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District 1 AAAA: No. 7 C.B. West out-paces No. 10 Phoenixville, 40-32

02/17/2016, 1:00am EST
By Ethan Miller

Ethan Miller  (@ByEthanMiller)
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After holding their opponent to thirty-five or less points in the last three matchups, Central Bucks West has found a way to play at their pace this post-season.

There are times when the Bucks hold the ball for over two minutes on the opponent’s side of the court, patiently probing for a shot, taking almost exclusively layups or open 3-pointers.

So far this postseason, that’s been a huge advantage for C.B. West, who won the Suburban One League’s tournament and secured the No. 7 seed in the District 1 AAAA tournament.

“I think our pace of the game comes with our maturity and experience, a lot of us played last year as juniors,” senior guard Connor Lynch said. “We’ve been in these situations before, we are a little bit more comfortable with the ball than most teams.”

The Bucks were once again able to control the pace of the game on Tuesday night, which led them to a 40-32 victory over No. 10 Phoenixville in the second round of the district playoffs.

The win qualify Central Bucks West for the state tournament after it missing the state playoffs last season. The Bucks will travel to No. 2 seed Plymouth Whitemarsh on Friday night in the district quarterfinals with a spot in the semifinals at Temple University on the line.

“Right now we are being really good with the ball and we are defending at a very high level,” Sherman said. “This absolutely means the world to them, to go back to states. To be able to play one game to get to Temple, it’s everything to this group.”

C.B. West played without captain Cal Reichwein for most of the game, after the Lafayette commit was injured early in the first quarter and didn’t return. Reichwein, a 6-2 guard, suffered a knee injury in January that kept him out a few weeks, and has still been feeling it’s effects even as he’s returned for the team’s Suburban One championship and district tournament runs thus far.

“Cal said he felt good, but I decided not to play him,” head coach Adam Sherman said. “We’ll have more information on him tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”

The other Bucks seniors made sure that Reichwein’s absence didn’t cost them a berth in the state tournament.

Lynch was quiet most of the game finishing with a total of five points. But three of those points came when he hit the dagger three-pointer with 1:45 left in the game to give the Bucks a comfortable 36-30 lead.

“It was a tough night for me to start,” Lynch said. “The confidence my teammates gave helped me pull the trigger later in the game.”

Although Lynch had the big shot at the end of the game, classmate Luke Irons had a stellar night, finishing with a game-high 17 points. Irons scored the first four points for the Bucks after going coast to coast twice dribbling through defenders for easy layups.

“For us no one is the key guy, tonight it was my turn I just got the good looks and was able to capitalize” Irons said. “We’ve all been working hard after practice, putting in extra time and it’s been paying off.”

The Bucks were able to hold Phantoms 6-foot-4 senior guard Christian Kelly to 14 points; Kelly is averaging 24.0 PPG this season.

“We were trying to get up in Kelly’s grill, make him put the ball on the floor more, he’s a great player when you give him space and you let him use his length,” Irons said. “We tried to make him a shooter; we were able to slow him down thankfully...he made some really tough shots, we have to give him credit, he’s a great player.”

Central Bucks West led most of the game, only trailing once--21-19 midway through the third quarter. The Bucks went on a 6-2 run to end the third quarter with a 25-23 lead.

The Bucks didn’t look back and won the fourth quarter 15-9 with Irons and Lynch both going 2-of-2 from the free-throw line in the last minute of the game.

The game against P-W on Friday will be a recent rematch, as the two teams clashed in the Suburban One League semi-finals. The Bucks came up on top in that one, an overtime victory 53-46.

“For Friday night it’s going to be a matter of us playing our game, it’s really simple,” said Sherman. “Play the right way on defense and play the right way on offense and hopefully we come out on top.”

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Tuesday's District 1 AAAA Results
No. 17 CB East 49, No. 1 Coatesville 43
No. 9 Chester 56, No. 25 Hatboro-Horsham 34 (Game story)
No. 4 Ridley 45, No. 20 Perkiomen Valley 31 (Game story)
No. 12 Spring-Ford 61, No. 5 Pennridge 58 (Game story)
No. 2 Plymouth Whitemarsh 60, No. 18 Academy Park 56
No. 7 CB West 42, No. 10 Phoenixville 30 (Game story)
No. 14 Conestoga 57, No. 3 Downingtown West 51 (Game story)
No. 11 Lower Merion 64, No. 27 Upper Dublin 48

Friday's District 1 AAAA Schedule
Quarterfinals
No. 17 CB East @ No. 9 Chester
No. 12 Spring-Ford @ No. 4 Ridley
No. 7 CB West @ No. 2 Plymouth Whitemarsh
No. 14 Conestoga @ No. 11 Lower Merion

Play-Backs
No. 25. Hatboro-Horsham @ No. 1 Coatesville
No. 20 Perkiomen Valley @ No. 5 Pennridge
No. 18 Academy Park @ No. 10 Phoenixville
No. 27 Upper Dublin @ No. 3 Downingtown West


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