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Chester County Press

Indians defeat Blue Demons, 79-60, behind Neylon and Shanahan

01/13/2020 01:28PM ● By Richard Gaw

By Richard L. Gaw

Staff Writer

In the general schematics of basketball, there are two sides to the ball, and in order for a team to fully be sound and principled, both defense and offense are required to work in harmony.

On the offensive side, the Unionville varsity basketball team was stellar on Jan. 9, using the sharp shooting of Sean Neylon (25 points) and Logan Shanahan (23 points) to defeat their cross-town rival Kennett 79-60, on Senior Night at the Unionville gym.

Two free throws by Shanahan staked the Indians to an early 7-0 lead, and despite a three-pointer by Zachary Lower that got Kennett on the board, Unionville built a 17-7 lead at the end of the first quarter on the strength of three-pointers by Neylon, Shanahan and Peter Kucharczuk.

As the second quarter began, Neylon continued to find his long-range sharpshooting with three three-pointers that extended the Indians’ lead to 26-7. Although it patiently worked the entire court on offense, Kennett was not able to get off more than one shot per possession, which led to several fast-break buckets for Unionville, who went into halftime with a 42-18 lead.

And yet, while a team can experience an offensive assault such as the one the Indians enjoyed, it becomes a hollow victory if the defense does not equally match it.

“I think we did a good job on our offensive end tonight, but we were actually really bad on our defensive execution,” said Unionville head coach Chris Cowles. “From a principle standpoint, we didn't necessarily do everything all the time. With every game, there is a scouting report you need to follow that's personnel driven, and we didn't execute that to the level we needed to tonight, but our offensive execution helped alleviate some of those mistakes.”

Despite the loss that dropped their overall record to 3-9, there were several bright spots for Kennett that shone throughout the game and primarily during the fourth quarter, when the Blue Demons outscored the Indians, 27-14. On his way to a team-high 14 points, sophomore Lower engineered a furious comeback in the closing minutes that was highlighted by three three-pointers, and sophomore Kalen Frazier bullied his way down low to score ten of his 12 points. Ethan Schmidt also finished with 12 points for Kennett.

Following a Jan. 14 game against Sun Valley, Unionville – now 8-4 overall – will host the Chester Charter School for the Arts in a non-league game on Jan. 16. Kennett traveled to Bayard Rustin on Jan. 14, and will take on Sun Valley in an away game on Jan. 16.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].