Bishop Shanahan boys basketball team’s strong defense keys win against Unionville

By Peter DiGiovannipdgiovanni07@gmail.com

DOWNINGTOWN – The Bishop Shanahan High School boys basketball team put on quite a defensive show as the host Eagles led wire to wire in an impressive 59-43 nonleague win over Unionville on Monday evening.

The Eagles (4-6) put three players in double figures and the Shanahan defense forced 18 Longhorns turnovers and harassed Unionville (3-5) into a 14-for-44 shooting night from the field. James Brenner led Unionville with a game-high 24 points but no other Longhorns player had more than seven points.

“We have made defense our main focus,” Eagles coach John Dougherty said. “Early in the season we were not doing that good a job on that end and we are still a little shy of where we want to be, but we are getting better on defense. Tonight, the kids did a very good job.”

The Eagles jetted out to a 42-30 lead at halftime. David Maddrey-Ryalnder drained two long 3-pointers in the second period and Andrew Corcoran, who led the Eagles with 17 points, gave the Longhorns trouble all night. The Eagles shot 10-for-22 from the field in the first half.

“We knew Brenner would get his points but we stopped everybody else,” Corcoran said. “He got some points from the foul line and I thought we really used our switches very well on defense.”

Unionville could not cut into the Eagles lead in the third period. Danny Keenan stole a Brenner pass, drove the floor, scored and got fouled. Keenan, who tallied 13 points, hit the free throw and the Eagles had a 42-26 lead late in the third period.

The Longhorns shot just 4-for-13 from the field in the third period. After three quarters, the Eagles were up 42-30.

The Longhorns cut the Eagles’ lead to 42-33 early in the fourth period when Tommy McGinnis drained a 3-pointer. But, that was as close as Unionville would get.

Keenan drained a long 3-pointer and then Sean Griffin scored inside for the Eagles, got fouled and hit the free throw. The Longhorns came up the floor, turned the ball over and Corcoran scored in tight for a 53-35 Eagles lead.

The Longhorns kept playing hard but after a Brenner miss, Corcoran took a feed from Ryan Ambrose and threw down a monster slam and that was it for the Longhorns, trailing 55-35 with just 3:13 left in the fourth period.

“We have a lot of guys that can score on this team,” Keenan said. “And guys share the ball. We just attack the rim and kick the ball out and try to get a good look at the basket and we did a good job of attacking the rim tonight.”

Unionville coach Chris Cowles talked about the Longhorns’ turnovers: “We lost too many possessions and we have to try to execute the skills we learn in practice, and we did not execute those tonight.”

Bishop Shanahan 59, Unionville 43

UNIONVILLE (43) Brenner 7 7-10 24, Heyer 0 0-0 0, McGinnis 1 0-0 3, Robbins 3 0-0 7, Lockwood 0 0-0 0, Dolce 1 0-0 3, Hong 1 0-0 3, Fresco 1 0-0 3. Totals 14 7-10 43.

BISHOP SHANAHAN (59) Ambrose 1 0-0 3, Aquila 2 0-0 4, Corcoran 5 6-8 17, Griffin 4 1-1 10, Keenan 4 3-3 13, Maddrey-Rylander 3 1-1 9, McGrory 1 0-0 3, Nestor 0 0-0 0, O’Sullivan 0 0-0 0.Totals 20 11-13 59.

Unionville                 6 10 14 13-43Bishop Shanahan   13 14 15 17-593-point goals: Brenner 3, McGinnis, Robbins, Hong, Dolce, Fresco, Ambrose, Corcoran, Griffin, Keenan 2, Maddrey-Ryalnder 2, McGrory.