steal, Curnew nailed a 3 and Whitehurst put in another offensive rebound to suddenly make it a 16-point lead, 45-29, courtesy a 17-4 sprint.

Flanagan was pleased with his first Pottsgrove’s team’s preseason work ethic. He says it’s a matter of taking little steps each day – “It’s a crawl, walk, run, fly kind of thing,” he said.

They were running and flying Friday night, opening night.

“Now we’re at a point of taking that next step,” Flanagan said, “and see where it goes.”