Downingtown West storms out of gate to beat Downingtown East

DOWNINGTOWN >> Much like a finely tuned sports car ready to hit the track, the Downingtown West boys basketball team rocketed out of the gate Tuesday night at Wagner Gymnasium, going wire to wire in defeating crosstown rival Downingtown East, 59-50, in a key Ches-Mont League National Division game.

The Whippets delivered the knockout blow right from the outset, making the Cougars climb up the mountain the rest of the night.

The Whippets (5-1 Ches-Mont, 7-5 overall) won their third straight game and put the Cougars (3-3, 6-6) on their heels, opening up a commanding 18-5 lead after one quarter. 

West junior Hunter Blair led the way early, as he scored eight of his 12 points in the opening quarter.

“Coach (Stu) Ross, always stresses to us to come out with focus and a lot of energy,” Blair said. “And we did that tonight. They had to chase us after the first quarter and that is hard to do for three quarters.”

Downingtown West shot a torrid 21 for 41 from the field on the night and put four players in double figures. Along with Blair, Naseem Roberson led all scorers with 16 points, while Will Howard and Cam McCole each tallied 14 points.

At halftime, the Whippets’ lead was down to 28-20 and East made a charge at the front-running Whippets in the third quarter. Andrew King, who was scoreless in the first half, scored six of his eight points in the quarter, and when Dylan Rowe scored on a putback, the West lead was down to 35-32. 

But, Will Howard came down the floor and drained a 3-pointer. East then missed on a shot from thes side by King. Roberson took the ball down the floor and spotted Howard in the right corner. Howard took the pass and drilled a jump shot to give the Whippets a 40-32 advantage.

“We expect things like that out of Will,” Ross said. “He has been playing varsity basketball for three years and he seems to like those pressure situations. We stress getting out on teams early and we did that well tonight. We started with a lot of focus and energy.”

Downingtown East tried to cut into the margin in the fourth quarter, again with Rowe leading the way. Dave Owsik, who drained a long three at the buzzer ending the first half, led the Cougars with 14 points while Rowe added 12, all in the second half. 

But the Whippets were shooting the ball too well and West also went 12 of 13 from the free throw line. Roberson consistently got past his man and go to the basket for a score or a nice outlet pass to one of his teammates.

“I have a lot of confidence in my game,” Roberson said. “And tonight I got to the basket when I wanted, and we have good shooters in Cam, Will and Hunter and I either score the ball or hit them for open shots. We are playing very well right now but we just take one game at a time and we practice hard every game.”

Downingtown West 59, Downingtown East 50

Downingtown East 5 15 12 18 – 50
Downingtown West 18 10 14 17 – 59

DOWNINGTOWN EAST (50) King 4 0-0 8, Mujica 1 0-0 2, Rowe 5 2-3 12, Owsik 4 4-5 14, Riley 1 0-0 3, Kalim 4 0-0 8, Caggiano 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 6-8 50.

DOWNINGTOWN WEST (59) Roberson 6 4-5 16, McCole 5 4-4 14, Blair 4 2-2 12, Howard 5 2-2 14,Kaiser 1 0-0 3, Hillisnger 0 0-0 0, Shelton 0 0-0 0, Spano 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 12-13 59.

3-point goals: Blair 2, Howard 2, Kaiser, Owsik 2, Caggiano , Riley.