City of Basketball Love

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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There’s a visible chemistry for the Unionville boys basketball team.

Each backdoor cut or kick out to the perimeter highlights a bond built over the past two seasons — and for some much, much longer.

About six or seven guys are primed to go off on a given night as the Longhorns’ focus is to get the best shot, no matter who ends up taking it.

“Some shine some nights and some don’t,” junior Ryan Brown said.

Brown was one of those who shined on Thursday night against Downingtown East, pouring in 18 points alongside 19 from senior Robbie Logan and 14 off the bench from junior Nick Diehl.

Several others had their moments to shine too in a 69-67 Ches-Mont crossover win. Brown and company were more than happy to share the stage.

“It’s really fun to play in in general,” Brown said. “We trust our teammates, so you get wide open shots when you trust in your teammates.”

While the Longhorns (5-1) shared the hot hand on Thursday, senior wing Ishaan Jha was the go-to guy for Downingtown East (1-5) most of the night, finishing with a game-high 25 points.

Jha had a hot start for the Cougars, scoring nine in the first quarter, his team trailing by one after the first eight minutes. The two teams traded runs in the second, going into halftime tied 27-27. 

The game tilted both ways again in the third period as the lead changed hands seven times. As it looked like Unionville was beginning to distance itself, Downingtown East senior Connor Shanahan banked in a three at the buzzer to pull the Cougars within one, 45-44, after three.

Diehl had six of his points in the third and added four more in the fourth.

“He’s done that the past probably four games and he’s been really great,” Cowles said. “He’s very unselfish because technically he’s not a starter, but obviously he’s doing a tremendous job and playing as the best version of himself.”

Jha got going again in the third with a pair of baskets then exploded in the fourth, when he scored 12 points. He broke open a 53-53 tie with back-to-back threes, giving Downingtown East a 59-53 lead with 3:27 left.

The tilt toward Downingtown East was starting to look like a topple. But that lasted about 10 seconds as Brown came down the floor and knocked in a three.

The bucket turned into the start of a 10-0 run that put Unionville up by four in the final two minutes.

“I feel like we just kept our defensive principles,” Brown said. “We just kept playing defense hard. Once we got a stop after those six points, we kept pushing the ball out in transition. We hit a couple of our own and we brought it back.”

Freshman forward James Brenner didn’t have a big night, but his and-one off an offensive rebound tied the game on the possession after Brown’s three. Brown added a pair of free throws at the 2:21 mark to put the Longhorns ahead. Junior James Anderson capped the run with an open bucket inside for a 63-59 Unionville lead with 1:40 left.

“I think our offense started to make quicker decisions and Ryan started to get downhill right away,” Cowles said. “That’s really big for us as far as just being to the point offensively.”

Jha finally answered for Downingtown East to stop the run, but Logan scored a bucket to put his team back up four. After Brenner blocked a shot, junior Charlie Kammeier made the play of the game.

Kammeier took a charge and then knocked down a pair of free throws to push the lead to six with 19.5 seconds left. He added another pair of foul shots after Downingtown East’s Noam Mousdik Guemnie Tafo (11 points) hit a three to make sure the game stayed out of reach.

“I feel like that’s just who he is,” Brown said of Kammeier. “He’s great defensively and he’ll step up and make that play. Even if he’s not having a scoring night, he’ll be the guy to stop the best player on the other team. He’ll be the guy to take the charge.”

Unionville was 3-3 through six games last season before finishing 11-11, so the Longhorns will certainly take a 5-1 start this season. 

A comeback win on the road makes it even more satisfying.

“It’s a really great group of people,” Cowles said. “James Brenner had the offensive rebound and putback and the guys stepped up at the end defensively. It was just overall very positive for us to experience that as a team.”

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By Quarter

Unionville:  16   |  11  |  18  | 24  ||  69

Downingtown East:  15   |  12  |  17  | 23  ||  67

Scoring

Unionville: Robbie Logan 19, Ryan Brown 18, Nick Diehl 14, Charlie Kameier 8, James Anderson 5, James Brenner 3, Kevin Carson 2.

Downingtown East: Ishaan Jha 25, Connor Shanahan 11, Noam Mousdik Guemnie Tafo 11, Micah Hill 10, Rafael Segarra 7, Owen Lammey 2, Kaleem Henderson 1.