City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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READING — It was already Amon Fowlkes’ night. 

But the 5-foot-11 guard made sure that Thursday will be Amon Fowlkes Day in Coatesville. 

With his team battling Cumberland Valley in a back-and-forth PIAA Class 6A second-round game, Fowlkes was responsible for much of Coatesville’s early shot-making, he saved the best for last. His deep 3-pointer from the left wing was the game-winner for the Red Raiders, who advanced to the state quarterfinals with a 59-56 win at the Geigle Complex on Wednesday night.

Coatesville will play Roman Catholic on Saturday at a venue and time to be announced.

Fowlkes has played hero for Coatesville before, including in the Ches-Mont semifinals, when his layup with less than five seconds left lifted the Raiders past Downingtown West in overtime. But there was no doubt where this game-winner ranked in his mind. 

“It’s definitely at the top,” he said. “Because it could have been my last game, and hitting that shot, in this game — in March, anything can happen, so definitely hitting that shot was a big moment for me.”

The trey was Fowlkes third of the evening capping off a team-high 20-point outing for the combo guard, who was a 3-point specialist as a freshman at Collegium Charter before coming to Coatesville his sophomore season. He’s since turned his game from a pure shooter to a true combo guard who can handle the ball and get to the rim, though he’s always loved to uncork that outside shot. 

So when he got the ball back on a pass from sophomore Jahlil Thedford, standing beyond NBA range on the left wing and the clock down below six seconds, a few feet of clear space in front of him, Fowlkes knew exactly what he had to do.

“At that point,” he said, “I know (the) clock’s running down and it’s got to go up. 

“I couldn’t even see it go through the net, because someone closed out on me,” he added. “I just heard the crowd and I saw it go through the net at the end, so that definitely felt good.”

Coatesville had to survive one final attempt, but a half-court heave at the buzzer was off the mark. It’s the second year in a row that Coatesville beat Cumberland Valley in the second year of the state playoffs. Last year’s game was a much easier 52-37 Coatesville win, Cumberland Valley (24-6) with many of the same players back from a year ago. 

“I think last year, some of the things we surprised them with, and they were very young, and inexperienced,” Coatesville coach John Allen said. “I knew it would be tough [this year], I knew they would play a zone, and we’ve had our issues with zone throughout the year. I knew it would be tough, they’re a tough team, they’re resilient, they’ve been in a lot of big games as a group, so I knew it would be.”

Junior forward Larry Brown complemented Fowlkes with a 13-point, 11-rebounds double-double, the 6-7 big man adding three assists as well. Senior guard Nasir Williams and freshman wing Colton Hiller added 10 apiece as Coatesville improved to 24-6 on the season.

Fowlkes’ shot was just the final big play in a game full of them. It was a tie game multiple times in the fourth quarter, including three times in the final two minutes. 

Cumberland Valley sophomore Jared Dolimpio, who had 20 points of his own, put CV up 54-52 with 1:50 left on a driving bucket. Brown equalized on a put-back bucket with 1:23 left, but CV immediately struck back as senior Nolan Buzalka found classmate Creston Austin III in transition for the last of his game-high 22 points.

An empty Coatesville possession ensued, but Fowlkes poked the ball away from a CV player and freshman Colton Hiller took it in to tie it up with 50 seconds to play. Coatesville then got the ball back with 23.6 seconds to play on a five-second call, setting up Fowlkes’ heroics. 

The Raiders know they have their work cut out for them in the quarterfinals. They were watching from the stands as Roman beat defending state champs Central York by 50 in the opening game of the doubleheader, getting three different 20-point outings and a double-double from Shareef Jackson. 

Coatesville hasn’t played a Catholic League squad since beating St. Joe’s Prep in Dec. 2023 at the Diane Mosco Classic. The Raiders are eager to prove themselves against one of the top programs from the top league in the state, confident they have the pieces to match up with the Cahillites despite what they saw earlier.

“Catholic League, they’re definitely got the biggest hype in the area,” Fowlkes said, “so playing the Catholic League team, that’s going to be a good thing to showcase what we can do, what I can do and what we can do as a team.”

By Quarter
Cumberland Valley: 12  |  12  |  17  |  15  ||  56
Coatesville Area:     13  |  10  |  17  |  19  ||  59

Shooting
Cumberland Valley: 20-40 FG (5-17 3PT), 11-13 FT
Coatesville Area: 24-61 FG (7-20 3PT), 4-5 FT

Scoring
Cumberland Valley: Creston Austin III 22, Jared Dolimpio 20, JJ Lebo 6, Nolan Buzalka 6, Joe Richardson 2

Coatesville Area: Amon Fowlkes 20, Larry Brown 13, Nasir Williams 10, Colton Hiller 10, Max Hiller 4, Jahlil Thedford 2