City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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AMBLER — The Cheltenham boys basketball team entered Monday night on a three-game losing streak and nine days removed from their last game.

A needed victory seemed nearly out of reach down three with six seconds left. Then senior Nile Tinsley banked in an improbable three at the buzzer to give his team new life

The Panthers survived a shot by the Trojans at the buzzer at the end of the first overtime. In the second overtime, two free throws by junior Josiah Hutson with 2.5 seconds left were enough to give Cheltenham a 64-62 win over Wissahickon. It’s the type of win the Panthers hope can rally their season back on track.

“It was a big win for us,” Tinsley said. “We were on a three-game losing streak, so we needed that win and we’re back active now.”

Tinsley scored 14 points for Cheltenham (10-4) and Hutson added 12. Senior Dom Vacchiano led Wissahickon (6-10) with 20 points and senior Brayden Ryan added another 18. 

Vacchiano’s three with 32 seconds to go in regulation put the Trojans ahead 54-51. His younger brother, sophomore Nico Vacchiano, hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead back to three with 6.6 seconds left.

Cheltenham freshman point guard Kamal Mason quickly pushed the ball down the floor for the Panthers after the second free throw make. He got it into Tinsley’s hands with time winding down. Tinsley may have been closer to the half-court line than the 3-point line when he unleashed the shot, but he got some help from the backboard to knock down his first buzzer beater at the high school level.

“It was a lot of emotions,” Tinsley said. “I just caught it and trust my work I’ve been putting in. I knew it was going to fall even before I shot it.”

Cheltenham coach Pat Fleury wouldn’t say the shot was lucky. Tinsley earned the moment with selfless acts throughout the game, voluntarily relinquishing some of his minutes for teammates who were playing well.

“He was rewarded just for being as selfless as possible,” Fleury said. “We didn’t play well, and that was because of them. But we didn’t play well, and Nile definitely, definitely saved us.”

Hutson was unusually quiet through the first three quarters Monday. He didn’t get his first points until an and-one with seven seconds left in the third quarter. He had five points in the fourth quarter as the Panthers erased a six-point deficit. In the first overtime, Hutson pulled up for the go-ahead bucket with 45 seconds left.

“My teammates, for sure, they helped me,” Hutson said. “I was going through it basically the whole game, and they helped me up.”

Nico Vacchiano hit a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left in the first overtime to tie the game, 62-62. After a Cheltenham turnover, he had a contested floater at the buzzer that was no good — giving the teams four minutes to decide the outcome.

The Panthers' defensive stand continued into the second overtime. Senior Josh Palutis scored on Wissahickons’ first possession of the second overtime period, but Cheltenham didn’t allow another point in the final three and a half minutes of the game.

“Defense, that was all the key,” Tinsley said.

Hutson worked his way to the line for the winning free throws with 2.5 seconds left after he was fouled on a pull-up attempt. He missed six of his first seven free throws Monday, but there was not doubt those two were going in.

“I got basically out of my head and my teammates told me to be ready to shoot and that’s what I did,” Hutston said.”

Wissahickon entered the night ranked No. 30 in the District 1-6A power rankings, needing a late-season run to grab one of the 24 postseason spots.

Cheltenham snuck into the District 1 playoff last season as the No. 23 seed last season before losing its opener. A 9-1 start this year, including a win over reigning District 1 champion Plymouth Whitemarsh, gave the Panthers the look of a district contender before the three-game skid to start the new year against Abington, Upper Dublin and Central Dauphin.

They’re still in position to make some noise as the current leaders in the Suburban One League Freedom Division and ranked No. 12 in the district power rankings. 

It’s going to take a group effort as Monday showed. Senior Kevin Addison was a difference maker off the bench with 10 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals.

“The reality is we’re in a transition, just as a team, school, community right now,” Fleury said. “Just making sure that we stay true to brotherhood. That’s the biggest thing. … Win, lose, or draw, as long as we do it together we’ll take the result.”

Tinsley is one of the veterans Fleury is leaning on to navigate the way.

“The first two years, I didn’t really play a lot for different reasons, but these past two years I’ve been one of the leaders of the group,” Tinsley said. “I’m thankful for my teammates and them helping us pull out the win.”

Cheltenham 66, Wissahickon 64 (2OT)

By Quarter

Cheltenham 11 | 15 | 13 | 17 | 6 | 4 || 66

Wissahickon  13 | 9 | 18 | 16 | 6 | 2 || 64

Scoring
W - Dom Vacchiano 20, Brayden Ryan 18, Gabriel Lassiter 11, Josh Palutis 9, Nico Vacchiano 6.

C - Nile Tinsley 14, Josiah Hutson 12, Kevin Addison 10, Osei Johnson 10, Jabril Blackledge 8, Kamal Mason 3, Salim Kelly 2.