City of Basketball Love

Matt Chandik (@MChandik26)
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For a Plymouth Whitemarsh alumnus, Chuck Moore is well-versed in his Coatesville history.

He knows that Coatesville, an established Pennsylvania basketball blue blood, hasn’t brought home a District One title since 2001. That’s also the year that the Red Raiders scaled the PIAA mountain, winning a Class AAAA state championship.

The Red Raiders made it back to the title game the following year before bowing out to Chester. Since then, there’s been a distinct lack of postseason hardware once Coatesville makes it past the Ches-Mont Final Four. Moore never won a district title as a Colonial, either, but he’s quick to point out that he did help PW to a state title. A pretty decent tradeoff, to say the least.

Saturday night, he and the No. 4 Red Raiders will look to bring home that elusive district title when they square off with No. 3 Abington at 8 at Villanova for the District One Class 6A championship.

“Once we won that second game, every game has been the biggest game of my coaching career,” Moore said with a laugh. “It’s our first time playing in March since I’ve been here and it’s truly a blessing for us to be in this position. I think our ability to play defense has been the biggest key to helping us find ourselves in this position. I’d say that we’ve overachieved to a degree because I'm surprised at how much they’ve matured in a relatively short time period.”

Abington hasn’t exactly had the same district dry spell as its Chester County counterpart. The Ghosts claimed a title two years ago, thanks to the likes of Matt Penecale (West Chester) and Amir Hinton (Lock Haven).

This team features a much different look, led by Division I prospect Eric Dixon. At 6-7, 250 pounds, Dixon is a load to handle in the paint, but he can be a mismatch nightmare thanks to his inside-out play.

Also up front, the Ghosts boast 6-8, 240-pound senior Joseph O'Brien, plus 6-6 shooting wing Eric Dougherty off the bench. In the backcourt are 6-2 junior Robbie Heath, 6-5 sophomore Lucas Monroe and 6-0 guard Rob Young, the team's captain.

“Dixon is a beast inside and out, and he’s arguably the best inside-out guy in the state,” Moore explained. “He’s complemented by four solid guards and a true center [O'Brien]. (Monroe) is a good player and (Young) is solid. They’ve got length, they’re poised and they’re a confident team. They rarely ever get rattled. They were crowned the darlings of District One in the preseason and that’s because they’re a nightmare for teams because they can exploit so many mismatches.”

From his perspective, Abington coach Charles Grasty sees a fiery, explosive Coatesville team that has an intensity that few teams can match.

“We’ve got to match their intensity because they play extremely hard,” Grasty said. “They try to get every 50-50 ball. They’re very active. They like to get up in your face and play full-court man-to-man with some zone in there, too. They’re really good, fast and well-coached, and they play a style of basketball that’s working for them.”

The Ghosts (22-4) have been hardened by a daunting schedule, one that included losses to Catholic League champion Archbishop Wood, two-time reigning Class 4A state champion Roman Catholic, three-time reigning Class 3A state champion Neumann-Goretti and rival Cheltenham, which will join Abington and Coatesville in the 6A state tournament.

That buzzsaw of a schedule is part of the reason why Grasty feels the Ghosts have been able to continually test themselves and improve.

“We feel that we had one of the toughest schedules in the state, so even though we weren’t super experienced to start the year, our sophomores and juniors have played a lot of games. They can’t say that they’re young and inexperienced,” Grasty said. “Everyone knows their role and they embrace it. Throughout the season, they got better at those roles. Coming into the season, we felt that we had the tools and we had some tough games, and once we understood our roles, we proved that we can be a pretty tough matchup for a lot of teams.”

There aren’t many, if any, teams that can compete with Coatesville’s quickness and team speed. On the flip side, the Red Raiders aren’t an overly big team, which caused Moore to liken the battle to David vs. Goliath.

“They’ve got Dixon and (O’Brien), but they’ve also got a couple other kids who are 6-4, 6-5, so you get that David vs. Goliath vibe. But we do have a lot of quickness and basketball today is a lot about quickness, so we’ll see,” Moore said.

Coatesville (22-4) is also battle-tested. The Red Raiders had a robust schedule that helped accelerate the learning curve for their young standouts. Jhamir Brickus, a fearless point guard whose shooting range extends to any spot on the court, and DaPree Bryant are two freshmen who have made an immediate impact.

It’s a relatively young team, despite the senior leadership of the likes of Kamau Brickus and Haasan Young, and that meant a few learning experiences.

“I knew we were talented, but sometimes, inexperience creeps up on you,” Moore said. “It’s good to be battle-tested. Throughout the season, our guys grew up, so our freshmen aren’t freshmen anymore. I like the way we approach the game defensively and I give them a lot of leeway and I trust them to make the right decisions. If they get beat, they’re quick enough to get back. I don’t think the lights are too bright for them on this stage.”

Pretty hard to disagree.