Henderson Defeats Avon Grove, 56-47

Declan Kane continued his late-season surge and the McCormick twins delivered their usual offensive production as the basketball team defeated Avon Grove, 56-47, in Ches-Mont National Division play Tuesday night at Henderson.

On a night when their offense was not clicking and their opponent was hanging tough, the Warriors established and maintained control by hitting 12 of their first 15 free throws in lifting their record to 13-7 overall and 8-2 in divisional play.  The Warriors now have a week off before the showdown on Tuesday, Feb. 7, at home against Downingtown West.  They will likely need that win to secure a berth in the Ches-Mont Final Four against the winner of the Ches-Mont American Division.  The regular season finale comes two days later at West Chester East.

“They’re all big,” stated Henderson coach Chris Bruno in reference to the remaining contests, which also impact seeding in the District I post-season tournament.  “We have seniors on this team and their last games are coming up.”

One of those seniors is P.J. Costello, who scored five points and registered a steal and an assist in a 12-3 Henderson run that gave the home team some breathing room after a first quarter that ended in a 7-7 tie.  It was the juniors who did most of the work the rest of the way, with Chas McCormick totaling eight of his team-high 16 points in the second period and Kane forging a 12-point halftime lead with an inside hoop just before the break.

Avon Grove rode the scoring of seniors Ian Taylor (12 points) and Brendan Stewart (10) to close to within four early in the fourth, but Kane knocked down two big free throws, Costello scored on a break and Jason McCormick hit two more from the charity stripe to put the margin back at 10.

“I don’t know if it’s overconfidence, but even when the game tightens up, we feel as though we’re going to be successful,” Bruno added.

“We wanted to slow them down and contain their penetration and we did have some success with that,” stated Red Raiders coach Jesse Drelick, whose team dropped to 3-16 overall and 1-9 in the division.  “But their guys stepped up and hit some shots.”  One of those was the clincher, a Kane three-pointer from deep that pushed the lead to 11 with 2:12 left.

Kane finished with 13 points and Jason McCormick matched that total with Costello contributing eight.  Kane had 17 against Kennett on Saturday and is picking up some of the scoring void left by the absence of senior captain T.J. White, the Villanova football commit who has a nagging back injury.

The entire gym observed a moment of silence before the game in memory of the late Pat Costello, father of senior P.J. Costello and freshman Colin Costello, who starts for the Henderson junior varsity.  “The Costello family is an inspiration to us all,” stated Bruno.

Colin Costello scored 16 points to lead Henderson over Avon Grove, 67-41, in the junior varsity contest.  Steve Thompson added 15 and Luke Weaver 10 for the Warriors.