City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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CHESTER -- Despite starting off its defense of the District 1 Class 5A tournament with seven wins to open the season, Penncrest still felt it had plenty to prove. After all, the Lions had replaced three starters from a year ago, and were relying on several players who previously had played few if any varsity minutes.

Mike Doyle’s squad was presented Saturday evening with an opportunity to make quite a statement, indeed: a game against one of the state’s storied programs, Chester, playing in ostensibly a home atmosphere at Widener University in an event -- the 13th annual Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic -- named for one of the Clippers’ all-time greats.

And whether they were proving something to themselves or to the rest of the local hoops community, the message was clear: Penncrest is for real.

It wasn’t just that the Lions walked away with their perfect season still intact after a 57-48 win over a Clippers team that’s admittedly still very much finding itself at this point in the year. Or that Penncrest controlled the game and the tempo from tipoff to closing buzzer, never once trailing, the only tie coming before the first points were scored. It was all of that, plus the fact that Penncrest didn’t need a stellar game from star guard Tyler Norwood to get it done.

“It’s an unbelievable statement win,” Doyle said. “For this team to play Chester, historically the best team in the state, in this atmosphere, was absolutely a statement that … hey, we’re back.”

Penncrest (8-0) put on a clinical performance, handling the Chester press and the always-involved Chester fans with veteran aplomb. The Lions’ patient offense resulted in easy layups far too often for the Clippers (1-5) to be happy with, and it wasn’t with the explosive Norwood going off for 30-plus, as he’s prone to do.

Instead, he Lions’ supporting cast carried the load. Junior forward Matt Arbogast had 15 points, six rebounds and two blocks. Senior forward Chris Mills, the only returning starter, had nine points and four rebounds. Junior forward Gio Antonelli had nine points and five rebounds off the bench. Those three missed one shot, combined.

“I think they absolutely know they can do it now,” Doyle said. “I think some people thought it was just Tyler by himself this year, and we’ve clearly come out and proved that at every turn that it’s just not Tyler.”

Oh, Norwood was good. The senior guard had a game-high 18 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, plus five assists, four rebounds and two steals. But his typically-reliable jumper wasn’t falling with its usual consistency; he missed all seven of his 3-point attempts.

So it became the rest of the Lions who made sure they came out of Widener with a whole new dose of confidence.

As a team, Penncrest shot 18-of-32 (56.2 percent); the non-Norwood members were 13-of-16 (81.3 percent).

“We all just were just laid back and just tried to play our style of game, just take it slowly,” said Arbogast, who’s already scored 17 points in two prior outings this season. “If we went with their pace, we would have lost the game, but we went our own pace, and won.

“We know how good we are, but this shows that we’re contenders for anything,” the 6-foot-3 junior added.

Norwood’s backcourt partner, senior Justin Heidig, only scored two points, on a layup in the second quarter. But the 5-10 guard dished out five assists and grabbed three rebounds and two steals, and was crucial in helping Penncrest handle Chester’s relentless pressure deense.

“He’s so underrated for what he can do,” said Doyle, who’s spent eight seasons on the Saint Joseph’s University sideline in two separate stints as an assistant coach with the Hawks. “Handling Chester’s pressure, guys running at him, and handling that and then making the correct play time and time again, and finding guys, was unbelievable.”

“We know they’re trying to push us,” Heidig said. “It’s just getting everybody calm and getting into our sets, and running what we know how to do.”

The way Penncrest is playing, it would be a shock if they didn’t make the district tournament for the 11th straight year under Doyle, who took over the Central League program in 2004. But these Lions have bigger plans, namely league and district championships, and a trip to the state tournament that lasts longer than the first round, which is where Penncrest lost to Hershey a year ago.

“(Doyle) expects a lot out of us,” Heidig said, “and we’re just trying to prove that to him -- and we’re having fun doing it.”

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Coatesville sophomore DaPree Bryant’s steal-and-score just before the buzzer sealed a 60-55 win over Lower Merion in the penultimate game of four at Widener on Saturday afternoon and evening.

The Red Raiders held a 32-19 lead over the Aces at halftime, but Lower Merion mounted a third-quarter comeback to even take a brief 40-39 lead before a Jhamir Brickus 3-pointer put Coatesville back up two points going into the fourth.

Brickus (18 points) added seven more points in the fourth quarter as Coatesville (6-3) never again gave up the lead, though Lower Merion (6-2) didn’t make it easy. Though the Aces went nearly three minutes without scoring in the game’s closing stretch, a 3-pointer by Jack Forrest (14 points) cut it to 56-55 with 45.9 seconds to play.

Lower Merion had one final possession with 13.5 seconds left after two Brickus foul shots, but Bryant made sure the Aces didn’t even get a final look, snatching the ball and racing up the sideline to deposit the ball through the hoop just a split-second ahead of the buzzer for the last of his seven points.

Steve Payne led Lower Merion with 15 points. Brickus was joined in double figures on Coatesville by Chuck Smith’s 14 points.

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