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Ches-Mont Final Four Preview

02/14/2017, 12:15am EST
By Josh Verlin and Jeff Griffith

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
& Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Great Valley head coach Paul Girone doesn’t mind subscribing to the “good loss” theory.

His Patriots had been on cruise control throughout the course of the Ches-Mont season, rolling almost the entire way through their American division slate without a blemish.

Their perfect bubble burst in the regular season’s final game, with a three-point loss to West Chester Rustin. 

“It’s a long year, and we haven’t had the exact energy that we had earlier in the season,” he said. “With all of that, I think it could be a wake-up call, I don’t think it’s a bad thing for us to have lost.”

Great Valley is still in the No. 2 slot for the district’s 5A tournament, which tips off next Friday. But up first are the Ches-Mont playoffs, and the American division champion has its sights set on its first league title since 2014.

Luckily for Girone, he gets a tailor-made energy boost with the somewhat unexpected return of sophomore Alex Capitano, a 6-4 wing with a big upside who broke his hand in December.

“We did think (Capitano) would be done for the year,” Girone said. “I guess no one expected that we would win enough games to, one, get to the playoffs, and also the districts. So that changed the equation. Because he’s been out a total of eight weeks, and that was what was predicted, when he did go out that he would take that long to get it to heal. In some sense, yeah, it’s a bit of a surprise that he’s going to get any more games in this year.”

After an absence from the league final four in 2015, the Patriots found themselves back in it last season, losing to eventual champion Coatesville in the semifinals in double overtime.

In this year’s installment, they’ll face a team that toppled the Red Raiders in one of their two regular season matchups, the Bishop Shanahan Eagles, who finished second in the national division.

“Very impressed with their team,” Girone said of his upcoming opponent. “First of all, if you beat Coatesville during the course of the year, then you know you have a talented team. And they’ve got really good ingredients to beat good teams.

In that home upset of Coatesville, a late layup by Shanahan forwards Kevin Dodds ended up being the deciding play. Bigs like Dodds and Thomas Ford are the first concern for Great Valley, but Girone knows they aren’t the Eagles’ only weapons.

“They have a strong and tall front line who are well skilled in Dodds and Ford, so right away that you have to contend with their height,” Girone said. “And then I really love the way their guards play, and they have more than just the three that start, they have kids coming off the bench so they have some depth. They’re strong and athletic and they can get after you. So they have a really nice combination of guards and forwards.”

Great Valley’s battle with Shanahan is set to tip at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at Downingtown West High School.

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Game Two: Coatesville vs. West Chester Rustin

Where Great Valley found itself looking to find the positives following its matchup with Rustin, the Golden Knights left that game with the momentum they needed heading into the postseason.

With some of the tests they have coming up, head coach Keith Cochran and his team won’t take that momentum for granted.

“Well you know, it just puts us in a positive mindset,” Cochran said. “Great Valley’s a tough team, one of the toughest teams in the district and also in the league, so it puts is in a position, in a mindset that we can play with them. We needed that for our confidence going into the conference tournament going into the districts.”

Rustin, which checks in as the second-seeded team in the American division, will face the Ches-Mont’s best team and defending champion in the Coatesville Red Raiders Tuesday night in the league final four.

In the regular season meeting between the two back in mid-December, Coatesville came out on top by double digits at home behind a balanced attack.

“Coatesville’s a different animal, they attack you, they come at you, so we’ve got to be prepared for that,” Cochran said. “That’s the beauty of our league, you’ve got a team like Coatesville that comes at you, tries to speed you up and then you’ve got a team like Great Valley, the exact opposite. So hopefully when it comes to the district we see a little bit of everything.”

The hope for Rustin is that they’ll be able to return their dynamic duo of sophomore forwards – Taj Asparagus and Jake Nelson – at full strength by the time the playoffs roll around, which would provide an extra boost for the Golden Knights in the postseason.

Asparagus made his return in the season finale against Great Valley, while Nelson has been out for the last several games. The two combined for 21 points when they last faced Coatesville.

“I hope so, that’s our goal,” Cochran said of his hopes for his sophomores’ return. “We are a team, they both have been supportive of their teammates during their absence. So we hope to have them both healthy and get some run in under their belt so they can be in some kind of condition."

No matter what happens this postseason, though, Cochran sees his team on an upward trend, and likes the foundation that’s been laid by this year’s team.

“Well, hopefully I continue to build from the bottom, with youth, guys that can play with them and be successful with them,” he said. “I think the future is bright for Rustin basketball over the next couple of years, I really do.”

 

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