Coatesville gets revenge on Dodds-less Bishop Shanahan in Ches-Mont showdown
CALN >> Ever since Bishop Shanahan beat Coatesville earlier this season, the Red Raiders have been salivating at the thought of payback against the first-place Eagles.
Tuesday night at Ross Kershey Gymnasium, Coatesville got the revenge it was seeking, and then some.
Coatesville got a big game from sophomore Jhamir Brickus, who drained six 3-pointers and led all scorers with 26 points, and took advantage of the absence of Shanahan star center Kevin Dodds (flu-like symptoms) en route to a 73-44 rout Tuesday night.
With the win, Coatesville (6-2 Ches-Mont National, 12-4 overall) pulls within one game of Shanahan (7-1, 11-2) in the league chase. Downingtown East, which won Tuesday, is tied with the Red Raiders at 6-2.
The biggest benefactor of Dodds’ absence was Coatesville’s 6-foot-9 senior Tyrel Bladen, who controlled the paint with 11 points to go along with nine boards and four blocked shots.
“Not having Dodds did not change much, we just did not play well,” said Bishop Shanahan coach Ken Doyle. “Maybe we took some things for granted since we beat them the first time. But we are still in first place and they are still in second place.”
Coatesville shot a white-hot 26 for 47 from the field, and never trailed at any point. In fact, the first basket of the game might have told the story as Brickus lofted a perfect alley-oop to Bladen, who threw the ball down and the Red Raider faithful erupted early. Coatesville hit its first six shot attempts of the game. On the other side, the Eagles shot a frigid 13 for 53 and never seemed to get going offensively, except for the efforts of Thomas Ford, who led the Eagles with 19 points and tried to fight off the Red Raiders on the boards, often all by himself. Ford also garnered seven boards as he tried to power through the wave of Red Raider rebounders.
“I am very happy with the win,” said Coatesville coach Chuck Moore. “The team is playing very well right now and I credit the losses we have had for that. I despise losing, but you can learn from a loss. It gets the kids’ attention and everybody is buying in right now. You can see it on the bench with all the kids pulling for each other. I wish they would have had Dodds because Tyrel likes to play against good big men. Tyrel is learning to play with his back to the basket and the four years of hard work is paying off for him.”
Coatesville took a commanding 39-24 lead into intermission and the Red Raiders salted the game away in the second half. Brickus was six for seven from 3-point range, and at least four of his treys were from NBA distance. With Brickus pouring in points and Bladen scoring inside, it was too much for Bishop Shanahan to fend off. Another perfect alley-oop from Brickus to Bladen made it a 45-31 Coatesville and the Eagles called timeout looking for the right answer to the Red Raider onslaught.
“I had the hot hand tonight,” Brickus said. “And I knew it in pre-game. I really felt like I was shooting the ball well tonight and the reason we are playing our best basketball right now is because of our defense. We are getting stops and getting out in transition and we are very tough when we do that.”
Bishop Shanahan missed at least six layups in the first half and shot a cold six for 21 in the second half as the game lost much of its sizzle during a fourth period that saw Coatesville outscore the Eagles 24-11. The Red Raiders put 11 people into the scoring column and closed the Ches-Mont National Division race a little tighter with two weeks left in the regular season.
“We hate losing to other Ches-Mont teams,” Coatesville forward Avery Young said. “We really wanted this game and it would not have mattered if their center played. We were above the rim all night and really feeling it.”
Notes >> Coatesville drained nine 3-pointers and was 12 of 14 from the free throw line.
Coatesville 73, Bishop Shanahan 44
BISHOP SHANAHAN (44): O’Malley 1 1-1 2, Angelo 3 4-4 13, Ford 6 5-6 19, DiBeneditto 0 1-5 1, Chenard 1 0-0 2, Wilson 2 1-1 5, Lamb 0 2-2 2. Totals 13 14-21 44.
COATESVILLE (73) Brickus 8 4-4 26, summers 2 0-0 4, H.Young 2 1-2 5, Bryant 1 0-0 3, Alexander 1 0-0 2, A.Young 0 0-0 0, Aa Young 0 0-0 0, Bladen 5 1-2 11, Crews 3 2-2 10, Holmes 0 2-0 2 2, Smith 3 0-0 6, Miller 0 2-2 2, Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 12-14 73.
Bishop Shanahan 14 10 9 11 – 44
Coatesville 20 19 10 24 – 73
3-point goals: Angelo 3, Ford, Brickus 6, Bryant, Crews 2.
