City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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WEST CHESTER — James Anderson wasn’t quite sure what to do with the trophy in his grasp.

The Unionville senior had just picked up the 2024 District 1 5A trophy from District 1 assistant executive director Sean Kelly near midcourt of West Chester University’s Hollinger Fieldhouse, classmates Charlie Kammeier and Ryan Brown right behind him. For a second, he stood there, his hands on the base of the golden cup, his team waiting on his next move.

“I kinda just froze for a little bit, I didn’t know what to do,” he said. “I was looking at Chuck and Ryan, and they didn’t know what to do.”

Fortunately for the trio, Longhorns coach Chris Cowles, right behind Anderson, knew exactly what to do.

“Lift it up,” he said with a smile. Anderson complied, and the huge Unionville student section eagerly crowding down near the court roared its approval.

“That’s kind of like our team process,” Anderson said. “You do what Cowles says, and it’ll figure itself out.”

It’s a process that has worked well all year long for Unionville, which captured its first district trophy since 1981 years on Thursday night with a 61-36 win over Upper Dublin. And despite the history-making win for the program, which lost both the 2006 and 2023 district title games, the Longhorns’ buzzer celebration was relatively subdued — plenty of hugs and smiles, but not much screaming or wild leaps into the year. 

“Last year we had opportunities to win a lot of things, we were in the Ches-Mont championship and district championship and lost both of those,” Kammeier said. “It feels good to win something, but at the end of the day, we’re trying to win the state championship. This is just another step towards that. We’re excited.”

That understated nature fits Cowles’ demeanor, the 33-year-old Rustin grad all business on the sidelines all the way to the end, when he finally went down the bench and congratulated everybody on it, starting with assistant coaches Matthew Porecca, Justin Martin and Eddie Anderson and all the way down to the last player on the roster. 

The Unionville boys basketball team celebrates with its student section following Thursday’s District 1 5A championship against Upper Dublin at West Chester. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

There were a couple smiles that slipped through for Cowles, including a big one when Anderson finally raised the trophy high.

“We’ve been talking a lot about discipline and as boring as it is — so boring, but [...] if we’re disciplined, we’re going to have fun, right?” he said. “I told (the team), Unionville, basketball-wise, has been good the past seven years, but previously, [was] not a lot. So these dudes are going to be legends. 

“We said ‘discipline creates legends,’ they became legendary because they won a district title for the first time since 1981. It’s a credit to them.”

The top-seeded Longhorns, who lost to Radnor in last year’s district championship at Temple a year ago, completed a no-doubt run to the title to snap that 43-year drought with another impressive all-around showing, stopping the Cardinals’ 15-game win streak in emphatic fashion. 

Unionville (23-3) trailed 10-8 late in the first quarter but, starting with a 3-pointer by Brown off a three-quarter-court pass by Anderson — one of several he had to throw thanks to the Upper Dublin press — the Longhorns went on a 16-0 run spanning the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter. 

By the time Anderson cut through a pair of Cardinal defenders for an easy layup less than 90 seconds into the second quarter, it was a 24-10 advantage. Upper Dublin never again got within single digits. Unionville’s offense was clicking like it can, the three-guard backcourt of Brown, Anderson and Kammeier plus forwards James Brenner and Nick Diehl keeping the flow going, everybody finding their spots to contribute.

“It was just ball movement, I think that’s when we swung the ball the best, the ball didn’t stick with anyone,” Anderson said. “They can play a pressure defense but if the ball’s moving, someone’s going to be open at some point, and then we’re hitting shots, that’s how the game goes.”

The lead was 32-17 at halftime, then 39-20 after a third quarter which was brutal offensively for Unionville (eight turnovers) but strong defensively. Upper Dublin was just 1-of-13 from the floor those eight minutes, managing just three points against a Unionville defense which was connected all game long.

“We were just playing great defensively,” Brown said. “One guy gets beat, we would rotate over, close out, he would get beat, someone would step up for a charge, it was great.”

Brown helped Unionville slam the door shut, scoring 14 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter. The 6-2 combo guard knocked down three triples in the final five minutes, including a couple in the final three minutes that really served as an exclamation point on a night where the Longhorns hit eight triples.

“We were kind of going to something, then he kept shooting and I said ‘hey, that’s not that, but keep shooting anyways,” Cowles said. “‘Just make it.’”

Anderson finished with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists. Kammeier added nine points, nine rebounds, two assists and a steal; Brenner dealt with foul issues but scored four points with two assists and two rebounds and reserve guard Jack Robbins added a put-back bucket near the end of the third quarter.

Diehl, who’s playing baseball at Tulane next year and who led Unionville with 19 points and 14 rebounds in the semifinal win over Phoenixville, had another double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds in the championship game.

Despite the loss, Upper Dublin coach Derek Brooks was optimistic afterwards. The Cardinals, in addition to making their first state appearance since 2002 as part of a breakthrough season, will return six of their top nine next year, including current junior Ryan Mulroy, who led the way with 11 points in the championship game, plus forward Idris Rines (8 points) and sophomore point guard Kobe Bazemore (6 points).

First, they’ll play Exeter Twp. (18-8), the No. 5 seed out of District 3, in next Friday’s PIAA District 5A first round.

“If you would have told me we were gonna win 15 in a row, win our league, win an SOL Tournament and then unfortunately it doesn’t happen in districts, ‘I’d say, you know what, alright, I’ll take that,’” the second-year head coach said. “Every time you want to win it because there’s no guarantee to get back, but we’re gonna use it as motivation in the offseason to get better, and hopefully we’re them next year.”

Unionville will play Manheim Central (19-6), the No. 8 seed out of District 3, in the first round. The Longhorns’ state run only lasted one game a year ago, Muhlenberg pulling the road upset in the first round. They have aspirations of playing much deeper into March this time around, though that’ll mean likely having to beat Imhotep Charter and Archbishop Ryan in some order to make it to Hershey.

“This is what we were talking about from the beginning of the year, from last spring. It’s a state championship, that’s what we’re going for,” Anderson said. “Districts, it’s real nice, it’s awesome, great feeling, but that’s not the goal. The goal is a state ‘chip.”

By Quarter
Unionville:       17  |  15  |   7   |  24  ||  63
Upper Dublin:  10  |   7   |   3   |  16  ||  36

Shooting
Unionville: 21-45 FG (8-26 3PT), 13-15 FT
Upper Dublin: 13-45 FG (3-21 3PT), 7-11 FT

Scoring
Unionville: Ryan Brown 24, James Anderson 12, Nick Dihel 12, Charlie Kammeier 9, James Brenner 4, Jack Robbins 2

Upper Dublin: Ryan Mulroy 11, Idris Rines 8, Kobe Bazemore 6, Brady Fogle 4, Reilly McLaughlin 4, Chris Kohlbrenner 3