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Prepping for Preps '22-23: West Chester East (Boys)

10/13/2022, 10:15am EDT
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

(Ed. Note: This story is part of CoBL’s “Prepping for Preps” series, which will take a look at many of the top high school programs in the region as part of our 2022-23 season preview coverage. The complete list of schools previewed thus far can be found here.)

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The pieces are certainly there. The coaching is certainly there. The talent is certainly there. Gather up the players from the three-time defending Ches-Mont League champion West Chester East boys’ basketball team and they may all say the fall months leading into the season is like a prolonged Christmas Eve.

The Vikings went 21-8 overall and 16-6 in the Ches-Mont last season under coach Tom Durant, who enters his sixth year, and that includes capturing their third-straight Ches-Mont League crown over formidable and preseason league favorite Downingtown West. West Chester East went on to lose in the second round of the PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoffs to Abington (41-36), and to District 2 champion Scranton in the first round (84-70) of the PIAA 6A state playoffs.


West Chester East sophomore K.J. Cochran had a terrific debut season in 2021-22. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The problem every team in the Ches-Mont — and possibly beyond — will have with the Vikings this season is every starter is back, along with every significant rotation player.

This is not exactly the best West Chester East team Durant has had in his tenure (that would be the 2020 District 1 5A champion Vikings led by Wake Forest’s Andrew Carr that had its season canceled in the state quarterfinal round prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic). But this team is pretty close, led by 6-foot-2 senior forward Jack Kushner, a freshman on the 2020 team and four-year starter who is getting interest from Kutztown and East Stroudsburg.

“We have a target on our backs, and we know it,” Durant said. “We got close in 2020 with Andrew Carr, but everything got stopped due to the pandemic. We were 28-2 that year. That was tough to swallow. We could have won the state title. Every year this team got hungrier and hungrier because of Andrew Carr. You learn from the kids above on how to win and what it takes to win. Jack certainly learned a lot from that year.

“Andrew made up for a lot of mistakes. But we have kids on this team that have been in pressure situations and they’re all coming back.”

And an emerging star in 6-3 sophomore guard K.J. Cochran, who averaged 18 points a game and has received an offer already from Northern Illinois after his freshman year. Cochran missed 10 games with a fractured right ankle and battled a fractured left ankle late last season. He’s back healthy and will be joined by fellow starters 6-5 junior forward Josh Sherlock, 6-2 junior guard Ryan Price and 5-11 senior point guard Jose Ramos. Off the bench will be 6-5 senior center Jack Gallagher, 6-7 senior center Stanley Porter, 6-foot senior guard Korey Puchalla and 6-2 junior guard Bryce Cox.

“This group plays hard, and they optimize their talent,” Durant said. “They compete. That’s a good thing. You always start with defense, and we have good leadership in Jack, and this is a team that believes in each other. We’re not sneaking up on anyone this year. Coatesville will be good, Downingtown West will be good again, Henderson will be good, and that’s just on our side (in the Ches-Mont National). Unionville will be good on the other side (in the Ches-Mont American). Complacency is a concern.

“Having a talented team that’s expected to win is a good thing and a bad thing. You have to bring it every night when you’re in that position. We have some tough non-league opponents, so this won’t be an easy road. We’re going to be fun to watch, from a coaching standpoint, a fan standpoint, and a player standpoint. These guys have to put the work in, and they know it.”


West Chester East senior Jose Ramos is one of five returning starters in 2022-23. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Cochran is healthy. His ankles have healed and he’s ready to explode.

“We have a lot of versatile big guys, and we have guys who do a lot of different things, so I think we’re going to be tough to guard against,” Cochran said. “We could be strong offensively. We need to stay on our game. We know that we’re pretty good and we have to continue to stay with what works. We’re going to score more transition points. Our whole team sees our potential. We’re hungry to go through the ceiling to see how far we can go. The goal among us in the locker room is a state championship.”

PIAA’s Class 5A division features defending state champion Imhotep Charter, a very good and experienced Radnor team and traditional powerhouse Chester.

But a state title is a fair goal.

The pieces are certainly there. The coaching is certainly there. The talent is certainly there.

Kushner has never known what it’s like not to win the Ches-Mont. Three league titles in three years.

“I like how close this team is, we’re able to tell each other what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong,” Kushner said. “On the court what will make us winners is applying what we’ve learned, what we know, and listening to what our coaches tell us. We always have guys shooting after practice. We know other teams are doing the same thing. We need to work harder than them. We have young guys who are stepping up, and it’s scary how good K.J. is going to be, since he’s so good right now.

“We’re going to give up pieces of our games to fit in with everyone else. We have to play our roles. I was a role player my freshman year. I think the opportunity that we have is great. We have to be willing to go up the ladder and be patient to hang a banner. We’re in the gym all day. We’re ready. We have a countdown going every open gym to start the season. I’m imagining the stands being filled and us going on runs, winning games in March.”

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here .


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