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Coatesville falls short, La Salle makes it rain against Delaware-based opponents

12/30/2016, 3:45pm EST
By Jeff Griffith

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Coatesville looks to grow after loss to St. Thomas More (Del.)
Coatesville felt like they had the game in their grasp.

After a technical foul and shooting foul assessed against St. Thomas More (Del.) forward Alvin West, the Red Raiders’ six-point possession gave them their biggest lead, 37-29 late in the third quarter.

Then, a few grams of immaturity were mixed in.

The Red Raiders, who had won their last six before taking on the Magnolia, Delaware-based squad that had just come within two points of a win over Archbishop Ryan, watched as the Ravens made six of their seven field attempts and all six of their free throws in the fourth quarter, and suddenly, their comfortable lead had evaporated.

In the end, Coatesville suffered a bitter loss by a final of 51-47 at Widener University’s Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic Friday afternoon, but was able to learn some valuable lessons from a game they felt they should have had.

“I think that's one we gave away,” Moore said. “When you control the game for three quarters and you’re in position to win down the stretch, you like to come away with the victory. I think being young, some mistakes are made. Definitely a lesson learned from us moving forward, especially for a young team, and against a good team. I’m hoping that carries over when it’s time.”

The Red Raiders made some key mistakes in the final quarter that allowed St. Thomas More to gain true control for the first time in the game, after having led just once prior to the fourth.

A couple of turnovers that allowed for dunks by the Ravens’ senior forward Elias Revelle and senior wing Eric Montanez that gave their team a 43-39 advantage midway through the final period

“We need to value the basketball,” Moore said. “Every possession matters. from the first quarter to the fourth. We were in position a couple of times being up nine or seven, and we have a few key turnovers and the game swings back in their favor. Every possession matters. Never relax, never settle, play for 32 minutes of every basketball game.”

Once again a bright spot in the loss for Moore’s team was freshman Jhamir “Jig” Brickus, a shifty 5-foot-10 guard with the innate ability to score from anywhere on the court and hassle opponents’ guards on the defensive end.

Prior to the season head coach compared him to his brother, Plymouth-Whitemarsh and Siena alum and overseas professional Ronald Moore.

That analogy, however, doesn’t seem as accurate to Moore after another double-digit performance from the freshman, who led Coatesville with 14 points and five rebounds alongside his cousin, senior guard Kamau Brickus, who had the same final stat line.

“He’s special,” Moore said of his stellar freshman. “Early in the season before it began I kind of compared him to my brother. Same height, heady guards. I want to give my brother any disservice but I think I limited Jig, talent-wise, by comparing them. My brother has that natural ability to find players, Jig is able to be that and more by his scoring ability. Jig has that natural ability to score.”

Luckily for Coatesville, this kind of game where a team suffers a bitter loss that they need to learn from came against an out-of-state opponent, and doesn’t have a major effect on their primary goal of defending their Ches-Mont league title.

And with the bulk of their league play, the young Red Raiders can only hope to grow as a result this type of defeat.

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La Salle makes it rain in rout of St. Elizabeth (Del.)
Less than twenty-four hours before his team’s game against St. Elizabeth, La Salle junior guard Sean Simon drilled a 3-pointer to force overtime in the Explorers’ eventual win over Carlisle.

From that point, the spark had been ignited.

In their second game in as many days at Widener University’s Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic, Simon led his team with 20 points on a contagious shooting night, as the Explorers – behind a red-hot shooting afternoon – downed St. Elizabeth by a final of 80-56.

“I told their coach, they just hit us on the wrong day,” La Salle head coach Joe Dempsey said. “We’ve had some really good practices and obviously our confidence level was pretty high after beating Carlisle, so I was pleased that we didn’t have a let-down.”

According to the 6-foot-2 Simon, who made all five of his 3-point attempts, he was able to shoot so efficiently thanks to movement without the ball, as well as the help of his teammates to find him when he got open on the perimeter.

“I think we definitely, from the big win last night it gave us a lot of confidence coming into this game,” Simon said. “I think it was just my teammates getting me open...I was doing nothing but moving without the ball. (The Carlisle shot) definitely gave me some confidence going into this game.”

La Salle closed the first on a 10-2 run to lead 22-11 through one quarter.

It was the second quarter that saw the Explorers truly take control, as another quick 10-2 spurt that featured triples by sophomore guard Allen Powell and senior guard Matt Paulus, as well as a Simon three-point play, to lead 43-22 in the final two minutes of the half.

Powell finished with nine points, while Paulus had six. Six-foot-eight sophomore forward Zach Crisler’s strong play from Thursday carried over into the win over St. Elizabeth as he netted another 15.

“The good thing about La Salle kids is I have really smart kids,” Dempsey said. “They do whatever I say. My teams have always been able to just morph, and I think we wanted to play fast today, we wanted to speed them up. They didn’t go very deep in their bench when we saw them play...today we created space and opportunities for ourselves. The kids were confident today.”

The threes really started raining down in the third quarter; a bomb by Paulus opened up the game’s biggest lead to that point, 73-44 in favor of the Explorers. By that point, there was no one in the Widener gymnasium that doubted the game’s imminent outcome.

On the game, La Salle had seven different players score from beyond the arc, with 12 total made threes.

“This could be one of the best three-point shooting teams I’ve had, but the season will tell that,” Dempsey said. “We can potentially be really explosive with the three ball. When the threes are going, I love the three-ball.”

He then went on to quote St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli, regarding perimeter shooting.

“Phil Martelli always says a three is worth more than three, psychologically,” Dempsey added. “My fear is if we’re not shooting well, can the kids get to the rim and balance that out.”

A veteran coach like Dempsey, however, knows his team needs to continue improving and

For that, he sees a few key areas where the Explorers can pick things up in order to make themselves successful as they enter the ever-challenging Catholic League slate.

“We’ve got to be more workman-like,” Dempsey said. “We need to take more pride in setting screens and defending and taking more pride in things other than just shooting the ball. We’ve got to become more blue collar and if we do that, we’ll see."


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