Bishop Shanahan holds off Coatesville for huge Ches-Mont victory
DOWNINGTOWN >> A rivalry, which started with Coatesville’s overtime win in last year’s Ches-Mont League final, was ramped up a few degrees Tuesday night as Bishop Shanahan played its 2-3 zone to perfection and forced Coatesville into a 16 for 49 shooting night as the Eagles came away with a 49-42 Ches-Mont National Division win.
The game was marred by an ugly third quarter brawl that resulted in a Coatesville player’s ejection and held the game up for 20 minutes.
“The games with Coatesville are always intense and tonight was no different,” Bishop Shanahan’s Kevin Dodds said. “You have to match their emotion and we did that after the fight, especially. And I had complete confidence in my teammates after I fouled out of the game. I knew they would get it done.”
Dodds had a good night as he tallied six points to go along with 10 rebounds, and he helped the Shanahan guards withstand the Red Raiders’ pressure by coming to half court to catch a pass and take the heat off the Eagles guards.
Dodds fouled out seconds after the fight, which started with some pushing and shoving and escalated into a player coming off the Coatesville bench. The Eagles (1-0 Ches-Mont, 3-1 overall) lost Dodds at the tail end of the third with a 31-24 lead at that point. Jahmir Brickus, who led all scorers with 22 points, hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 33-27 Shanahan after three periods. But, the night belonged to the Eagles, and when Joe O’Malley took a perfect pass from David Angelo to score, it was a 41-31 lead with a little over three minutes to play.
“We really battled out there tonight,” Shanahan guard Thomas Ford said. “Our guards did a great job sliding in the zone defense to keep them out of the lane and that was our goal tonight. We won as a team. There is not one guy who is more important than the others. We are a team.”
Dan DiBeneditto, who led Shanahan with 12 points, hit a long three-ball from the corner for a 44-34 Eagles lead with 2:49 to play. But, Coatesville (0-1, 2-3) came back when Donte Cruz drove the baseline to cut the Bishop Shanahan lead to 44-36. The Eagles came down the floor and missed a jumper and the Red Raiders came down the floor quickly before Avery Young went to he line for two free throws. Young missed both, and stymied a Coatesville run. The Red Raiders were only seven for 14 from the charity stripe on the night.
Aaron Young hit a 3-pointer from the right side to cut the lead to 48-42, but with only 26 seconds left in the game, it was too little too late.
Bishop Shanahan successfully inbounded the ball and hit on one of two free throws to ice the game, and the Eagles had a huge upset over the Ches-Mont League favorites.
“We have four starters back from last year and it is an experienced bunch,” said Bishop Shanahan coach Ken Doyle. “We wanted to keep them on the perimeter and keep Jahmir and Dapree Bryant from penetrating and slashing to the basket. They did a few times but overall we played very good defense against Coatesville, who is the class of the Ches-Mont League, so I am very happy with our effort.”
Coatesville coach Chuck Moore kept the locker room closed for a long time as he talked to his team. Afterward, he spoke about the Shanahan zone.
“Teams are going to do that to us all season,” Moore said. “Until we buy in to try to exploit that, we are going to struggle against that defense. I think we did a good job in the first period of getting to the basket but we just could not convert and this game is a game that is about making shots and if you don’t make shots you cannot win.”
Bishop Shanahan 49, Coatesville 42
COATESVILLE (42): Brickus 8 4-4 22, Bryant 1 0-0 2, A.Young 1 0-2 3, H.Young 1 0-0 2, Av.Young 0 1-4 1, Holmes 1 0-0 2, Smith 2 1-2 5, Bladen 1 0-0 2, Pittman 0 1-2 1, Cruz 1 0-0 2. Totals 16 7-14 42.
BISHOP SHANAHAN (49): Dodds 2 2-4 6, Chenard 1 1-2 3, O’Malley 3 2-2 10, Wilson 0 2-4 2, DiBeneditto 3 4-4 12, Ford 2 4-5 8, Angelo 2 3-4 8, Lamb 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 18-25 49.
Coatesville 6 7 14 15 – 42
Bishop Shanahan 10 11 12 16 – 49
3-point goals: Brickus 2, Angelo, O’Malley 2, DiBeneditto 2.
