City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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WEST CHESTER — The post-game chant was one word repeated loudly and with much enthusiasm: “Trego! Trego!”

It echoed in the hallways of West Chester University’s Hollinger Gymnasium courtesy of the Downingtown West boys, all aimed at senior guard Joey Suarez, who was almost embarrassed to explain why.

“That’s my address, because they all want to come over to my house later,” he said. “Tonight, since I had a good night, all of them want to come celebrate.”

Whether the Whippets ended up at the Suarez household or not, there were no doubt plenty of good feelings on Trego Lane in Downingtown after the West senior scored a career-high 26 points, leading his team to a 67-61 win over Chester in the finale of the Ches-Mont Challenge tripleheader at WCU on Friday night.

It was a performance that delighted not just Suarez and his family but the entire program and the hundred or so West students in attendance, who chanted Suarez’s name early and often, serenading him with one last shower of attention after the final buzzer, making it clear they knew exactly who was responsible for leading the Whippets to a meaningful early-season win over one of the brand names of Southeastern PA basketball.

“It feels amazing,” Suarez said. “Those are all my best friends, they’ve been my best friends since we were little kids — the lacrosse, football guys, it was really good to be there, have the girls [team] coming out, it was exciting.”

Playing without senior Dylan Blair, West’s starting point guard and a Division I commit (West Point), Suarez was tasked with playing the role of the Whippets’ primary ball-handler, quite a difference from the 5-foot-11 guard’s typical role as their 3-point specialist. It didn’t take him long to show he could do both.

West’s first possession saw Suarez knock down a triple from the right corner, their second one from the left. Within a few minutes, he had another one, from deep on the left wing — then started attacking the bucket, finishing a couple layups, before adding a fourth triple. All within the first quarter.

“I mean, my job’s to shoot 3s,” he said, “and I was open and I was feeling good. Once I got hit, I just kept firing ‘em up.”

“Once I saw the first two go down, it was unconscious from there on out,” said Blair, who’s dealing with an injury he aggravated in practice this week. “I’ve been playing basketball with Joey since I was like five years old [...] once he gets hot, you can’t cool him down.”

Suarez certainly didn’t need much time to heat up — the bus that was supposed to pick up West at 7 PM was nearly an hour later, the Whippets only entering the gym 12 minutes before tipoff, a quick change getting them out for warmups with less than seven minutes on the clock, just enough time for a couple minutes of layup lines before things got underway.

“It was kind of a good bonding moment, to be honest,” Suarez said. “We were all at West just focusing, cracking some jokes, keeping the mood light.

“I guess we need more three-minute warmups now,” he joked.

Suarez finished with his 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting (6-12 3PT), with three assists and a steal. It was the most he’d scored in a game, he said, since his CYO days at St. Joseph’s in Downingtown.

“As a competitor and an athlete, you look for opportunities to step up and compete, and that’s what he did tonight,” West coach Stuart Ross said. “Joey has made a lot of sacrifices to be here, so I’m just happy to see him be able to have his moment.”

A three-year varsity contributor, Suarez was a deeper reserve a year ago, coming in when the Whippets needed more shooting on the floor, though he could be a bit of a liability when it came to his ball-handling and defense. But the son of West Chester assistant Joe Suarez had clearly put in the work this summer, knowing he was in for a starting role this fall, and wanting to play at the next level. 

Now all of it’s coming together — including the college interest, with a number of Division III programs letting Suarez know he’s got a spot on their rosters if he wants it. King’s College was there to see him on Friday; Widener, Immaculata and Neumann are the others he named as being most involved, though more are calling as well.

Suarez had 21 of his points by halftime, Downingtown West’s lead just five against a game Chester (0-2) which hit five 3-pointers in the second quarter to keep it close. Both teams scored 20 in the third quarter, a variety of other Whippets stepping up as the Chester defense focused in on their new biggest problem, limiting Suarez to just three points on three shots in the third frame.

Sophomore Donovan Fromhartz stepped up in the second half, scoring 13 of his 23 points in the third and fourth quarters, including a few big shots in the third to keep West in front, as well as four clutch foul shots in the final four minutes. The 6-4 wing was 9-of-12 from the floor, adding five rebounds and three assists, a performance that on any other night would have made him the undoubted star.

“He played out of his mind,” Suarez said. “He’s very good. He’s going to be a problem. He’s gotten significantly better since freshman year, and he was already good. Tonight he did everything we asked him to do: he made shots, handled the ball when we needed him to, he made layups and he made the right decisions for most of the game.”

West’s three other starters — Kelly Bell, Jase Lasher and Alex Neuhaus all scored six points each, the three combining for nine assists, six rebounds and four steals; backup point guard Antonio Lewis also came in to spell Suarez for a few good stretches, giving the Whippets another ball-handler against a Chester press that came in both full-court and half-court varieties.

