WEST GOSHEN >> They say good things come to those who wait. Well, that could certainly apply to the West Chester Henderson boys basketball team. Thursday night at Jack Byrne Gymnasium, the Warriors defeated West Chester East for the first time since 2017. And the Warriors did it in convincing fashion as they led from start to finish as they dusted off the Vikings, 71-51, in Ches-Mont League National Division action.
The Warriors (2-0 Ches-Mont, 4-1 overall) jumped out to a 15-2 lead after one period and held sway during a mild rally from the Vikings (1-1, 3-2) in the fourth to take the win between the crosstown rivals.
Nyle Ralph-Beyer led the Warriors with 25 points, while center Nelson Lamizana tallied 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Ralph-Bayer even punctuated the win with a big slam dunk with three seconds remaining that sent the Henderson bench into hysterics.
“We came out with a lot of energy and we knew Henderson had not beaten them in a while,” Ralph-Beyer said. “And that was a little extra motivation for us. And that slam meant a lot because they hit a three-ball on us when they were up big last year late in the game so the slam tonight was special and an exclamation point.”
The Warriors shot 14-for-23 from the field in the first half as they jumped out to a 38-15 lead at halftime. Henderson drained 11 three-pointers on the night. Ralph-Bayer tallied five treys, Jesse Smith four and Evan Kearney jumped off the bench in the second to knock down two.
The Vikings helped the Warriors get out to the big first-half lead. East shot just one-for-12 in the opening eight minutes and seven-for-26 in the half. Amari Williams had a big night for the Vikings, leading them with 21 points. Kasheem Bronzell added 18, but the pair did not get much help from the rest of the Vikings.
East outscored Henderson, 15-11, in the third to closed the gap a little to 49-30 after three. They then mounted a rally in the fourth.
Henderson started to turn the ball over a little and East took advantage with Williams and Bronzell doing the bulk of the work. When Wiliams scored off a turnover, the lead was down to 52-41 with 4:46 to play and the home crowd was back in the game.
But, Henderson gathered themselves and brought the ball up the floor, where Connor Fleet fed Smith, who drained a very big three to quiet the crowd and give bump the lead to 55-41.
“I was just in the flow of the game,” Smith said. “I was not going to force a shot in that spot, but I was open and that is my game. I like to bring energy to the floor and I thought we kept our energy up for most of the game.”
East kept battling, but could not get closer than 12 points the rest of the way. Lamizana had three slam dunks in the last four minutes, courtesy of great feeds from Fleet and the Warriors danced off the court, celebrating breaking the Vikings’ long hex over them.
“These kids have never beaten them,” Warriors coach Jason Ritter said. “They beat us twice last year and rubbed it in a little on us, so these kids were ready to go tonight. They outplayed us in the third period and a little early in the fourth. We have to learn to put teams away when we get up on them. But, the energy was good and the kids played very well and a win is a win.”
West Chester Henderson 71, West Chester East 51
WEST CHESTER HENDERSON: Ralph-Bayer 9 2-2 25, Fleet 2 0-0 4, Lamizana 11 0-0 22, Smith 5 0-0 4, Kearney 2 0-0 6, McFadden 0 0-0 0, Bell 0 0-0 0, Nelson 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 2-2 71.
WEST CHESTER EAST: Sherlock 2 1-2 6, Price 1 0-0 2, Cox 1 0-0 3, Al-Tikriti 0 1-2 1, Bronzell 6 4-6 18, Williams 8 4-5 21, Keefe 0 0-0 0, Walton 0 0-0 0, Wileczek 0 0-0 0, Kulp 0 0-0 0. Carr 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 10-15 51.
WC Henderson 15 23 11 22-71
WC East 2 13 15 21-51
3-point goals: Ralph-Bayer 5, Smith 4, Kearney 2, Sherlock, Cox, Bronzell 2, Williams.
