Downingtown East beats Conestoga for first state berth in school history
TREDYFFRIN >> They say the first time is always the sweetest.
Tuesday night in a District 1 Class 6A elimination game, Downingtown East defeated host Conestoga, 61-54, to land its first PIAA tournament berth in school history. Downingtown East (16-10) put three players in double figures and outscored the Pioneers (15-11), 34-24, in the second half after trailing the entire first half.
“This is an amazing feeling,” said Cougar forward Andrew King. “This is the first time for the school and it is great to be a part of it. We knew we could pound the ball inside because we had the height advantage and that is what we did when we played them early in the season and it worked again tonight.”
King led all scorers with 20 points, to go along with his eight rebounds, and got help from fellow Cougars Taliq Kalim, who poured in 15, and Dylan Rowe, who added 11 points. It was those three Cougar big men who did the damage to the Pioneers in the second half.
But, Conestoga did not go away easily. The Pioneers sank six three-pointers on the night with Shane Scott knotting the game at 49-49 with a long trey from the right side. But, King took a fed from Andres Mujica and scored in tight for a 51-49 lead. Mujica, the Downingtown East point guard, did a great job with the Conestoga pressure and played a very solid game.
“We were struggling early in the year,” Mujica said. “States was something we talked about at the beginning of the season and to get there is a great feeling.”
The frenetic fourth quarter had many twists and turns, and when Scott scored on a run out, the Conestoga gym went crazy, as the Pioneers were down only 52-51 with 1:45 to play. The Cougars came down the floor and fed Rowe inside, who got fouled and hit both free throws for a 54-51 lead. After a Conestoga miss, the Pioneer defense came up big by turning a Dave Owsik pass into a turnover. Robinson missed the layup but hit both free throws after he was fouled, and it was 54-53.
King took a nice feed from Kalim and drove hard to the basket, scoring to make it a 56-53 game with 54 seconds to play. Conestoga came up and got fouled, but Robinson only hit one of two free throws, and it was a 56-54 Cougar lead.
After a Pioneer timeout, Zach Lezanic drove the lane and missed on a runner. King rebounded the ball and got fouled, hitting two free throws to put the Cougars up 58-54 with 26 seconds left. The Pioneers got nothing inside the entire night, in stark contrast to the Cougars, who consistently got the ball to the rim.
Conestoga still had life, but the Pioneers self destructed by throwing the ball away under the Cougar basket. Kalim got fouled and hit one of two free throws, but got his own rebound, was fouled again and this time drained both shots. With that, Downingtown East coaches and players celebrated like a team that had just qualified for states for the first time in school history. The Cougars will travel to play Spring-Ford to decided the ninth- and tenth-place spots in the state bracket out of District 1.
“We were 6-7 and struggling early in the season,” Downingtown East coach John Goodman said. “And then the kids took over and we just won our third district game on the road, and were 10-3, with two losses being to Coatesville. I am so happy for the kids, who put so much into this program, and tonight was a reward for all the hard work. The kids really deserve to celebrate.”
As the Downingtown East players stayed on the court after the game to be greeted by their fans, Owsik talked about the Cougar turnaround to the season.
“We had some meetings and said we were going to play for each other,” Owsik said. “We were playing together and for each other. And we picked up our defensive intensity and we just won three road games to get to states. It is something to be on the first team in school history to make the state tournament.”
Downingtown East 61, Conestoga 54
DOWNINGTOWN EAST (61): King 6 7-10 21, Kalim 5 3-4 15, Rowe 4 3-4 11, Riley 0 0-0 0, Cagiano 1 0-0 3, Owsik 2 0-0 6, Mujica 2 0-0 5. Totals 20 13-18 61.
CONESTOGA (54): Scott 7 3-4 20, Martin 2 0-0 4, robinson 1 3-4 5, rush 0 0-0 00, Lezanic 7 0-0 17, Medley 0 3-4 3, Steele 0 2-2 2, Fox 1 0-0 2, Brace 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 9-=12 54.
Downingtown East 15 12 17 17 – 61
Conestoga 21 9 11 13 – 54
3-point goals: Mujica, Caggiano, Owsik 2, Kalim 2, King 2, Scott 3, lezanic 3.
