City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Just at the right time, Bishop Shanahan is back to full strength.

The Eagles aren’t the deepest team in District 1, with head coach Ken Doyle happy to go with just one reserve alongside his veteran starting lineup, if he goes to his bench at all.

So they were on thin ice in January, when senior center and three-year starter Kevin Dodds got sick in the middle of his senior season. Really sick.

Like, 103-degree-fever sick. So sick, the Shanahan forward lost 12 pounds in five days. He missed two games, but it took him another three or four games to get back to his previous energy level and physicality.

And just as Dodds was getting back to his usual self, junior guard Joe O’Malley, another starter, twisted his ankle. O’Malley missed two games, both Shanahan losses, before finally returning to the court this week, just in time for the season finale against Downingtown East.

So when Shanahan took the court for its Ches-Mont semifinal against West Chester Rustin on Saturday evening, it was playing its seventh game in 12 days, none of which were really played with an entirely healthy squad.

“We don’t have that many guys, only nine guys, and only about five or six actually play the majority of the minutes,” Dodds said. “So when one of us gets injured, that really hurts us.”

But when healthy, Shanahan is not just a problem, it’s a serious contender for the Ches-Mont championship, as well as the District 1 5A title and beyond. The Eagles proved that against the Golden Knights, getting contributions from everybody in that strong top six to roll to a 56-41 win.

Now, they’re finally set up for the game they’ve been looking forward to all year -- against Coatesville, in a rematch of last year’s Ches-Mont championship game, which the Red Raiders won in overtime. Coatesville won the first semifinal at Downingtown West on Saturday afternoon, beating Great Valley 69-62 in OT.

“Ever since last year’s loss, we’ve just been working towards this one goal,” senior guard David Angelo said. “We didn’t want to look too far ahead, but now we can finally look forward to it. I’m excited.”

Angelo had 17 points for Shanahan (18-4), including three 3-pointers. Dodds led the Eagles with 19 points, adding in 10 rebounds for another double-double in his collection, along with three assists, a block and a steal.

Everybody else in the Shanahan rotation chipped in something different: O’Malley had nine points, five rebounds and four assists; senior forward Thomas Ford had only three points, lower than his usual, but grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out four assists of his own; senior guard Danny DiBeneditto had a quiet night in the stat column with two points, a rebound, assist and steal, but he played his typical tough defense.

Even junior guard Phil Chenard, who jumped into the starting lineup in Dodds and O’Malley’s absences, knocked in two 3-pointers off the bench on four attempts. The only member of the rotation who wasn’t a contributor on last year’s Shanahan squad which reached the district semifinals, he’s playing the most confident ball of his career as well.

“He’s shooting it like he knows it’s going to go in, he’s not hesitating too much, really,” Angelo said. “He’s playing good defense, and it’s going to help us in the end.”

Angelo, Dodds and Fords were all starters a year ago, when Shanahan had a breakthrough of sorts, getting back to the Ches-Mont playoffs after two years away.

Over the last three years, the Eagles have upped their win total from 11 to 15 to 19, a number they’ll try to equal with a win on Tuesday night. That would deliver Shanahan it’s first Ches-Mont boys basketball trophy, as well as give it plenty of confidence and momentum heading into the District 1 5A tournament, where the Eagles are expected to be the No. 2 seed in the 16-team field behind only Penncrest.

Two wins there, and they make the state tournament for the second year in a row. All it would take there is one win to out-do last year; after that, anything goes for the Eagles. The end is near for a Shanahan senior class that’s been one of the best in the program’s history, but there’s still a lot of important hoops to be played.

“It’s in the back of our minds, and we try not to think about it,” Dodds said. “We want to focus on the game right now, focus on one game at a time. And then once it’s over, we’ll think ‘oh, it’s done,’ and then we’ll celebrate together and have a blast.”