By Neil Geoghegan
ngeoghegan@21st-centurymedia.com
@NeilMGeoghegan on Twitter
NEW HOLLAND >> For the second straight basketball season, the Coatesville boys are headed to the quarterfinals of the PIAA 6A Tournament. And with the way they dispatched District 12 Champion Cumberland Valley 52-37 Wednesday, the Red Raiders sure look like a team intent on going further.
Perhaps much further?
A year ago, the Elite Eight at states was as far as Coatesville got, but the senior-laden 2023-24 squad is a year wiser and more seasoned. And it showed in second round playoff action at Garden Spot High School for the Raiders, who finished sixth in District 1.
“We were really focused today – really locked in,” said Coatesville head coach John Allen. “We finished the game to the very end.”
Now 20-8 overall, the Raiders will next face another District 3 powerhouse – Reading – on Saturday at a time and location to be determined. Coatesville played and beat Reading in the early portion of the regular season.
“We beat Chester earlier in the season and lost to them in the (district) playoffs,” Allen pointed out. “With Reading you have to match their energy. Saturday will be a different game than when we played them almost two months ago.”
Except for a brief 2-0 deficit, the Raiders led the entire way against the 23-4 Eagles. And for much of the evening the lead hovered around 20.
“It feels great but we definitely have unfinished business,” said Coatesville’s senior point guard Zuri Harris. “This is how far we got last season and it’s not as far as we want to get. We want to go farther.
“I don’t think we were as ready as we thought we were last season. But going through that prepared us to stay calm, stay solid, and survive and advance.”
Cumberland Valley’s only serious run came midway through the second half when it scored nine straight to pull within eight, at 40-32. But the Raiders promptly scored 12 of the next 15 to win going away.
“Even when we faced some adversity when (Cumberland Valley) made a run, we didn’t panic and trusted ourselves,” Harris said. “We stayed calm and made our free throws.
“(Cumberland Valley) won their district, which is something we didn’t do. We knew we had to come out strong and show that we are the better team.”
Amon Fowlkes ended the drought with a driving bucket, and then came up with a steal that led to a Harris runner with 3:36 on the clock. Coatesville then downed 8 of 10 from the line the rest of the way.
“Zuri (Harris), Dior (Kennedy) and Marquis (Peoples) are seniors and they’ve been here before. Amon (Fowlkes) is a junior and a three-year varsity player,” Allen said. “I am always relaxed when they have the ball unless they look like they are not relaxed. Sometimes they have to come over and say ‘coach, just calm down.’”
It also helped that the Raiders got off to a terrific start. Fueled by some early 3-pointers, Coatesville went on a 14-2 run to take an early double-digit lead. The Eagles pulled to within four at one point but Coatesville scored 11 of the last 14 points to take a 27-15 lead into the intermission.
“We don’t usually start like that,” Allen said. “It was big for us. And to be able to hold the lead was nice.
“But this is March – you have to be locked in. We played the schedule we played this season for this time.”
At one point midway through the third, the Raiders led 38-19. In all, Coatesville forced 13 turnovers and committed just three. Cumberland Valley had four offensive rebounds in the early going, but only finished with six.
“You could tell we were playing as a team,” said 6-foot-7 sophomore center Larry Brown. “I thought the first half was one of our best (halves) of the season.
“I’m not surprised at all. We did our homework. We studied (Cumberland Valley) on film.”
Harris scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the first half, Kennedy added 13 and Brown chipped in 10 points under less than ideal circumstances.
“I think our run last year helped Larry the most. So today this was nothing to him,” Harris said.
“It’s Ramadan and Larry is fasting,” Allen reported. “So we had to take him out in the first half because he hadn’t eaten all day. We had to give him a sandwich and he picked it up a little bit in the second half.”
Inside players Creston Austin and Nolan Buzalka led the Eagles with 12 and 10 points, respectively, but most came in the second half. The Raiders limited Cumberland Valley to just 15 total field goals, and only three from beyond the arc.
“At practice our (junior varsity) squad ran (Cumberland Valley’s) stuff, and they did a really good job preparing us,” Allen said.
Coatesville 52, Cumberland Valley 52
COATESVILLE – Harris 6 4-5 17; Kennedy 4 4-4 13; Peoples 1 1-1 4; Brown 4 2-2 10; Shockley 1 0-0 2; A. Fowlkes 2 1-4 6. Totals 18 10-16 52.
CUMBERLAND VALLEY – Dolimpio 1 0-0 2; Lebo 1 0-0 3; Snyder 3 2-2 10; Buzalka 5 0-3 10; Austin 5 1-1 12. Totals 15 3-6 37.
Coatesville 14 13 13 12 — 52
Cumberland Valley 7 8 13 9 – 37.
3-pointers: Harris, Kennedy, Peoples, A. Fowlkes, Lebo, Snyder 2, Austin.
