By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
DOWNINGTOWN >> It was a stunner, but not necessarily all that stunning.
The Bishop Shanahan boys’ basketball team handed powerful West Chester Henderson its first Ches-Mont setback, 59-57. But most of the key indicators around Thursday’s clash made the upset not only possible, but almost predictable.
“That was the most fun I’ve ever had playing in a game,” said Eagles’ junior forward Sean Griffin. “It was awesome.”
First and foremost, Shanahan is a solid squad that was poised for a breakout win on its home court. And even though the Warriors entered with a 12-game winning streak and were No. 1 in the latest District 1 6A Power Rankings, they were primed for a letdown.
“We were pretty down as a program,” explained Henderson head coach Jason Ritter. “We got some pretty bad news (Wednesday) that (senior center) Nelson (Lamizana) won’t be eligible for the playoffs, and the team found out (Thursday) at shoot around. We are going to appeal, but for now it is devastating news.
“So the kids are kind of reeling, and it showed. We haven’t played in a week and we were not allowed to practice the last two days because of the weather, and we just came out flat.”
Ritter is the first to acknowledge, however, that the Eagles (2-4 in the Ches-Mont National, 6-7 overall) earned the victory.
“We slept through tonight, but credit to Shanahan,” he said. “They wanted it more than us and deserved to win. We did not deserve to win tonight. When you let a team like that hang around, bad things are going to happen.”
Griffin was the offensive star of the game after totaling a career-high 35 points, but it wasn’t a one-man show. Teammates like senior forward Kevin Scaggs, and sophomore guards Anthony Aquila and Danny Keenan played a huge role, especially down the stretch, to help hold off the Warriors (4-1, 12-2).
“We’ve had games where we were good for three out of four quarters,” Griffin said. “Today we put it all together against a very good opponent.”
Deadlocked at 57-57 and time running out in regulation, Kennan drove into the lane, drew several defenders, and found Scaggs for the game-winning layup as time expired.
“It was kind of like a scramble,” said Eagles’ head coach John Dougherty. “We just say to attack and find the open guy. (Danny) Keenan and (Kevin) Scaggs did what they were supposed to do.”
Ritter added: “On a helter-skelter situation like that, we didn’t have a chance to set our defense and it cost us. Some kids were out of position.”
In the lead most of the way, Shanahan took a 45-39 lead into the final period. But Henderson stormed back to take a brief lead, 48-47, thanks to a surge led by Lamizana and fellow senior Nyle Ralph-Beyer.
Moments later Aquila stepped to the forefront and knocked down two 3-pointers at a time the Eagles really needed a boost. The second came with 2:20 on the clock and gave Shanahan a 53-50 lead. It was his only two buckets of the evening.
“We preach to make the right pass, at the right time to the right person, and then knock it down. Anthony sure did on those,” Dougherty said. “We had to trust each other, and we did. This is a great group of guys who share the ball.”
Ralph-Beyer – who scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter – hit a jump shot with 29.1 to go to pull the Warriors to within one. And then the Sacred Heart commit came up with a steal that led to a free throw by Lamizana with 13.6 remaining to knot the score at 57 and set up the finish.
“It was a great win,” Griffin said. “(Henderson) is an excellent team. We need to take this momentum into Chester this weekend and then against Coatesville next Tuesday.”
Griffin poured in 22 points in the first half to power the Eagles to a 19-13 lead after one quarter, and 30-28 at the half. In all, he buried five 3-pointers.
“My teammates trusted me and kept getting me the ball,” Griffin said.
“We made (Griffin) look like Kevin Durant out there,” Ritter added. “He is good, he made shots and was feeling it. Once a player like that gets into rhythm, he gets more confident. He was just fantastic.”
Lamizana finished with 18 points and senior guard Connor Fleet scored 10 of his 16 points in the first quarter for Henderson.
“Sometimes a loss like this can wake you up,” Ritter said. “It was a tough wakeup call, but it’s one we needed.”
The win only solidified the Eagles position at No. 1 in the District 1 4A Power Rankings.
“We had a good week of practice after not playing our best at West Chester East,” Dougherty said. “We wanted to come out and do what we are supposed to do. We are still getting there.
“Our offense had to be our defense, where we limited (Henderson’s) possessions. We took our time on offense and we converted enough times.
“(Henderson) is No. 1 in 6A for a reason. They are good. We had to play our best. We made some mistakes, but not many that hurt us. Mentally and confidence-wise, this win was huge for us.”
Bishop Shanahan 59, West Chester Henderson 57
W.C. HENDERSON – Lamizana 8 2-3 18; Ralph-Beyer 7 2-2 19; Fleet 5 4-6 16; Smith 1 0-2 3; McFadden 0 1-2 1. Totals 21 9-15 57.
BISHOP SHANAHAN – Keenan 1 2-2 4; Maddrey-Rylander 2 0-0 4; Aquila 2 0-0 6; Griffin 13 4-4 35; Scaggs 4 0-0 8; Boyle 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 6-6 59.
W.C. Henderson 13 15 11 18 — 57
Bishop Shanahan 19 11 15 14 – 59
3-pointers: Ralph-Beyer 3, Fleet 2, Smith, Aquila 2, Griffin 5.
