Big night for Lee as Central Bucks West battles past Pennridge in OT

EAST ROCKHILL >> Central Bucks West worked overtime Tuesday night, making its first division win of the season all the sweeter.

“It feels so good to get this one,” said the Bucks’ John Lee, a force inside all night. “We’ve come so close every game.”

The Bucks bolted to the lead early, then came back after Pennridge had pushed ahead, prevailing in OT with a 58-54 victory on the road.

“We just kept our composure,” Lee said of overtime. “Everyone’s learning. We’re all getting better. The experience is definitely helping us as each game goes on. Everybody kept their composure and we were able to get a few buckets at the end, get some stops, and then we closed out the win.”

The victory raised West’s record to 1-2 in the SOL Colonial, with a home game against CB East slated for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Pennridge (0-3 SOL Colonial) travels to Souderton Thursday at 7 p.m.

“It feels so good, especially since Thursday we’re playing our biggest rival,” said Lee, who scored a game-high 21 points. “We’re gonna use this energy going forward.”

A drive to the hoop by Donte Mancini provided the first flicker of the scoreboard in overtime, putting the Bucks in front, 54-52 with 2:20 to play.

West never relinquished the lead.

The Bucks got a stop on defense and Charlie Cashman hit one of two free throws, making it 55-52.

The Bucks got another stop and Mancini made one of two at the line to widen the margin to 56-52 with 21 seconds to go.

Lee came up with a key defensive board, sank both his ensuing foul shots at the other end with 10 ticks left to make it a six-point margin, and the game belonged to West.

“We got inside, played slower. We got our layups, hit our threes. We got our opportunities and we were able to convert,” Lee said of the Bucks’ balance on offense.

West sank six 3-pointers in the victory. The Bucks also battled inside, thanks in large part to Lee.

“I was coming off a little bit of sickness so it felt good to be out there,” he said. “I just played my game, my teammates set me up. I got some good looks and was able to finish it out.”

Central Bucks West got out fast.

The Bucks immediately got into a flow offensively, snapping their passes until Lee backed in and dropped one in off the glass to put West in front.

Cashman and Matt Engle (10 pts) buried threes to push the Bucks’ lead to 8-0.

Cashman hit a pair of three in the first quarter and Lee had six points as well, as West had a 17-8 lead after one and built the lead to 19-10 in the second.

Caden Fisher came off the bench to give the Rams a boost, scoring seven first-half points as Pennridge cut into the West lead.

Lee was a steady force for the Bucks though, scoring 11 in the opening half to help provide a 28-20 edge at the break.

Pennridge, led by Matt Campione’s 19 points, drew even at the end of the third and led by as many as five in the fourth. But West forced overtime and went from there.

“We do that a lot,” Lee said of the fast start. “We always get off to a fast start. We just wanna finish quarters. The past couple games, it’s been hard for us to finish quarters but today we were able to finish quarters, get some stops. Everybody was focused on defense and because of that, we were able to close it out.”

Central Bucks West 58, Pennridge 54 (OT)

CB West 17 11 10 14 6 – 58

Pennridge 8 12 18 14 2 – 54

CB: Matt Engle 4 0-0 10, Charlie Cashman 2 1-3 7, Donte Mancini 2 2-3 6, John Lee 8 3-5 21, Michael Fountain 2 0-0 4, Colin McKenna 1 4-4 6, Bowen Gugger 1 2-2 4. Totals 20 12-17 58.

P: Matt Campione 8 3-7 19, Tommy Cramer 2 3-4 8, Justin Nichols 5 0-2 10, Gannon Perlini 1 0-0 3, Caden Fisher 3 0-0 7, Xavier Peters 1 2-2 4, Ryan Hass 1 0-0 3. Totals 21 8-15 54.

3-pointers: C-Engle 2, Cashman 2, Lee 2; P-Cramer, Perlini, Fisher, Hass.