Epic finish turns tight battle into blowout for W.C. East over Avon Grove
PENN >> From afar, it looks like West Chester East cruised to a 71-53 boys’ basketball victory Thursday against an Avon Grove squad that hasn’t won since mid-December. But looks can be deceiving.
Believe it or not, the visiting Vikings were trailing by a point with less than five minutes on the clock. But East proceeded to score the next 16 points, and finished the Ches-Mont National clash by scoring 21 of the game’s final 23.
“I think it’s a mindset thing. Because we have the talent,” said senior forward Jack Kushner.
“We tend to pick it up in the fourth quarter. That’s something we have to switch because if we play like we did at the end today the entire game, we will blow out teams. And we are capable of playing like that.”
The late surge moves the Vikings to 8-2 in the division (15-5 overall), and the squad maintains its spot in first place. East has two regular season games to play, including a critical Feb. 2nd showdown with Downingtown West.
“That fourth quarter we showed heart,” said Vikings’ head coach Tom Durant. “But give (Avon Grove) credit. They run some nice offensive sets. We tried a couple things (defensively) that worked against Coatesville (on Tuesday), but it didn’t work against them.”
The final push included seven inside buckets – including three by Kushner – and a couple 3-pointers by junior Ryan Price. And sophomore standout K.J. Cochran also added a pair of late interior buckets. In all, East outscored the Red Devils 25-7 in the period.
“It is self-inflicted wounds,” said Avon Grove head coach Ikeem Mays. “It’s panicking – running out of control.
“It is frustrating that we’ve been struggling to close out games. We just have to do better – there is not much more I can say.”
It was the Devils’ 12th straight defeat. They are 1-8, 3-13.
But for a big chunk of the contest, the Vikings were unable to pull away from Avon Grove. There were some defensive breakdowns and some missed scoring opportunities. There was, however, one constant: East was a beast on the offensive glass.
“The effort around the board is always there,” Durant said. “These kids are fighters.”
In the first half alone, the Vikings grabbed 15 offensive boards, and finished with 23. In addition, East forced 24 turnovers, including 11 in the final eight minutes.
“We had a ton of turnovers in the fourth quarter, and that killed us,” Mays complained.
“And we know (East) is a team that loves to crash the glass, and that’s the thing we stressed the most. We didn’t do a good job of that in the first half.”
Avon Grove got off to a terrific start, and back-to-back 3-pointers by senior Kyle Anthony put the home team in front, 20-14, through one quarter. The Vikings regrouped to score the first 13 of the second quarter and led 33-28 at the half.
Junior forward Adam Ziegler sparked a strong third quarter for the Devils by scoring nine of his team-high 23 points, and it was tied 46-46 heading into the final stanza.
“We were sloppy, we missed a lot around the rim and a lot of free throws,” Durant complained. “You can’t win the big ones if you don’t lock in on those types of things.”
Senior Mike Britton had a steal and a layup to put Avon Grove in front 51-50 with 5:32 on the clock, but the Devils managed just two points the rest of the way.
“The finish definitely gives us momentum,” Kushner said. “We outscored Coatesville 31-10 in the second half earlier in the week.
“Rebounding is our identity,” he added. “We want to be the scrappiest out there, and play the hardest. (Offensive rebounding) is a stat that shows how much effort a team is putting in.”
Cochran led all scorers with 29 points, Kushner and Price each added 17 points for East.
Josh Cox chipped in 10, while Anthony and Britton each had nine points for Avon Grove.
“I would be easy to say, ‘hey we’ve lost (12) games in a row,’ and give up,” Mays said. “But we are not going to quit. We are going to keep fighting to get better.”
It may be a cliché, but the Vikings learned a lesson Thursday. And Durant is hoping his team responds accordingly on Tuesday against Bishop Shanahan, even though Downingtown West is looming two days later.
“Anybody can win any game in our league,” he said. “You can’t relax. Now we are on to (Bishop) Shanahan. We will learn from this and hopefully correct a few things.”
West Chester East 71, Avon Grove 53
W.C. East 11 22 13 25 — 71
Avon Grove 20 8 18 7 — 53
W.C. EAST – Ramos 2 0-0 4; Kushner 7 3-11 17; Cochran 14 1-3 29; Gallagher 2 0-0 4; Price 5 4-5 17. Totals 30 8-19 71.
AVON GROVE — Anthony 3 0-0 9; Britton 3 2-5 9; Cox 3 4-4 10; Ziegler 9 3-4 23; Bernstein 1 0-0 2; McClain 0 0-1 0. Totals 19 9-14 53.
Three-pointers: Price 3, Anthony 3, Britton, Ziegler 2.
