Coatesville win at Downingtown West creates logjam at top of standings
DOWNINGTOWN >> Any team attempting to close in on a Ches-Mont National boys’ basketball crown would be well advised to knock out Coatesville whenever you ever get the chance. Downingtown West had that chance, essentially, on Thursday and couldn’t do it.
The visiting Red Raiders scored 14 of the game’s final 17 points to stun the first-place Whippets, 52-46, and now sit atop the division standings (in the loss column) with Downingtown West and West Chester East.
“You can see the excitement in our fans,” said first-year head coach John Allen. “Downingtown West has a heck of a team, and I am just happy for our kids. They grinded the whole game and they played hard.”
It was a remarkable departure from the scene just two days earlier when Coatesville dropped a one-point home decision to Bishop Shanahan.
“I am proud of my guys and how we responded to adversity,” said senior guard Jeremiah Marshall, who put the Raiders on his back offensively.
“After Tuesday, they could have just packed it in, but they didn’t,” Allen added. “They came out here and they fought. I am really proud of our kids, and I am happy for our fans, and our city – we have great support here.”
Coatesville improves to 5-2 (11-6 overall). The Whippets – who entered the day with wins in 10 of their last 11 – fall to 6-2, 12-4.
“Win or lose tonight, (the Ches-Mont National race) was going to be a dogfight anyway,” said West head coach Stuart Ross. “Shanahan beat Coatesville on their floor. We have Shanahan next week on their floor. In the Ches-Mont, it’s never over until you get to the last game.
“We just have to keep our heads up – we still control our own destiny.”
There were ebbs and flows all evening in this one, but the Raiders staged the final surge. In the final five minutes, Coatesville went on a 14-3 run, starting with a baseline bucket by Marshall, and a 3-pointer from Christian Proctor, the only other senior on the roster. A tear-drop from Marshall and a pair of free throws by Proctor put the Raiders in command, 50-46, with 24.4 seconds to go. Junior Zuri Harris also knocked down 4-4 from the line in the final 1:02.
“Shanahan is a rival too, but we understood that we are playing for first place,” Allen said. “Our seniors really felt it – you saw Christian (Proctor) make some plays at the end and Jeremiah (Marshall) made plays the whole game.
“I wanted us to be loose, I wanted us to play defense and be ourselves.”
The Coatesville defense forced a total of 14 turnovers, but 11 came in the second half – including three down the stretch. And the Raiders found a way to limit West’s standout point guard Dylan Blair to eight points, and zero in the second half.
“There is no secret,” Allen said. “You just have to play man-to-man and hope that (Blair) misses. He is, obviously, the best player in this area. It was our guys – we got a hand in his face – and defense is played with your heart.”
Both teams employed some pressure defense, but late in the first half West’s started to pay some dividends. And when sophomore forward Donovan Fromhartz sank a three-quarter court buzzer-beater, it capped a 7-0 run, and gave the Whippets a 23-17 halftime lead. It also had the crowd buzzing.
Coatesville opened the second half by scoring 12 of the first 15 points to take a brief lead, but West responded immediately with an 11-2 run to make it 39-33 heading into the fourth. As the game progressed, however, the Whippets had more and more trouble against the defensive pressure.
“Turning the ball over against any team is bad,” Ross said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board, get back to work, and figure it out.”
Marshall finished with a game-high 24 points, registering 10 of his team’s 18 field goals. No other Raider had more than two buckets or seven points.
“My teammates tell me that they have trust in me, so if I know they are behind me, I feel like we can do big things,” Marshall said.
“If you asked Jeremiah, he would probably say I hold him back,” Allen added. “And I respect it. It’s something that he can do all the time. He’s become more comfortable in that role as the season’s progressed.”
The 6-foot-6 Fromhartz paced the Whippets with 23 points (and seven boards), and wound up scoring 14 of his team’s 23 second half points.
“Dylan (Blair) still had a lot of open looks and some just didn’t fall like they normally do,” Ross said. “Credit to Coatesville for their game plan – they play hard. But it falls on us too, not executing the way we know how.
“We think everybody can score, so it’s not just ‘give Dylan the ball and get out of the way.’”
And when it came to aggressiveness, the Raiders had a clear edge. Even though they only connected on 9-17 free throws, it was still more makes than West attempted (eight).
“It was a big win for us,” Marshall said. “For the past couple of years we’ve struggled against D-West, so to get this away from our home court, it felt really good.”
When asked if this was the biggest win of his brief tenure as the head coach of his alma mater, Allen said: “Probably – but all Ches-Mont wins are huge for us.”
Coatesville 52, Downingtown West 46
Coatesville 10 7 16 19 — 52
Downingtown West 12 11 16 7 — 46
COATESVILLE – Harris 1 4-4 7; Kennedy 2 0-1 5; Peoples 1 0-0 3; Brown 1 0-3 2; Marshall 10 3-4 24; A. Fowlkes 1 1-3 4; Lynch 1 0-1 2; Proctor 1 2-2 5. Totals 18 9-17 52.
DOWNINGTOWN WEST – Blair 2 4-4 8; Suarez 1 0-0 2; Fromhartz 9 2-2 23; Neuhaus 1 0-0 2; Bell 3 0-0 6; Lewis 2 1-2 5. Totals 18 7-8 46.
Three-pointers: Harris, Kennedy, Peoples, Marshall, A. Fowlkes, Proctor, Fromhartz 3.
