California finds formula for beating Fort Cherry
Fort Cherry’s Devon Brown tries to get around California’s Dylan Hammitt and Kass Taylor during Tuesday night’s game at Fort Cherry High School.
California head coach Bruno Pappersergi talks to Colin Phillips during the Trojans’ game against Fort Cherry.
Fort Cherry’s Ryhan Culberson tries to get around California’s Dylan Hammitt during a Tuesday’s game.
McDONALD – Bruno Pappersergi understands the recipe for success as it pertains to winning games in Section 2-AA.
Using a swarming defense and clutch foul shooting, the Trojans fought and clawed their way to a 52-44 win at Fort Cherry Tuesday night. The win put the Trojans (6-2, 14-2) in a second-place tie with the Rangers (6-2, 11-5) in the section. Both trail first-place Chartiers-Houston.
Ben Wilson paced the Trojans with 18 points, eight of which came in the decisive fourth quarter. His six free throws were the catalyst to earning a win that avenged a loss to the Rangers earlier this season.
“Man was he big time tonight,” said Pappersergi, California’s head coach. “I don’t think he missed a foul shot for the game and was huge in the fourth quarter when we needed it.”
John DeFranco shook off an early shooting slump to finish with 12 points. The senior guard made all four of his free throws in the final frame.
California was 14 of 17 from the foul line, 11 of 12 in the fourth quarter.
“We practice it so much,” Pappersergi said of his team’s foul shooting. “Tonight it really paid off.”
Ryhan Culberson led all scorers with 20 points for the Rangers, but the rest of his teammates failed to provide enough scoring support to offset California’s stifling defensive effort.
“We wanted to limit everyone else because we knew he’d be tough to stop,” Pappersergi noted. “I don’t think we missed an assignment defensively all night.”
Fort Cherry used superior size inside to grab a 13-10 first quarter lead as the Rangers pounded the offensive boards through most of the first half.
“We wanted to get after them on the boards for sure,” Fort Cherry coach Dwayne Canton said. “I thought we did a real nice job of that early in the game like we did down there early this season. We just didn’t finish.”
Canton added his squad lacked patience on offense, especially down the stretch.
“We had our chances but put up some shots that were too quick,” he said.
Two DeFranco free throws gave the visitors a 22-19 lead at the half, an advantage that was mostly gained by forcing nine Ranger turnovers. California produced 14 turnovers for the game.
Both squads battled back and forth in a tight third quarter. With consecutive layups, Dylan Hammitt gave the Trojans a 37-31 lead in the third quarter. But Fort Cherry’s Nick Rogers answered with consecutive three-pointers to knot the score, 37-37, midway through the quarter.
California eventually built a 43-39 fourth quarter advantage with two more DeFranco foul shots. Culbertson cut the lead to two with two free throws of his own, setting the stage for the game’s biggest play.
After a missed Trojan shot, the Rangers gained possession and appeared poised to tie the game again, but Devon Brown’s layup attempt was swatted by Kass Taylor. The Trojans closed out the game with a 9-2 run.
“That was a huge play,” Pappersergi added. “He struggled offensively but played huge defensively.”
Canton said the Trojans mixing of zone and man defenses had his team confused much of the evening.
“We’d call a set and they’d change the defensive look,” Canton said. “It was very frustrating. To go along with that, we just did not hit a lot of shots.”
California held the Rangers to 33 percent from the field, a major reason why they crept closer to the section leading Buccaneers.
“It may have been our best game defensively all year,” Pappersergi said.