Cheltenham advanced to the PIAA 6A Elite Eight with its win over Penn Wood. Photo provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison Photography. Click on the following link to view the entire gallery: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/chcbe
#1-3 CHELTENHAM 66, #1-10 PENN WOOD 50
The Panthers needed a lift.
For three quarters, they’d exchanged baskets with the pesky Patriots and could not put them away. A Justin Savage deuce sent the Panthers into the fourth quarter with a tenuous 41-40 lead that grew to 43-40 after Rasheem Dearry buried a jumper from the top of the key to open the fourth quarter, but still, something was missing.
Until, that is, Brandon Bush came out of nowhere after a Penn Wood miss, drove down the lane and slammed home a two-handed dunk
“I saw I had a switch and the big man on me, and my coaches told me to attack, try to do one move to get past him,” Bush said. “So when I saw an open lane, I just tried to give energy to the team because we came out slow.”
Nothing was ever the same after Bush’s dunk. By the time the Patriots scored again when Anthony Murray buried one-of-two at the foul line, the Panthers were in complete command, leading 55-40 midway through the fourth quarter.
“I think it started off with Brandon’s dunk,” Dearry said. “That started it off, our energy picked up.
“As soon as they called a timeout (immediately after Bush’s dunk), we had our talk in the huddle. Our energy picked up. We talked about defense, we talked about offense, rebounding more and we all came together as a team.”
The Panthers looked like a well-oiled machine during a 16-0 run that began with Savage’s bucket to close out the third quarter and ended with a Bush layup in transition off a Penn Wood miss. Cheltenham closed out the game with a 27-10 tear that included four Patriot points in the closing seconds when the outcome had long since been decided.
“It was really the coaches getting on us and holding us accountable, holding each other accountable and playing as a team,” Savage said. “If we play as a team and hold each other accountable, especially on defense, we’re hard to stop.”
Savage certainly did his part, scoring nine points in the third quarter and 11 of his 15 points in the second half. This despite taking an elbow that resulted in a bloody nose in the third quarter. Savage refused to let that slow him down, playing a good bit of time with the discomfort of packing in both nostrils.
“I had to breathe out of my mouth, and every time I breathed up my nose, my ears popped,” Savage said. “I got elbowed when number five went in for a layup – I should have taken a charge.”
Listening to the players tell it, they might not have been quite as sharp as they should have been early on against the 10th place team out of District 1.
“I think we probably underestimated them,” Bush said. “We should have come out from the jump with energy. We came out lackadaisical and it almost cost us.”
Early on, the Panthers – behind six points from Dearry – led 14-12 after one quarter only to watch the Patriots knot the score by halftime (24-24).
“I came out slow – that’s why the game was so close at the beginning,” said Walker. “It was just energy from myself and from my teammates, just playing together. Once we got our energy back, we went on to a 20-point win.”
Not a whole lot changed until the Panthers’ fourth quarter run that included contributions from up and down the lineup – Dearry turned a steal into a layup and then scored on a drive, Savage took it coast to coast for the score, and Bush scored off a fast break while Walker connected on a pair at the foul line.
“We talked about it in the huddle how we needed energy,” Bush said. “People bring energy to certain stuff. Our point guards bring energy on defense, Savage brings energy to the box, Sheem (Dearry) rebounds, stuff like that.”
“A key was our aggressive defense,” Dearry said. “We switched it up from zone and man, and we just have to basically make them feel uncomfortable. We know they barely got past our press. Once we figured out what their weakness was, we stuck with that defensive plan.”
“We had to lock in on defense,” Walker said. “More doubling but in the right spots, not just random doubling. That’s what was giving them all the shots in the beginning. We just made stronger doubles.”
Coach Patrick Fleury wasn’t ready to blame the team’s defense for its slow start.
“I think they played defense all game,” the Panthers’ coach said. “The biggest thing for us – even early in the first and we’re going to get the tape and look at it again – just in transition we weren’t making the easy play. We were trying to do a little too much, manufacture too much, and that hurt us.”
Dearry’s 18 points led the Panthers while Savage added 15. Walker also finished in double figures with 12 points, and Bush had nine – seven in the second half.
Sunday’s win – which propelled the Panthers into the state’s Elite Eight – was the third straight after the Panthers suffered their only loss of the season in the district semifinals to Lower Merion.
“The Lower Merion game –that was a learning point for me and my teammates,” Savage said. “It feels really, really good to be one of the only teams in the whole state to make it to the Elite Eight.”
“We worked so hard from June to now,” Walker said. “In June, it wasn’t looking so good, but as the season went on, we got better and better. Taking that loss made us even more hungry and got us to where we are now.”
“It feels good,” Bush said. “We worked hard since June, and to see it pay off, now it’s kind of like our dreams are really happening. We’re not done yet, for sure.”
With the win, the Panthers (30-1, 16-0 SOL) have earned a date with District 12 champion Roman Catholic in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. For coach Patrick Fleury, the game will feel like a bit of a family affair.
“Xzayvier Brown is my daughter’s Godbrother,” the Panthers’ coach said of Roman’s star guard. “He’s family, he’s unbelievable. I love him to death. His stepdad, Justin Scott, you couldn’t tell me we’re not brothers.
“It’s an amazing thing for our me personally and also for our team. I’m a real big proponent for our kids staying home, and to be able to play a (Philadelphia) Catholic League school that gets the recruits, it’s more motivation for us. We just have to come out ready to play hard and ready for the assignment.”
The players know they will have to be on top of their game against a Roman squad coming off a big second round win over Central Dauphin (59-26). They point to some of the keys.
“Slowing down their guard play, especially Xzayvier Brown, and basically keeping the ball out of his hands,” Savage said. “Making them not play as a team and getting stops on defense and rebounding well.”
“We have to lock in every day, stay together,” Walker said. “Nobody can check out. We’ve got to lock in the whole game.”
“We have to go 100 percent the whole game,” Dearry said. “We know Roman is a good team, so we have to go 100 percent, definitely on defense, be more locked in.
“It starts with practice, on and off the court. We have to be locked in on our schoolwork and everything.”
Cheltenham and Roman Catholic are tentatively scheduled to play on Wednesday at Bensalem.
Penn Wood 12-12-16-10 50
Cheltenham 14-10-17-25 66
Penn Wood (50) – Sahmir Massenburg 3 3-4 10; Anthony Murray 3 3-4 9; Evan Borward 6 0-2 12; Mekhi Shillingford 3 1-4 7; Naeem Purnell 1 2-2 5; Sadiq Fountain 2 0-1 5; Kelvin Crawford 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 19 9-17 50.
Cheltenham (66) – Rasheem Dearry 8 2-4 18; Josiah Hutson 3 1-2 7; Elias Walker 5 2-4 12; Kamani Healy 1 0-0 3; Brandon Bush 4 1-2 9; Joey Weimer 1 0-1 2; Justin Savage 7 1-3 15. TOTALS 29 7-16
3-point goals: PW – Sahmir Massenburg, Naeem Purnell, Sadiq Fountain; Cheltenham – Kamani Healy.
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