West Chester East’s defense stops Avon Grove

WEST GOSHEN >> Tuesday night at Jack Byrne Gymnasium, the host West Chester East boys basketball team used a ravenous defensive effort to create 25 Avon Grove turnovers for a convincing 68-51 Ches-Mont National Division win.
West Chester East (5-1 overall, 3-0 Ches-Mont) got big games from freshman KJ Cochran, who led all scorers with 19 points to go along with 12 rebounds, and Jack Kushner, who chipped in with 13 points and 13 boards. Ryan Price added 14 points.
The Vikings forced 10 turnovers by Avon Grove (3-4, 0-3) in the first period, rolling to a 13-7 lead.
“We really used our defense to create our offense tonight,” Kushner said. “We always try to get steals, and tonight we got quite a few early and we turned some of them into points.
“And we did not let up with the big lead. We always go into halftime thinking the score is 0-0 to get our intensity up, and we did that tonight.”
West Chester East broke the game open in the second period, outscoring Avon Grove 21-9 in the second period to take a commanding 34-16 lead at halftime. Price drained two long three-balls in the period and Cochran drove for two inside baskets. Avon Grove’s offense consisted of two long three-balls from Jason Bozman and a team-high 17 points from Tyler Arnold, but the Red Devils shot just 6-for-22 from the field in the first half.
West Chester East kept the pressure up in the third period. Price scored off a Cochran steal to make it a 36-16 Vikings lead early in the third period. After another Red Devils turnover, Cochran scored on a pretty driving layup for a 42-21 Vikings lead.
“We have a high energy team,” Cochran said. “And our bench is high energy and they get loud and get us going because the stands are half empty due to COVID. Tonight, we jumped on them early and we took them out of the game with our defense.”
West Chester East shot 13-for-26 from the field in the first half and stayed hot in the third period, shooting 8-for-14 from the field. The Vikings, who led 52-28 after three periods, enjoyed a big edge on the boards with Cochran and Kushner dominating the glass.
Avon Grove cut into the Vikings lead to make it a 56-41 game with four minutes to play. Kushner scored on a follow-up, got fouled and he hit the free throw to make it a 59-41 Vikings lead with 3:30 to play. The Vikings did have a little trouble with the Red Devils’ trapping defense in the fourth period but East held its lead to come away with a decisive Ches-Mont National Division win.
“Our defense got us going, and these guys are aggressive and athletic, and that’s two very good things a coach can say about his team.” West Chester East coach Tom Durant said.

WC East 68, Avon Grove 51
AVON GROVE (51) Arnold 6 5-7 17, Britton 2 0-0 4, Bozman 3 0-0 9, Violette 1 0-0 2, Newman 3 2-4 8, Ziegler 2 1-3 5, Anthony 12 1-2 6, Cox 0 0-0 0, Glick 0 0-0 0, O’Connor 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 9-16 51.
WC EAST (68) Sherlock 2 0-0 5, Ramos 3 0-1 7, Kushner 6 1-3 13, Cochran 8 2-3 19, Gallagher 3 2-3 8, Porter 1 0-0 2, Price 6 0-0 14, Ferguson 0 0-0 0, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Kelly 0 0-0 0, Walton 0 0-00, Pagano 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 5-10 68.
Avon Grove 7 9 12 23 – 51
WC East 13 21 18 16 – 68
3-point goals: Bozman 3, Anthony, Sherlock, Ramos, Cochran, Price 2.