In postseason tune up, Coatesville tops Unionville
CALN >> It was the kind of late season basketball tune up that both sides relish – at least in theory. Unionville head coach Chris Cowles may be second guessing himself, however, after his Longhorns were blitzed 43-30 by Coatesville in a Ches-Mont crossover clash featuring teams with postseason aspirations.
In just a few days, the Longhorns will attempt to continue its Ches-Mont American supremacy before moving on to districts. And as the league’s premier boys’ program historically, the Red Raiders are prepping for the upcoming District 1 6A Tournament.
At Ross Kershey Gymnasium Saturday, it was all Coatesville.
“Unionville is, obviously, a good team,” said Raiders’ head coach John Allen. “So it was more than a tune up for us. This was the best of us — we just have to stay consistent. We have guys who have never been in this position before.”
Coatesville led from start to finish and head into the regular season finale on Tuesday with a 13-8 overall record. The Raiders entered the day 12th in the district power rankings.
“I don’t want to jinx it, but we’ve looked at what happened last season in districts. We are 12th, and the 12th place team last year (Norristown) played in the district final. We are staying positive.
“On any given night, we can be one of the best teams in this district. This was a good indication.”
It was a disappointing afternoon for the Longhorns, who fall to 18-3. Unionville needs to win on Tuesday at Sun Valley to secure the outright Ches-Mont American crown.
“I honestly don’t care if it’s postseason or not, we treat every game the same,” Cowles said. “But it’s a wake-up call for us as far as needing to execute on both ends of the court.
“We are not remotely good enough to take our foot off the gas in any aspect of what we are trying to do.”
A frequent issue this season, the ’Horns got off to a slow start. And combined with junior Marquis People’s eight first quarter points, the Raiders led 13-6.
“It’s become redundant, to be honest,” Cowles said of the start. “We haven’t addressed it much. But the beginning of the game is just the same as the end, you have to do your job in the moment and execute.”
Coatesville pulled ahead by as much as 10 in the first half but Unionville clamped down defensively and pulled to 19-14 at the half.
“I told our guys that we have to play like we are better than (Unionville) because we are,” Peoples said.
The Raiders broke it open by scoring the first 12 points of the second half, to make it 31-14. It would be all the points they needed.
“We played hard and we played defense,” Allen said.
“We know that even when you secure the rebound, (Unionville) is still there fighting for the ball. So even after we got the rebound, it wasn’t over. And they shoot a lot of 3’s and make a lot. So we wanted to run them off the 3-point line.”
Perhaps the only interesting part of the final period was when a confused Coatesville player dunked on the wrong basket. But even with two freebies, the Longhorns were too far behind.
“Communication is key to defense,” said Peoples, who led all scorers with 18 points, just four off his career high. “We were flying around, moving fast and showing energy.
“This is great for our momentum going into districts. We really needed this.”
The Raiders forced 17 Unionville turnovers, and wound up surrendering just eight total field goals, and only two from 3-point range.
“It was a lot of turnovers,” Cowles acknowledged. “Against a team that is pretty solid defensively, if you’re not moving strongly with power, you are not going to be able to gain an advantage.”
Charlie Kammeier and George Napolitano led the ’Horns with eight points apiece. Freshman Larry Brown chipped in eight points for Coatesville.
“It was a great win and we need to keep pushing with the same energy we had in this game and carry it over for the rest of the season,” Peoples said.
“I believe we could do some things in the postseason because we have a lot of guys who can do a lot of things.”
Coatesville 43, Unionville 30
Unionville 6 8 5 11 — 30
Coatesville 13 6 17 7 — 43
UNIONVILLE – Logan 1 2-2 4; Napolitano 3 0-0 8; Anderson 1 4-4 6; Kammeier 2 3-5 8; Diehl 1 2-2 4. Totals 8 11-13 30.
COATESVILLE – Harris 2 -0-0 5; Kennedy 2 0-0 5; Brown 4 0-0 8; W. Fowlkes 1 0-0 3; A. Fowlkes 0 1-2 1; Lynch 1 1-1 3. Totals 15 7-8 43.
Three-pointers: Napolitano, Kammeier, Harris, Kennedy, Peoples 3, W. Fowlkes.
