City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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NEW HOLLAND, Pa. -- If Ryan Hughes had thought about it, he would have told himself not to take defensive chances in the final 30 seconds of a tie game, with a spot in the state quarterfinal on the line. If he’d thought about it, he wouldn’t have gambled for a steal attempt, instead settling in to guard and plan on overtime.

But Hughes was also taught not to get too cerebral — just play basketball.

And so the Middletown senior went for the steal, picking off an Overbrook pass at midcourt, racing towards the hoop and delivering what proved to be the game-winning layup as the Blue Raiders downed the Panthers 47-45 in a PIAA 4A second-round clash.

Hughes' heroics came on the same Garden Spot High School court where he hit a fadeaway jumper at the buzzer to lift his team into the District 3 championship game a year ago.

“Coach [Chris Sattele] always tells us never think, because when we think, a lot of things go wrong,” Hughes said. “He said just go out there, make basketball plays and do what you do.

“I knew it was risky going for it, obviously you don’t want to go for steals in the last minute, but I saw him throw the ball up and I had to go get it,” the Ursinus commit added. “You have to make hustle plays to win the game.”

Hughes’ steal-and-layup, which he converted with about four tickets left on the clock, wasn’t the only key play he made to help the Blue Raiders escape with the win.

His ensuing foul shot was no good -- part of an overall poor effort from Middletown (19-7) from the stripe -- but when nobody from Overbrook (14-9) boxed out, Hughes swooped in for the rebound, saving it inbounds and knocking a few more seconds off the clock.

Overbrook’s Raquon West had a decent look from just beyond half-court hit back iron, and Middletown survived a game in which it committed 16 turnovers, missed 13 of its 28 foul shots and gave up a 10-point fourth-quarter lead to go down by a point in the final minute of regulation.

“We’re coming out with a win, that’s ultimately what it’s all about,” Sattele said afterwards. “What I keep trying to tell everybody that asks how we are as a program, these kids have been going since August for [football] 3-a-days, and they come right into basketball season, so they’ve been going since August, here we are in March.

“I couldn’t even see the first half of the game, the light was shining in,” the 10th-year head coach cracked. “We’re also not used to playing a game this early — and also this late in March, really.”

For Overbrook, which trailed 37-27 early in the fourth but stormed back to go up 42-41 with 45 seconds left, it’s the end of a season that saw the Panthers win 14 games and a state playoff game for the first time in school history.

Junior guard Khalif Washington led the way with 14 points off the bench; West had 12 points and 11 rebounds, while senior Cyrie Coates nearly had a double-double of his own with 10 points and nine rebounds.

“We made history, so that’s a goal we can cross off our list. We wanted to get to Hershey, fell short but I’m definitely proud of our guys,” head coach Keenan Rand said.

“They left it all out on the court, the clawed all the way back, took the lead, unfortunately had an unfortunate turnover at the end, lost the game. But it’s a learning experience, we’ll learn from it, we’ll be back here next year for sure.”

Hughes’ final bucket and rebound finished off a 16-point, 17-rebound effort for the 6-foot-4 Ursinus commit, who overcame a poor shooting night to lead all players in scoring and rebounding.

Fellow Middletown seniors Tré Leach (14 points/3 assists) and Chris Plummer (10 points/6 rebounds) joined their classmate in double figures. They’re also all teammates on the football field, where they helped Middletown to the PIAA 3A championship game before losing to Quaker Valley.

Of the Blue Raiders’ top seven, only junior Tyler Petroskie is not in his final year in high school.”

“We’re all friends, we’ve been playing together since third grade, and I think that chemistry coming up, the whole way through elementary school, middle school and high school helps us out,” Hughes said. “I love all these guys, they’re all great teammates no matter what, I know they’re always going to have my back, I’m going to have theirs.”

The Blue Raiders advance to the state 4A quarterfinals for the second year in a row; last year, as the second seed out of District 3, they lost to Quaker Valley out of the WPIAL at the same stage.

To get further this year, they’ll now need to head through the bracket’s overall favorite, Imhotep Charter. Arguably the most dominant program in Philadelphia over the last decade, the Panthers and head coach Andre Noble are once again nationally ranked by MaxPreps and led by a deep and athletic crew of future Division I talent.

“We’ll see what we can do and we’ll go home and start watching some film,” Sattele said, adding with a smile: “It kind of messes up watching the NCAA tournament, we’ll have to watch more Imhotep, but they’re like a college team anyways, so who knows.”