Cheltenham edged Central Bucks East with a basket at the buzzer in a spirited playback game. Photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ BOYS’ BASKETBALL GALLERIES.
District 1 6A seventh place game
#11 Cheltenham 61, #8 Central Bucks East 59
In a playback game with the intensity of a title game, it was sophomore Kamal Mason completing a three-point play in the closing seconds to give the Panthers – who trailed by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter – the thrilling come-from-behind road win.
There was no mistaking the significance of the win heading into the PIAA 6A State Tournament.
“Especially rolling into the state tournament – you definitely don’t want to go into that tournament on a skid, a three-game losing streak,” Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury said.
“It was important definitely to go on the road into a state tournament type game and just battle.”
East led for the better part of the contest. Behind eight points from Graham Smith, the Patriots led 17-15 after one quarter and took a 30-27 lead into halftime. Nolan Behm’s 11 points led the Patriots in the half while Osei Johnson kept the Panthers close with 15 first-half points.
Shane O’Hara-Jamison’s eight points sparked a 17-11 third quarter for the Patriots, who took a 47-38 lead into the fourth quarter when the Panthers staged a gutsy rally. Johnson led the way with seven points in the frame, and Chris Harmon had a pair of 3s for six points in the quarter, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
Key players: Senior Osei Johnson led all scorers with 24 points, which included four 3-pointers. Chris Harmon added 16 points and also had four 3s for the Panthers.
For the Patriots. Nolan Behm and Graham Smith both had 15 points. Smith had four 3-pointers. AJ Molnar added 14, and Shane O’Hara-Jamison had 11 with three 3s.
Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury on the game: “This game literally could have gone either way. We were in a tough spot. We were down 10 in the fourth quarter. Just their resiliency – CB East is always going to be a very good team at home. To go into their gym and be able to get a win is not shabby at all. They’re a good team and a good program. Going into the playoffs on this win is amazing. We definitely want to build on this and just try and keep the season going for the seniors.”
–The final stretch: “Osei Johnson made a basket to put us up two, and they pushed it the length of the floor, drew the defense and kicked it out for a corner 3. We came down, ran the clock down to about 13 seconds. Osei drove and jump stopped. We ended up calling timeout with 13 seconds left, and of course, he made the basket because we called timeout.
“We drew up a play. East was in their positions and made the reads, and Kamal (Mason) ended up making the and-one with 5.9 seconds. They went down the floor, got a good look and we cleared the rebound. I’m just happy that last shot didn’t go in, and we were able to roll into the playoffs with something we can look at and study what we didn’t do that we should have throughout and what were the moments that we did.”
–Props: “Osei Johnson did a very good job just mixing up what his offensive looks were. He was able to get into the lane tonight and just played under duress, but he remained calm.
“We had big contributions from Chris Harmon and Chris Jones. They stepped in seamlessly and changed the game with their energy and rebounding. I don’t think it’s Chris Harmon’s career high, but it was definitely his season high. He’s one of our guys that we’ve been waiting to kind of get onto the scene, so it was good heading into the playoffs he’s finding his stride. We’re excited to see just how he builds on that. Chris Jones was very good for us and ended up making a big (3-point) basket.
“Kendall Jackson came in and gave us good minutes defensively with just his energy and his effort. Tyree Martin was very good late in the game. In the fourth quarter, he was really able to lock in on the defensive end and change a couple of shots, so that was big as well.
Next up: Cheltenham (18-10, 9-1 SOL) will face the winner of Saturday’s Scranton/Hazleton game in next Saturday’s opening round of the PIAA 6A Tournament, and Central Bucks East (15-12, 5-5) will face District 12 champion Imotep.
Cheltenham 15-12-11-23 61
Central Bucks East 17-13-17-12 59
Cheltenham (61) – Chris Harmon 6 0-0 16; Kamal Mason 2 1-1 5; Chris Jones 2 0-0 5; Xavier Willoughby 1 0-0 2; Osei Johnson 9 2-3 24; Kendall Jackson 3 1-1 7; Tyree Martin 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 24 4-5 61.
Central Bucks East (59) – Nolan Behm 6 3-3 15; Connor Mekanik 1 2-2 4; Shane O’Hara-Jamison 4 0-0 11; Graham Smith 5 1-2 15; AJ Molnar 6 1-2 14; TOTALS 22 7-9 59.
3-point goals: C – Chris Harmon 4, Osei Johnson 4, Chris Jones; CBE – Graham Smith 4, Shane O’Hara-Jamison 3, AJ Molnar.
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