Coatesville Too Much for Henderson, 78-57

Senior guard Tymeir Miller scored 24 points, including a pair of three-point daggers from downtown, to spark Coatesville to a 79-58 victory over Thursday night at Henderson.  The victory put the Red Raiders in full control of the Ches-Mont National Division with a 7-0 record while Henderson dropped to 5-2 with no reason to believe that any other team can take down the deep and talented team from Coatesville.

In an entertaining confrontation of proud programs that relish the faster-paced game, Henderson was a realistic upset possibility until late in the third quarter behind Declan Kane, P.J. Costello and the McCormick twins.  But Coatesville’s array of offensive skill players combined with Henderson’s foul trouble and health issues led to the lopsided final score.

“They’ve just got too many horses,” marveled Warriors coach Chris Bruno in reference to the visitors’ lineup of eight legitimate scorers.  “Last time (a 19-point loss at Coatesville) we didn’t keep up.  Tonight was one of those old Henderson-Coatesville games.  Both teams showed great heart out there.”

Declan Kane led Henderson with 17 points and P.J. Costello added 13, delighting the home crowd with much-needed, top-shelf performances.  The McCormick twins combined for another 26 but Chas fouled out and Jason missed key minutes with an ankle injury, leaving the Warriors with no margin for error against the tradition-rich visitors.

“David Goodman, P.J. Costello and Declan Kane played some of the best basketball of their lives tonight,” Bruno added.   The Henderson coach, now 10-6 in his first year, was without leading rebounder T.J. White, the football star who was under the weather, so he needed the bigger contributions from that trio.

After Coatesville went out to leads of 10-4 and 21-9 in the first quarter, Costello scored five straight points and then hit a second three to keep the Warriors within 10.  Chas McCormick scored seven straight to bring Henderson within three late in the second and that was the margin at intermission.

In the third period, Kane gave Henderson a 39-38 lead with a jump shot, but Coatesville kept coming behind Dameon Nixon, Emmett Hunt and Leroy Hoggard before the first of Miller’s two key three-pointers pushed the Red Raiders lead to seven.  Miller hit another three at the outset of the fourth quarter to put the visitors up 16 and Henderson came no closer than 15 the rest of the way.

Chas McCormick ended up with 15 points and Goodman collected nine rebounds for the Warriors, who host Bishop Shanahan Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.  Coatesville, now 13-2, is back in action Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at Great Valley in a battle of Ches-Mont division leaders. 

In the junior varsity contest, Coatesville emerged victorious behind 15 points from Tyler Burke.  Colin Costello had 12 points, Cameron Naulty added 10 and Mark DiMatteo registered six points and six rebounds for Henderson.