City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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WEST CHESTER — To make its return to the Ches-Mont championship game, Bishop Shanahan played well for most of three quarters against Sun Valley, the two programs going head-to-head at WCU’s Hollinger Gymnasium on Friday night. 

Then the Eagles had to hang on for dear life. 

After going up 10 points late in the third quarter, Bishop Shanahan couldn’t pull away — and instead had to hold off a Sun Valley comeback that lasted until the final possession, coming away with a heart-stopping 41-39 win. 

“It was definitely a little nerve-wracking, because we kept getting leads and they kept coming back,” Shanahan junior Danny Keenan said. “It definitely means a lot, we won the district a couple years ago but we still didn’t have a good season. This year we’re finally putting the pieces together.”

The victory earns Shanahan its first trip to the Ches-Mont championship game since winning the league in 2018. The Eagles hadn’t made it back to the league playoffs since, despite qualifying for the District 1 and PIAA Class 4A tournaments multiple times in the last half-decade. 

Two years ago, Shanahan won the district title and made it all the way to the state quarterfinals. That’s all the postseason experience this current roster has, mostly in the senior class. Playing at Hollinger, the lower level packed with fans and student sections, was new for everybody.

“It’s just a different atmosphere,” senior forward Sean Griffin said. “Today, it really rivaled probably the first state game I ever played in, we played at home against Audenried two years ago and the student section was massive, just like tonight. It’s just a different energy.”

Griffin, who was on the sidelines injured during last year’s District 1 4A championship game loss to Pope John Paul II, led Shanahan with 14 points and 12 rebounds in the win over Sun Valley. The 6-8 forward grabbed six offensive boards against an undersized Vanguards squad, turning quite a few of them into put-back buckets. Keenan added 11 as the only other Eagle in double figures, with senior Ryan Ambrose adding nine and three boards and classmate David Maddrey-Rynlander dishing out five assists. 

Bishop Shanahan (16-8) took its largest lead of the game with 2:20 left in the third quarter, Ambrose following a Keenan 3-pointer with a long two to make it 35-25 in the Eagles’ favor. But Sun Valley, the Ches-Mont American champs, responded with an 11-2 run, getting within 37-36 on an Aaron Freeman layup with under five minutes left in regulation. 

The Eagles managed to hold the lead from that point onwards, though never comfortably, as both teams struggled to score down the stretch. A Griffin bucket re-established a 3-point edge, which went down to two on a Jahmil Smith foul shot with 1:37 to play. Smith -- who led Sun Valley with 12 points -- split a pair from the line with 28 seconds to play, Freeman answering with a layup for the Vanguards (18-5) to cut Shanahan’s lead to 40-39 with 14 seconds left. 

After one final Griffin free-throw, Sun Valley got the ball across half-court with six seconds to play. The Eagles clamped down defensively, forcing an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer, and it hit iron. It was a fitting ending on a night where a normally strong-shooting Sun Valley was 4-of-20 from the 3-point arc.

“You don’t go 18-4 by just rolling over every time you hit a little adversity,” Griffin said. “They’re a great team, we knew that, but yeah, we stayed solid, we played good defense, we limited our turnovers, and we ended up with a win.”

Though Sun Valley coach Steve Maloney was clearly disappointed in the result Friday night, the Vanguards’ coach will have a week to get his program ready for the next part of its season. Sun Valley is No. 8 in the unofficial District 1 5A rankings, in line to host Chichester next Friday in the opening round.

Two wins in the district tournament, and Sun Valley’s back in the PIAA 5A tournament for the second year in a row. 

“The kids played hard, just to get to this point, winning the league,” Maloney said of the American division title. “It gets us ready for district playoffs, the setting, it’s a good stepping stone, regardless of the loss. We had a good showing, we’re not an easy out by any means.”

Shanahan’s win, on the other hand, continues a resurgent stretch that’s seen John Dougherty’s side turn it around after some injuries led to a slow start. 

After losing six of their first seven games to start the season, the Eagles responded with eight straight wins. They rolled into Friday night winners of 14 of their last 16 overall, including a 60-45 win over Rustin in the opening round on Wednesday. 

They’ve got a tough one against Coatesville in the championship game, which will take place on Monday night at Hollinger. The Raiders, who beat Downingtown West 57-55 in overtime in the second semifinal on Saturday night, beat Shanahan 63-34 in December during the early losing streak, with a much more competitive 67-64 game going Coatesville’s way on Jan. 21. 

“If you look at the first game against us, they caused probably over 20 turnovers; the second game it was right under, at 19,” Griffin said. “We know we can compete with them but if we throw the ball away that many times and lose the ball that many times, limit yourself that many possessions, you’re not going to win. We’ve got to be strong with the ball, that’s what it comes down to.”

By Quarter
SV:   11  |   7   |  13  |   8   ||  39
BS:   10  |  13  |  12  |   6   ||  41

Shooting
SV: 15-44 FG (4-20 3PT), 5-6 FT
BS: 16-39 FG (6-15 3PT), 3-7 FT

Scoring
SV: Jahmil Smith 12, Kaiden Robinson 10, Aaron Freeman 9, Aden Bamgbose 8

BS: Sean Griffin 14, Danny Keenan 11, Ryan Ambrose 9, Andrew Corcoran 4, David Maddrey-Rylander 3