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#3 CHELTENHAM 77, #7 BENSALEM 60
The similarities weren’t lost on Patrick Fleury.
The Cheltenham coach knew the way his team’s District One Class 6A semifinal opponent, Bensalem, liked to play, and he knew that was how his team did things most of the time as well. And it made for a physical basketball game at the Liacouras Center.
Fleury’s Panthers, the No. 3 seed, prevailed 77-60 to earn a spot in Saturday’s district championship game back at Temple, and it did so by being the more physical defensive basketball team.
“It was defense,” Fleury said. “(Bensalem is) very physical. We’re a similar team. They have speed, they have shooters, they have a couple of ball-handlers, so we’re very similar teams.”
Cheltenham (24-3) forced 18 turnovers and held the seventh-seeded Owls to just 41 percent (19-for-46) shooting from the field.
“Defense is our way of getting energy,” said Panthers’ senior forward Sean Emfinger. “I knew I had to step up as a senior and bring some energy.
“I think it’s just coming more together, because on the defensive end, it takes everybody. One person can score on offense, but on defense you need everybody.”
It was also a game where there were a ton of fouls called on both sides, because of the physical nature of the way the teams were playing defense. Cheltenham finished 28-for-40 from the free throw line, while Bensalem was 19-for-31.
The Owls (19-7) had three starters and four players altogether foul out of the game in the fourth quarter.
“It was a very physical game,” said Bensalem coach Ron Morris. “Sometimes things go your way, sometimes it doesn’t. Both teams had a lot of intensity. There’s a lot on the line when you come down to Temple and you’re in the Final Four. It’s tough, it’s going to be physical and intense. That’s playoff basketball.”
The first half saw both teams have their moments.
Luke Zeidler stepped up with six first-quarter points for Bensalem, as did James Ashford, who had 11 points and five rebounds in the first half. On the other side Cheltenham sophomore point guard Justin Moore started quick and had 10 points in the first half.
Tied at 16 after one, the Panthers still led by just six at halftime, 32-26.
“I think the biggest thing for us was in the first half – 26 points (allowed) isn’t bad, that’s 13-per quarter average – but it was the way they were getting their points that was kind of troublesome,” Fleury said. “They were just kind of lining us up and going straight past us.
“That’s not what we practice. That’s not what we are. For us, that conversation in the second half was we have to at least play the way we are capable of playing. That’s not offensively, that’s defensively.”
The first few minutes of the second half are often critical in playoff basketball, and that proved the case Tuesday night. Jaelen McGlone got the Panthers started, scoring seven points for his team as part of a 14-2 run that saw the lead swell to 44-28.
In that run, which ended with an Emfinger fast break dunk, Cheltenham forced five turnovers.
McGlone finished with 24 points and six rebounds to lead all scorers.
“There were just opportunities that opened up,” McGlone said. “I just knew if I went to the basket and I could continue to perform and our defense would pick up, then we would be alright.”
Cheltenham led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, but in the fourth, Bensalem made several runs, getting as close as seven at 62-55 after a Justin Johnson three-point play, but they could get no closer the rest of the way.
Bensalem was led by Ashford’s 22 points while Zeidler had nine and Jeremiah Alexander finished with eight.
“We came up a little short,” said Morris, whose team will play at Chester Friday for third place in its last game before the start of the state playoffs. “We learn from everything. We’ll learn, we’ll do a better job rebounding – (Cheltenham) killed us on the glass – we’ll do a better job boxing out and we’ve got to make more foul shots.”
For Cheltenham, Moore had 19 points, while Emfinger and Brandon Scott had eight each.
The Panthers will play in Saturday night’s District One final against No. 1 Methacton, back at the Liacouras Center. Fleury, who twice came up just shy of district titles as a player at Cheltenham in 2004 and ’05, can’t wait for his team to have that chance.
“For us, I don’t want them to get satisfied with just being in the championship,” he said. “We just don’t want to just take a bus to Temple, we want to bring something back. That’s the biggest thing for us.”
The Panthers’ run to the district title game comes on the heels of the football team’s state runner-up finish.
“When you have teams that do well like this, it brings everybody back, and it’s just amazing because it really is about everybody that has ever gone through Cheltenham,” Fleury said. “The stories, the successes, the failures, everything that makes Cheltenham – I’m just super excited as a member of the community.
“I’m excited for the families, I’m excited for this being a point of pride for the community in being one of the top two teams left in the district, especially after taking the fall in the SOL Tournament. Being at Temple was our goal, and playing without Zahree (Harrison) is different, but it still is an amazing accomplishment for our community.”
Game Summary brought to you by
Bensalem 16 10 13 21-60
Cheltenham 16 16 18 27-77
Bensalem (60) – James Ashford 6 9-13 22; Luke Zeidler 3 3-8 9; Jeremiah Alexander 4 0-0 8; Justin Johnson 3 1-2 7; Aaron Sanders 1 3-4 6; Rahul Kohili 1 1-1 4; Travis Robinson 1 0-1 2; Blaise Unger 0 2-2 2. Totals 19 19-31 60.
Cheltenham (77) – Jaelen McGlone 7 8-10 24; Justin Moore 6 6-8 19; Brandon Scott 3 3-8 9; Sean Emfinger 3 1-2 8; Travis Coleman 2 1-2 5; Saleem Payne 1 2-2 4; Lou Liedtka 0 2-2 2; Mike McClain 0 3-4 3; Joey Weiner 0 2-2 2; Justin Savage 0 1-2 1. Totals 22 30-42 77.
3-point goals: B-Ashford, Sanders, Kohili; C-McGlone 2, Moore, Emfinger