Coatesville’s blitz overwhelms Cheltenham in District 1-6A semifinals
PHILADELPHIA >> Cheltenham was one of the last four teams standing in the District 1-6A boys basketball tournament, so it hid the fact that the Panthers are still very young.
For 15 minutes Tuesday night, Cheltenham was right in the mix against an up-and-coming Coatesville team at Temple’s Liacouras Center. It was by far the biggest stage the Panthers had played on all season, but they were holding their own until Ahmad Bickley was tagged with his third foul.
The junior had to come out of the game, and without him, things snowballed against Cheltenham.
Led by 22 points from standout freshman point guard Jhamir Brickus, Coatesville gave it to Cheltenham in a 79-58 win in their district semifinal on North Broad Street.
“(Bickkley) had three fouls in the second quarter and once we sat him down for two minutes, it changed the game,” Cheltenham coach John Timms said. “After that substitution we were fighting an uphill battle from there on. That team is too well coached and too good to really come back once you get down that far.”
BOYS BASKETBALL: @RedRaidersHoops DaPree Bryant with a second half And-1 against Cheltenham at Liacouras Center pic.twitter.com/2LOF5POiFY
— Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3) March 1, 2017
Cheltenham tied the game 27-27 on Kyin Healey’s score with 1:17 left in the second quarter, shaking off a slow start and seemingly settling into the game. Then, Bickley got tagged for a foul, sat down and the Panthers couldn’t hold on to the ball.
With Brickus and teammates DaPeer Bryant and Hassan Young roaming around, the Red Raiders had plenty of chances to pick off passes and get out in transition. In a blink, Coatesville ripped off a 9-0 run in 60 seconds, a Brickus buzzer-beating layup sending the Raiders to the break up 36-27.
“That’s to Coatesville’s credit,” Timms said. “They’re fast and they get after it. They’re going to create turnovers and they’re here for a reason. We could have done a better job, but I think Coatesville beat us more than we beat ourselves.”
Coatesville opened the game up in the third quarter, spurred by 11 points in the frame from Brickus, who added seven assists and six steals to his line for the night. While the Raiders only won the frame 23-17, they took a 15-point lead into the final quarter and showed no signs of slowing down.
Timms said a big difference in the game was that Brickus stayed poised all night and didn’t let the stage affect him while it did get to a few of his guys.
“This is a big stage and the atmosphere is something we had to make an adjustment to, and a few of our guys just didn’t make the adjustment,” Timms said. “We have one guy with varsity experience. You have guys on the floor who never had varsity experience playing at the Liacouras Center in front of 1200 people. It showed a little.”
DaPree Bryant was great off the bench for Coatesville with 17 points, while Kamaua Brickus, Jhamir’s cousin, scored 12 and Tyrel Bladen had 11 for the Raiders.
Bickley, who came back in and didn’t foul out of the game, led the Panthers with 15 points. Trevonn Pitts, who had a frustrating start, did get to 10 points for Cheltenham, Jack Clark scored 11 and Healey ended the night with 10. But as Timms noted, the hole was too big and Coatesville was playing too well for Cheltenham to recover from.
There were a lot of fouls called in the game overall, but the whistles certainly seemed to hinder Cheltenham from getting into much of a first-half rhythm.
“We got in foul trouble early and it changed our defensive scheme,” Timms said. “I think it was a fairly called game, but our youth showed. Guys looked hesitant and that was the first time I saw guys hesitant on offense and not aggressive.”
Timms said of all the teams Cheltenham has played this year, the only one that resembled Coatesville was Plymouth Whitemarsh. That makes sense, as Raiders coach Chuck Moore is a former PW great, but Timms said the Raiders have more speed than the Colonials and that was a bit of a shock to his guys.
Fittingly enough, Cheltenham will face PW on Friday in the third-place game.
“We don’t dwell,” Timms said. “We treat it as a bout. This is round eight. You’ve got 30 seconds before round nine starts. They have a good night rest, then we’re at practice tomorrow preparing for PW.”
Coatesville 79, Cheltenham 58
Cheltenham 13 14 17 14 – 58
Coatesville 11 25 23 20 – 79
Cheltenham: Trevonn Pitts 3 4-9 10, Ahmad Bickley 6 2-3 15, Jack Clark 4 2-4 11, Rodney Carson 3 2-2 8, Kyin Healey 5 0-0 10, Tim Myarick 1 0-0 3, Lonce Scott 0 1-2 1. Totals: 22 11-20 58.
Coatesville: Hassan Young 1 2-3 4, Jhamir Brickus 8 6-9 22, Kamaua Brickus 4 3-5 12, Tyrel Bladen 4 3-5 11, Joel Boulware 1 0-0 2. DaPree Bryant 4 9-11 17, Tron Holmes 2 1-4 5, Avery Young 1 0-0 2, Aaron Young 0 2-4 2, Sincere Scott 0 2-2 2. Totals: 25 28-43 79.
Top Photo: Cheltenham’s Trevonn Pitts gets fouled going between Coatesville’s Tyrel Bladen and Dapree Bryant during their District 1-6A semifinal at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
