Young Kennett squad falls to WC Henderson
WEST CHESTER >> Coming into Thursday’s nonleague game with Kennett, West Chester Henderson boys basketball coach Jason Ritter was stressing defense from his talented squad.
The plan worked to perfection for the host Warriors as they forced 20 turnovers and held youthful Kennett to just 16 points on six for 30 shooting from the field and walked away with a 57-16 win.
The Warriors jumped out to an 11-0 lead to start the game as the Blue Demons (0-4) committed turnovers on each of their first four possessions, leading to eight points. the lead grew to 30-9 at halftime and they coasted from that point on.
“We really stressed trying to stop number 3 (Reagan Pelletier) because he can shoot the ball. and I thought they ran some real nice sets that coach Ryan Dunbar drew up,” said Ritter. “They are a young team that is going to win some games. But, we really stressed our play on the defensive end and I thought we did a good job forcing some turnovers.
“They got some good open looks, but their shots did not go down. We can score, but what is going to define us is how well we play defense. And we have a real tough stretch of games coming up, so it was good to see the effort tonight.”
Kmari Smith, who is just one part of a three-guard rotation along with juniors Nyle Ralph-Beyer and Connor Fleet, led the Warriors (2-1) with 15 points. The trio combined for 29 points and they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the Ches-Mont League this season.
Andrew Delucia chipped in with 10 points for Henderson.
“It is a nice luxury that teams cannot just key on one of us,” Smith said. “And we all can bring the ball up the floor and score when needed. Tonight, I thought our defense was very solid and we forced them into some mistakes.”
With a 21-point lead at halftime, the Warriors started the second half on a 9-0 run to salt the game away. Danny Surowiec started things by scoring in tight off a pretty pass from Smith to make it a 32-9 lead.
After a Blue Demons miss, Ralph-Bayer drained one of his two three-pointers for a 35-9 advantage. Smith then went cost-to-coast after a Kennett miss to score on a layup and it was a 37-9 game.
The run ended when Pelletier scored in the lane, but not before Smith scored on a follow and the outcome was pretty much decided as Ritter cleared his bench for the fourth period with the Warriors up 46-11 after outscoring the Blue Demons, 16-2, in the third.
“They are three very talented guards,” Ritter said. “And they are best friends and they all want to see each other do well. they root for each other and share the ball.”
The loss was the fourth of the young season for the Blue Demons who have only one player who had varsity experience from last season.
“We gave them the first eight points off our turnovers and you cannot do that,” Dunbar said. “But, I thought our zone defense gave them some problems and I know the kids played really hard and that is all you can ask. I mean we had some open looks but the shots would not go down.”
WC Henderson 57, Kennett 16
KENNETT: Pelletier 2 0-2-0 5, Freeberry 1 1-2 3, Meehan 1 1-1 3, Schmucker 1 1-2 3, Lower 1 0-0 2, Halkos 0 0-0 0, Holt 0 0-0 0, Carozzo 0 0-0 0, Altman 0 0-0 0, Heavens 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 3-5 16.
WC HENDERSON: McFadden 1 0-0 2, Ralph-Beyer 2 0-0 6, Smith 7 0-0 15, Fleet 3 0-0 8, Bell 3 1-2 7, Delucia 4 0-0 10, Nelson 0 1-2 1, Ranalli 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 0-0 2, Suroweic 3 0-0 6, Dickerson 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 2-4 57.
Kennett 5 4 2 5-16
WC Henderson 13 17 16 11-57
3-point goals: Pelletier, Ralph-Beyer 2, Smith, Fleet 2, Delucia 2.
