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By Brian Weaver
DOYLESTOWN – It wasn’t just the berth in the PIAA state tournament that fired up Chris DiLullo and the Central Bucks West team Friday night.
The last time Bensalem visited Central Bucks West, the Owls won a physical, grinding game with a last minute that saw DiLullo knocked into the bleachers on a controversial no-call, a pair of technical fouls in protest, and a general feeling that the two teams had unfinished business.
DiLullo hasn’t forgotten.
“We knew this was a payback game,” he said. “We wanted to get them and just keep rolling.”
Mission accomplished.
West took their revenge, downing Bensalem 58-50 in the first round of knock-out play for the coveted 9th and final District One AAAA seed to the PIAA state tournament. Reills Reichwein scored a game-high 22 points to lead the way for the home team. The No. 11 seed Bucks will host No. 23 Neshaminy –a 74-56 winner over West Chester Henderson – on Tuesday.
Maybe their bruises will have healed by then.
In a game that could have made a Big East coach wince, the West students came dressed in red, chanting, “Bloodbath! Bloodbath!” Maybe a bit of hyperbole, but certainly leaning in the right direction. Both sides crashed into one another again and again, whether it was under the net, on the perimeter, or off the ball.
“It got a little crazy there,” West head coach Adam Sherman acknowledged. “Neither team could adapt to the flow of the game. It was a back and forth game, very difficult.”
“We’re both physical teams, you just have to adjust to how the refs call the game and to the flow of the game,” senior forward Joe DiLullo explained.
The win came on the heels of a heartbreaking loss for the Bucks, a 45-41 overtime defeat to perennial power Lower Merion.
“Our kids fought so hard, it’s one of those games you feel like you won it, but you lost it,” Sherman said.
“Coach just told us that even though we lost the game on Tuesday, we can still get to states the hard way and that’s what we’re going to try and do,” DiLullo said.
That hard way certainly lived up to its name.
In the first half, the Bucks built an eight-point lead at 17-9 only to watch three three-pointers from Ivan Flores pace an 11-0 run for Bensalem. Undeterred, the Bucks took another eight-point lead courtesy of an 11-0 run that saw Reichwein bury two threes.
“Reills hit big shots and had some clutch rebounds and free throws,” Sherman said. “He’s in a rhythm, and when he’s playing well, we try to get him as many touches as we can.”
For their part, Bensalem slowly chipped away at that lead, too, refusing to hang their heads.
“We’ve been very resilient. We have good senior leadership,” Owls head coach John Mullin said. “Ivan [Flores] got out there and played well for us, and Rob [Schreiber] twisted his ankle at the end but still made some shots for us.”
For their part, the Bucks never let the Bensalem determination wear on them.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” Chris DiLullo shrugged. “Coach said if they make shots, we’ve just got to keep playing defense and keep rebounding, executing.”
The Bucks carried a 30-24 advantage into halftime. They also came out in the second half with the knowledge that Corey Canestrare, one of Mullin’s top ball handlers, would be on the bench courtesy of his four fouls. After two hard off-ball infractions, Canestrare was hit with a technical. He sat the last 3:43 of the second quarter and didn’t see action again until late in the third.
Chris DiLullo said that the guard’s outburst helped West to regain their momentum.
“That boosts you a little bit, to know that you’re in their heads.”
The Owls adapted to Canestrare’s temporary sidelining positively, though, even briefly pulling ahead with under six minutes to play. West stayed with them thanks to Reichwein and Pat Furst, who dropped seven of his 13 points in the second half, each bucket seeming to come just when the Bucks needed it most.
The tide turned for good with just over five minutes left. Ryan Dyer, who to that point only had three fouls to his name, took a feed from Chris DiLullo and buried a trey from the right wing as Canestrare fouled him.
Dyer hit from the charity stripe to complete the four point play, and the foul, Canestrare’s fifth, sent him to the bench, meaning that West now took the lead – for good, as it turned out – and Mullin had to shuffle his lineup.
There’s a reason the basketball proverb reads: “Don’t foul the jump-shooter.”
The Bucks shook off a hot-and-cold first half and buckled down on defense.
“We dug in defensively and got a lot of quality stops. I think there was a little more focus by the kids in the second half,” Sherman said. “In the first half we just didn’t seem as focused as I like us to be. We seemed a half-step late on a lot of things. I didn’t feel like we were dictating enough.”
Joe DiLullo pointed out that Sherman’s decision to stay in a matchup zone helped the home team settle into a better rhythm on defense.
“In the first half we were kind of switching between one defense and the other, and coach made the decision to stay with one and get comfortable with it,” he said.
The results spoke for themselves.
Bensalem’s last big charge came in a 14-4 run that straddled the third and fourth quarters. Nick Christian kept the Owls close, scoring eight of his team-high 18 points in the third to leave the visitors in position for the run. Ivan Flores hit a runner with 5:39 left in the game to cap the run and leave his team with a 43-41 lead, and then Bensalem looked to slam the door shut when Alex Agyedu stuffed Joe DiLullo on consecutive attempts driving the left side of the lane.
But then the wheels came off for the Owls’ offense. West’s defense didn’t allow another Bensalem field goal until Christian sank one in the waning seconds of the game, the outcome already beyond doubt.
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST (58) BENSALEM (50)
Bensalem (50) – Kirgam 1 0-0 2, Christian 5 7-9 18, Dark 2 0-0 5, Aeyedu 2 0-0 4, Flores 6 0-0 15, Schreiber 2 1-2 6. Totals 18 8-11 50.
Central Bucks West (58) – C.Dilullo 0 5-8 5, Tyksinski 3 0-1 7, Furst 5 2-5 13, Reichwein 5 9-12 22, J.Dilullo 3 1-1 7,Dyer 1 1-1 4. Totals 17 18-28 58.
Bensalem 15 9 15 11-50
Central Bucks West 17 13 11 17-58
Three-point goals: Bensalem – Flores 3, Christian, Dark, Schreiber. CB West – Reichwein, Dyer, Tyksinski, Furst.
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