Big fourth period lifts Archbishop Ryan over West Chester East
BENSALEM>> The West Chester East boys basketball team’s dream of advancing in the PIAA 5A playoffs died in a cold shooting fourth period Tuesday night as the Vikings fell to Archbishop Ryan 59-46 at Bensalem High School. The Raiders will now play undefeated Radnor Friday in the quarterfinal round while the Vikings season ends at 19-9.
Ryan (16-10) forced four fourth period Vikings turnovers and the Vikings shot just two for 14 from the field in the fourth period. The Raiders outscored West Chester East 18-7 in the fourth period and they shot five for 11 from the field.
“Their pressure hurt us at the end of the third period and in the fourth period just like we had a lapse in the first period,” Vikings coach Tom Durant said. “Just little pockets of the game hurt us. And they let them play physical but we expected that.
“These seniors won lot of games at East and i feel bad for them it ended this way. This season shows it is tough to repeat even if you have guys coming back. We beat Plymouth Whitemarsh and Spring -Ford and battled Lower Merion and won 19 games but we could just not get it done tonight.”
The Vikings had taken a 23-21 lead at halftime on the hot shooting of Jose Ramos, who drained three treys in the second period. Ramos had 14 points for the game while KJ Cochran tallied 15 points for the Vikings. The Raiders were led by 6-foot-9, junior Thomas Sorber who had a game high 22 points to go along with 15 rebounds.
The Raiders were bailed out by Sorber on many occasions when they had trouble penetrating the Vikings defense which featured a box and one on Sorber. Ryan used a late third period push to take a slim 41-39 lead after three periods.
“Our league is so tough and our nonleague schedule gets us ready for tough games like this,” Ryan coach Joe Zeglinski said. “The box and one bothered us at the beginning but we just had to relax and let the game come to us.
“But I really feel that our defense turned the game around for us. We got a lot offense off of turnovers and Thomas had a big second half for us. And Matt Johnson did a great job coming off the bench and shutting down their shooter. It was a tough, physical game and now we look ahead to Radnor.”
The Vikings missed their first nine shots of the fourth period and the Raiders stretched their lead to 49-39 when Sorber put back a follow. to put the Raiders up 10 points. It was the end of a 8-0 Ryan run to start the fourth period that saw the Vikings go scoreless for the first six plus minutes of the final period. The Vikings finally got on the board when Jack Gallagher hit a free throw but it was a little late for the Vikings to make a serious charge.
The Vikings finally converted a field goal when KJ Cochran threw in a floater with 1:52 to play in the fourth period, making it a 51-42 Raider lead. The Vikings had to gamble on defense but Ryan controlled the ball well and hit their free throws and the Vikings season ended with the bitter loss.
“I don’t think their defense bothered me that much,” Sorber said. “I just had to settle down and relax. And our defense turned the game around. That is what we do best is pressure the ball and it worked tonight when they started to turn it over.”
Archbishop Ryan 59, WC East 46
WC EAST (46) Puchalla 0 0-0 0, Sherlock 0 0-0 0, Ramos 5 0-0 14, Cochran 6 2-2 15, Kushner 4 0-0 8, Gallagher 0 2-4 2, porter 2 0-0 4, Price 1 0-0 3. Totals 18 4-6 46.
ARCHBISHOP RYAN (59) Johnson 2 0-0 4, Williams 4 1-2 10, Everett 3 2-2 1`0, Murray 1 0-1 2, Paris 4 3-5 11, Sorber 10 2-7 22. Totals 24 8-17 59.
West Chester East 9 14 16 7-46
Archbishop Ryan 15 6 20 18-59
3-point goals: Ramos 4, Price, Cochran, Williams, Everett 2.Big
