City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The lid had been on the bucket for Evan McFadden. 

West Chester Henderson’s starting center had a number of contested looks at the rim in the first half of a big-time Ches-Mont game against Coatesville but couldn’t get any to go down — a couple front-rimming, a couple in-and-out. The senior big man isn’t needed to be a scoring presence for the Warriors, but those points were big in a tight game that had league and district implications.

“I just said keep going, keep going, you’re going to get it, you’re going to get one down,” Henderson head coach Jason Ritter said, “and he got a huge one, a huge one.”

There was less than a minute left in the fourth quarter when McFadden got his chance and converted. His put-back bucket was a crucial one, helping lift Henderson to a 62-57 win over Coatesville at a packed and loud Reichert Gymnasium. 

It was a three-point game when senior Connor Fleet went a little too hard with a left-handed layup, the ball rolling off the rim in transition. But there was McFadden, in the right spot at the right time, with a clear bucket in front of him. He popped it off the glass and in like it was no big deal, a 58-53 lead with 48 seconds suddenly a massive one for Henderson.

“Just make it,” he said of what he was thinking. “Just make it. I mean, my team’s brought me this far, and just gotta put it in the hole and get back on defense.”

McFadden’s bucket and a second-quarter foul shot were the only three points he contributed on the evening. His 10 boards and four blocks were emblematic of what the 6-foot-8 Saint Joseph’s lacrosse commit — unsurprisingly a defender on the field — brings to the team currently ranked No. 1 in the District 1 6A rankings. 

“Evan does a lot of things that don’t show up on the box score,” Ritter said. “Basketball people see and know, but the casual fan does not. He defends, he alters shots, he rebounds, he’s not selfish on the offensive end. He knows what he has to do, he knows his role on the team and he does it impeccably.”

McFadden (left) collects one of his four blocks against Coatesville. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

West Chester Henderson (12-1, 4-0 Ches-Mont National), which won for the 12th time in a row, led almost the entire way on its home court against Coatesville (7-4, 4-1), the two programs entering the night tied atop the division. The edge got up to 10 in the third quarter, Sacred Heart commit Nyle Ralph-Beyer (25 points, 7 rebounds) and the Warriors threatening to run away with it, before Dior Kennedy (23 points) led a fourth-quarter Raiders surge.

Kennedy, who collected seven steals in a strong two-way performance for the 6-3 senior, scored five points in about 10 seconds early in the fourth to cut the edge down to five; a Marquis Peoples 3-pointer made it a four-point game with 6:30 to play. A Kennedy putback with 5:11 to play had the edge down to two; Kennedy tied it at 46 with four minutes to play on a slashing bucket.

Henderson senior Jesse Smith then hit the two biggest 3-pointers of the night to that date, both from the left wing, his only six points coming on back-to-back possessions, sandwiched around a Peoples response, to put Coatesville up 52-49 with 2:50 remaining.

“He was plagued with foul trouble so he couldn’t get in a rhythm, but the best thing about Jesse is the next shot is always going in,” said Ritter of the 6-0 wing, who he said shoots more than 40% from 3-point range and leads the team in 3-point percentage. “He has [a] 100% green light- — he knows it, the team knows it, and every shot that goes up with him, we all think it’s going down.”

Fleet, Henderson's standout point guard who only had a point at halftime but finished with 16 points, three rebounds and three assists, knocked down a pair from the line to slide the margin to five, Kennedy responding with a three before two more Fleet foul shots made it 56-52 with 90 seconds to play.

One Coatesville foul shot later, and McFadden’s time to shine emerged. Fleet had one more bucket after that, a layup on a feed from Smith to make it a seven-point game in the game’s final 30 seconds, a few final foul shots accounting for the final score.

“It’s a great win,” McFadden said. “We’ve been working hard all season, we’ve had some tough opponents so far, but Coatesville is definitely the toughest so far. Packed environment like this, it was just a great, great win."

Senior wing Nelson Lamizana was the third member of the Warriors in double figures, finishing with 10 points along with 12 rebounds and two assists. Henderson went 25-of-29 (86%) from the foul line, including 16-of-18 in the second half.

Henderson’s next five games are all in Ches-Mont National play, beginning with a visit from Avon Grove on Tuesday and a trip to Shanahan next Thursday. Another big home game looms Jan. 16 against Downingtown West, with the return trip to Coatesville coming January 30. 

The Warriors are almost certainly assured a spot in the 24-team District 1 6A playoffs no matter what happens moving forward, though they have eyes on finishing much higher up than the No. 17 seed they were a year ago. They’ve already had a major setback, losing returning starting forward Danny Surowiec in the preseason to injury, which Ritter said taught them “nothing is promised, tomorrow’s not promised [...] forget about three weeks from now, enjoy tonight.”

Either way, this season’s first six weeks are exactly what McFadden had hoped for in his final season of hoops, before he finally trades in his high-tops for cleats and a lacrosse stick. This group of seniors, which have been together since sixth grade, have one thing in mind.

“[It’s] just about winning,” McFadden said. “I want to win as much as I can and I want to win as much as I want for my team. I want to get as many wins and help them out as much as possible.” 

By Quarter
Henderson:   9   |  14  |  18  |  21  ||  62
Coatesville:   5   |  14  |  13  |  25  ||  57

Shooting
Henderson: 16-42 FG (5-14 3PT), 25-29 FT
Coatesville: 21-65 FG (9-31 3PT), 6-13 FT

Scoring
Henderson: Nyle Ralph-Beyer 25, Connor Fleet 16, Nelson Lamizana 10, Jesse Smith 6, Evan McFadden 3, Jack Bell 2

Coatesville: Dior Kennedy 23, Amon Fowlkes 14, Zuri Harris 6, Marquis Peoples 6, Larry Brown 5, Armon Shockley 2, Will Fowlkes 1