Senior-led Lower Moreland looking for strong finish
LOWER MORELAND >> When he was a freshman, Shane Cohen got a front row seat as a senior laden Lower Moreland boys basketball team authored the best season in school history.
Now a senior himself, and with 11 of his classmates on the roster with him, Cohen sees a lot of similarities between that 2015-16 team and this season’s group of Lions. They play a different style, but it isn’t hard to miss those similarities. They’re experienced, they’re unselfish, they play hard and they’re invested in making this season special.
Led by Cohen and senior Joey Cerruti, Lower Moreland continued is strong season Wednesday with a 53-28 home win over New Hope-Solebury.
“We know we’re everyone’s A-game,” Cohen said. “Everyone wants to be us, so it’s our job with 12 seniors, and also our junior and sophomore on varsity that we have to bring it one through 14 of us and that’s what it’s going to take every single time out.”
The 2015-16 group, led by a senior class that included Danny Duffey, Tyler Milllan, Jake Fazio, Mike Gould and Dicky Rhoades among others, was a bit more offensively potent, often playing a fast past and launching a barrage of 3-point shots. This year’s group can shoot it, but they’re a little more methodical and very determined defensively.
“I’ll get some phone calls from those guys after this but this group is a little more gritter,” Lions coach Seth Baron said. “That team may have had a higher basketball IQ, not that this group doesn’t, they certainly do but these guys are gritty. With 12 seniors and all that experience, even tonight when we weren’t playing well in the second quarter, I wasn’t worried.
“I know what these guys are capable of doing.”
Cohen, who symbolically replaced Duffey when the current Gettysburg College junior subbed out of his last game in the state quarterfinals, is the engine but he’s far from the only piece. The senior, listed at 5-foot-8, is a tremendous defensive player and like Duffey, just exudes an aura of command on both ends of the floor.
But he’s just as open to feedback and criticism as anyone else on the roster and the senior said it’s a big part of the dynamic that’s fueled the Lions so far.
“We all know each other, we’ve been playing together for a while so it helps,” Cerruti, who scored 15 points Wednesday, said. “We bounce back through adversity. If we’re down or if it’s a close game, we find ways to step it up and play our game.”
“The coaches have been preaching ‘critique the player, not the person’ and we’ve all taken it to heart,” Cohen said. “When a teammate sees something and says it, it means something. When multiple teammates see it and want to help, that’s when you know it’s legit and you want to make that change.”
Now 11-2, Lower Moreland is 7-1 in the BAL Independence and the top ranked team in the District 1-4A power rankings.
Lower Moreland had its share of ups and downs in the 2016-17 season, making the District I/11 regional as the eighth seed and losing in the first round. With just one senior on last year’s team, the Lions came back a stronger group, put together a more consistent regular season, lost in the District I/11 regional final and then ended their season in the first round of states.
With the core of that group back and bolstered by a few returning players, the Lions have eyes on bigger things this year. Cerruti and Cohen weren’t afraid to admit it and this group wants to win a BAL tournament title, a District 1 title and then see what it can do in the state tournament.
“We know what we want, the prizes are on the table and that’s what we’re working for,” Cohen said. “Duffey’s group when we were freshmen was the best group to go through Lower Moreland and we want to do everything they did and even more.”
“We try to play like they played,” Cerruti added. “They had great chemistry, we have great chemistry.”
Cohen led the Lions with 23 points on Tuesday and tied with classmate Forrest Keys for the team lead defensively with five steals. Cerruti added three steals and up and down the lineup, guys have just been contributing all season long.
Baron pointed out senior Jake Himmelstein as someone who’s tremendously upped his game the last three years, Jordan Zoubroulis as the classic glue guy type and Andrew Finnegan as another quality shooter to round out the top six in the rotation. They aren’t the only six who play however and Baron’s had a great luxury of rotation depth this winter.
“I have plenty of seniors on the team, like Shane or Jordan, they’re another coach,” Baron said. “It’s a luxury, I give them that freedom and they take it to heart. Every senior will take the criticism from another season and get better from it. I know I’m very lucky.
“I’ve never gone so deep on bench in my career and some of those guys have gotten minutes and they’re doing good stuff out there.”
It’s also been a huge boost in practice, where the team’s second five can compete physically and on an equal level with the starting group. Seniors like Dan Hutchinson, Deemos Amanatidis, John Davies, Max Cousins and Bryce Horn and even junior John Przybylinski know they’re one step away from being starters and they prepare like it.
“They’re the ones pushing us, they’re in our ears talking all the smack so when we get into games it’s nothing,” Cohen said. “They’re the ones on the bench when someone is down, they’re picking them up. They’re our sixth man, that’s why we’re a complete team.”
New Hope-Solebury, the top team in the 3A rankings, gave Lower Moreland all it could handle for a half. LM struggled at times in the second quarter, but after forcing a late turnover, Cohen went three-fourths of the court in three seconds for a buzzer-beating layup to give Lower Moreland a 21-17 lead at the break.
The second half was all Lower Moreland on both ends. Cohen and Keys ramped up their defense and Cohen turned it on defensively, scoring 16 points after halftime while the Lions held New Hope-Solebury to 11 total second half points.
It’s been a signature of Lower Moreland this year to put teams away after halftime, but Cohen would like to see his team make that more of a 32-minute thing than a 16-minute one.
“After the success we had last season, we’re thinking we can go into any game and turn it on and off but sometimes we’re pushing it way too late,” Cohen said. “That’s the one thing we’re all working on, starting from the top. As soon as the game starts, that’s when we have to be getting on them.”
Lower Moreland has laid its goals on the table and the Lions’ seniors are ready for their stretch run to pursue them.
“We feel like we’re getting into our stride now,” Cohen said.
LOWER MORELAND 11 10 14 18 – 53
NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 10 7 8 3 – 28
LM: Shane Cohen 9 4-6 23, Joey Cerruti 4 4-4 15, Jordan Zoubroulis 1 0-0 3, Forrest Keys 1 2-3 4, Andrew Finnegan 1 0-0 3, John Przybylinski 1 0-1 2, Bryce Horn 1 0-0 3. Nonscoring: Jake Himmelstein, Dan Hutchinson, John Davies, Max Cousins, Deemos Amanatidis. Totals: 18 10-14 53
NHS: Borys 2 0-0 5, Weinseimer 3 0-1 6, Waterman 2 0-0 5, Taylor 4 2-3 10, McLaughlin 0 2-2 2. Totals: 11 4-6 28
3-pointers: LM – Cerruti 3, Cohen, Zoubroulis, Finnegan, Horn; NHS – Borys, Waterman
