City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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For the last four years, every time Jason Ritter led his Downingtown West Whippets into Coatesville’s raucous gymnasium, he walked out with a loss.

In 2014, his team blew an eighteen-point lead. In 2015, they clawed back to within a possession in the final quarter, but again fell just short.

Now, in just the second game of the 2016 calendar year, the Whippets finally achieved the victory that had been eluding them since Ritter’s arrival, as they took down the Coatesville Raiders in a battle of PIAA AAAA top-ten teams, by a final score of 49-39.

Even though it may have felt like it at times, the 6th-ranked Whippets (12-1, 5-0 Chesmont National) never trailed in their bitter rivals’ home gym.

“You smile too early in this gym and the smile turns upside down really quick,” said Ritter following the victory. “The kids, the senior class in particular, they wanted a road win at Coatesville, that’s something that has eluded us in all of my four years, so in my fifth year to win in this building, doesn’t happen often. People don’t come into this building and win, clearly, it’s their first loss.”

Having defeated Chester just ten days prior to taking down no. 5 Coatesville, Downingtown West has now seemed to solidify itself as a prime contender to go deep into the District One AAAA playoffs and contend for a district title.

“We’ve shown that not only do we belong, but we’re a team to beat,” said senior guard Ryan Betley. “Last year, I think we just tried to show people that we belonged, and that we can play with these teams. I think now, this year, teams have to look out for us, we’re a powerhouse team in district one, and we’re going for the district title.”

Despite leading 23-15 at the half, the reason it may have occasionally felt like Downingtown hadn’t been leading for all 32 minutes probably had something to do with eighteen turnovers forced by Coatesville’s physical press defense.

In the beginning of the third quarter, however, the Red Raiders’ active defense allowed them to pull within a single possession, 23-21, after a 7-0 run.

“Coatesville’s not going to go quietly into the night,” said Ritter. “They’re going to get going with their pressure. Not being in the right spot, assignment-wise, that’s kind of my fault to be honest, not putting them in the right places, I should’ve probably called an extra timeout but we have a veteran team, and the whole idea of not calling a time is that we don’t get rattled ever. This isn’t our biggest game, hopefully it won’t be. So let’s play through it, I have two division one players for a reason, just go and make a play."

After that Coatesville spurt, it was those two Division I-bound seniors--Betley and 6-8 center Josh Warren--who came through, each scoring critical baskets in the third and early fourth to enhance the lead back to eleven with three minutes to play.

Betley with 18 and Warren with 15 were the high scorers on the night, each snatching seven boards.

“Our special players made special plays,” said Ritter. “When you want to beat a very good team, like Coatesville, who’s undefeated, in their building, special players have to play special, and I think Ryan and Josh proved that tonight.”

In the middle of the fourth quarter, things got a bit physical between Warren, a Cornell commit, and Coatesville big man Justus Martinez. The 6-7 Red Raider forward was called for a technical after reacting to some shoving under-the-basket.

While Martinez had eight points, senior Trent Hugan led Coatesville with eleven.

“Josh gets hit every day, all day; he might even get hit in his sleep,” said Ritter. “To take that over and over and over again and not to react as a seventeen year old kid, just shows you the type of player he is and why he’s going to Cornell. He is mentally strong, every team does that to him, and it’s up to him to play the game, not react, and win the game from the foul line and that’s what he did.”

From there, Coatesville--who had failed to capitalize off of their 18 takeaways--watched the game slip away as Betley and fellow senior Dom Guerrera, who had nine points and seven rebounds, knocked down key free throws to put it out of reach.

“You know what, I’m actually proud of my guys. I think they played hard for 32 minutes,” said Chuck Moore, head coach of the Red Raiders. “You can get into the little nuances of the game--the refereeing, the fouls, all that stuff--I don’t really pay attention to it. I just key in on how hard my guys play and how well they do. They created eighteen turnovers, but we just weren’t able to convert on them. I always tell them, at the end of the day, basketball’s a miss-or-make game. If you make a shot, things become easier, defense becomes easier. When you miss, you always find yourself climbing that mountain, and it gets harder and harder when you don’t make shots. I think that was the difference, us not converting on our turnovers and not being able to put the ball in the basket.”

If there’s one thing these two talented teams made clear following their renewed rivalry, it’s that they expect to see each other more than one more time this season.

Of course, they’ll be meeting again on February 3 at Downingtown West, but it’s not at all toofar-fetched to believe they could be seeing each other in a Chesmont playoff scenario, as well as in the later rounds of district playoffs.

“I think this is round one out of three,” remarked Ritter. “We’re happy to win the first.”