City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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BUCKINGHAM >> A good mechanic, the kind willing to get their hands dirty and find a fix, is hard to find.

The spelling is a little different, but Central Bucks East feels pretty confident it has a guy in junior Connor Mekanik. He may not be covered in oil and grease or swapping out brake pads, but Mekanik is pretty good at getting a few extra miles out of a possession with his knack for offensive rebounds, a talent he had on full display Tuesday night.

Mekanik’s efforts helped the Patriots keep their motor running after things started to sputter, No. 8 CB East outlasting No. 9 Phoenixville 81-80 in a double overtime slugfest in the second round of the District 1 Class 6A boys’ tournament.

“We just wanted to win,” Mekanik said. “It was a game to go to states and we wanted to win. We came out to win.”

Nolan Behm led the Patriots with 30 points, the highly-touted baseball prospect committed to Pitt netting the go-ahead hoop with 26.3 seconds left in the second overtime, to lead all scorers. Shane O’Hara-Jamison wasn’t far off the pace with 21 points for East, the Patriots clinching their third straight PIAA playoff appearance despite graduating seven seniors off last year’s roster.

Mekanik had a respectable night of his own, scoring 13 points off the bench while adding 12 rebounds with seven of those coming on the offensive end. It was his offensive rebound and putback with 1:38 left in double overtime that gave East its first lead since late in regulation and while the Phantoms would tie the game, it allowed the Patriots to get the ball to Behm on the ensuing possession for the shot they wanted.

“It’s something I tried to work on all summer, get those rebounds and kick it back out to shooters,” Mekanik said. “I just play my role in the game.”

East coach Erik Henrysen wasn’t surprised to see the 6-foot-1 Mekanik helping to keep things from breaking down. At the end of last season, the Patriots coaches told all the returning players there were a lot of minutes and a lot of roles to be had.

During the summer, Mekanik focused on his rebounding. The junior – who plays travel basketball with Total Skills – also tried to find more of a scoring touch, especially in the fall when the Patriots were dealing with some injuries and athletes playing fall sports but put that on the back seat once the season started.

He’s been a fixture in the team’s top seven all winter, often providing some kind of fix or repair when he’s called on.

“That’s what Connor’s done all season,” Henrysen said. “He’s done it in bits and pieces but it was a great time to show what he’s really made of and I thought he did a great job just being aggressive on the glass. He had some key put-backs and was just in there doing all that dirty work.”

Much of the game was a high-paced, back-and-forth duel as both teams traded baskets for three-and-a-half quarters. Phoenixville, playing up in Class 6A this year after making a run to the District 1 semifinals and state tournament in Class 5A last year, were paced by 21 points from Deacon Baratta, 16 points from Keron Booth and 15 points from recent Kutztown football commit Trey Lear.

The Phantoms also found themselves staring up at a 10-point deficit at 62-52 after a Mekanik put-back basket with 4:29 left in regulation. Slowly, the visitors began chipping away at it and with a couple East turnovers helping, Phoenixville ran off an 8-2 run over the final 1:50 of regulation to tie things up on a Booth layup with 37.3 left on the clock.

East worked the clock down for a final shot, but Phoenixville’s Jacoby Smith blocked the final shot to force overtime.

“We knew they weren’t going to go away and we felt like we could have put the game away but credit to them, they kept coming,” Henrysen said. 

Smith, who scored all seven of his points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods, put the Phantoms up 71-69 briefly in the first OT before Behm tied things up. Phoenixville opted to run the clock down, called a timeout to set up a play then got another chance after a deflection out of bounds off CB East but couldn’t get a tough look at the rim to drop.

The second overtime was more like the four quarters of regulation, both teams going back and fourth until a basket by Anthony Molnar and Mekanik’s putback gave East a 77-75 lead. Smith leveled it up for Phoenixville with 1:11 left, then Behm restored the Patriots’ lead while giving Phoenixville one last opportunity.

Again, the Phantoms got a look inside but they were unable to get the drop, allowing Molnar to grab the rebound and find freshman Keegan Marascio with 5.2 seconds left. Marascio calmly sank both free throws, even with Phoenixville calling a timeout between attempts, which proved incredibly important when Booth’s top of the key three rolled in as the clock expired for the final one-point margin.

“We held on and were able to get that stop,” Henrysen said. “Holding on to the end, you had a lot of guys making a lot of those little plays and that’s what it takes at this time of the year.”

Phoenixville will have to play its way into states. With District 1 getting 10 representatives in the next bracket, the No. 9 seeded Phantoms needing two wins in playbacks to secure a PIAA berth starting Friday at home against No. 17 Pennsbury.

CB East advances to face top-seeded Lower Merion in Friday’s quarterfinal round. They know it’ll be a tall task to knock off the defending district champion Aces, another team that’s rebuilt quickly after significant graduation from last year, but the Patriots know they’ll have the right approach.

“We knew there were big shoes to fill, but I think we’ve done pretty well so far,” Mekanik said. “You just have to keep working and you have to want it more. I think every guy on this team plays that way.”

By Quarter

CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 16 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 2 | 10 || 81
PHOENIXVILLE 16 | 16 | 14 | 23 | 2 | 9 || 80

Scoring

CBE: Nolan Behm 30, Shane O’Hara-Jamison 21, Connor Mekanik 13, Anthony Molnar 11, Keegan Marascio 5, Graham Smith 2

P: Deacon Barratta 18, Keron Booth 16, Trey Lear 15, Stephen Yurick 9, Jacoby Smith 7, Brady O’Donnell 5, Jehosah Lee 3

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Boys District 1 6A Second Round (Feb. 18)
1) Lower Merion def. 17) Pennsbury, 70-30
8) Central Bucks East def. 9) Phoenixville, 81-80
4) Garnet Valley def. 13) Bensalem, 72-54
5) Plymouth Whitemarsh def. 21) Neshaminy, 78-39
2) Coatesville def. 18) Downingtown West, 68-37
10) Spring-Ford def. 7) Souderton, 51-42
3) Conestoga def. 14) Methacton, 56-54
6) Central Bucks South vs. 11) Cheltenham (Feb. 19, 7:00 PM)

Boys District 1 6A Quarterfinals (Feb. 21)
1) Lower Merion vs. 8) Central Bucks East (7:00 PM)
4) Garnet Valley vs. 5) Plymouth Whitemarsh
2) Coatesville vs. 10) Spring-Ford (7:00 PM)
3) Conestoga vs. TBD

Boys’ District 1 6A Playbacks
9) Phoenixville vs. 17) Pennsbury
12) Neshaminy vs. 13) Bensalem
7) Souderton vs. 18) Downingtown West
TBD vs. 14) Methacton