Chester got strong performances from senior guard Terrence Cobb, who was 7-of-10 from the floor (4-7 3PT, 4-4 FT) en route to 22 points; junior guard Kyree Womack scored all 17 of his in the second half, adding three assists and three steals. 

Fittingly, it was Suarez who secured the win, rolling in a layup with just under a minute to play, Neuhaus finding him open under the bucket as the Chester defense tried to trap, the ball sitting on the edge of the rim for just a second before falling through, putting West up 66-61.

“I saw it dropping on the rim, it was rattling, I was scared, and then when it went in, it was like everything just got relieved,” he said. “I was like ‘that’s game over.’”

By Quarter
Chester: 13  |  20  |  20  |   8   ||  61
DWest:   24  |  14  |  20  |   9   ||  67

Shooting
Chester: 22-51 FG (7-22 3PT), 10-12 FT
DWest: 26-44 FG (9-19 3PT), 6-8 FT

Scoring
Chester: Cobb 22, Womack 17, White 9, Atkinson 6, Williams 4, Toy 3
DWest: Suarez 26, Fromhartz 23, Neuhaus 6, Lasher 6, Bell 6

By Quarter
Chester: 13  |  20  |  20  |   8   ||  61
DWest:   24  |  14  |  20  |   9   ||  67

Shooting
Chester: 22-51 FG (7-22 3PT), 10-12 FT
DWest: 26-44 FG (9-19 3PT), 6-8 FT

Scoring
Chester: Cobb 22, Womack 17 White 9, Atkinson 6, Williams 4, Toy 3
DWest: Suarez 26, Fromhartz 23, Neuhaus 6, Lasher 6, Bell 6

~~~

Game Two: Lower Merion vs. Coatesville

Click here for the story on this game

By Quarter
Lower Merion: 20  |  15  |  20  |   8   ||  63
Coatesville:      6   |  23  |   8   |  16  ||  53

Shooting
Lower Merion: 25-46 FG (9-23 3PT), 4-7 FT
Coatesville: 19-47 FG (7-21 3PT), 8-8 FT

Scoring
Lower Merion: Brown 19, Wright 12, Pendergrass III 12, Mobley 10, Poles 4, McCabe 3, Meekins 3
Coatesville: Harris 13, A. Fowlkes 13, Kennedy 9, Marshall 6, Peoples 6, Proctor 2, W. Fowlkes 2

~~~

Game One: West Chester East rolls over Collegium Charter

A balanced attack powered by some terrific half-court defense powered West Chester East to a 67-38 win over Collegium in the opening game of the tripleheader.

The Vikings (2-1) forced 18 turnovers by the Cougars (0-3), almost all of them steals, getting out on fastbreak after fastbreak all game long. 

Senior guard Jose Ramos had 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting as 11 different Vikings found the scoring column in a contest that saw West Chester East steadily grow its advantage over the course of the first 26 minutes. It was 16-9 after one quarter and 32-19 at halftime, then 53-31 after three quarters, East getting production from all of its top nine before turning it over to the deep reserves with more than six minutes to play.

“(That was) fun because it was not just one guy, it was a lot of guys creating turnovers, a lot of guys feeding other guys,” East coach Tom Durant said. “It wasn’t selfish, transition basketball, it was trying to find their teammate, which is good.”

Sophomore guard K.J. Cochran, East’s Division I recruit, had 12 points on an off shooting day (4-13 FG, 1-5 3PT) but contributed plenty with seven steals, four rebounds and four assists. 

Sixth man Korey Pulchalla gave East a terrific burst in the first half, coming up with 10 points in one stretch, including a diving poke-away that led to a layup, a tough and-one and a corner 3-pointer, each of which drew a roar from the sizeable Viking student section in attendance, though he was T’d up immediately afterwards for flashing the ‘3-pointer’ gesture.

“He would have had 20 if I kept him in the whole game,” Durant said. “I said, I didn’t want to take you out, but he knows that you’re not supposed to [get T’d up].”

Collegium, the defending District 1 4A champs, got 11 points from senior wing Duce Jackson and 10 from senior Alyjah Warren. 

By Quarter
WC East:  16  |  16  |  21  |  14  ||  67
Collegium: 9   |  10  |  12  |   7   ||  38

Shooting
WC East: 25-54 FG (7-19 3PT), 10-13 FT
Collegium: 15-35 FG (3-14 3PT), 5-14 FT

Scoring
WC East: Ramos 17, Cochran 12, Pulchalla 10, Gallagher 7, Price 7, Kelly 3, Carr 3, Williams 3, Sherlock 2, Kushner 2, Bronzell 1
Collegium: Jackson 11, Warren 10, Kiley 9, Pitt Jr. 5, Mack 2, Roman 1