City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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PERKASIE — Connor Fleet admits he got fired up by the crowd, the large student section that had been chanting his name, giving the West Chester Henderson junior some extra motivation to go out and perform at a high level in the District 1 6A playoffs. 

Pretty typical stuff — it just happened to be the Pennridge student section, in a hostile gym, that got it done.

“To be honest, it was low-key the [Pennridge] student section, they were boosting me a little bit, they were getting me energized,” he said. “I think just the atmosphere is what fueled me and my teammates to play well.”

Fleet started off slow, but caught fire in the second quarter and didn’t stop, having one of the best games of his life to lead No. 17 seed Henderson to a 66-52 win over No. 16 Pennridge in the opening round of the district tournament. 

The 6-foot-tall junior guard, who’s already hearing from a number of small-college programs, was a wizard with and without the ball in his hands, weaving his way through the Pennridge defense and hitting spot-up triples en route to a 27-point outing, shooting 10-of-12 from the floor including all three of his 3-pointers, and four foul shots in the final two minutes to seal the win. He hit five straight shots in the second quarter and all four he took in the third, finishing at the rim on several up-and-unders and reverses, the student section no longer teasing him by the time Henderson opened up a 47-35 lead after three quarters.

“I started to talk back to them a little bit, just having a little bit of fun with it,” he admitted.

When he wasn’t scoring, he was dishing the rock, racking up seven assists, his mistakes with the ball few if any, even as Pennridge turned the pressure up in the second half. 

“I thought he was fantastic, I thought he shared the ball well, that’s what was missing earlier in the year,” Henderson coach Jason Ritter said. “He’s so quick that he’s tough to guard one-on-one, we talked about giving up a good shot for a great shot, I thought he did a great job of finding his teammates which then opened it up for him even more.”

Senior guard Kmari Smith scored eight of his 14 points in the first quarter before Fleet got going, adding five rebounds and five assists of his own. Junior wing Nyle Ralph-Beyer settled down after a rough shooting first half and added 15 of his 19 in the second half, including three triples, with three steals and a fourth-quarter dunk.

While they don't get in the scoring column nearly as much, junior forwards Danny Surowiec and Evan McFadden also played an important role, grabbing a combined 12 rebounds, with the 6-6 McFadden, a St. Joe's lacrosse commit, adding in four blocks.

“Danny, he does all the dirty work, he’s always getting rebounds, always hustling, playing defense, he usually guards the best player on the other team," Fleet said. "Evan, he’s been so key this season, he’s leading our team in blocks by a mile, he protects the rim great, and when he finishes at the hoop, that’s even better. Both of them have been great for us and without them we wouldn’t be where we are now.”

Tommy Cramer (16 points) and Matt Campione (14 points) reached double figures in their final high school games, while sophomore Xavier Peters added 12 points for the Rams, who opened the third quarter on a 6-0 lead to take a 29-26 lead but then immediately gave up an 11-0 response, and trailed the rest of the way.

Henderson (14-9) will take on the district’s top seed, Spring-Ford, in Tuesday’s second round. The Rams (22-2), under the direction of second-year head coach Joe Dempsey, have immediately become a force, no surprise to anybody who watched Dempsey’s teams regularly compete at the top half of the Catholic League in his years at La Salle, ripping off a 20-game win streak in the middle of the year. 

“I know they lost their first game and lost their last [regular season] game and won everything in between,” Ritter said about the Pioneer Athletic champs. “Dempsey’s an unbelievable coach, he’s coached in much bigger games than Tuesday night, we’re going to watch a lot of film the next couple days, but you don’t win 20 games by accident. They’re good, it’s another enemy territory and we’re excited for the challenge.”

By Quarter
Pennridge:  11  |  12  |  12  |  17  ||  52
Henderson: 14  |  12  |  21  |  19  ||  66

Shooting
Pennridge: 21-53 FG (5-22 3PT) 5-6 FT
Henderson: 26-48 FG (6-15 3PT), 8-10 FT

Scoring
Pennridge: Tommy Cramer 16, Matt Campione 14, Xavier Peters 12, Caden Fisher 8, Jake Buesing 2
Henderson: Connor Fleet 27, Nyle Ralph-Beyer 19, Kmari Smith 14, Evan McFadden 4, Danny Surowiec 2

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District 1 6A First Round (Boys)
20) Abington 45, 13) Pennsbury 42 (OT)
18) Neshaminy 62, 15) Boyertown 48
17) West Chester Henderson 66, 16) Pennridge 52
9) Methacton 48, 24) Conestoga 38
11) Coatesville 56, 22) Harriton 38
21) Haverford 60, 12) William Tennent 46
14) Penn Wood 78, 19) Norristown 48
Upper Darby vs. Cheltenham (3 PM 2/18) 

District 1 6A Second Round (Boys) — Tues., Feb. 21
1) Spring Ford vs. 17) West Chester Henderson
8) Garnet Valley vs. 9) Methacton
4) Central Bucks East vs. 20) Abington
5) Downingtown West vs. 21) Haverford High
2) Lower Merion vs. 18) Neshaminy
7) Perkiomen Valley vs. TBD
3) Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. 14) North Penn
6) North Penn vs. 11) Coatesville