DiGIOVANNI: Everyone chasing Coatesville for Ches-Mont, top district seeds

With just three weeks left in the basketball season and three weeks until the District 1 seeding meeting, many area squads are jockeying for playoff position. In the case of the Ches-Mont League schools, there’s also the matter of a Ches-Mont Final Four berth, which is slated for the week between regular season and the start of district play.

Coatesville is 6-0 in Ches-Mont National play and the Red Raiders are somewhere in the top eight of the district in Class 6A, along with fellow Chester County resident Conestoga. Both squads would get a first round bye in the 24-team tournament if the season ended today, and all top eight teams would then host second round action. Downingtown West is in the top 16 and if the season ended today, the Whippets would host a first round contest, as would Downingtown East (10th). The only other area 6A school in the top 24 right now is Avon Grove and the Red Devils likely will have to go on the road for their first round contest.

In Class 5A, it is a 16-team tournament with no byes. West Chester Rustin, Great Valley and Bishop Shanahan are all in the top eight right now, and if that holds, all would host first round games.

A big change to the both the 5A and 6A brackets is that the district finals will be back at Villanova’s Pavilion after a three-year absence. The semifinals will still be played at Temple’s Liacouras Center, In Class 6A, 10 teams will advance to the PIAA tournament while six 5A schools will move on to states.

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Great Valley coach Paul Girone notched his 250th career victory Thursday in the Patriots’ win over Oxford. And in the midst of a long career with the Patriots, Girone’s feat may have come in the middle of his finest season. Great Valley looked dead in the water after its best player, Alex Capitano, went down to a broken wrist right before Christmas. Great Valley rallied around its coach and the Patriots are currently in first place, one game ahead of West Chester Rustin in the Ches-Mont American race. And Capitano may be back for district play.

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Tuesday night, Coatesville will travel to Bishop Shanahan to take on the Eagles. The Red Raiders are 6-0 in league play, while Shanahan is currently 5-1. The Eagles are the latest in a long line of challenges for the Red Raiders, but this squad, which lost to Coatesville 50-46 back in December, may have the right stuff to knock off the champs. Sharpshooters David Angelo and Dan Browne have been in a groove lately, and that gives the Eagles a puncher’s chance against talented Coatesville.

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Downingtown West has now won three games in a row, and Stu Ross’ club may be peaking at the right time. George Gordon hit a buzzer-beater Thursday to knock off Downingtown East, 45-44, and then the Whippets laid a pretty good beating on a good Academy Park club Saturday. Ross came into a tough spot as the Whippets lost two Division 1 players — Ryan Betley and Josh Warrren — to graduation after being three year starters. But now it looks like the kids are buying into Ross and his staff and West will be tested when they travel to Coatesville on Thursday.

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It looks like Downingtown East is a team headed in the wrong direction. The Cougars have lost four out of five games and have dropped to third place in the National. Simply put, the Cougars have not shot the ball well. After two tough Ches-Mont games this week, the Cougars face one of the better teams in District 1 in Pennsbury. East has fallen out of the top eight in the district and needs to right the ship in a hurry.

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Conestoga is in first place in the Central League by two games after knocking off second place Penncrest Friday. Scott Shapiro and Angus Mayock have led the way for the Pioneers’ successful season so far. The road stays tough for Conestoga as archrival Lower Merion comes calling, and the Aces are always a tough game no matter what their record says.

Peter DiGiovanni covers boys basketball for Digital First Media and PaPrepLive.com. You can reach him at pdgiovanni07@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteDLN.

Peter DiGiovanni’s DLN-Area 7 Best
1. Westtown
2. Coatesville
3. Church Farm
4. Conestoga
5. Bishop Shanahan
6. W.C.Rustin
7. Downingtown East