GEOGHEGAN: Polar opposites Coatesville, Kennedy Catholic, put on a show in Williamsport
WILLIAMSPORT >> The combatants sharing the basketball court on Tuesday at the Magic Dome — with a berth into the PIAA 6A state title game hanging in the balance — don’t share much else.
In fact, Coatesville and Kennedy Catholic are complete opposites.
Public vs. parochial.
East vs. West.
Speed vs. size.
It was a matchup between a large urban school that draws players from a limited area, against a small rural one that draws from a limitless area. And yet, opposites can make strange bedfellows.
“It was a battle between two teams that are good and really wanted it,” Red Raiders’ heads coach Fred Thompson said after the Golden Eagles ended Coatesville’s season, 75-69, in a classic semifinal at Williamsport High School.
There were all kinds of runs, like the Raiders’ incredible 21-0 surge in the first quarter. But Kennedy Catholic punched back, pulled to within five at the half, and then did something few teams have been able to do: outscore the Raiders in the second half, including a 21-14 edge in the third quarter, which is a period in which Coatesville has pulled away from opponents all season.
“(Kennedy Catholic was) big, but they were also good,” Thompson pointed out.
And, perhaps, the big difference came when Eagles’ head coach, Rick Mancino, deployed a half-court trapping defense in the second half, which completely flummoxed the Raiders, and star guard Jhamir Brickus. Averaging 41 points a game in the state tournament, Kennedy Catholic limited Brickus to 20 points, and just six in the second half.
“Well, he was being guarded by 6-foot-6 guys,” countered Thompson. “They got into the passing lanes and can really disrupt you.”
Despite it all, Coatesville stayed in the game, against the No. 24 team in the nation, courtesy USA Today. The Eagles boasted half a dozen players on the roster standing at least 6-foot-6, including only the second McDonald’s All-American ever to come from Western Pennsylvania: 6-10 center Oscar Tshiebwe.
Coatesville doesn’t have anybody over 6-5. Kennedy Catholic’s backcourt included 6-5 Maceo Austin, a 3-star prospect going to Duquesne.
“I’ve never seen a team that big before,” said Raiders’ 6-2 post player Tione Holmes. “But we weren’t going to let that bother us. We kept fighting.”
That has never been an issue with Coatesville. Early in the fourth quarter, Tshiebwe got tangled up with Coatesville sixth-man Dymere Miller going for a rebound. He gives away nearly a foot to Tshiebwe, but still tied up the ball and forced a possession arrow change.
“That’s Coatesville,” said senior guard Aaron Young. “That’s the type of (athletes) we are. We’re not going roll over just because they were bigger than us.
“We came up short, but we are still proud of everything we accomplished this season. We left everything out on the court.”
Despite the size difference, the Raiders actually held their own under the basket, scoring 24 and allowing 38. And Coatesville had a chance to win it, but some key missed free throws down the stretch, a couple missed layups, and several uncharacteristic turnovers got in the way.
Grabbing some uncontested rebounds proved to be a chore for the Raiders, and those problems on the boards sabotaged any efforts to get some transition buckets. The Eagles actually outscored Coatesville 4-2 on fast break points.
“But our kids never backed down. They never do,” Thompson said. “They were not intimidated and kept taking it at (Kennedy Catholic).”
Right from the start, it was clear that these two foes were polar opposites. Coatesville is a natural basketball hotbed infused with players from the only city in Chester County (population about 13,000), the tiny boroughs of Modena and South Coatesville, and six surrounding townships. Kennedy Catholic has just 244 students, but it has basketball players from at least three different continents.
Yes, Tshiebwe came to the U.S. as a freshman from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and is one of three players on the Eagles’ roster from Africa. And Mattia Acunzo, a 6-8 forward, came from Salerno, Italy a year ago and is headed to the University of Toledo.
The result of this clash will certainly fuel the boundary school vs. non-boundary school debate, which is getting a bit redundant these days. The bottom line is that these two disparate programs got together in a place far from home and put on quite a show.
Some believe that the Coatesville-Kennedy Catholic contest was, essentially, for the state 6A crown. But that wouldn’t be fair to Pennridge, who topped La Salle to get to Saturday’s final in Hershey (a “boundary” school over a “non-boundary” school).
But it was great theater.
“You can say this was for the state title, but it was the semifinals and we are just going to have to accept the result,” Thompson said.
Neil Geoghegan is a columnist for the Daily Local News and Pa. Prep Live. You can reach him at ngeogehgan@21st-centurymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @NeilMGeoghegan.
