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Downingtown West wins Ches-Mont clash with West Chester East

01/11/2023, 2:45am EST
By Owen McCue

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue
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DOWNINGTOWN — Discovered wasn’t the word Dylan Blair wanted to use.

Blair and the rest of the Downingtown West team always knew the ability was there for junior Antonio Lewis.

However, during a trip to Maryland for the Governor’s Challenge late last month, that ability finally began to emerge.

The Whippets have star power and that was on display Tuesday night in a 65-49 win over West Chester East as Blair (27 points) and sophomore Donovan Fromhartz (16 points) had typical big nights. Downingtown West also got a strong outing off the bench from Lewis (10 points), who is settling in just fine during his first season at the varsity level.

“We kind of always knew he had this ability as far as playing with his energy and tenacity and urgency on the floor,” Whippets head coach Stuart Ross said. “It was nice to see all the hard work pay off today. We tell everybody, ‘Everybody just needs to be a star at their role.’ … That’s kind of what we buy into every time we step on the floor.”

Tuesday’s match up pitted two of the Ches-Mont League’s three one-loss teams against each other. The Whippets (10-2, 4-1 Ches-Mont) lost to West Chester Henderson back on Dec. 13, while the Vikings’ lone league loss entering Tuesday came Dec. 20 against Coatesville (8-4, 4-1).


Downingtown West junior Antonio Lewis had 10 points off the bench in Tuesday's win over West Chester East. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)

West Chester East has won the last three straight league titles, but the Whippets had a chance to go out and prove themselves capable of knocking them off this season and delivered.

“They won three Ches-Monts in a row, so this was a big one for us,” Lewis said. “I’m looking forward to the next game against them on their home court.”

Blair had nine early points to put Downingtown West out ahead, 18-12, after eight minutes. When West Chester East, which was led by 18 points from sophomore KJ Cochran and 14 points from senior Jose Ramos, took the lead in the second after reeling off 11 straight points, Lewis helped the Whippets swing momentum back.

The junior guard only had three points in the second quarter, but his several steals were important in pushing the Whippets back ahead 34-29 by halftime.

“We always knew he could do that,” Blair said. “His energy when he steps on the court, we feed off that. Defense turns to offense, it allows us to kind of settle down, catch our breath and we know Antonio’s coming on the floor.”

After Blair had 17 and Fromhartz had 10 points in the first half, Downingtown West had a more well-rounded third-quarter. Five Whippets scored in the third in Blair, Fromhartz, Alex Neuhaus, Joey Suarez and Kelly Bell (seven points) — who Ross highlighted for his rebounding — tallied buckets as Downingtown West’s lead grew as many as 12 before taking a 48-40 lead into the fourth.

“I trust my teammates. I tell them that almost every day,” Blair said. “When I come to them, and they come up big like that it makes me feel a lot more comfortable and brings joy to the whole team as we continue on in the game.”

With their lead chopped down to six early in the fourth, Downingtown West went on a 10-0 run to go up 60-44 with about three minutes left and put away the game. Blair and Fromhartz scored during the run, but it was Lewis, who finished with seven points in the fourth, who once again livened his team with not just his defense but his offense this time too.

“I try and do my best to bring this team a lot of energy off the bench,” Lewis said. “Coming off (the bench), seventh man, I try to bring the best and the most energy I can. We have a very good team and bringing all the energy I’m bringing is really good. We’re playing excellent.”

Tuesday marked Downingtown West’s eighth-straight win since their lone league loss. Ross noted his team has done a great job of boxing out and the attention to detail on the defensive end has propelled them during the win streak.

“We just learned we gotta play a lot harder than we did,” Lewis said of the Henderson loss. “I feel like we could have played a lot better too. Shots weren’t falling. Can’t really control that.”

“We’ve been improving on boxing out recently a lot. As you just saw, we just played one of the best box out games we’ve had. Defensively, we’ve been there a few times, but everything is just going our way right now.”

As Blair exited the court on Tuesday, his message to his teammates was, “One step closer.” Each win gets the Whippets closer to locking up a spot in the league playoffs and earning the opportunity to chase a coveted league crown — particularly when the victory comes at the expense of the league’s reigning three-time champion.

“We got a bitter taste in our mouth last year, and that’s kind of what our goal is,” Blair said. “Obviously it’s one championship at a time. We obviously want to go to a district championship, state championship but focus on what we can control right now. That’s one game at a time, one step at at time after every game.”

By Quarter

WCE:  12  |   17   |  11  |  8  ||  48

DW:  18  |   16   |   14   |  17  ||  65

Scoring

West Chester East: K.J. Cochran 18, Jose Ramos 14, Jack Kushner 6, Josh Sherlock 2, Jack Gallagher 2.

Downingtown West: Dylan Blair 27, Donovan Fromhartz 16, Antonio Lewis 10, Kelly Bell 7, Joey Suarez 3, Alex Neuhaus 2.


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