City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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CHESTER, Pa. -- For undefeated Coatesville, the keywords to their success thus far have been experience and teamwork, as the Red Raiders' varsity roster is comprised almost entirely of seniors.

However, the first word out of head coach Chuck Moore’s mouth after his team’s 52-44 win over the Pennsbury Falcons at Widener University’s Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic was perseverance, largely in reference to his team’s ability to overcome several negatives and achieve one major positive, a seventh straight victory.

“There were moments in the game where we kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” said Moore. “We had about fifteen turnovers, which could’ve been really detrimental to our game, but we stayed with it. I’ve seen at moments throughout this year, when we make a mistake, when we cause a turnover, when we create turnovers on ourselves, we put our heads down.

"So for them to keep their heads up, to respond, the bench was into it, it showed some perseverance and some resilience that they can carry out the win," Moore continued. "We made some free throws near the end to kind of ice the game.”

One of the keys to that resilience for Coatesville (8-0) was, in fact, their experience. Three-year starters like Rome Boyer and Justus Martinez, who were around for last year’s loss to Conwell-Egan at the same event, both led their team on and off of the stat sheet.

“I need their leadership,” Moore added, regarding his senior leaders. “I mean, we’re talking about guys who have spent three years under my tutelage, so I trust them. I think us playing in this event last year, around the same time, was huge for our victory this year. They’re familiar with the surroundings, they’re familiar with the court, and you could tell when they got off the bus that their approach, their faces were a little bit different. They weren’t shell-shocked, they knew what they had to do.”

Not only did Boyer and Martinez score 13 and 12 respectively, but their ability to lead vocally played a critical part in--as Moore put it--keeping an “even keel” throughout what was, at times, a back-and-forth game emotionally.

“The beauty of basketball is there’s so many emotions involved, so many different swings; it’s a matter of keeping an even keel emotionally, to not go too high or too low, and I think we did a good job of keeping that even keel despite our mistakes,” Moore said.

The largest hurdle the Red Raiders had to overcome was losing Martinez to foul trouble much earlier than they would have liked. The 6-7 senior scored nine points in a row against Pennsbury’s big man, 6-8 Isaiah Carpenter, before leaving early in the second quarter with two fouls.

He came back for the beginning of the third, but would be benched again just over two minutes later, having committed four fouls.

“It was horrible,” Martinez said of his being in foul trouble for most of the game. “My team, they talked to me, they told me to keep my head up in the game, so that’s what I did. Right there, that’s my family, so without them, I’m one half of I am on the court.”

When Martinez left in the second quarter, Pennsbury (7-2) was able to gain a bit of control. After giving up a 19-15 lead on two Boyer three-pointers, the Falcons answered with threes by Addison Howard and Mark Flagg, to lead 21-19 at the break.

Flagg, a 6-foot-7 forward, led his team with thirteen points, before fouling out in the final two minutes.

Then, when Martinez picked up two more fouls and missed almost the whole third quarter, it looked like Pennsbury would really begin to take over, as the Falcons gained a significant advantage with Carpenter--who scored twelve points on the game--and Flagg.

“We banged the ball, I don’t know how much more we can get the ball in the post, we did a pretty decent job, just got to make layups, post players have got to make layups,” said Pennsbury head coach Bill Coleman. “It’s just missed layups, missed layups and free throws. That’s the difference in the game. Really the first game I saw us struggle with that.”

Instead, it was Coatesville who took over at that point. Even without their big man in the game, the Red Raiders went on a 15-1 run to lead 34-24 with 1:52 to go in the third. Until the final two minutes of the game, that lead never slipped below four.

“You’ve got to make big adjustments,” said Moore in reference to the loss of Martinez. “He’s a huge part of our team, but I think our guys responded, we kind of played small ball. Jordan Young stepped up, sticking (Carpenter) for their team. He took a lot of the bumps and the bangs and was able to hold his ground. He just did enough to kind of deter his shot a little bit. And then he didn’t allow him to get second chance shots, so I think Jordan played an excellent game with Justus in foul trouble. It was a total team effort.”

Pennsbury cut the lead to 47-44 with 41 seconds left, but key free throws by Coatesville guard Jordan Young allowed the Red Raiders to close out the victory.

When all was said and done, Coleman noted a bulk of missed opportunities that hindered his Falcons.

“Opportunities lost, man. We had a lot of opportunities, layups, I don’t know how many layups we missed. Free throws, we missed a ton of free throws. that’s what happens when you have a young team, you have to realize that during the game there’s going to be opportunities to grasp the win, and they did it and we didn’t.”

As for Moore and his Red Raiders, they’re undefeated, and their leadership is going to continue to be a key going forward in keeping everyone on the team focused, with tests against the likes of William Penn and Downingtown West looming in the near future.

“We’ve just got to keep it going,” said Moore. “When you’re 7-0, human nature tends to creep into your locker room, you can get a little more laid back in practice, so it’s my job with the coaching staff to make sure we stay upbeat. I told these guys to practice like you’re the worst team, but play in games like you’re the best team. If you have that mindset, everything will work out.”