West Chester Rustin hands Sun Valley its first Ches-Mont loss

WESTTOWN >> West Chester Rustin came into Thursday night looking up at two teams in the Ches-Mont League American Division standings.

By the end of the night, the Golden Knights still sat in third place … but the race to the playoffs will likely be a photo finish now. 

A contentious battle between the host Golden Knights and Ches-Mont American leader Sun Valley saw Rustin hold on for a hard-fought, 57-48, victory that put the Golden Knights a half game behind Unionville for second place in the American and one and half behind previously unbeaten Sun Valley for the division lead.

Rustin (4-2 league, 10-5 overall) went to the free throw line 37 times, compared to just 12 for the Vanguards (5-1, 11-4), a fact that angered Sun Valley coach Steve Maloney, who was assessed a technical foul with three minutes left in the fourth quarter.

“We did not get a call all night and I thought the officiating was bad,” Maloney said. “And we still made it a game. But give Rustin credit. They were fighting for their lives in the Ches-Mont and they hit shots and killed us in the paint.”

The Golden Knights led from start to finish, but that does not mean it was easy. Sun Valley, after trailing 18-11 at halftime, rallied to cut the Rustin lead to 24-21 after an Isaac Kennon follow. But the taller Golden Knights got six clutch points from Bryce Pew in the third quarter to keep Rustin ahead, 28-21, after three quarters.

“The coaches are trying to get me to look for my shot more,” Pew said. “And tonight I knew we needed some offense so I was looking for my shot and I got some good looks.”

With the Golden Knights ahead by seven going into the final quarter, Sun Valley star forward Vinny DeAngelo scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the final period as he tried to singlehandedly bring his team back.

But every time the Vanguards looked like they were going to draw even, a different Rustin player would either hit a key shot or get to the line for clutch free throws. Freshman Ivy Pettit drained 10 of 12 from the free throw line to lead the Golden Knights with 16 points, along with Jake Nelson, who also had 16 points to go along with 11 rebounds.

“I take a lot of pride in shooting free throws and I knew we needed them late in the game because DeAngelo got hot,” Pettit said. “He is a great player and you have to play him full court.”

When Dan Wethey hit a putback to make it a 41-31 Rustin lead, it looked like the Vanguards were done. But DeAngelo hit two more of his five 3-pointers to make it a game again.

Then, Maloney got hit with a technical foul with 2:54 to play. Pettit then hit three of the four free throws and the Golden Knights got the ball back, as Rustin dealt the Vanguards their first Ches-Mont American loss of the season.

“Bryce hit some big shots for us,” Rustin coach Keith Cochran said. “We have been working on him for two years to look more for his shot so hopefully this will be a big step for him. As far as DeAngelo, he is just a tough player and we did a good job on him for three quarters but he just keeps coming at you.”

West Chester Rustin 57, Sun Valley 48

SUN VALLEY (48): DeAngelo 10 2-3 27, Kennon 4 2-5 11, Freeman 0 4-4 4, Giankopolous 3 0-0 6, Valente 0 0-0 0, Fisher 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-12 48.

WC RUSTIN (57): Pettit 3 10-12 16, Nelson 5 6-12 16, Wethey 1 0-0 2, Barksdale 2 1-2 5, Pew 3 2-2 8, Asparagus 3 4-7 10, Demarco 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 23-37 57.

Sun Valley 7 4 10 27 – 48
W.C. Rustin 10 8 10 29 – 57

3-point goals: DeAngelo 5, Kennon.