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Cochran lifts West Chester East to rivalry win over Henderson

12/15/2022, 11:15pm EST
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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WEST CHESTER — As good as K.J. Cochran was a year ago, West Chester East coach Tom Durant hesitated to ask too much of him. Though he quickly became their leading scorer, Cochran was still just a freshman, still adjusting to the pace of high school basketball, working around a couple ankle injuries that cost him a good bit of the stretch run.

Sophomore year, there’s no such hesitation. But Durant doesn’t need to tell Cochran how much East needs him to step up in big moments: Cochran’s already well aware.

“(It’s) just being ready for the opportunity,” he said. 


K.J. Cochran knocks down one of his two big third-quarter 3-pointers to lift East to a win over Henderson. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Playing a short road game at crosstown rival West Chester Henderson, in a raucous gym with a playoff-like atmosphere, two student sections keeping it loud from well before tipoff, Cochran stepped up and showed why he’s one of the best underclassmen around, dropping 25 points to lead the Vikings to a 56-42 win over the Warriors. 

East (4-1, 2-0) asserted itself early in the third quarter after going into the break up three points despite the fact that Cochran only hit one shot in the first half, though he did hit all five of his first-quarter foul shots. 

“I didn’t even have to tell him,” Durant said. “I could tell when he was warming up in the second half, I watch every little thing — what’s he doing? He’s trying to get his stroke, finding his stroke, finding his stroke.”

Cochran hit his first shot of the second half, a pull-up jumper, but that was the appetizer. It was then a pair of step-back 3-pointers — one from the left wing, one from the right — that turned the advantage into a seven-point one; when junior wing Ryan Price followed with one of his own from the right corner, making it a 10-point lead, the East student section roared.

“That’s just work,” Cochran said of his timely shot-making. “That’s just being in the gym and just working on that piece continuously. That’s just work.”

He added five more points in that frame, including an and-one layup with one second left in the period, to finish with 13 points over that eight minutes, East leading 41-30 going into the fourth. He didn’t take another shot, but was 5-of-6 from the foul line in the final quarter, senior Jack Kusher (9 points) coming up with his own 3-point play to make it a 14-point game with under two minutes to play.

Jack Kushner (above) had nine points and six rebounds,
plus a big-time block. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Cochran finished with his 25 points on 6-of-11 shooting (2-5 3PT, 11-12 FT), playing a poised floor game, though his auxiliary stats (three rebounds, one steal) were below his typical. 

“He’s dynamic — he wants to guard the best player, and offensively he’s very confident in what he does,” Henderson coach Jason Ritter said. “There’s a reason why he’s a Division I player, he’s a matchup nightmare. We did a good job on Tuesday night [in a win against Downingtown West] with a couple kids, and in the third quarter we lost him a little bit and he hit timely shots.”

Cochran’s not only grown in his maturity and his ability to step up in key situations, but also physically; he’s now north of 6-3 and significantly stronger than a year ago, filling out into a frame that still speaks to his upside, a more confident demeanor off the court. 

It hasn’t hurt that he’s picked up his first two Division I offers, from St. Joe’s and Northern Illinois, and there will surely be more to follow if he continues on this trajectory.

“It motivates me,” he said of the offers, “but it also lets me know that (I) can play there, so (I’ve) got to succeed, got to do the stuff when you’re not scoring, maybe you’re paying defense, getting rebounds, hustling. It’s just knowing you can play at the next level, so you’ve got to put confidence in yourself.”


Connor Fleet (above) had 21 points to pace West Chester Henderson. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Henderson (4-2, 1-1) got a terrific game from junior guard Connor Fleet, who had to work wonders with the ball in his hands to get to 21 points, hitting a number of tough off-balance shots on a night where the rest of the Warriors’ lineup struggled to create offense. 

It was the supporting contributions from Kusher, Price (10 points, three 3’s), senior guard Jose Ramos (9 points, 4 assists) and even a big couple boards and layup from senior forward Stanley Porter that made the difference.

“We play 10 guys with meaningful minutes,” Durant said. “Not many teams go 10, and you feel comfortable with everybody bringing something different to the floor.”

The defending Ches-Mont League champs, East has another big matchup on Tuesday with Coatesville coming to visit. That’s the first of four straight home games and a showcase game against Plymouth Whitemarsh at Widener on Dec. 30 to finish out the year, setting them up for the stretch run through the Ches-Mont and into the District 1 5A playoffs. 

With Cochran stepping up and everybody else returning from a year ago, there’s no shortage of experience or “been-there” factor for the Vikings, and Thursday night was clear proof.

“We realized that we’re bigger and older and stronger, we’ve just got to mix it all together and just put that on the floor,” Cochran said. “We’re bigger, and our expectations are bigger, so we’ve just got to exceed that.”

By Quarter
WC East:    13  |  12  |  16  |  15  ||  56
Henderson: 17  |   5   |   8   |  12  ||  42

Shooting
WC East: 18-42 FG (5-17 3PT), 15-20 FT
Henderson: 17-42 FG (3-13 3PT), 5-9 FT

Scoring
WC East: Cochran 25, Price 10, Kushner 9, Ramos 9, Porter 3

Henderson: Fleet 21, Ralph-Beyer 7, J. Smith 6, K. Smith 5, McFadden 2, Nelson 1


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