PA Cup: Lively leads Westtown’s second-half surge over Perkiomen; Phelps, Kelley rally past Hill

WEST CHESTER >> Two lingering spectators at Westtown School’s Coach Downey Court on Wednesday discussed a question rolling through the minds of many of those who were in attendance for the Moose’s game against Perkiomen School.

“How do you stop Dereck?”

Westtown’s 2022 forward Dereck Lively — a Duke University recruit and the No. 1 player in his class — put forth a 30-point effort in the Moose’s 70-61 come-from-behind victory. It was the second game of a doubleheader Wednesday at Westtown.

Lively saved his best for last, scoring 19 points in the second half and shouldering the load down the stretch as Westtown erased a double-digit deficit to finish off an unbeaten showing in the PA Cup.

“I mean he’s the No. 1 player in the country and he’s everything about it, you know what I mean?” Westtown 2022 guard Quin Berger said. “It’s so easy to play with him because he’s the best player in high school.”

PHOTO GALLERY: PA Cup at Westtown 2.2.2022

Berger had 16 points in the game. 2022 guard Jameel Brown (Penn State), 2023 guards Seyphon Triplett and Matt Mayock all had eight points, but a dominant second-half stretch by Lively proved the difference in the game.

With his team trailing 56-51 and seven minutes left in the game, Lively scored on four straight possessions, eventually giving Westtown its first lead of the second half, 58-57, on a free throw with 4:36 to play.

His big buckets were part of a 13-0 Westtown run, capped by a Lively two-handed slam that turned a four-point deficit into a 66-57 lead before the two-minute mark.

“Just knowing that I had my teammates trusting me to make the right play, and just knowing that I had the opportunity to work,” Lively said of the keys to his second-half surge. “All the defenders were stuck on shooters, so I knew I had the paint to go to work and I took advantage of it.”

The lanky 7-footer made his presence felt on both ends of the court during the critical stretch.

“He’s really tough,” Perkiomen School 2022 guard Xaivian Lee said. “Even on the defensive end, I felt it the most going at him. He’s really good at blocking shots and just disrupting layups and everything.”

Lee, a Princeton University recruit, scored a team-high 23 points for the Panthers, followed by 10 from 2022 forward Ryan Dunn (Virginia) and nine from 2023 forward Priest Ryan.

Led by Lee’s 13 first-half points, Perkiomen School held a 37-32 lead at halftime and built that advantage to 11 with an 8-2 run to start the second half.

Westtown chipped Perk’s lead down to three, 45-42, but a 6-0 run by the Panthers — highlighted by a Dunn dunk in transition — had them back up nine, 51-42, with 11 minutes to play.

Perkiomen School couldn’t take advantage of the momentum, scoring just eight points the rest of the game.

“Our biggest advantage was our depth and the amount of talent we have all throughout our roster and they had kind of less guys,” Lee said. “They did a good job of controlling the pace and keeping us slow, whereas we wanted to get out and run faster. If we do a better job of that, that could take them out of their momentum a little bit and make them more tired.”

Lively, Berger and the rest of the Westtown defense certainly had a hand in Perk’s offensive struggles down the stretch as well.

“We’re a really good man team, and we do a great job of buying in and having five guys all move cohesively, just staying disciplined, staying in help lines and talking through screens,” Berger said.

“We knew if we stayed low, communicated and gave good effort we were gonna win the game,” Lively said. “We were gonna stay solid on defense and transition to offense.”

Perkiomen took down Westtown twice in 2021, so the Moose were certainly fired up for Wednesday’s home matchup — aided by their student section’s first ‘Black Out’ of the year.

“We lost a couple tough ones to them last year, and we knew this was really important to us from a pride standpoint and from a team standpoint,” Berger said. “We really wanted to get this win done and we did it.””

Lee hopes the Panthers get a chance to return the favor in the postseason.

“We’ll be looking forward to that for sure,” he said.

Phelps School rallies past Hill School

With a 20-point lead early in the second half, Hill School appeared well on its way to cruising past Phelps School in Wednesday’s first PA Cup game.

Lions’ 2022 guard Chas Kelley had other ideas.

Kelley scored 27 of his game-high 37 points after the break to rally Phelps all the way back for a 109-101 overtime victory over Hill.

“It was all attitude, effort, energy,” said Kelley, a Boston College recruit. “We didn’t come out hard, or slow or soft, we just didn’t come out as 100 as we needed to. Once we picked up the pace and locked in as a unit, we were unstoppable and we were able to make a comeback.”

2022 forward Ethan Meuser had 26 points, and 2023 forward Augie Gerhart had 24 points for Hill, which led 70-50 with 17 minutes left in the game.

Kelley and 2022 guard Jack Collins (Monmouth), who scored 15 of his 17 points after half, led the comeback charge.

Possession after possession Kelley came up clutch — hitting threes with the shot clock winding down, finishing tough around the basket and finding teammates for open looks — eventually giving the Lions an 86-84 lead on a stepback three with just under six to play.

“Just take what the defense is giving me,” Kelley said. “For the past two years I’ve been working on just having no weakness and strength in everything. Just take what the defense gives me and that’s it.”

After Phelps rallied ahead 93-86 with 2:47 to go, the Blues fought back to tie the game, sending it into overtime with a three by Gerhart with 15 seconds to play. But a swift start to the overtime period by the Lions doomed Hill in the extra period.

2024 guard Trey O’Neil added 17, 2022 guard Anthony Wise had 14 and 2022 guard Graham Eilberg had 11 for Hill. The three of them combined for 10 of the Blues’ 12 threes. 2023 forward Josh Cameron gave Hill tough play on both ends, chipping in eight points.

2022 guard J.J. Hutchinson had 18, 2023 guard Malcolm Wrisby-Jefferson had 13 and 2023 guard Saleem Payne, a former Cheltenham standout, had 10 to round out the Lions’ double figure scorers in the comeback win.

“We never stop fighting,” Kelley said. “That’s what we’re all about.”

Start of Something New

While Phelps, Perkiomen, Westtown and Hill usually have each other scheduled throughout the season every year, this was the first time the four schools met in the round-robin tournament format.

Westtown and Perkiomen faced off against Rocktop Academy and National Christian Academy in the Commonwealth Cup last winter in a similar format when the Panthers won the event with a 3-0 showing.

The first day of this year’s PA Cup was impacted by snow as Westtown and Phelps were forced to cancel their games at Hill School due to inclement weather, while the neighboring Panthers and Blues met up.

Westtown finished the event with a 2-0 showing, knocking off Hill during the second day of competition Sunday at Perkiomen before taking down the Panthers on Wednesday. Perkiomen took down Hill on Friday and Phelps on Sunday but couldn’t finish the job this time around. Phelps finished 1-1 and Hill went 0-3 against the tough slate of competition.

All four are typically contenders for the PAISAA championship at the end of each season.

“Us Hill, Phelps and Perk are some of the best four teams in the state,” Berger said. “All of us are trying to get better. All of us are trying to win as many games as possible against tough competition, so why not play each other?”