Cheltenham starts fast, cruises to win over Plymouth Whitemarsh

WHITEMARSH >> Cheltenham dominated the first quarter against Plymouth Whitemarsh Friday night and never looked back.

The Panthers broke an early four-all tie with 12 straight points and ended the quarter with a 15-point lead. They carried that momentum through the next 24 minutes for a never-in-doubt 72-56 Suburban One League crossover win at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School’s Gym West.

After turning the ball over on their first few possessions, Cheltenham’s offense ran up-and-down the floor in the first quarter. Brandon Bush came off the bench to score 10 points in the frame while Rasheem Dearry had six to help build a 23-8 lead.

“The biggest thing with us is playing with effort, sharing the ball and finding the happiness in team and individual success with the team first,” Cheltenham coach Pat Fleury said. “I think they did a good job of getting into the lane and making quick decisions 1-on-1 and getting to the basket and if it wasn’t, kicking it out. I think that they found joy in doing so. We like to score off the assists moreso than anything, so early on I think there was an emphasis to be sharp, play for their teammates and just make the high basketball IQ plays.”

Nasir Edens led the way in the second quarter for the Panthers (7-0, 4-0 SOL Freedom), scoring six points on a pair of baskets and two free throws. Dearry added five more and Cheltenham went to the locker room with a 37-20 lead.

Four different players scored in double figures for Cheltenham. Dearry led the team with 17 points, Bush added 14 and Edens and Elias Walker each had 12. Fleury has a deep team that didn’t see any drop off rotating eight or nine players in the first half.

“We could play six-to-seven and just stack numbers for those guys,” Fleury said, “but those eight, nine work very hard. We ask everybody to sacrifice and play as hard as they can so they do need a breather. If some guys are in exceptional shape, maybe we don’t need to get you out, but for the most part we like to try to play everybody.”

“We have a lot of good pieces on our team,” Bush added. “Starting from our starting point guard to the last person on our bench, I think we have a lot of people that can really bring anything to the table at any time.”

Qudire Bennett scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter for the Colonials (4-4, 2-2 SOL Liberty), but Cheltenham still outscored PW, 18-17, in the frame and the difference grew to 18, 55-37.

“In practice (Thursday) night I think we shot 70%,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “Marshall (Baker) must have had nine straight threes (Thursday) night in competition. Qudire same stuff. These guys have to figure out that they worked very hard at this and they deserve that same kind of confidence in a real game. It’s all going to turn around.

“I’ve seen us shoot. I’ve seen multiple guys making a lot of shots, but there’s something going on… because for as long as the game is we made adjustments in different ways and gave them different looks, but we just aren’t putting the ball in the basket.”

Both sides got reserves into the game during the fourth quarter with the Panthers lead hovering between 15 and 20 points before the final buzzer sounded, 72-56.

Dearry and Bush each added nine rebounds for Cheltenham while Justin Savage stuffed the stat sheet with seven blocks, five points, four rebounds and four assists.

Bennett finished with a double-double with 10 rebounds while Baker and Jaden Colzie each scored nine points for PW. 

Freshman phenom

Josiah Hutson is in the early stages of his high school career, but looks like a veteran on the floor. Cheltenham’s freshman point guard finished with seven points on two three-pointers and 1-of-2 free-throw shooting, but helped set the tempo for the Panthers on both sides of the ball.

“As a former point guard it’s amazing to see his growth,” Fleury said. “He’s had two 20-point games thus far. He’s a player. We envision him at the end of Year 4 being a Division I player. We see that in him. We ask him to do a lot of things that are beyond his years. Most of the time he excels at it, sometimes it can be hard just because literally five months ago he was playing eighth grade, middle school basketball. Now he’s playing against 16, 17, 18, sometimes 19-year-old kids.”

“He has a lot of confidence,” Bush, Hutson’s cousin, said. “He’s definitely one of our best shooters on the team. He can get any shot he wants. I don’t think anyone can guard him.”

Cheltenham 72, Plymouth Whitemarsh 56

Cheltenham 23 14 18 17 – 72

Plymouth Whitemarsh 8 12 17 19 – 56

C: Dearry 4 8-10 17, Hutson 2 1-2 7, Walker 5 2-5 12, Healey 1 0-0 2, Edens 4 4-5 12, Bush 5 2-3 14, Weimer 0 0-0 0, Savage 1 3-4 5, Anderson 0 0-0 0, Metcalfe 1 0-0 3, Lucas 0 0-0 0, Mateen 0 0-0 0, Fevrier 0 0-0 0. Total 23 20-29 72.

PW: Z Hubbard 1 2-2 4, Colzie 4 0-1 9, T Hubbard 2 0-0 4, Wyatt 0 0-0 0, Flowers 2 1-2 6, Bennett 9 1-1 22, Flynn 0 0-0 0, Sayles 0 0-0 0, Willis 0 2-4 2. Total 21 8-12 56.

3-point goals: C: Dearry, Hutson 2, Bush 2, Metcalfe. PW: Colzie, Baker, Flowers, Bennett 2.