By Scott Huff
The players will possess a wonderful mental scrapbook to remember the first thrilling meeting of the 2008-2009 season between rivals Central Bucks East and Central Bucks West.
“This is a game that we won’t forget for the rest of our lives,” said Central Bucks West senior Joe Dilullo moments after the host Bucks (10-1, 5-0) edged East (7-2, 4-1) by a 57-51 overtime score. “East-West games are always awesome, and sometimes it is tough to block out what goes on around you.”
What was going on around both the Bucks and the Patriots was a vociferous crowd that filled both student sections. The black-clad West fans, and the white-clad East fans raucously supported their respective teams from the opening tap to the final horn.
“This game is such a big rivalry, and we are both good teams,” said CB West senior Rellis Reichwein. “It was a great atmosphere to play the game.”
Even in defeat, Central Bucks East guard Craiger Eshleman will deposit this contest into his memory bank.
“We have been talking about this game ever since Thanksgiving dinner,” said Eshleman after posing with Reichwein, his cousin, after the game. “The fans on both sides were great, and I just wish that we could have won the game.”
And it was an exciting basketball game. However, both coaches admitted that it was not a particularly well-played game by either team.
“It was a very ugly game, but we found a way to win,” said Central Bucks West coach Adam Sherman. “I thought that both teams played a little too fast, but that is typical in rivalry games.”
“I thought there were times during the game that the intensity of the game created some anxiety for some of the players,” said Central Bucks East coach Chris Huber. “We had some easy shots – and we forced some bad shots. It just didn’t seem like us.”
CB East has shot the ball well all season from the field – until the West game. The Patriots suffered through a 34 percent field goal shooting performance against the Bucks.
West has handled pressure defense well all season – until the East game. The Bucks turned the ball over an astonishing 23 times against the Patriots.
“East put on some real quality pressure,” said Sherman. “Their press might have taken some of their legs away from them at the end.
“But I think that we did a good job of beating them on the glass,” added Sherman. “And we had some kids that made some big plays in the overtime.”
The biggest play may have been the first scoring play of the overtime. Senior point guard Chris Dilullo darted to the baseline on a ‘back door’ cut and received a perfect pass from Reichwein. Dilullo not only scored on the layup, but was fouled and completed an old-fashioned three-point play.
East could never recover fully.
The Patriots closed to within 55-51 with 41 seconds left in OT but failed to rally back for the win.
The Patriots best chance to win the game was at the close of regulation. The game was tied at 47 when East called timeout with 1:17 left in the game. A patient Pat offense ran the clock down the 11.9 seconds, and East called another timeout.
CB East, however, took an off-balanced shot at the buzzer. And the swarming West defense had forced overtime.
“We really didn’t execute the play we wanted,” said Huber. “We didn’t have the players on the floor in the right position, and we didn’t do what we were supposed to do.
“I think we are going to learn from this,” added Huber. “When we were down 11 (in the third quarter), we were able to come back as a team.
“But once we got back into the game, we didn’t make that extra pass, and we tried to do too many things on our own,” continued Huber. “We just didn’t finish.”
“These kids really know each other very well,” said Sherman. “Both teams are very close – they play on some of the same AAU teams.
“Playing in our own gym is like playing with your own ball at the park,” added Sherman. “It was a great atmosphere for a basketball game.”
A memorable basketball game.
Central Bucks East 11 9 16 11 4 - 51
Central Bucks West 11 13 14 9 10 - 57
Central Bucks East: Chris Harmon 5 6-8 16; Craiger Eshleman 4 0-0 8; Tim McLaughlin 4 0-0 10; Brandon Boekel 3 2-2 8; Skylar Scrivano 2 0-0 4; Baxter Whittington 4 0-0 10. Totals 20 8-10 51.
3-point field goals – McLaughlin (2), Whittington.
Central Bucks West: Rellis Reichwein 6 4-5 17; Bill Carroll 1 0-0 3; Pat Furst 4 2-2 11; Chris Dilullo 2 2-3 6; Shane Tyksinski 0 1-2 1; Joe Dilullo 6 5-9 19. Totals 19 14-21 57.
3-point field goals – J. Dilullo (2), Furst. Reichwein, Carroll.
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