Owsik lifts Downingtown East over Conestoga with dramatic final drive
TREDYFFRIN >> After losing its last regular season home game to archrival Downingtown West, and blowing a shot at a first round home game in the District 1 Class 6A playoffs, the Downingtown East boys basketball team could have hung its head on the ride up 202 for Friday’s opener at Conestoga.
But instead, the Cougars took advantage of the opportunity, and are still playing basketball into the third week of February.
Friday night at a jam-packed Conestoga gymnasium, the Cougars led the entire way against the host Pioneers, lost the lead late, and then won in dramatic fashion on a drive by senior Dave Owsik with four seconds left for a 46-45 win, and a spot in Tuesday’s second round at Garnet Valley.
Downingtown East (12-11), the No. 18 seed, led 30-17 at halftime and 38-30 at the end of three quarters, but was outscored, 15-8, by No. 15 Conestoga to lose the lead late in the fourth quarter.
The Cougars turned the ball over six times in the frantic fourth frame, and went a frigid zero for five from the free throw line before Owsik’s heroics.
Conestoga’s Austin Fontaine hit the front rim with a runner at the buzzer to end the Pioneers’ season.
“I don’t think it was fatigue or anything like that that allowed them to come back,” Owsik said. “We just got a little too complacent with the lead and started to make some bad passes. We had a play called at the end of the game. I was going to bring the ball up and pass to Andrew (King). Then, I was either going to go to the corner or chip off the screen. I had my man trailing me so I went to the basket and we got it done.”
The Cougars shot 18 for 36 from the field, but 13 turnovers allowed the Pioneers to get back into the game in the fourth period. Downingtown East jetted out to its lead on a game-high 16 points by Owsik, including four treys, and 13 from Jayden Rowe. King had a big game down low with 12 points, and also added 11 boards and four blocks. King, along with Grant Umberger, did a great job battling the Pioneers’ bevy of big bodies under the basket.
But, with Downingtown East up 40-33, things started to unravel for the Cougars. Fontaine stripped Rowe, drove to the basket and scored to make it a 40-35 Cougar lead with 4:15 to play. The teams traded baskets, and when Rowe went hard to the basket to make it a 44-37 game with 3:28 to play, it looked like Conestoga was down for the count.
But the Pioneers came back. Mike Walz slammed home a follow up to make it a 44-39 game. The Cougars turned the ball over again, and Fontaine, who had 10 points, scored in the lane to make it 44-41 with 2:07 left, and send the capacity crowd into a frenzy.
“We started to come a little unglued in the fourth quarter,” Owsik said. “But, we got back to what we had to do.”
The Cougars then missed on a King jumper and Conestoga came down and cut the lead to 44-43 on a Jordan Cuthbert basket. The Cougars misfired again and Conestoga took its first lead since 3-0 when Cuthbert scored in tight, making it 45-44 Conestoga with 34 seconds to play.
Downingtown East then got over midcourt and held the ball until King drove hard to the basket, got fouled and went to the line for two shots. The Cougars’ star center missed both and the Pioneers Andrew Fox was fouled getting the rebound with 16.2 seconds to play in the fourth.
After a Cougar timeout, Fox missed the front end of a critical one and one, and the Cougars came down to set up the final play.
Owsik took the ball hard from the left side to the basket for a 46-45 Cougar lead with four seconds to play. After a Conestoga timeout, the Pioneers pushed the ball up the floor and Fontaine had a lane to drive through, but his runner bounced away and the Conestoga season was over while the Cougars could look ahead to Garnet Valley Tuesday night.
“We had a tough last two weeks and district play gives you that time off, and sometimes when you have seniors they can see the end of the season.” Downingtown East coach John Goodman said. “We had a bad loss the last game the season and we had a little disunity as team. But, I want to credit our three senior captains and assistant coaches, especially Mike Richards, for getting things right and getting us all back on the same page as a team.
“Tonight, we had some big leads and let it slip away, but Andrew and Jayden Rowe had big games offensively for us, and Dave Owsik, who has been clutch for us for four years, did it for us again,” Goodman said. “Now, we get to play again and get ready for Garnet Valley.”
Downingtown East 46, Conestoga 45
DOWNINGTOWN EAST (46): Owsik 5 2-2 16, rowe 6 0-0 13, Basilii 0 0-2 0, Bousum 1 0-1 2, King 5 1-4 12, Umberger 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 4-10 46.
CONESTOGA (45): Miller 0 2-2 2, Mackey 0 0-2 0, Liedtka 1 0-0 3, Fontaine 5 0-0 10, Steele 2 0-0 4, Cuthbert 3 1-1 7, Walz 4 0-0 8, Mayock 1 0-0 3, Fox 2 4-5 8. Totals 18 4-10-45.
Downingtown East 16 14 8 8 – 46
Conestoga 7 10 13 15 – 45
3-point goals: Owsik 4, Rowe, Liedtka, Mayock.
