Fort Cherry duo reduced, but Rangers roll over California
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry's Owen Norman drives past California's Fred Conard.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry's Maddox Truschel lays out under the hoop, drawing a foul against California's Drew Thomas.
Owen Norman
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry’s Owen Norman eyes up the hoop as he drives for two his team-leading 40 points in a WPIAL Class 2A playoff victory over California.
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
California's Spencer Petrucci, back, reaches to contain Fort Cherry's Owen Norman.
Mark Marietta
Mark Marietta/For the Observer-Reporter
Fort Cherry’s Maddox Truschel splits the California defense and makes the basket as well as drawing a foul.
McDONALD – Fort Cherry’s tandem of Owen Norman and Dylan Rogers has become a formidable one-two punch in the WPIAL and was a big reason why the Rangers went 20-2 in the regular season and earned a two-seed in this year’s Class 2A boys basketball playoff bracket.
In the Rangers’ first-round game Tuesday night against California, only half of that tandem was in action.
With Rogers nursing a nagging ankle injury, Fort Cherry coach Eugene Briggs only planned on using him in an emergency. So Norman felt like he was under more of a microscope than usual.
“There’s definitely more pressure felt because we just work really well together,” Norman said.
He responded by having the game of his life.
Behind a career-high 40 points from Norman, the Rangers rolled to an 80-52 win over the Trojans and advanced to the quarterfinals.
For Briggs, Norman’s performance was another example of Fort Cherry’s offensive depth.
“This team has done a really good job this year of taking whatever we’re given,” Briggs said. “We’ve had other people, I mean Maddox (Truschel) has had games (with) 24 points, and Dylan (Rogers) has had 26-point games, Adam Wolfe’s had 12-, 14-point games. So, you know, whatever they take away, we find a guy who is open.”
Norman had the same sentiment.
“It’s really nice having a team that can just score all around to get me open,” he said.
Despite seven missed free throws in the first half, Fort Cherry led by double-digits going into halftime behind 24 of Norman’s 40 points. The Rangers widened their lead in the second half, enough to where the Mercy Rule took effect with less than two minutes to go in the game.
Fort Cherry missed 14 total foul shots, and Norman went just 1-for-9 from the line. Although the Rangers will want to fix this, Briggs feels that some of the problems at the charity stripe can be explained.
“I was told a long time ago by a coach a lot smarter than me that, a lot of times, when you play really up-tempo, aggressive defense, sometimes it makes it difficult to shoot free throws, playing so amped up,” Briggs said. “I think some of that tonight might have had something to do with it. We were just playing so hard. Free throws that we’ve been making didn’t go in tonight.”
Fort Cherry did play hard on defense, and Briggs cited that effort as a big reason for the success at the other end of the floor, too.
“Except for a three- or four-minute span in the first half, we played some really good defense and took away what they like to do,” Briggs said. “I think that caused some problems (for California) and got us some easy buckets on the other end.”
Along with Norman’s 40, Derek Errett added 14 points. For California, Fred Conrad led the way with 11 points and Noah Neil added 10.
The Trojans finished year four of the Aaron Balla-era with a 6-15 record.
“We had big improvements through this season,” Balla said. “It was, unfortunately, a very slow start. But a lot of progress with it, too. Guys had a lot to learn since we graduated a lot of seniors the last two years … a lot of improvement this year, so I’m proud of those guys.”
Fort Cherry’s next hurdle will be seventh-seeded Winchester Thurston, who beat No. 10 Carmichaels Tuesday night. The game will be held in McDonald Friday night.
For Briggs, the key to a WPIAL Championship run will be for his players to “do what they do well.”
“That’s why we’re successful this year,” Briggs said. “The right guys take the shots. The right guys handle the ball. The right guys rebound. We don’t try to make plays that we’re not capable of (making).”