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Smith gels with Red Raiders in first year at Coatesville

01/20/2018, 10:00pm EST
By Ray Dunne

Coatesville coach Chuck Moore (above) has welcomed senior Chuck Smith to the team this season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Ray Dunne (@RayDunneBTB)
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Chuck Smith has long been a varsity player in the Ches-Mont Conference. Receiving meaningful minutes since his sophomore season, he is no stranger to the league.

However, for his senior season, things got changed around quite a bit.

After starting high school at West Chester Henderson, Smith moved into the Coatesville Area School District for the 2017-18 school year.

While Smith admits it was difficult to change schools, he grew up around the Coatesville area and there were quite a few familiar faces to help him out at practice when he began working out with the team.

“They’ve been very receptive because I grew up with them,” Smith said of his teammates. “[We’ve been playing together] since we were little kids, little league going up.”

However, there was one relationship that Coatesville head coach Chuck Moore had concern about heading into the season.

Given the fact that Smith was a senior entering a new program with different expectations and a different play style, Moore was unsure how well he and Smith would work together.

“When you get a kid from the outside that’s brought into a new situation, you are kind of hesitant on how he is going to receive me as a coach and his teammates,” Moore said. “But Chuck hasn’t talked back and whenever I give him some reprimands as far as what he needs to do, he’s attentive and he responds when I ask him questions. I think he has really bought in, I think now you are seeing the effects of him buying into our program.”

Even with the chemistry and a budding player-coach relationship, Smith and Coatesville did stumble a little out of the gate, starting 2-3 with losses to Archbishop Carroll, Reading, and Bishop Shanahan.

As they tried to find their footing, Smith and Coatesville went to face Downingtown West on Dec. 21 in hopes of their first Ches-Mont win of the season. Jhamir Brickus scored 32 and Smith had his best game to date, scoring 12 points and the Red Raiders went onto win 64-57.

Since that night, Smith has seen his role grow into a starter as the Red Raiders have rolled off nine wins in ten games. Moore said the early season struggles have been eased as Smith begins to settle in.

“He’s stepped into the starting role, he does everything for us,” Moore said. “He’s like that plastic man, he can play defense on the best player, then he can go create an offensive basket for himself. He’s starting to make the right plays more, I trust him more, again he’s really bought in and he’s really been great for us."

Smith’s ability on the court was on display in Saturday’s 81-60 victory over Shipley as he scored 10 points to go along with six rebounds and two steals. The offensive numbers may not have been gaudy, but Smith was very active in passing lanes and helped sink a turnover-plagued Shipley team.

The win is another big one for the Red Raiders as they enter a critical week. On Tuesday, they play host to Bishop Shanahan before traveling to Downingtown West on Thursday. The two games will be huge in the battle to see who gets into the Ches-Mont playoffs.

As for Shipley, Sam Sessoms had another big game, scoring 25 points in the defeat. The real loss, however, is 6-foot-10 big man Ray Somerville’s foot injury which kept him out of the game on Saturday. The injury occurred on Friday night’s game against Westtown and is not believed to be too serious, but still should sideline Somerville for a week.

Without the big man, Shipley was still not able to keep up with Coatesville’s up-tempo pace, which bases itself around the ability to force turnovers and run in transition. That style is something that Smith appreciates about his new team.

“It’s more aggressive, more fast-paced, on the ball traps,” Smith said. “I think I did great adjusting because I fit in nicely where they want me to.”

While his talent may work with the style that Coatesville is attempting to employ, part of his success has to do with how he is spending his time off the basketball court. Moore believes Smith’s dedication to learn more about his craft has paid dividends for him on the court this season.

“He’s starting to learn the game better. Part of his issues in the beginning were just him having an understanding of the game,” Moore said. “Now, we’re watching film. Now, we’re breaking down what he does wrong after the games and before the games. I think he’s learning from that, the IQ. Chuck Smith has always been a great player, but now he has a higher IQ. How to make the right play, make the right read, when to attack, when to pull it out.”

Now that things are rolling, Smith knows exactly what he’s out to accomplish with his new team.

 “We went to districts last year and we lost in the championship, so I hope we can accomplish that and Ches-Monts,” Smith said. “Keep going from there.”


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