Henderson Comeback Falls Short in Semis

OXFORD-- On most nights this season, when the High School basketball team scored 60-plus points, it was good enough to win.  The Warriors turned in that kind of quality performance Saturday night but it was not quite sufficient against 19-3, Ches-Mont American Division Champion Octorara in the league’s “Final Four” semifinals at Oxford High School.

The Warriors lost, 66-61, in a rough and tumble, shootout-type contest during which they had to rebound from an 18-point third-quarter deficit to give themselves a chance in the final two minutes.  They didn’t make it all the way back but now can pull positives from a solid performance heading  into the District I tournament beginning Friday night, Feb. 17, at the homecourt of a higher seed.

With losses in three of their last four regular-season games, Henderson surrendered any chance to host a tournament game and slipped in the seedings.  Sunday morning, coach Chris Bruno will get a phone call informing him of the first-round opponent and the Warriors, now 13-10, will get to work on the post-season’s second phase.

West Chester East and Rustin are also expected to get calls to learn of road game destinations for Friday night as the high school basketball season surges to its culmination.  On Tuesday night, Octorara will take on Coatesville for the Ches-Mont Championship at 7:30 p.m.  The varsity girls Ches-Mont Championship pitting Downingtown East against Downingtown West is set for 6 p.m.  Both games are at Oxford.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better game,” said Bruno, unhappy with the Octorara outcome but encouraged by his team’s performance heading into state tournament play.  “Our guys came to play tonight.”

In their last two contests, Henderson had to cope with the intense zone defenses of desperate teams from Downingtown West and West Chester East in must-win situations hoping for one of the 32 District I berths.  Dropping both, the Warriors were not riding high with the biggest games of the year on tap.

With a talent-laden starting five, Octorara was more than happy to accommodate Henderson’s favored press and run style and it made for an entertaining – if turnover-filled – game that captivated the sizeable crowd.

Octorara jumped out to leads of 7-0, 12-4 and 23-15 at the end of the first period behind Charles Cooper and DeQuan Newton, who scored all of the Braves’ points on a variety of threes, drives, mid-range jumpers and free-throws.  For Henderson, the McCormick twins and Declan Kane got untracked in the second and the teams played a crowd-pleasing, fast-paced style with Octorara dominating the backboards while Henderson got some easy baskets by breaking the Braves’ press.

Early in the third, Octorara’s advantage moved to 18 points on a Newton offensive rebound and the Henderson faithful could not be sure that the Warriors would get the game back into single digits.

“We’ve got four double-figure scorers,” Octorara coach Gene Lambert nodded in reference to Newton, Cooper, James Brown and Maurice Bowers.  “That puts a lot of pressure on a defense.”

Finally midway through the third, Henderson started getting some stops and the Octorara lead was only 11 heading into the final period.  Midway through, Octorara still led by nine but Henderson grabbed the momentum behind Chas McCormick, Kane and two free throws from David Goodman to make it a one-possession game, 59-56, with 1:39 remaining.

“We dug ourselves a hole early on but never felt we were out of it,” added Bruno.  “They (the Henderson players) realized that they should never have been down by that much and they had to seize the moment.”

Offensive rebound follows by Brown and Mike Navarro moved the margin back to seven before Jason McCormick hit a three to slice it to four with 47 seconds remaining.  An Octorara turnover gave Henderson possession at :27.8 but a Jason McCormick drive hit off the back rim and Brown secured the defensive rebound.  Free throws were all the Braves needed from that point on.

“I’m sure Henderson knew about DeQuan Newton, but they didn’t expect him to come out like THAT,” Lambert added in reference to his 11 first quarter points.  “Henderson likes to run transition, but we thought we could speed the game up and be successful.”

Cooper led all scorers with 22 points, 18 of which came in the first half.  Newton finished with 17 and the Braves hit all of their first five free throws in building the early leads.  Jason McCormick finished with 18 points, Chas McCormick added 17, Goodman contributed nine and Kane eight.

In the other semifinal, Ches-Mont National Champion Coatesville conquered American Division runner-up Great Valley, 63-52, behind 22 points from Tymeir Miller, who reached the 1,000-point milestone along the way.  Ryan Aker had 14, Tim Shackleford 12 and Brad Sherry 11 for Great Valley.  Leroy Hoggard and Kris Miller both added 14 for Coatesville.