City of Basketball Love

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
--

In the last two seasons, each installment of the bitter Downingtown West-Coatesville rivalry has been one for the ages; double overtime playoff games, late controversial calls, raucus crowds define what is becoming by far the Ches-Mont’s premier rivalry.

Earlier in the season, the most recent showdown between the Whippets and Red Raiders saw Downingtown enter Coatesville’s gym and lead for the entire thirty-two minutes, walking out with a ten-point victory.

However, that wasn’t the game Chuck Moore had his guys spend the most time looking at in preparation for Tuesday night’s battle of district one’s top two squads.

He found it more fitting to go back nearly an entire year, to a meeting with West that saw the Whippets hit two buzzer beaters in a double overtime win that ended Coatesville’s season while sending Downingtown to the state playoffs.

“We saw a little bit of our last game against them, but I went back to last year,” said Moore. “We checked out the states game, just to see the environment, just to see the moment, to see how it could be. Through that game we pointed out some emphasis and some key points for how to approach this game, but I thought that was a huge motivation and inspiration for them.”

With the Ches-Mont National Division title and district one AAAA top seed on the line, Coatesville used those past experiences, as well as some key shooting and a lockdown defensive effort, to completely flip the script on Downingtown West, leading from start to finish in a 47-42 triumph.

“I’m just proud of my guys,” Moore said. “As coaches we can really only prep these guys as much as we possibly can, and it’s really up to them to execute. For them to follow the game plan from start to finish, to be all in together, from the bench, communicating, being together the whole time is a true testament of how far they’ve come. I’ve extremely proud of the boys.”

According to Moore, the team’s phrase for the day was “worthy to win.” As senior guard Rome Boyer would attest, his last time out against the Whippets wasn’t worthy, and it showed up in the 49-39 defeat.

This time out, he came up as big as could be, scoring a team-high 15 points and draining a corner three to build the Coatesville (20-1, 11-1) lead to five after the Whippets pulled within two in the final minute and a half.

“In the first game, I had a bad performance, I didn’t shoot very well,” Boyer said. “I thought I had to come out stronger. Picking the team up and hitting the big shot in the corner really boosted my team, and from there we just won, we put them away."

In regards to the clutch trey, Boyer repeated the words “it’s going in,” as many as nine times when referring to his ever-confident mindset in the process of heaving that shot.

“Big shot Rome, he embraces those moments, and he’s been doing it since last year as a sixth man,” said Moore of his senior leader. “Those moments are never to big for him. He wants to be in the moment, he wants the ball in his hands in those clutch times and when he has the ball in his hands it ends up being that result.

“He’s ‘Big Shot’ Rome, we were screaming it at him in the locker room,” added Moore.

A huge key for Jason Ritter’s Downingtown (19-2, 11-1) team in staying close throughout the second half was junior George Gordon, who had arguably his best game of the season, leading his team with 14 points. He had eight in a row between the third and fourth quarters to keep West within two possessions.

While Gordon came up big, the Whippets’ star guard Ryan Betley struggled, failing to knock down a single three-pointer.

The Red Raiders can largely thank Betley’s neutralization to the defensive efforts of Dalton Donovan, who entered the starting lineup after having opened the year on the bench. Donovan--as well as a few other role players who came in for him during some late foul trouble--had Betley locked down on the perimeter, holding the Penn-bound sharpshooter to just ten points.

That stout defensive effort allowed the Red Raiders to jump out to a 13-5 lead through the first quarter and take a 22-17 advantage into the half.

“Dalton set the tone,” said Moore. “Followed by Kamau (Brickus), followed by Jonathan Thompson, those guys did what they needed to on defense with him, it’s a team effort. I’m extremely proud of those guys because they deserved it.”

There’s a very good chance that this won’t be the last time these two teams meet, as Ches-Mont playoffs loom this weekend. Should both teams win their semifinal games, there will be another war for the ages to decide the league’s champion.

“Me and Ritter were laughing before the game because at the end of the day we know each other so well,” said Moore. “We know each other’s personnel so well, it’s kind of turned into a healthy Duke-North Carolina type rivalry. Fans come out, it’s a healthy rivalry. We laugh about it. It’s really up to the players, really executing like that on the floor. We’ll be in wars like that all the time, it’s always close, always coming down to the wire."

“We’re just the victors today,” he concluded.