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Cheltenham passes test in comeback win at Penncrest

12/30/2015, 12:15am EST
By Josh Verlin

Khalil White (above) had 16 of his 21 points after halftime in Cheltenham's come-from-behind win over Penncrest. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It’s not that Cheltenham head coach John Timms was happy about his team being down 15 at the half against Penncrest in the championship game of Penncrest’s holiday tournament.

After all, no head coach wants to see a team with high expectations thoroughly outplayed for an entire half like the Panthers were by the Lions over the opening 16 minutes.

But it was the exact kind of situation that Timms needed to see his team in, because he’s got the bigger picture--that is, a run in the District 1 tournament and beyond--on his mind.

“I’m preparing for districts, and if we get down 10 points in districts, which is very possible, how are we going to fight? Are we going to fold?” he’d been asking his assistants. “We got down 10 here, and I got exactly what I asked for.”

After trailing by as many as 17 points early in the second half, Cheltenham clamped down on defense, holding Penncrest to just two points over an eight-minute span.

Then senior guard Khalil White caught fire, dumping in 16 of his game-high 21 points over the final eight-plus minutes as the Panthers ran away with a 55-46 win.

“It’s one thing to be behind and then fall further behind and still believe you can win--we got punched, and then punched again, and punched again, and came back and still fought,” Timms said. “So today was probably the best win of the year.”

Early was about as ugly as could be for the visitors, who kept it close for the first three minutes before Tyler Norwood broke loose. The 5-10 sophomore guard’s seven first quarter-points helped Penncrest (6-4) to a 18-6 lead after the opening eight minutes, and then he dished off to senior forward A.J. Taylor (13 points) to help the Lions expand that advantage to 32-17 at halftime.

The Cheltenham defense kicked in at the break, as the Cougars (8-2) held the Panthers to just four points the entire third quarter.

But the comeback didn’t begin in earnest until there were fewer than 40 seconds remaining until the fourth quarter, and Penncrest trying to hold for one shot with a 13-point lead. Instead, a turnover led to an attempt at a 3-point play by Cheltenham’s Amir Lewis; he missed the foul shot, but Trevonn Pitts got the rebound and his own layup.

Two more Penncrest turnovers in the final eight seconds led to a pair of Khalil White foul shots and then a White layup, cutting it to 36-31 entering the fourth.

“The first half they were more or less letting us run some offense, and as the third quarter came along, they started to run and jump and guys were hesitant,” Penncrest head coach Mike Doyle said. “We wanted guys to make plays, and...they were waiting for Ty or A.J. to make a play, and somebody else had to make it.”

By that point, all the momentum was on Cheltenham’s side, and it didn’t stop there.

White, the Panthers’ leading scorer and tournament MVP, caught fire with seven straight points to give Cheltenham a 42-38 lead with 5:02 left, and another triple by the 6-1 senior helped extend the advantage to 49-42 at the 2:20 mark.

Sophomore guard Ahmad Bigley, whose defensive ability earned him court time almost the entire second half, knocked down four big foul shots in the final minute to seal the win.

Bigley was one of two sophomores that saw big minutes for the Panthers, along with Lewis, who added eight points and played almost the entire fourth quarter. Last year, Lewis was a swing varsity/JV player for Cheltenham, but now he’s established himself as the team’s first guard off the bench.

“If (Lewis) was able to control himself, he can be a 15-to-20 point scorer, but he can’t play enough minutes, either he’s going to pick up fouls or he’s going to do something that gets him on the bench,” Timms said. “But he’s going to be a player to watch in Suburban One for the next two years for sure.”

Norwood finished with a team-high 17 points for Penncrest, showing one reason why Doyle is very optimistic about his program’s future after graduating a talented five-man class last spring. The Lions have three juniors in the starting lineup and have a promising class of sophomores, led by Norwood and 6-9 Ray Somerville, who spends most of his time on the JV squad.

“(Tyler) has to really emerge as a leader, he’s a special player and he has a chance to be one of the best ever at Penncrest,” Doyle said. “And we’re young, there’s only one senior that’s really playing. The whole rest of the team will be back.”

As for Cheltenham, there’s still most of the Suburban One schedule to get through before the Cougars can earn a place in the District 1 AAAA playoffs--much less get an advantageous seed in the 32-team field.

But no longer is Timms worried about what will happen when his team faces adversity at some point down the line.

“We’re ready,” he said. “I believe we’re ready to compete.”


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