Souderton senior has career night at Coatesville’s expense By Dave Conard Sports Editor, CoatevilleTimes.com
It was one of those night's for coach Smith and his Coatesville squad
COATESVILLE—In preparing for their District One class AAAA match up with Souderton, the Red Raiders may have overlooked one detail when analyzing the Indians attack, how to account for 6’ 5” senior Ryan Connolly.
Connolly started with a hot hand, hitting three bombs from beyond the arc in three consecutive possessions fueling a 23-18 lead with a minute expired in the second quarter and continued to be a thorn in the Red raiders side and defense all night long, to the tune of a career high 30 points.
The Souderton inside game seized control of the tilt with senior guard Luke Moyer dictating the pace of the game, forcing the Coatesville defense into playing a half court game, which was completely out of their comfort zone.
“I didn’t have been shooting exceptionally well the last couple of games,” said Connelly, who torched the #3 seeded Red Raiders for a career-high 30 points. “Maybe they didn’t think I could shoot, I was a little surprised when after I made a couple threes they still didn’t pressure me. This was a complete team game and will really help our confidence heading into Friday.”
Coatesville's 'Tyler Burke made his impact known as he battled against the Souderton inside attack.
Following his outstanding play in the first three district games Tyler Burke got to trot onto the court in the starting lineup, but even they physical presence and tenacity that is a Burke trademark was enough to quell the visitors uprising as the Indians controlled the boards on both sides of the ball.
Burke worked his way inside on back-to back possessions, cutting the lead to three late in the second quarter, but it would be a close, as the Red Raiders would draw.
“I don’t know, we just never figured #20 (Connolly) would shoot like that,” said Burke. “We had a pretty good game plan coming into the game, but he caught us by surprise a little bit. We have to forget about this game and get right back to work tomorrow and get ready for states, it’s just a loss, it doesn’t end out season, we can get it right back and show what our team is made on next week in states.”
One person not surprised by Connolly’s big night was Big Red head coach Dennis Stanton, as he has come to expect big things from his senior captain.
“I wouldn’t say that I am surprised by Ryan’s game,” said Stanton. “He has played outstanding all season and is one of the best post up players I have ever coached, plus he can bounce outside and kill you with the three, which makes him very difficult to game plan for. Coatesville is a very good team, but it’s tough when some one gets hot like that, they (Red Raider) will be ready come states.”
Coatesville (23-6) cut the lead to seven mid way through the fourth quarter, but Souderton slammed the door with a 7-0 run fueled by the inside game of Connolly and his partner in the invasion of the Red Raiders zone all night Mark Wonderling, who chipped in ten points and nine rebounds.
Souderton will travel to #9 Norristown (18-8) to determine the #5 and #6 seed from District One in the state tournament. Coatesville will host # 4 Central Bucks West (22-4) to determine the #7 and #8 seed from District One in the state tournament.
Souderton Indians 14 17 16 19 – 66
Coatesville Red Raiders 15 10 12 19 – 56
Souderton: Ryan Connolly 30; Mark Wonderling 10; John Kanas 9; Luke Moyer 8; Ry Yozzallinas 7; and Greg Mendrezcki 2. Total – 66.
Coatesville: Andre Boggs 13; Tyler Burke 12; Chris Miller 9; Tymier Miller 7; Vinnie Williams 6; Dameon Nixon 4; Chris Jones 2; Leroy Hoggard 2; Emmett Hunt 1. Total – 56.
The opening tip was one of the few highlights for the Red Raiders in a 66-56 loss to Big Red
