By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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ASTON -- Kaiden Robinson sat on the Sun Valley bench with more than six minutes to go in the regular-season finale against West Chester Rustin, his work done for the evening.
All the 6-foot-1 senior guard had to do was listen to the 150-or-so Sun Valley students who’d been loud all night long, but saved their best for last: “Ches-Mont champs,” they said, over and over.
Kaiden Robinson (above) and Sun Valley finished the regular season 18-4. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
What was going through his mind as he soaked it all in?
“We did it,” he said afterwards, then louder. “We did it.”
Surrounded by his Vanguards teammates in the hallway outside their home locker room, Robinson’s voice rose once more — WE DID IT — and they responded with a roar.
Sun Valley secured the 2024-25 the Ches-Mont American Division championship in fine fashion on Monday night, taking down Rustin 66-38 behind big nights from Robinson and junior wing Aden Bambgose and a stellar defensive effort.
That earned the Vanguards the right to drench head coach Steve Maloney with a Gatorade bath in the locker room afterwards, as well as bye right into Friday’s Ches-Mont semifinals. It’s the program’s first American title since Vinny DeAngelo led them to it in 2018-19; the team’s 18 regular-season wins are a new program record.
“It’s just unreal,” Robinson said. “All the hard work is really paying off.”
Sun Valley (18-4, 9-1 Ches-Mont) was successful last February as well, shaking off a 1-4 start to the year and a 7-7 record midway through January to rally for Ches-Mont semifinal and District 1 5A semifinal appearances. This season has needed no such bounce-back.
The Vanguards won their first five games, including a win over defending Ches-Mont and District 1 5A champs Unionville. After a couple setbacks around the holidays, including their only division loss at Great Valley, they’ve won 11 of their last 13, losing only to the PAC’s top team in Pottsgrove and a strong Lancaster Mennonite squad from District 3.
“We all witnessed our 1-4 start last year, we knew what we had to do this year, and we’ve done it every day,” Robinson said. “We’ve grinded every day out, we’ve grinded every game out, wins and losses, we’ve played hard as well, we practice hard as hell. I feel like we just deserve this, more than anybody.”
Sun Valley finished off its season in style with perhaps its most complete effort of the year.
The Vanguards, playing a 1-3-1 zone defense they adapted midway through last year, were racing all over the court on the defensive end, constantly trapping the Golden Nights guards and forcing them to make one cross-court pass after another. That led to 16 forced Rustin turnovers, while Sun Valley committed just five total, including one from the back end of the bench at the end of the blowout win.
Offensively, Sun Valley’s top six were 27-of-43 (62.7%) from the floor and 9-of-16 from 3-point range, with Bambgose and Robinson leading the way. Robinson, one of two returning starters from last year’s squad, added six rebounds, four assists and three steals in what’s become a typical outing for the talented senior.
Kaiden Robinson caps a stellar third quarter with this 3-ball and it’s 60-34 after three quarters. Vanguards having quite a night. Robinson’s got 21.
— Josh Verlin (@jmverlin.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 7:50 PM
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Bambgose, a first-year starter, had a career-high 26 points, going 5-of-8 from downtown. The muscular 6-1 wing got his night started with a 3-point play and then added a turnaround jumper in the lane before going bananas from downtown, hitting from all over the arc. His 13 first-half points helped Sun Valley open up a 37-24 edge, and they were far from done.
“Probably the first quarter, really,” he said about when he knew he’d have a big game. “I felt ready, I felt confident, going into the game. Just ready to play hard and I was just playing free and that’s really what got me to where I was.”
“We always talk to each other in warmups and shootaround, someone’s always talking about ‘I’m going for 30,’ and this game it was Aden’s game,” Robinson said. “He was going crazy; we realized they can’t guard (any) of us, and he was just killing. He was the difference-maker this game.”
Aden Bambgose (above) hit five 3-pointers as part of his 26-point outing. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
Senior guard Aaron Freeman, another returning starter, added seven points, five rebounds and three assists. With sophomore Jahmil Smith plagued by early foul trouble, senior guard Melvin Hackett provided a spark off the bench with four points, two assists, two steals and a block.
After Robinson sent Sun Valley into the fourth quarter with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to make it a 26-point lead, it was Bambgose who put it away with back-to-back triples to open the fourth. That put the game into a running-clock situation, both teams going to their benches shortly thereafter.
In the Ches-Mont semifinals, Sun Valley will take on the winner of Wednesday night’s opening-round game between Rustin (8-14, 6-4 Ches-Mont American) and Bishop Shanahan (13-8, 9-3 Ches-Mont National). The Vanguards are also the No. 8 team in the unofficial District 1 5A rankings, in line to host the No. 9 seed — currently Chichester — in the opening round on Feb. 14.
To raise a banner for the first time since a District 1 5A championship in 2019, it’ll take a road upset or two, and having to beat a powerhouse like Coatesville and Upper Dublin along the way.
“What I know is we’ve just got to do us, we’ve got to play our game,” Robinson said. “Whatever they’re going to do, they’re going to do. Whatever we can do to stop what they’re going to do, that’s only going to help us in the long run. We’ve got to stay focused, we can’t get comfortable now, we’ve got to finish the season.”
By Quarter
SV: 18 | 19 | 23 | 6 || 66
WCR: 11 | 13 | 10 | 4 || 38
Shooting
SV: 27-52 FG (9-20 3PT), 3-5 FT
WCR: 13-34 FG (7-22 3PT), 5-10 FT
Scoring
SV: Aden Bambgose 26, Kaiden Robinson 21, Aaron Freeman 7, Josh Yahonis 4, Jahmil Smith 4, Melvin Hackett 4
WCR: Vincent Iacone 10, Ben Malley 7, Chris MacNeal 6, Miles Davis 6, Ryan Ward 3, Samuel Lucneius 2, Luke Spitzer 2, Mike Roccio 2
Tag(s): Home Josh Verlin High School Boys HS Ches-Mont (B) Ches-Mont American (B) Sun Valley West Chester Rustin