City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Coatesville sent a reminder to Octorara on Sunday afternoon: just because it was undefeated in Ches-Mont League National Division play didn’t mean it was the team to beat in the conference playoffs next weekend.

The Red Raiders picked up their 19th win of the season in impressive form, running away from the Braves for a 70-44 win in a game that didn’t count for Ches-Mont standings but certainly provides for some extra juice heading into the postseason, as the teams could see each other again in a week.

Rome Boyer led the way with 22 points for Coatesville (19-1, 9-1 Ches-Mont), who went into halftime up five points and used a 17-3 run in the third quarter to put things away for good.

Boyer, a 6-foot-tall senior guard, had two of his five 3-pointers during that stretch

“It’s amazing how with one guy, especially once your leaders get rolling and are vocal and are playing hard, how others respond to that,” Coatesville head coach Chuck Moore said. “I thought Rome did an excellent job tonight, Jordan [Young]’s defense, Kamau [Brickus]’s defense, Dalton [Donovan] coming off the bench, Jonathan Thompson buying in and feeding what’s going on.”

Everybody Moore mentioned played a part.

Young, a 6-3 senior forward, had 10 points and nine rebounds, getting two buckets during the run. Brickus, a 5-10 junior guard, did most of his work on the defensive end, forcing several steals that turned into easy buckets the other way. Donovan, a 5-11 senior, had two layups during the third-quarter run and a few swipes of his own.

Thompson, a 5-11 senior guard and the team’s sixth man, scored all eight of his points during the second half, including a pair of tough buckets on offensive rebounds that Moore called “major” in Coatesville’s decisive stretch.

“Coming into halftime, Coach said we needed more energy, we had to pull away,” Thompson said. “make layups, find the shooters, play better D, play harder than them; the first half, they played harder.”

After trailing by four at halftime, Octorara scored the first three points of the third quarter to pull to 29-28. But Coatesville scored the next eight and didn't allow Octorara back-to-back scores for the rest of the game.

Thompson's put-back bucket made the lead a dozen with two minutes left in the frame, and Boyer followed with two more triples, including one from the corner with 16 seconds left to make it 49-33 going into the fourth quarter.

All-in-all, Coatesville had 11 offensive rebounds, including four from Young and three from senior forward Justus Martinez.

“We talked about before the game that their best shot is their second, third, fourth shot, to try not to let that happen, but we got tired," Octorara coach Gene Lambert said. "They wear you down, they’ve got a lot of kids that can play.”

It was the fourth win in five days for the Raiders, who picked up wins on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before a much-needed day to rest up for the Braves.

“We’ve been on the NBA schedule for the past five days,” Moore said. “The way they responded physically and mentally, I’m just proud of them.”

Coatesville did a spectacular job defensively on Octorara’s leading scorer, sophomore Christian Ray. Though the 6-foot-4 wing came into play averaging well north of 20 ppg, he was held to just one field goal and nine points total.

Lambert hinted that Ray might have been a little tired after scoring 25 points in a win over West Philadelphia the day prior, but also admitted that Coatesville defended his star better than anyone else had this year.

“We’re going to see some good defenses against him, we thought we would. They played hard against him, did a nice job,” Lambert said. “But we had a tough game yesterday...to come back today against this makes a difference.”

Ray’s older brother, senior forward Jackson Ray, had a team-high 15 points to go along with seven rebounds. The La Salle baseball commit also showed off his athleticism with six blocks.

The American Division champs of the Ches-Mont as long as they beat either Rustin (4-5 Ches-Mont) or second-place Great Valley (8-2) this week, Octorara (18-2, 10-0) will more than likely play the runner-ups of the National Division in the league’s semifinals, which take place next Saturday.

“We’ll be back,” Lambert said. “We’ll be back to fight another day.”

Who that game would be against is still up in the air.

Right now, Downingtown West (19-1, 10-0) leads the National Division thanks to a 49-39 win at Coatesville on Dec. 22. The rematch is Tuesday at Downingtown West, and if the Raiders can take it and both teams finish with identical league records, the district rankings come into play.

Both Downingtown West and Coatesville are going under the assumption, based on their own calculations that Coatesville will be the top seed in that scenario--assuming it doesn't lose to West Chester East on Thursday.

There are no insignificant games left for the Raiders, and they’ve proven so far they’re ready to handle that atmosphere.

“Huge game on Tuesday, to decide who are league champions, but I like where we’re at,” Moore said. “I’m happy with my team, I’m happy they’re buying into it--it’s been a together thing, that’s our motto, and I think to this point they’ve been playing together.”’