City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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MEDIA — Conestoga coach Sean Forcine stood with his assistant coaches outside the visitors’ locker room at Penncrest for a quick post-game debrief. Amongst the various mentions of some late-game decision-making and defense, a couple of complaints of some turnovers and a generally optimistic tone, was one statement with which all in the huddle were in agreement.

“That,” Forcine said, “was not a game we would have won last year.”

‘Stoga’s gut-clenching, 35-33 road win over Penncrest was not just the third in a row and fifth in six games for the Pioneers, but a major sign of growth in the second-year coach’s eyes. After finishing 11-12 a year ago, Conestoga’s pushing for a much higher finish in the Central League and District 1.

“We’ve been preaching all year, it’s about staying positive no matter the situation,” Forcine said. “Not freaking out when we do good, not freaking out when we do bad, just keep an even keel. And it showed tonight.”

The major moment of difference came in about a 30-second span in the fourth quarter of a game that saw Penncrest jump out early and lead through the vast majority of the opening 24 minutes. 

Trailing by one with less than six minutes to play, Conestoga (8-4, 6-2 Central) got a 3-pointer from junior guard Ben Robinson and then a steal from Sean Mackey, who threw himself on a loose ball and fed it ahead to Rowan Miller, who attacked the rim and finished through contact, his ensuing foul shot putting the visitors up 32-27 with 4:54 to play.

From there, it was just a matter of hanging on. Penncrest got within a point twice, including with 70 seconds to play on a bucket by Patrick Garrison, but couldn’t get ahead. Conestoga senior guard Brendan Styer accounted for the game’s final point, splitting a pair from the line; Penncrest (10-3, 5-3) inbounded with under ten seconds to play and couldn’t hit a contested 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.

Robinson, who along with Styer returned as starters from last year, agreed with his coach’s assessment of how that game would have turned out a year ago.

“It’s all keeping calm at the end,” he said. “Just have fun rather than be too worried about what’s happening in the game.”

Robinson finished with 13 points, including two 3-pointers and a 3-point play in the third quarter, which Conestoga won 10-4 to close a 22-16 gap. Miller, a 5-11 point guard, finished with a team-high 16, scoring 13 in the first half to keep his team afloat offensively. Styer (3 points) and Westin Fryberger (3 points) provided Conestoga’s only other points.

While Styer and Robinson bring the experience, Miller is learning this season what his coach learned last year: every game in the Central League is a grind.

The Conestoga sophomore in his first year with the Pioneers, having helped Malvern Prep to an Inter-Ac co-championship a year ago. And though the private school league is quite competitive, its 10-game league slate doesn’t quite have the same duration as the Central’s 16-game, season-long gauntlet, which provides few if any opportunities for games that don’t have something on the line. 

“I’m learning slowly that any game could be a great game,” Miller said. “Every night. We’ve got to be prepared every night, no matter who the other opponent is.”

“I learned really quick my first year last year, no Central League game is a gimme,” Forcine said. “Every one’s a battle. I’m not surprised this one came down to the end.”

Both teams came in defensive-minded, neither one unhappy about taking a minute to run through its progressions, the whole game played in about 40 possessions. 

Penncrest sophomores Connor Cahill and Mikey Mita carried the load for the Lions. Cahill, a 5-10 guard, scored 15 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out four assists; Mita, a 6-6 forward, got off to a hot start and finished with 10 points and four rebounds. 

Despite a significant size disadvantage, Conestoga handled Mita well, limiting him to three points after the first quarter, hits first-quarter production coming on a tough baseline fadeaway and a couple good slips to the bucket. 

“Mita’s a tough player, and he’s young,” Forcine said. “He gave us trouble last year, he gave us trouble this year. But we pride ourselves on defense, I don’t care if we’re 5-foot-5 or 6-foot-6, we play really physical, we front he post, we do a lot of switching. I’ll trust any of our players to guard the post at any point.”

Wednesday night’s matchup, delayed one night by Tuesday’s rain storm that shut down most of the Lehigh Valley, was a battle for second place in the Central, both teams coming in with a 5-2 league record. Six teams in the 12-team league will make the playoffs; midway through the league slate, eight of the teams have between two and four losses, Lower Merion alone at 8-0. 

Conestoga has a two-day turnaround to host Springfield (Delco.) (5-6, 3-4), then plays Harriton and Marple Newtown — both 5-3 in league play — next week. Still to come around the return games against the other 6A teams in the league, including trying to get revenge against both Lower Merion and Upper Darby. 

On top of the league implications, each win takes on additional district relevance; Conestoga entered Wednesday night 18th in the District 1 6A rankings, whose top 24 teams make it to the playoffs. There’s still a lot of basketball to be played and time to move up (or down) significantly, but the later into January it gets, the more weight those rankings hold. 

Forcine acknowledged the increasing importance of these wins from both of those standpoints, but is trying to keep his team’s minds off it, as much as possible.

“Our goal is to be the best possible Conestoga basketball team we can be at the end of the year,” he said. “If we focus on that, all that other stuff will come to fruition when it needs to be.”

By Quarter
Penncrest:  10  |  12  |   4   |   7   ||  33
Conestoga:  6   |  10  |  10  |   9   ||  35

Shooting
Penncrest: 12-28 FG (3-10 3PT), 6-9 FT
Conestoga: 13-31 FG (4-16 3PT), 5-8 FT

Scoring
Penncrest: Connor Cahill 16, Mikey Mita 10, Theo Gladue 5, Patrick Garrison 2

Conestoga: Rowan Miller 16, Ben Robinson 13, Westin Fryberger 3, Brendan Styer 3