Great Valley keeps on rolling without Capitano
EAST NOTTINGHAM >> For Great Valley head boys’ basketball coach Paul Girone, Thursday was another pinch-me moment in the midst of a season already filled with key Ches-Mont American victories.
His Patriots had just cleared another formidable hurdle, registering a 51-38 road win at Oxford to improve to 7-0 against division opponents this season. And Great Valley (11-4 overall) has done the bulk of it without its best player, injured super-sophomore Alex Capitano.
“What a tremendous feeling,” Girone said. “Every one of the kids on our roster has stepped up. It’s really remarkable.
“What seemed to be such a negative twist on the season turned out to be a blessing. Everybody else is doing more.
“Obviously, it’s been tough for Alex. But we just found out that he will be back for the last game against (West Chester) Rustin, and any playoff games we get to.”
If that wasn’t enough, Girone celebrated the 250th win of his head coaching career, which included three separate stints at Great Valley. He was with the boys from 1985-91, spent seven seasons with the girls, and is now in his third season back with the boys after the retirement of Jim Nolan.
“That made it even better,” he said.
Except for an early 2-0 deficit, the Patriots led wire-to-wire. The defense forced 13 turnovers, and the methodical offense was opportunistic, especially when taking advantage of the Hornet’s over-aggressiveness with a series of back-door cuts for a slew of easy buckets.
“We practice those situations all the time when (opponents) are playing no-help defense, and they are all over us, we work on finding the back-door cuts, making the back-door passes,” explained senior forward Robert Geiss.
“My philosophy is that down the road, if you want to be any good, you are going to play physical, quick opponents,” Girone added. “If you can’t play against that in big games, then you are in trouble. That’s what we work on so that we get those back-doors.”
The clash was a bit chippy, and there may have been some residual contentiousness from the first meeting back in mid-December. Great Valley prevailed, 61-59, in a hotly contested battle, and during the festivities Capitano suffered a broken right wrist on a botched dunk attempt.
“Both teams had a little attitude coming off the last one,” said Geiss, who scored 11 points on Thursday.
Oxford (3-4, 4-9) got off to a painfully slow start, and a major reason was that the Hornets misfired on all seven of their first half free throws and trailed 20-12 at the break. For the outing, Oxford was 5-for-15 from the line, and are a combined 8-36 in the last two outings.
“We’ve had trouble the last two games,” said Hornets’ head coach Kevin Kelly. “I can tell you that we are working on it every day. I think the kids will eventually be OK with that part of it.”
Things only got worse for Oxford in the third quarter, leading a clearly irritated Kelly to call a couple timeouts. The frustration was evident when Oxford’s Donte Crews was hit with a technical foul after being whistled for a foul. The Patriots turned it into a 3-point possession and a commanding 29-14 lead.
“The mentality is that now that our best player is gone, everyone has to step up,” Geiss explained. “We can’t rely on one person to score 20-25 points a night. Everybody has to do their share. So far we’ve done a great job with that.”
The Patriots led by as much as 15 early in the fourth, but the Hornets made a late run, as expected.
“Oxford has come back on a lot of teams because they are physical and they are quick,” Girone said. “They are relentless. They thrive in the fourth quarter.”
A Troy Brown 3-pointer sliced the deficit to 41-33, but moments later Great Valley’s Matt Porreca came up with a steal and a lay-in. And immediately following a 3-pointer by the Hornets’ Brian Dorsey, the Pats’ Nate Graeff completed a 3-point play.
“I thought our effort was there, but I just don’t know if we were sharp mentally,” Kelly said. “You get down to Great Valley by 10-12 points, it’s like being down 20 to other teams.”
Great Valley wrapped it up by downing 5-6 free throws in the final minute. Graeff led the balanced attack with 12 points and Liam Ward chipped in 11. A week after limiting West Chester Rustin in 25 points, the Patriots clamped down on Oxford.
“Once we got the big lead, but just at back and played great defense,” Geiss said.
“We had a week off since that (Rustin) game,” Girone added. “I wasn’t sure if we’d lose that physical edge. That’s why I am so proud of them. They didn’t miss a beat.”
Brown scored 10 in the fourth quarter for the Hornets and led all scorers with 18. Teammate Jake Giles buried three 3-pointers and added 11 points.
“Paul (Girone) does a great job and I thought his kids played hard,” Kelly said. “If we made some foul shots and kept our composure a little better, it would have been different.”
Great Valley 51, Oxford 38
GREAT VALLEY: Geiss 4 3-4 11, Ward 5 1-2 11, Frankenheimer 2 2-2 7, Porreca 2 0-2 4, Long 2 2-2 6, Graeff 4 4-4 12. Totals 19 10-16 51.
OXFORD: Brown 7 3-7 18, Ruddy 1 0-2 2, Crews 0 0-0 0, Giles 4 0-0 11, Dorsey 2 2-6 7. Totals 14 5-15 38.
Great Valley 9 11 9 22 – 51
Oxford 4 8 6 20 – 38
3-point goals: Frankenheimer, Brown, Giles 3, Dorsey.
