Balanced CB West pulls away in 3rd quarter to beat Souderton

FRANCONIA >> Collin MacAdams is fine with this Central Bucks West boys basketball team getting overlooked.

“We like being under the radar,” he said. “We embrace it and we’re going to keep going forward.”

The Bucks have a much different appearance from last year’s team that won 24 games and reached the PIAA Class AAAA second round. That happens when you graduate eight seniors, including the entire starting five.

That group is gone, but the standard of play it created is still being continued by MacAdams and the rest of the current squad. And five games into West’s Suburban One League Continental Conference, West is near the top of the standings once again.

“That team was a heck of a team. I learned a lot from Cal Reichwein, Connor Lynch, Luke Irons, Erich (Hohenleitner), Billy (Power),” MacAdams said. “They were leaders for the team now we have and it affected my playing still.”

MacAdams was one of four Bucks in double figures Friday night as Central Bucks West took a 15-point lead over host Souderton early in the fourth quarter and that was enough of a cushion to hold off the Indians for a 55-47 victory.

“I thought we defended well. We gave them too many second shots which really allowed them to hang with us,” CB West coach Adam Sherman said. “If we can fix that it and hit free throws I think we can find our stride.”

MacAdams had a team-high 17 points while Jake Reichwein finished with 14 points, eight coming in the third as West (6-4, 4-1 conference) responded to the Indians pulling to within three by scoring the next 11.

“Just share the ball, look to get people open and that’s what Sherman told us,” MacAdams said.

The Bucks finished the quarter up 45-32 with a Shane McCusker jumper in the fourth capping a 15-3 run to make it 47-32.

Souderton (3-7, 1-3) did not let West coast to victory. A Mike Bealer three had Big Red’s deficit down to 51-44 with 1:12 seconds left. The Bucks missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at 43.0 seconds but the Indians were called for traveling on their next possession.

Bealer had 17 points – 11 in the fourth – while Trevor Watts collected 11 of his 13 points in the third as Souderton dropped its fifth straight game.

“One thing that we did that we’re working on is we stayed composed, we stayed with each other the entire game,” Souderton coach Tim Brown said. “We stayed a family the entire game, which is our biggest thing. We weren’t pointing fingers on anything like that, we stayed positive and we’re looking at the next play ahead.

“You got to give it to CB West, they’re a very disciplined team and they confused us at points and they kept us on our toes.”

BOYS #HOOPS: @Buck_Nation‘s @shanemcbuckets hits a 3 & is fouled with 1.8 secs left 1Q vs. Souderton. He made the FT for the 4-point play. pic.twitter.com/j2eVuhpcm1

— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) January 7, 2017

Liam Cooney added 11 points and Shane McCusker scored 10 points for CB West, which has won two straight and three of its last four. The Bucks have won their last four SOL Continental games since falling to first place North Penn in their conference opener.

“This group’s learned a lot from the group in front of them,” Sherman said. “The group in front of them had great leadership. A lot of these kids are trying to emulate what they did both on the court and off the court. So, there’s a carryover effect and it’s hard to explain but there is a carryover effect.”

Both teams are back on the court Saturday for non-conference games at 4:30 p.m. Central Bucks West hosts Academy Park while Souderton visits Boyertown.

Souderton trailed by seven at halftime, but Watts had the hot hand in the third. After a Bealer corner three to begin the quarter, Watts scored the next 11 for Big Red, cutting the margin to 32-29 with four straight points.

“Trevor, he’s an unbelievable energy player,” Brown said. “And the biggest part of Trevor is he’s a great leader. He’s just knows what he’s talking about as far as team mentality and in all that kind of stuff and staying together as a family, he’s definitely one of our leaders in the locker room. And when you put energy and leadership together, that’s a heck of a player.”

But Reichwein ignited West’s 11-0 run with a three-point play at 4:14 then after a steal and basket by MacAdams Reichwein converted another three-point play to make it 40-29 Bucks at 2:25.

“We were able to get the ball in the lane, I think not including our second points we were able to get a lot of points in the paint. We were able to get to the rim,” said Sherman of West’s offense in the third. “I thought it was good, too, that we were able to get to the bonus early, which is a good sign that we’re being aggressive.”

A McCusker three pushed the advantage to 43-29. Watts grabbed a rebound, hit a jumper and was fouled to end the run with 1:28 left in the quarter. A Reichwein basket inside had the Bucks back up 14 before a Watts free throw at 4.6 seconds made it 42-32 heading to the fourth.

McCusker’s jumper gave West its largest lead at 47-32 and after a DJ Landis putback the Bucks again led by 15 on a pair of Reichwein free throws with 5:07 remaining. A 10-2 spurt by Big Red – eight coming from Bealer – made it 51-44 but Souderton came no closer.

BOYS #BASKETBALL: @Buck_Nation‘s @collin_macadams gets flashy with a behind the back pass to Liam Clooney for a layup 4Q vs. Souderton. pic.twitter.com/8JxT7pxua1

— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) January 7, 2017

The Indians held the lead twice Friday – the last coming after a Matt Cartwright three put Big Red up 8-7 in the first quarter. West, however, answered with an 11-1 run capped by McCusker’s four-point play with 1.8 seconds left in the period to make it 18-9.

A Cartwright three had the Indians within six at 26-18 before a Jack Traina free throw at 4.3 seconds gave the Bucks a seven-point edge at the break.

Central Bucks West 55, Souderton 47
Central Bucks West         18 7 20 10 — 55
Souderton          9 9 14 15 — 47
Central Bucks West: Collin MacAdams 6 4-7 17; Jake Reichwein 5 4-4 14; Liam Cooney 4 2-2 11; Shane McCusker 3 2-4 10; Jack Traina 0 3-5 3. Totals 18 15-22 55.
Souderton: Mike Bealer 5 4-5 17; Trevor Watts 5 3-5 13; Matt Cartwright 3 0-0 8; DJ Landis 2 0-0 4; Noah Horas 1 0-0 3; Kyle Lennon 0 2-4 2; Jake Groller 0 0-2 0. Totals 16 9-16 47
Three-pointers: CBW-McCusker 2, Cooney, MacAdams; S-Bealer 2, Cartwright 2, Horas.