Davis Delivers Dagger as East Boys' Basketball Edges West

By his own admission, Hank Davis was having a rough day against Cherry Hill West.

The East point guard, pulling extra duty with Jake Silpe on the bench in street clothes because of the flu, was far from his usual self, having scored just two points all game.

But with the final seconds ticking away on hostile turf Saturday afternoon, Davis found himself with the ball just beyond the three-point arc, and instead of pulling up for a jumper, Davis, who isn’t exactly known for intimidating size, slipped past West’s Elijah Bey and drove the lane.

A few strides later, the southpaw went to his right, avoided a leaping Will Plenty and dropped the game-winning basket with two seconds left on the clock to give East the 47-45 victory, igniting a raucous celebration in the East end of the court.

“I knew I had to do something to make up for my previous play,” Davis said. “It just opened up.”

It was the second game in a row the Cougars summoned some late-game heroics, though unlike Thursday’s overtime loss to Eastern, they were able to close out the game in doing so.

Doing it without Silpe, who dropped 20 points two days earlier despite barely being able to stay on the court, was a major challenge, Davis said.

“It definitely puts pressure on everybody with (Silpe) out,” he said. “We all have to pick up and step up...I think we played pretty well.”

Instead, the Cougars spread the scoring around, getting a huge performance out of Gary Hettinger, who scored 21 points to lead all scorers on the afternoon.

But a 27-22 East lead at halftime dwindled through the second half, especially as Plenty helped West control the inside game.

The Lions took a brief lead in the third quarter on Sean Mullarkey’s free throw to make it 35-34, and the fourth quarter went back and forth between both squads as the partisan fan sections, which had been near-riotous all game, cranked the volume to jet engine levels.

When West’s Rodney Williams—who endured jeers and taunts from the East fans all game, including chants referring to him as “caveman”—scored an inside basket to tie the game with just over a minute left—and get himself to 999 career points—decibel levels didn’t even apply any more.

It was so loud, Davis had to relay in the final play from coach Dave Allen, as the Cougars chewed up the clock with perimeter passing—but there was never any concern the atmosphere would interfere with those closing moments, Davis said.

“D.A. always makes sure we keep focused,” he said. “He prepares us well for that kind of atmosphere.”

Notching the game-winning basket in his final road game at West was memorable enough for Davis, but the senior laughed at being a lefty who scored right-handed to win it.

“I think it means more to my dad than it does to me,” Davis said. “He’s always making fun of me for not going to my right.”

Check out pictures from the game at .