Unionville uses big fourth period to down Downingtown East

UWCHLAN<< In a game that saw nine second half lead changes and was tight throughout, it is the team that executes the best down the stretch that is going to come out on top.

Thursday night at Bob Boyer Gymnasium, the visiting Unionville Longhorns went on a 10-0 run late in the fourth period and that was enough to give the Longhorns a thrilling 69-67 win over host Downingtown East in a nonleague clash.

“I just think we stopped hesitating with our offense tonight in the fourth period and started to execute the offense,” Unionville coach Chris Cowles said. “We really got going on offense during that run. and nick diehl did a good job for us. he is not starting but he is getting starters minutes and he came off the benched did a great job for us.”

Diehl, the 6-foot-7, junior came off the bench to score 14 points to go along with eight rebounds for Unionville (5-1). The Longhorns were led by Robbie Logan who poured in 19 points while Ryan Brown chipped in with 16 points. Ishaan Jha had a big game for the Cougars (1-5) as he poured in a game high 25 points, including three treys from deep.

It was a Jha three-ball that gave Downingtown East a 59-53 lead with 3:41 to play in the fourth period and it looked the Cougars were going to hold on for the win. But, Unionville went on a 10-0 run that was started by a Brown three-ball to make it a 59-56 game.

The Cougars came up the floor and Connor Shanahan was called for traveling. That is when the Longhorns took the lead when James Brenner scored on a follow, got fouled and he hit the free throw and the Longhorns had forged a 59-59 tie.

The Cougars came down and Jha had an open look at a three-ball but it rimmed out and Diehl came down with the rebound. Brown was fouled and he hit both free throws for a 61-59 Unionville advantage with 2:21 left in the fourth period.

“My game is to come in and play physical and knock people around,” Diehl said. “And we started to run our back door play tonight and we started to have success with it in the second half.”

With Unionville holding a two point lead the Cougars missed on a another three-ballad the Longhorns rushed the ball up court and James Anderson knocked down a runner for a 63-59 lead with 1:45 to play in the fourth period.

But, the Cougars broke the 10-0 run when Jha scored in the lane to make it a 63-61 Unionville lead with 1:08 to play in the fourth period. Loganthen scored on a back door feed from Brown and the Longhorns were up 65-61 with 45 seconds to go in the fourth period.

“We are a very unselfish team,” Logan said. “When we run our offense and doo what the coaches tell us we are very hard to beat.”

After a Shanahan miss, the Longhorns got four made free throws from Charlie Kammeier and Unionville had a very big road win to up its record to 5-1. Shanahan drained a three-ball at the buzzer for the Cougars but the outcome was already decided in favor of the Longhorns.

“We are off to a good start and that is because we play together,” Logan said. “We can take this pretty far this season if we continue to do that.”

Unionville 69, Downingtown East 67

UNIONVILLE (69) Diehl 5 4-5 14, Brenner 1 1-3 3, Anderson 2 0-0 5, Logan 6 5-5 19, Napolitano 1 0-0 2, Brown 6 2-2 16, Carson 1 0-0 2, Kammeier 2 4-6 8. Totals 24 16-21 69.

DOWNINGTOWN EAST (67) Jha 11 0-0 25, Shanahan 3 3-4 11, Faust 0 0-0 0, Henderson 1 1-2 4, Segarra 1 0-0 2, Lammy 1 0-0 2, Hill-Benitez 4 2-2 12, Tafo 4 0-0 11, Littlepage 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 6-8 67.

Unionville                  16 11 18 24-69
Downingtown East    15 12 17 23-67
3-point goals: Anderson, Logan 2, Brown 2, Shanahan 2, Henderson, Hill-Benitez 2, Jha 3, Tafo 3.