City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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KENNETT SQUARE — Nick Diehl’s uniform isn’t quite the same color as the rest of his teammates’. 

While most of the Unionville home duds are white, Diehl’s is…off-white. A little darker than all the rest, like he washed it with a load of colors by accident, though he swears that’s not what’s happened. It was no accident, it was earned.

“It’s three years of being a big boy and a lot of sweat and hard work,” he said. “Definitely need to add some bleach to the laundry.”

Maybe he shouldn’t. After all, that jersey is a testament to the Unionville senior’s yeoman-like efforts he’s been putting in all season — and especially what he did to Phoenixville on Saturday evening on a District 1 5A semifinal. 

The strong-bodied 6-foot-6 forward led an absolutely dominant effort on the glass as top-seeded Unionville put together one of its strongest efforts of the season, earning a trip back to the district championship game on the backs of a 69-44 win. 

No. 2 seed Upper Dublin, which similarly dismantled Sun Valley earlier Saturday, awaits in Thursday night’s final at West Chester University. Phoenixville will play Sun Valley in a seeding game this week to determine exact spots in the PIAA 5A bracket. 

Against the Pioneer Athletic Conference champions, Unionville put its foot down over the course of a thoroughly impressive 32-minute effort, getting to a 30-point lead midway through the third quarter and playing the final 12 minutes with a running clock. 

They did so on the backs of strong shooting and a commanding effort on the glass, a 44-15 advantage in individual rebounds, Unionville grabbing 18 offensive boards. Diehl, who’s going to play baseball at Tulane next year, grabbed nine of his 14 rebounds on the offensive end — a couple of his own misses, yes, but certainly more of his teammates’ as he worked his way to a game-high 19 points. 

Diehl and sophomore forward James Brenner (16 points, 8 rebounds) led the way on the glass for Unionville, but they had plenty of help. Senior guards James Anderson (12 points, eight rebounds, seven assists), Ryan Brown (8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists) and Charlie Kammeier (5 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists) all contributed, as did junior guard Jack Robbins, who popped off the bench for a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers. 

Sophomore forward James Brenner (1) drives towards the hoop.
(Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

A reserve forward a year ago, Diehl was treated more often like a commodity by head coach Chris Cowles, a useful curveball if the big man was in the zone, but there were also some games with foul trouble and a lack of production. That hasn’t been the case this year; a full-time starter, Diehl’s been an integral part of a six-man rotation that Cowles has clicking as well as any other around, 

“He’s committed and he’s a good teammate and I think he’s just really present when he’s playing,” Cowles said. “I think you see how much he can physically dominate when he’s like that.”

“He’s been dominant recently on the offensive glass,” Brown added. “Getting putbacks, getting fouled, hitting his free-throws. Sprinting the floor, too, because he’s getting a lot of those quick offensive-break layups and crashing the glass after missed shots.”

And he did it against a Phoenixville squad that doesn’t lack for size. Phantoms (19-7) go 6-6, 6-5, 6-5 in their frontcourt, doing to many opponents what was done to them Saturday evening. On top of that, the normally-sharpshooting Phantoms were 5-of-22 from 3-point range, 1-of-15 in the first half. 

“Their length and size really got to us,” Phoenixville coach Eric Burnett said. “We haven’t faced many teams bigger and stronger than us this year. Credit to them for that, but also I thought a little too much, our shot-making, or lack thereof, let them get out on transition and hurt us and got us out of position.”

The Unionville offense was clicking from the very first possession, when Anderson took the opening tip in for a layup. They jumped out to an early five-point lead, going up 18-11 after one, but it was in the second quarter that the Longhorns really put their foot down. They were 9-of-13 from the floor (3-of-5 from deep) and won the second quarter 22-7, taking a 40-18 lead at the half.

That first half was an impressive display of everything Cowles has preached to his squad over the last few years, the second quarter one of the best eight minutes the Longhorns have played all season.

“I think we executed the game plan, stayed true to our principles and guys played with the right intentions and that’s what we look like when we do,” Cowles said. 

The momentum rolled over into the third quarter, the Unionville coaches finding something to critique about the opening half — defensive rebounding — as the lead grew to 57-26 on a pair of Brenner foul shots with 3:16 to play in the third. 

Both teams had reserves in by the midpoint of the fourth quarter, the running clock making sure things wrapped up swiftly. 

The Longhorns have been stewing on last year’s district championship loss to Radnor for a year, and are now on the verge of accomplishing it. It might be the last chance for Unionville’s seniors to get a trophy, after being bounced in the Ches-Monts the last two years, but they’re as battle-tested as could be.

“The painful losses that we’ve encountered as a team, there’s no game that we’re going to lose that’s going to feel worse than games that we’ve already lost,” Cowles said. “There’s really no fear, it’s just a matter of, if we stay in the moment and do our job [...] then there’s nothing that’s going to stop us.”

By Quarter
Unionville:      18  |  22  |  23  |   6   ||  69
Phoenixville:  11  |   7   |  16  |  10  ||  44

Shooting
Unionville: 26-55 FG (7-19 3PT), 10-13 FT
Phoenixville: 15-50 FG (5-22 3PT), 9-13 FT

Scoring
Unionville: Nick Diehl 19, James Brenner 16, James Anderson 12, Ryan Brown 8, Jack Robbins 6, Charlie Kammeier 5, Zach Dolce 3

Phoenixville: Max Lebisky 8, Dawson Brown 7, Christian Cervino 6, Keron Booth 5, Brady O’Donnell 5, Bryce Absher 4, Aidan McClintock 4, Deacon Baratta 3, Anthony Cervino 2