Great Valley beats Unionville to lock up Ches-Mont American title

EAST WHITELAND >> When Great Valley’s leading scorer Alex Capitano went down with a broken wrist in early December, nearly everyone outside of those wearing blue and white counted out the Patriots’ chances for winning season.

Those people have been proven very wrong.

[PHOTO GALLERY FROM THURSDAY’S GAME]

Thursday night at Great Valley, the Patriots defeated a tough Unionville squad, 52-45, to go 11-0 in the Ches-Mont League’s American Division (16-4 overall) and secure the regular season division title and a spot in next weekend’s Ches-Mont Final Four for the fourth straight season.

The Unionville loss also guarantees West Chester Rustin a spot in the Final Four, alongside Great Valley and Coatesville. The second National Division spot is still up for grabs.

Thursday night, Liam Ward led all scorers with 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Robert Geiss added 15 points and played great defense against the Indians’ (5-5, 9-10) top scorer, Bo Furey-Bastian, while Nate Graeff had all of his six points in the decisive fourth period to go along with 10 rebounds, helping to seal the deal for Great Valley.

“When Alex went down everybody counted us out,” Graeff said. “But we came together and really counted on each other and became a team. Tonight, we had some defensive breakdowns in the third period and they got close, so in the fourth period I hit the offensive boards and was in the right place at the right time for those putbacks. It is a great feeling to win this championship.”

Great Valley led the game from wire to wire, but Unionville closed to within 29-26 after three quarters, largely on the strength of Joe Zubillaga’s big third period push. The junior center scored eight of his 10 points in the period and gave the Indians a chance to win with a strong fourth period.

But Great Valley was not to be denied. The Patriots fought off every Indians challenge and won the quarter, 23-19. But it sure wasn’t easy. Matt Porreca buried a 3-pointer to give the Patriots a 36-28 lead. But Unionville’s Andrew Burich went strong to the hole to cut the lead to 36-30.

Both teams missed on their next two possessions, but Furey-Bastian stole a Patriot pass and marched in for a layup and foul, and the Indians were down three with 4:10 to play. Liam Ward, as he has all season, bailed out the Patriots with one of his four 3-pointers for a 39-33 advantage. Unionville closed to 39-35 on a Scottie Miller bucket, but from then on, it was all Great Valley.

“This is a great feeling because we lost Alex and we did not give up,” Ward said. “We lost his 20 points per game but we became more of a team offense. To win a title is a very good feeling and we are already looking forward to the Final Four.”

Unionville shot just seven for 20 from the field in the fourth quarter and the Indians went a frigid six for 17 from the foul line for the game. Furey-Bastin led Unionville with 14 points, but Geiss held the Indians’ star to just eight points until the game’s last two minutes, when things were basically decided. The Patriots shot 16 for 37 from the field.

“When Alex went down we told the kids they all had to step up,” said Great Valley coach Paul Girone. “But it is easy to say that, so we as a coaching staff had to come up with something to show the kids and they all did a great job. Liam Ward picked up a lot of the points we missed with Alex out. Nate Graeff scored from the center spot and with our offense we need the center to score. JJ Long did a great job rebounding the ball and Robert Geiss is just such a tough rebounder and defender. Matt Porreca did a great job bringing the ball up the floor for us and Gavin Frankenheimer is our guy off the bench because we only go six deep. So, to win this title is a special thing.”

Notes >> Great Valley will play the second place team from the Ches-Mont National Division while West Chester Rustin will play the National Division champion.

Great Valley 52, Unionville 45
UNIONVILLE: Furey-Bastian 5 2-4 14, Dillon 1 0-0 3, Barrett 0 3-4 3, Burich 3 1-3 7, Zubillaga 5 0-5 10, Miller 2 0-0 4, Raferty 2 0-1 4. Totals 18 6-17 45.
GREAT VALLEY: Geiss 3 9-14 15, Ward 5 2-4 16, Frankenheimer 0 0-0 0, Porreca 2 3-5 9, Long 3 0-0 6, Graeff 3 0-0 6. Totals 16 14-23 52.
Unionville    7    5    14    19 – 45
Great Valley    8    11    10    23 – 52
3-point goals: Ward 4, Porreca 2, Furey-Bastian 2, Dillon.