Downingtown West rolls to win over Coatesville behind play of Dylan Blair

CALN – Downingtown West shook off a shaky first quarter and came back to earn a convincing 75-56 win over Coatesville in the Ches-Mont National Division boys’ basketball opener for both teams Thursday.

D-West junior point guard Dylan Blair was superlative, scoring a game-high 27 points and adding six assists.

Coatesville (1-1 overall) took a 19-14 lead after one period on 8-for-12 shooting from the field. Jadaden Brickus led the way as he scored a team high 15 points. But, the Whippets  (2-1 overall) outscored the Red Raiders 24-7 in the second period to take a 38-26 lead at halftime.

“We knew they were going to come out strong at home tonight in the first league game,” Downingtown West coach Stu Ross said. “We needed to match their energy and we got contributions from Drew Shelton and Kelly Bell in the second period. Drew has experience in big time football games and he was a big part of the comeback.”

The Whippets got six second period points from Shelton, all on put backs and Bell scored eight of his 10 points in the second period, as both were big on the boards.

Downingtown West took control of the game in the third period. Jake Warren got things going with a nice inside basket for the Whippets right off the bat.

Brickus rained a long three-ball for the Red Raiders but after a Coatesville miss, Blair scored on a run out. Then after a Red Raiders turnover, Blair drained a three-ball. Another Coatesville miss – the Red Raiders shot just 3-for-17 in the third period – led to another Blair basket and the Whippets were off to the races, outscoring the Red Raiders 22-12 in the third quarter to take a 60-38 lead after three periods.

“We knew they were going to come out with a lot of energy and we had to answer back,” Blair said. “We knew we had to play harder than them, because they always play real hard, and we were able to do that tonight. As the playmaker, I have the ball a lot and tonight there were four or five guys in the paint. That led me to find the open man and it worked out.”

Besides the bench contributions from Shelton and Bell, Donovan Fromhartz came off the pine to score 12 points, 10 in the third period.

The fourth period saw the Whippets hold the Red Raiders at bay and shoot 4-for-8 from the field and both coaches emptied their benches with two minutes to play.

“We have a lot of guys with experience in big games,” Ross said. “Our juniors played a lot as sophomores and it benefited us tonight. The plan was to slow down Brickus and Dior Kennedy and limit them to one shot. I thought our guys boxed out well and limited them to one shot. it was a good win for us.”

NOTE: The game was a “redout” as the teams raised money for the American Heart Association in memory of Aidan Silva, who tragically died from sudden cardiac arrest. Silva would have been a 2022 Downingtown West graduate.

Downingtown West 75, Coatesville 56

DOWNIGTOWN WEST (75) Blair 7 10-12 27, Bell 3 4-5 10, Fromhartz 4 2-2 12, Hardin 2 1-2 6, Shelton 3 0-3 6, Oliver 0 0-2 0, Warren 4 0-0 10, Primanti 1 1-2 3, Suarez 0 0-0 0, Aman 0 0-0 0. Totals  21 19-29 75.

COATESVILLE (56) Taylor 5 0-4 11, Kennedy 2 0-1 5, Lawrence 1 0-0 2, Brickus 6 0-0 15, Marshall 23 1-4 7, Hunt 1 0-0 3, McNeil 4 2-3 10, Langley 1 1-1 3. Proctor 0 0-0 0, Sellars 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-13 56.

Downingtown West  14  24 22 15-75
Coatesville                  19 7  12  18 – 56
3-point goals: Blair 3, Fromhartz 2, Hardin, Warren 2, Taylor, Kennedy, Brickus 3, Hunt.