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By Brian Weaver
WARRINGTON — He might as well have been a time bomb. Central Bucks South forward Will Barrett only sank one basket from the floor in the first quarter.
In the second, he managed just two.
In the third, none.
But then he went off.
Barrett exploded in the fourth quarter, dropping nine of his game-high 18 points as the No. 5 seed Titans knocked off No. 12 Glen Mills, 51-44. With the win South secured a berth in the PIAA state championship tournament, its first bid in the program’s four-year history.
Barrett’s slow start didn’t deter him. After the Battlin’ Bulls tied host South at 34 at the half, Barrett gutted through a tough third quarter before making the difference in the final frame.
“In the fourth quarter I started hitting a couple of my shots in key situations. I think it gave my team that extra boost. We just came out playing hard and won the game,” Barrett said.
South head coach Jason Campbell didn’t panic as his team’s leader slowly found his range. His Titans simply adjusted their game plan to fit his needs and give him the opportunity to contribute in other ways.
“He didn’t come out shooting particularly well,” the Titans’ coach said. “We got him doing some other things on the floor -- rebounding, helping out on the double team in the post, and not settling for the perimeter shot that we knew we needed to get on the offensive board because we weren’t getting any in the first half.
“As the game progresses, he seems to pick up the level of his play.”
True to form, Barrett finished with a flurry, sinking four field goals and a critical trio of foul shots in the closing frame. The senior added seven rebounds to his cause and also blocked three shots.
As Barrett struggled early to find his form, the rest of the team played their parts. Alex Dedeian and Ian Gordon both helped to slow the Glen Mills attack and – despite only scoring eight points between them – filled crucial roles for the Titans.
“They’re really, in my eyes, the stars of the game,” Campbell said. “What they were able to do defensively, and to be able to front the post and try to keep [6-10 Aaric Murray] off the backboard, that really is the difference. For a lot of people it’s about points but for me it’s about defense and being able to stop the other team. I think they did a phenomenal job tonight of pushing that big kid around.”
Campbell and the Titans spent the interim between their opening round win over Avon Grove and their game Tuesday giving Dedeian another role to fill – Aaric Murray.
“We kind of had an idea of what they do, and we had Alex play the part of Murray,” Campbell laughed. “It gave him the opportunity to be a 6-10 kid going to La Salle. He took a beating.”
“The past couple days we’ve been setting up a new defense where there’s a guy down low we try to crash and help. It worked out well today,” Barrett explained.
But the La Salle prospect didn’t make it easy for South. After the Titans held him scoreless in the opening quarter, he exploded in the second, dropping 11 of Glen Mills’ 16 points as the Battlin’ Bulls pulled even at halftime.
Barrett couldn’t find enough compliments for his counterpart underneath.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” he said. “He’s got great moves, he’s strong, he’s big. He’s got great, soft hands, and a nice midrange jump shot. I can’t wait to see him play in college.”
Campbell mostly had his team follow their established game plan for Murray, though by the end of the first half things had begun looking shaky.
“When we came out in the first quarter, we stuck to game plan,” Campbell said. “We were packing it in a little bit, looking to help and double-team the post when the opportunity was there.
“We did a good job of that. We got away with it in the second quarter, kind of playing an up and down kind of game and then at halftime we reinforced that we needed to stick two defensively in [the post] and see if they can make the open shots.”
They couldn’t. Neither team could find their offensive rhythm in the third frame, one that saw grinding defense on both ends. But in the fourth the difference was Barrett, sparking the South offense while helping to stifle the Battlin’ Bulls’ attack.
As the offense heated up, the South defense again vexed Murray and the post man could only drop six points over the last 16 minutes. The Titans, correctly guessing that Glen Mills would try to work down to Murray, sent their guards shooting into the gaps, their gambles paying off time and again as they forced costly turnovers in the third and fourth quarters.
On the boards, Murray completely dominated, pulling down 14 rebounds. In the first half alone, he grabbed 10, giving him a double-double before the intermission.
The win sets up a Friday date with Suburban One League foe Pennsbury. The Falcons are no strangers for South.
“Everybody in the league knows of Pennsbury. They’re a great team,” Campbell admitted. “We’re familiar with what they do, they’re familiar with us. We played them the last two years, and this is going to show where we’re at as a team. Everybody knows they’re an elite team and it’s our opportunity to show that we’re an elite team.”
South, for their part, is taking nothing for granted and will continue working hard to meet their goal of winning districts. After Campbell missed two days with the stomach flu last week, his assistants called him to fill him in on the practices he’d missed.
“The players went on as normal,” the Titans’ coach said. “Usually kids if the head coach is not there they’ll slack off, play around a little bit. I got calls from my coaches saying everything went great.”
That focus drew Campbell to a comparison that rings true with any fan in the area.
“It’s like the Phillies,” he said. “They were focused down the stretch, they won a World Series. That’s what we’re comparing ourselves to.”
A few more wins like this, and that’s exactly what they’ll be: champions.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 51, GLEN MILLS 44
Glen Mills (44)
Miles 2 2-2 6 Gass 2 0-2 4 Dago 4 1-2 10 Murray 6 5-6 17 Trammell 0 1-2 1 Hall 2 0-0 4 Baptiste 1 0-2 2 TOTALS 17 9-16 44
Central Bucks South (51)
Barrett 6 5-8 19 Doty 1 2-6 4 Gordon 3 0-2 6 Johnston 1 0-0 3 Pincus 2 5-6 9
Clark 3 1-2 8 Dedeian 1 0-2 2 TOTALS 17 13-26 51
Glen Mills 7 16 11 10 – 44
Central Bucks South 14 11 9 17 – 51
Three-point field goals: Barrett, Johnston, Clark, Dago
Three-point field goals: Barrett, Johnston, Clark, Dago
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