GFS falls to Westtown

Posted 1/21/16

It does not take a deep knowledge of local high school basketball to understand that Westtown School’s powerhouse boys basketball team facing off against Germantown Friends’ squad is a mismatch. …

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GFS falls to Westtown

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It does not take a deep knowledge of local high school basketball to understand that Westtown School’s powerhouse boys basketball team facing off against Germantown Friends’ squad is a mismatch. Without leading scorer, primary ball handler, and team leader Michael Buckmire taking the floor for GFS, the matchup only seems to become more uneven.

That was the case on Wednesday, when the Moose of Westtown traveled to Coulter Street for a Friends League matchup. Ending in a 74-36 defeat, the Tigers only lead was at a score of 3-2, and the outcome was never really in doubt. Westtown, led by coach Seth Berger, looked the part of Friends League favorite and national heavyweight, anchored by Mohamed Bamba, a 6’11’’ center who is ranked among the very top centers in the country. He finished with only eight points, mostly due to a light workload against the vastly inferior opponent, but he scored them with flair, including a reverse two-handed dunk over a defender.

                 Bamba is not Westtown’s only national-level star. The sophomore guard Cameron Reddish already has NBA length for the position, and is currently ranked seventh nationally at his position, shooting guard. He showed off that shooting prowess with four three-pointers, all in the second half, as he finished with 18 points.

                 By just explaining that Westtown was missing two of their Division I-bound starters, it may sound as if their superior edge over GFS was diminished. But the absence of George Washington University-bound point guard Jair Bolden and wing Najja Hunter, who has offers from the likes of Minnesota and Drexel, still left them Bamba, Reddish, and two more Division I-type players.

The newest addition to Westtown’s team, Brandon Randolph, has quickly emerged as a tremendous shooter and athlete, and he led all scorers on Wednesday night, finishing with 23. And finally, after Bamba got his rest, Anthony Ochefu got his time on the low block, finishing with 14 points and countless rebounds and blocks. Ochefu, who is the little brother of Villlanova star Daniel Ochefu, has garnered interest from many mid-major Division I programs.

Without Buckmire to handle the majority of the scoring load, GFS leaned on senior captain Charlie Dolgenos, who, playing through a hand injury suffered on the first play, finished with 14 points. GFS center Pietro Berghella battled valiantly against the height of the Moose, finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds. But evidently, the Tigers just did not have the talent to match up with the cream of the crop of the Friends League, and quite possibly, all of Pennsylvania.

For GFS, the Westtown game was the middle contest of a brutal three-game stretch against the unquestioned three best teams in the league: Friends Central, Westtown, and Academy of the New Church. The Tigers will look to regroup next week against Shipley, a game will have major implications in the team’s ability to return to the Friends League playoffs.

Westtown continues their country-wide schedule with a game in Massachusetts against Potter's House Christian of Jacksonville, Florida.

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