Unionville uses big second half to dominate Great Valley

The decisive win puts Unionville (6-1 Ches-Mont, 16-2 overall) one step closer to the Ches-Mont American Division title. The Longhorns put three players in double figures and played a tenacious match-up zone that forced 13 Great Valley (4-4, 9-10) turnovers and forced the Patriots into a cold 13-for-39 shooting night from the field.

Unionville forward James Brenner said, “Our coach (Chris Cowles) always talks about us giving max effort, and that is what we did on both ends tonight. When we share the basketball and give the kind of effort we gave tonight it is a real awesome thing to watch. We all pulled together tonight and in the second half we came out and turned up our effort and dominated the game.”

Brenner had 13 points on the night to join big man Nick Diehl, who led all scorers with 14 points in a limited role off the bench. Rob Logan poured in 13 points for the Longhorns, including draining three treys.
Unionville held a 20-12 halftime lead, then blew the game open in the third period, outscoring the Patriots 22-12, to take a commanding 42-24 advantage after three periods. Great Valley shot just 3-for-12 from the field in the third period.

The Longhorns’ Ryan Brown, who drained three treys, started things off in the third period by hitting on a three-ball for a 23-12 lead.

George Napolitano stole a Great Valley pass and went in for a lay-up and suddenly it was a 25-12 Unionville lead after just 25 seconds had elapsed in the third period.

Great Valley was having trouble finding any consistent offense and the Longhorns kept up the defensive effort. Unionville 6-foot-7 junior Nick Diehl scored eight straight points inside at the end of the third period and the beginning of the fourth period to give the Longhorns a 44-24 lead at the start of the fourth period. Great Valley had no answers underneath the basket for Diehl.

“We started to run some things for Diehl in the second half and he got engaged,” Unionville coach Chris Cowles said. “He gives us a little different look and it was nice to get him involved in the second half where he made a big difference in the game.”

Unionville stayed hot in the fourth period, shooting 7-for-10 from the field and outscoring Great Valley 18-11 in the final period.

When Brown drained a corner three-ball to make it a 48-26 game with a little over three minutes to play, Cowles pulled his starters and emptied the Longhorns bench.

“We watched the film of the Rustin game yesterday and we identified 25 points that we gave up that were a result of us not executing,” said Cowles. “It was nice to be able to put a number on things and tonight I thought our defensive effort was much better.”

Unionville 60, Great Valley 35

UNIONVILLE (60) Ash 1 0-0 2, Diehl 6 2-2 14, Brenner 4 3-3 13, Anderson 2 0-0 4, Logan 5 0-0 13, Napolitano 1 1-2 3, Doyle 0 0-0 0, Brown 3 0-0 9, Carson 0 0-0 0, Boyle 1 0-1 2, Kammeier 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-8 60.
GREAT VALLEY (35) Stahl 1 0-0 3, Levine 0 0-0 0, Benson 0 0-0 0, Markowski 4 1-2 11, McDaniel 0 0-0 0, Otterbien 4 2-2 11, Alexander 1 0-0 2, Short 0 0-2 0, Maslowski 0 0-0 0, Hegde 0 0-0 0, Woodard 3 1-2 8. Totals 13 4-8 35.
Unionville       11 9 22 18-60
Great Valley   7 5 12 11-35
3-point goals: Brenner 2, Logan 3, Brown 3, Stahl, Markowski 2, Otterbien, Woodard.

See More from Peter DiGiovanni