City of Basketball Love

Varun Kumar (@vrkumar8)
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Midway through the third quarter, things were looking rough for Cheltenham.

After losing senior guard Tim Spencer for the game within a minute of the opening tip, the Panthers’ defense hadn’t showed any evidence that they could thwart Wissahickon’s attack, as they fell behind by 15 points.

But something changed in a big way.

In the final 12 minutes, Cheltenham’s defense held the Trojans to just 15 points, leading them to a 69-65 comeback win Tuesday night.

“At halftime, Wissahickon had 45 points, in a high school game. So either you’re gonna let them get 90 points in a high school game, or you’re going to buckle down and play great defense,” said Cheltenham head coach John Timms. “I believe we were capable of playing better defense in the second half.”

Improving in the face of a challenge is nothing new for the Panthers. Their roster has faced significant turnover since last season, with ten seniors having graduated. In addition, two players who were expected to start left the team before the start of the season.

With all the new faces, Timms has adjusted his coaching with the inconsistency associated with inexperience in mind, as he attempts to go to the state playoffs for the first time in his tenure at Cheltenham.

“We’re just trying to build a great team atmosphere, where we can lose a starter and still be able win, because we’re not relying on just one guy. We’re putting an emphasis on building a system, building a program,” Timms said. “I tell the guys be ready. We had a freshman go in there in the fourth, Travis Coleman, who didn’t play the last two games at all. He went in there and played great minutes, positive minutes.”

The system may be beginning to pay its dividends this year, as the Panthers are now off to a 6-2 start. Their only losses thus far have come to Archbishop Carroll by five points and Pennsbury by nine points.

One of the reasons for the fast start has been the strong two-way game of senior forward Trevonn Pitts, who bought into his coach’s defense-first philosophy early. The coach has, in turn, entrusted Pitts to be one of the team’s leading voices.

“He told me to pick the intensity up at all times. He told me to keep everybody on track, never lose focus and keep attacking,” Pitts said. ““It’s been hard. I have to become more of a voice for the team. I have to keep everybody into the game, and I can’t lose my cool, because they follow my lead.”

Pitts was also a huge reason for Cheltenham’s comeback, as he finished with 21 points and a couple of emphatic blocks that brought the crowd to its feet.

He was also a key figure in the play that was arguably the turning point in the game.

After point guard Ahmad Bickley (17 points) pressured and stripped his man, he led the fastbreak but threw an out-of-control pass that looked like it was certainly headed out of bounds. However, a streaking Pitts somehow snatched out of the air and layed it up in what seemed like one move.

From there, Cheltenham went on a 26-6 run spanning both the penultimate and final quarters. A Jack Clark putback with six minutes left in the game finally put the Panthers on top, giving them a they would never relinquish.

The Trojans actually had a chance to tie the game with 11.4 seconds left but missed a pair of free throws.

Wissahickon (3-4), which led from the opening tip, but its offense was particularly hindered when matchup nightmare Shane Ford became saddled with foul trouble and had to sit out a significant portion of the second half. Ford, who finished with 22 points, had been eating Cheltenham’s defense alive from the start of the game.

Timms was quick to praise his team’s composure after the game. He was proud of his team for buckling down and pulling out the victory in spite of losing Spencer to a leg injury on the second possession.

“When we lost [Spencer], I think it took some wind out of the sail for the kids. But once we realized it’s a team game, and one person isn’t gonna make the difference, they gathered themselves together,” Timms said.

“The belief that they were going to win changed.”