McGlone’s breakout performance helps Cheltenham topple Plymouth Whitemarsh
WHITEMARSH >> It was getting harder and harder to overlook Cheltenham junior Jaelen McGlone prior to Thursday.
After the performance the guard put on at Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday, it’s now downright impossible. Behind McGlone’s impressive two-way performance, a steady hand from Zahree Harrison and a lot of contributions from the guys around them, the Panthers topped the Colonials for the second time this season.
McGlone was terrific, scoring 21 points and pulling down 10 rebounds as Cheltenham won 66-57 at PW’s Gym West.
“So, the secret is no long a secret, the kid is good,” Panthers coach Patrick Fleury said. “How good he wants to be is solely on his focus on basketball and what he wants it to be. Jaelen does an amazing job now that he’s starting to get his feet under him. He’s a great, great, great boost in that starting five.”
McGlone, who had a limited role early in the season, jumped into the starting lineup toward the end of December to replace an injured teammate. He hasn’t come out of it since and with each game, has flashed a little more of the skillset that makes him such a key piece for Cheltenham (12-5, 9-1 SOL American).
Listed at 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds, McGlone has explosive athleticism but he’s also a good shooter and a quick reactor on the defensive end. He chalked up two of Cheltenham’s six first quarter steals as the Panthers erupted out of the gates and got the game going at their pace.
“We moved the ball, I was getting good shots and kept finding the mismatch,” McGlone said. “We were locking them down on defense, kept finding the open man and kicking it up the floor to open people. It was an all-around good game.”
After Tuesday’s win over Upper Dublin, Harrison cautioned the Panthers couldn’t afford to keep starting slow. With him guiding the way, Cheltenham started really quick against PW and used a 10-2 run punctuated by a vicious Jalen Mickens dunk to go up 17-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Harrison made just one basket and scored eight points, but Fleury felt the junior rallied his teammates around him.
“It starts with the point guard, and in being a leader, the idea is being selfless,” Fleury said. “There are certain times where it may not be your night. You see these defenses where they’re running at you and trying to disrupt you, Jaelen had 21, Jalen Mickens had an emphatic dunk that got us going, it was a rollover effect from his selflessness.”
Cheltenham used nine players with eight scoring but all of them contributed something. It could have been Brandon Scott’s defense, Kyin Healey’s passing, Mike McClain’s hustle, Tim Myarick’s scoring or Sean Emfinger filling in the seams but they were all in on the win.
Thursday’s game was a familiar refrain for the Colonials, who were down three starters – Kyree Pendleton, Anthony Straface and Jason Cherry – all out with injuries. PW fell to 10-6 (6-3 SOL American) with the loss, but all six of those losses have come to quality opponents.
It’s been a quest for Colonials coach Jim Donofrio to get this group to buy into itself a little more and it took Cheltenham imposing its will in the first quarter to get PW going. The Colonials played better in the second quarter, winning the frame 19-17 and found themselves down just six points at the half with McGlone’s 11 staking the Panthers to a 34-28 edge.
“We’re a challenging team, some of it is concentration and some of it is personality,” Donofrio said. “We are a team that has to be punched in the head two, three, four teams to decide we’ll wake up. At this time of the year, every team in high school is at another gear. Your team is the team of the moment so the challenge is, if you’ve been sitting in the shadows, you better be ready when your number is called.
“There’s a lot of guys who aren’t as confident as they need to be. I tell them, you’re working too hard to not reward yourself.”
McGlone shot 7-of-9 on Thursday and scored six points in the first 3:20 of the third quarter with the last bucket putting Cheltenham up 44-33. The junior, who was also 6-of-7 at the foul line, didn’t let anyone deter him and went right at PW’s 7-foot-3 Naheem McLeod several times.
Now that’s he been entrenched in the starting group for a few weeks, McGlone said he feels like his motor is running at full speed and in turn, he’s seen his shot drop more consistently and he’s attacked the basket more often.
“It starts with us getting things together in practice,” McGlone said. “We’re really coming together as a team. We’ll always be together, even outside of school and off the court.”
Cheltenham led 54-41 after three quarters, but had some trouble with Plymouth Whitemarsh’s aggressive fourth-quarter defense. With the Colonials faceguarding then sending a double team at whichever player received the inbound pass, the Panthers were forced into five turnovers in the frame.
PW got within 58-50 after a Caelin Peters bucket with 3:22 left, so Cheltenham made some adjustments. Fleury sent in freshman Justin Moore as a second point guard and McGlone said they started to run more five-out sets to keep the ball moving around.
“Justin Moore, man, you get a ninth grader like that and sometimes the season goes up and down which comes with age but he’s a big part of what we have now and will have moving forward,” Fleury said. “I tell him and I tell his mom we are elated he came here.”
McGlone was also huge down the stretch. He pulled down an offensive rebound with 1:32 left, fed Mickens for a hoop with 1:14 left, rebounded a PW missed foul shot with 1:04 left and then hit a pair of free throws with 1:02 remaining on the clock.
In total, the guard notched four points, three rebounds and an assist in the closing eight minutes of the contest.
“He can play multiple positions, so we’re looking for him to keep doing that,” Fleury said. “Getting 10 rebounds out of a guard spot, you can’t ask for much more than that.”
Peters led PW with 21 points, getting 11 of them in the final quarter. McLeod scored 12 and added 17 rebounds and three blocked shots while Mark Kalala scored 10.
Donofrio used two quick timeouts in the first quarter and two more in a quick span in the third quarter. PW hosts Wissahickon Saturday night before welcoming Abington in on Jan. 29.
“There’s nothing wrong with making yourself a star,” Donofrio said. “I can’t put myself in, I believe in myself like crazy, I’ll take every shot and I believe it’s going in. No one likes to be in the second team the whole season, here’s a chance, so go get it.
“It’s a season where underclassmen are getting a lot of moments and you hope for their confidence a couple of them say ‘I’m going to own this.’”
CHELTENHAM 17 17 20 12 – 66
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 9 19 13 16 – 57
Cheltenham: Jaelen McGlone 7 6-7 21, Zahree Harrison 1 6-9 8, Tim Myarick 4 1-3 10, Mike McClain 1 0-0 2, Kyin Healey 3 0-0 6, Jalen Mickens 3 0-1 7, Justin Moore 3 0-0 7, Sean Emfinger 2 0-0 5. Nonscoring: Brandon Scott. Totals: 24 13-20 66.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Caelin Peters 8 2-4 19, Naheem McLeod 6 0-5 12, Luke DiCianno 1 0-0 2, Mark Kalala 4 2-5 10, Jaden Pryce 3 2-2 8, Ray Tomassetti 1 0-0 2, Rocco Mazzei 1 0-0 2. Nonscoring: Jordan Evans. Totals: 24 6-16 57.
3-pointers: C – Myarick, McGlone, Mickens, Moore, Emfinger; PW – Peters 3.
