Downingtown West holds on to beat archrival East in Ches-Mont opener
DOWNINGTOWN >> Rivalry games are, by definition, just more intense than regular games.
Each rebound is gone after more angrily and each loose ball resembles feeding time at a kennel as every player goes after the ball like a piece of meat for dinner. But that kind of effort also means the celebration is a little sweeter for the victor at night’s end.
Thursday night at Wagner Gymnasium, Downingtown West and Downingtown East produced another frenetic game in their rivalry series.
Before a packed house, Downingtown West forged ahead in the fourth period and took down the visiting Cougars, 48-43, in a key Ches-Mont National Division contest. Will Howard led the Whippets with 14 points to go along with seven boards and Naseem Roberson sank six big four quarter free throws to give the Whippets (1-0 Ches-Mont National, 2-2 overall) the win.
“Anytime we play East it is a big game,” Howard said. “There was a lot of intensity out there tonight and with the big crowd it was a great feeling to be in this game. We played with a lot of intensity and came away with the win by battling in the fourth period.”
The largest lead of the night was six points, and that came late in the fourth. The two teams went at each other tooth and nail the entire game. East held a 21-19 halftime edge, but the Whippets outscored the Cougars (0-1, 1-1) in the third quarter behind the play of Davis Reardon and Jake Reese, who hit big three-balls. and West held a slight 32-29 lead after three quarters.
“We stopped getting the ball inside to Andrew (King) in the third period,” Downingtown East coach John Goodman said. “We panicked a little when they made their run and Andrew will kick the ball back out, but we did not do a good job of getting him the basketball.”
The Cougars took a 33-32 lead early in the final period when senior guard Malik Slay, who led all scorers with 24 points, scored on a follow. Reese drained a long 3-pointer to give the Whippets a 35-33 lead, and West would never trail again.
Roberson drove down the lane for a 37-33 Whippet lead and the Cougars were up against it, shooting just three for 14 in the final quarter and 14 for 45 on the night.
But, East did not go away. Slay drained his fourth 3-pointer to pull East to within three at 41-38 with just over three minutes to play. But after a Reese miss, the Cougars came down the floor and Slay missed from inside the lane and a mad scramble for the rebound ended with the ball going to West.
“The East game is a big game,” Downingtown west coach Stu Ross said. “But, we as coaches have to approach it as any other game. The kids get charged up a little more for the Cougars but we approach it as another game. It was a big win for us because it was a Ches-Mont League game and we don’t want to get too far down like we did last year because one of our goals is to get to the league Final Four, so it was a big win for us.”
Downingtown West 43, Downingtown East 38
DOWNINGTOWN EAST: Slay 8 4-5 24, Hernandez 2 1-3 5, King 3 2-6 8, Kalim 0 2-4 2, Mujica 1 2-3 4, Riley 00-0 0, Owsik 0 0-0 0, Umberger 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 11-21 38.
DOWNINGTOWN WEST: Howard 3 7-9 14, Barton 2 1-2 5, Geiser 0 0-0 0, McAvoy 4 0-0 9, Reardon 2 0-0 5, Reese 2 1-2 7, Roberson 1 6-9 8, Mattson 0 0-0 0, Lundberg 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 15-22 43.
Downingtown East 7 14 10 14 – 38
Downingtown West 8 11 13 16 – 43
3-point goals: Slay 4, Howard, Reardon, Reese 2, McAvoy.
