Brickus, Coatesville pull away from Downingtown West
CALN >> When you have as much talent as the Coatesville boys basketball team, you win games on nights when you’re nowhere near your best.
Tuesday night at Ross Kershey Gymnasium, the host Red Raiders did not have a great night shooting the ball, going 24 for 62 from the field, but the Red Raiders did just enough stop a stern challenge from Downingtown West and take a 66-58 Ches-Mont League National Division win.
Superlative senior guard Jhamir Brickus led Coatesville (2-0 Ches-Mont, 3-0 overall) with a team-high 27 points, Dapree Bryant chipped in with 15 and Donovan Brickus added 12 for the Red Raiders, who slowly pulled away from the Whippets in the fourth quarter.
“We sort of slacked off a little tonight on defense,” Jhamir Brickus said. “And when we do that, teams can hang around. We turned up the defense when we had too. Our offense comes off our defense. Defense and our speed are the strengths of our team and we did not start until late in the game tonight.”
Coatesville outscored the Whippets (1-1, 2-3), 39-29, in the second half after trailing Downingtown West by two points at halftime. What kept Coatesville in the game in the first half was a big effort by the Red Raiders on the offensive glass, getting multiple shots off on many posessions.
West freshman Dylan Blair opened a lot of eyes Tuesday night as he scored a game high 30 points, including 18 in the first half. Blair tried to keep the Whippets in the game by himself at times, draining four 3-pointers on the night and dishing out four assists while playing the entire 32 minutes.
But with a 47-45 lead after three quarters, Coatesville turned it on. After Blair drained a 3-pointer to pull Downingtown West within one at 49-48, Donovan Brickus strolled down the lane for a layup and a 50-49 Red Raiders advantage.
After a Downingtown West miss inside, Jaeden Brickus scored on a follow to make it a 53-48 Red Raider edge. Hunter Blair then hit a big trey for West to make it a 53-51 Coatesville lead with 2:31 to play.
Coatesville then held the ball and dared the Whippets to come out and play man-to-man defense and abandon the 2-3 zone they were in the entire game. After the Whippets gambled on defense, Donovan Brickus scored in tight for a 55-51 lead.
“We wanted then to come out and play us man-to-man,” Coatesville coach Marc Turner said. “And we missed so many layups tonight. Our defense was not good in the first half but we came around and turned it up in the second half. And our best defensive player is Donovan Brickus and he picked up two quick fouls and that impacted our defense. But the most important thing about tonight was I hope we raised some money for a special little girl.”
Turner was talking about the yellow shirts both teams wore in warmups, and also were worn by the Coatesville student section. The shirts were to raise money for 2-year-old Elena Demos, who is battling brain cancer and is a daughter of a Coatesville High teacher.
With a four-point lead and the clock winding down, the Whippets badly needed a basket. Downingtown West got a good look inside for Will Howard, who scored 15 points to go along with nine rebounds, but Howard’s shot rimmed out and the Red Raiders were on the move again. John Proctor scored on another follow to a missed Red Raider shot and it was a 57-51 game.
West came down the floor, but turned the ball over, one of 16 Whippet turnovers on the night. Coatesville iced the game when Jhamir Brickus scored a layup off that turnover and the Red Raiders had a commanding lead with just a minute to play in the fourth.
“The turnovers hurt us tonight but I thought we did not do a good enough job on the glass tonight,” Downingtown West coach Stu Ross said. “We needed to do a better job of not giving them second and third shots and we did not do a good enough job of that tonight.”
Coatesville 66, Downingtown West 58
DOWNINGTOWN WEST (58): D. Blair 10 6-10 30, H.blair 2 2-2 7, Howard 5 2-2 15, Dever 1 0-0 2, Shelton 0 0-0 0, Luneberg 2 0-0 4, Schwab 0 0-0 0, Primanti 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 10-14 58.
COATESVILLE (66): J.Brickus 11 5-7 27, Bryant 5 3-8 15, D.Brickus 5 2-4 12, JA.Brickus 1 2-3 4, Stewart 0 1-3 1, Proctor 2 3-4 7., Stukes 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 16-27 66.
Downingtown West 10 19 16 13 – 58
Coatesville 9 18 20 19 – 66
3-point goals: D.Blair 4, H.Blair, Howard, J.Brickus 2.
