Bishop Shanahan takes care of business, beats West Chester East

DOWNINGTOWN >> It had been seven long days since the Bishop Shanahan boys basketball team beat Coatesville for the first Ches-Mont League championship in school history. Wednesday night, in the opening round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs, the Eagles had no Coatesville hangover as they locked down on defense and defeated No. 15 West Chester East, 59-37.

The win means Bishop Shahanan will host Saturday’s second round matchup against West Chester Rustin, at a time to be determined.

The Eagles (21-4) played like a No. 2 seed as they put three players in double figures, led by David Angelo’s game high 16 points which included two long 3-pointers. Joe O’Malley drained three treys and added 13 points, while Thomas Ford added 10.

“We were a little rusty in the first half,” Angelo said. “But, we got things going in the second half and really started playing tough defense. We caused some turnovers, which led to baskets, and now we are one win away from going back to Temple. But, we do not look ahead of any game. We will focus on Rustin and then if we win we will think about Temple. we went last year and lost and one of our goals this season was to go back and win the district. The Rustin game will be tough. They have two good bigs and I played AAU basketball with Jake (Nelson) and Bryce (Barrouk), so we are going to have to be ready to play.”

Bishop Shanahan won every period and took a 25-16 lead into the locker room at halftime on nine for 20 shooting from the field, while causing the Vikings (9-14) to turn the ball over. West Chester East had 18 turnovers on the night, something that dismayed Vikings coach Tom Durant.

West Chester East also shot just 16 for 45 from the field, and went to the free throw line just once, settling mostly for outside shots.

“The turnovers killed us tonight,” Durant said. “We had way too many and we had 14 days off and we scrimmaged two good teams in Lower Merion and Neshaminy, and we turned the ball over more tonight than we did against those teams.”

The Eagles broke the game open in the third period, outscoring the Vikings 16-10 and shooting six for nine from the field. Angelo went strong to the basket early in the period for a 31-16 lead. East then turned the ball over on back to back possessions, and O’Malley drained a 3-pointer from the left corner to give the Eagles a 36-24 advantage.

East came down the floor and Tym Richardson, who led the Vikings with 12 points, missed on a 3-pointer and Kevin Dodds rebounded the ball. Dodds had nine points to go along with nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

Shanahan drove the ball up court quickly and O’Malley hit a cutting Thomas Ford in the lane for an easy bucket, and it was 38-26. The Vikings turned the ball over in the front court and Shanahan’s Phil Chenard picked up the ball and hit Angelo for another three and a 41-26 lead, all but finishing things off for the Eagles.

“We had a layoff after the big win over Coatesville so you never know how the kids are going to come out,” said Bishop Shanahan coach Ken Doyle. “The first half we just tried to figure things out, but I thought the second half we really picked up our defense and we started to share the basketball. The kids have really made it a goal to get back to Temple and win the district this year so we have to get through Rustin to get there.”

Bishop Shanahan 59, West Chester East 37.
WC EAST (37) Richardson 5 0-0 12, Delaney 3 0-0 7, An.Carr 4 1-1 9, growers 3 0-0 7, Anderson 1 0-0 2, Al. carr 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 1-1 37.
BISHOP SHANAHAN (59) Dodds 3 3-4 9, Angelo 7 0-0 16, O’Malley 5 0-0 13, Chenard 2 0-0 5, Ford 4 2-2 10, DiBeneditto 0 4-5 4, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Ibarguen 1 0-0 2. totals 22 9-11 59.
West Chester East 9 7 10 11-37
Bishop Shanahan 13 12 16 18-59
3-point goals: Angelo 2, O’Malley 3, Chenard, Richardson 2, Trowery, Delaney.