City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Downingtown West head coach Jason Ritter has never been one to let himself or his team get ahead of themselves. The Whippets have been under the influence of his “step-by-step” philosophy since he joined the program in 2011.

On the back of their warm-up shirts, for example, are the words, “One More,” signifying each small part of the journey to the lofty goals the Whippets set for themselves.

Some steps are small, some cover a good amount of distance.

And then, you have your leaps.

Leaps like knocking off one of the premier programs in District 1 AAAA, Chester, which Downingtown West did on Wednesday night at the Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic at Widener University, gritting out a statement win, 55-51.

“It just says that we’re getting better,” Ritter said. “We didn’t play flawless today, credit to Chester, but we’re just getting better. Like I’ve said before, we don’t want to be playing our best in December, we want to be playing our best in January and February beyond. It’s a step in the right direction. A giant step in the right direction.”

Chester has been a brand-name program in Pennsylvania high school basketball for decades. The Clippers have won a state record eight state championships--most recently in 2011 and 2012 under head coach Larry Yarbray--in eighteen trips to the PIAA title game.

And don’t let their 2-5 record fool you. Chester, whose four prior losses came to talented teams like Sanford (Del.), Reading, Imhotep Charter, and J.P. McCaskey, entered the season at No. 4 in the PIAA AAAA rankings.

That’s why notching a victory like this solidifies Downingtown West (10-1) as the viable district title contender many thought they might be at the beginning of the season.

“It’s a program win, that’s what it is, for us, it doesn’t matter what year it is or who they have, when you beat Chester, you send shockwaves through District 1,” said Ritter. “You know, they play for state titles. Not many teams do that. So when you beat a team like that, it not only builds our confidence going forward, but it’s just one of the best wins we can have, especially in their backyard.”

The game was expected to be a tight one, and was billed as a potential district final four preview. Other than the Whippets opening up a 10-point lead in the middle of the second quarter, the game remained close throughout.

Chester scored six points in a hectic final eight seconds of the half after three key turnovers by Downingtown to cut the lead to 30-28 at the break. The last of those baskets came from senior guard Stanley Davis, who had nine of the first 11 points of the game for the Clippers.

Davis led his team with 19 points in the loss.

When the third quarter came around, West came out apparently a little shaken up by the frantic first-half finish, and got much more sped up and phased by Chester’s press than they had prior to the break.

The Whippets were able to reel it in and not let Chester lead again down the stretch after regaining their lead late in the third quarter, thanks in large part to 6-9 Cornell commit Josh Warren, who made very important shots in the late third and early fourth to keep West in the lead.

Senior guard Ryan Betley, who dropped 17 points of his own on four 3-pointers, had the key free throws in the final minute that allowed West to put the Clippers away.

Warren, who ended up earning player of the game honors for West, had his best game of the season up against the strong, bulky 6-8 Maurice Henry, scoring a game-high 22 points.

“I don’t normally play guys my size, so it was definitely a tougher matchup, but I kept getting fouled in the right spots and was able to make my moves, and the ball was going in,” Warren said.

The Cornell-bound big man played a huge part in one of the key facets of the Whippets’ victory, one that had plagued them in their previous close win over a much smaller Episcopal Academy the night before; that statistic being rebounding.

West did an impressive job under the basket fighting for loose balls and creating second-chance shots, as well as on the defensive end, keeping Chester off of the offensive glass; Ritter had told his team before the game he wanted them to be like “pitbulls,” battling for loose balls, and it showed up on the court.

“We made a concerted effort to rebound this game,” said Warren. “We knew it was going to be a tough game going in, obviously Chester is the program everybody knows, so we just really wanted to go in and fight as hard as we could, and that goes for the rebounds, loose balls, everything.”

“It all comes down to effort, it’s about who wants it more,” Ritter added. “Tonight I think we wanted it just a little bit more.”

When the dust settled on his team’s statement win, Ritter was still his quietly confident self, knowing there’s a lot more work to be done to get his team where it wants to be, while still recognizing the importance of this confidence-building accomplishment.

“It’s our mentality, you’ve got to believe you can win before you can win,” he said. “I think, there’s not a man in this locker room who doesn’t think we can win. We’re going for it. But the only thing on our mind right now is practice tomorrow at nine, and getting ready for Henderson.”