West Deptford Boys Win GCBL Championship

Things looked bleak for West Deptford’s Minor Division boys in the finals of the Gloucester County Basketball League last week.

Down 10 points after the third quarter, and in hostile territory against Glassboro on the road, the frustration was evident.

But coach Phil Ratcliffe knew what his kids were capable of, if they kept it together in those waning minutes, and told them that in one last huddle.

“I said, ‘It’s there if you want it,’ " he said.

The Eagles responded in a big way.

In a flurry of effort on defense and a speedy offense, West Deptford clawed back to knock off Glassboro at the end, 31-30, to claim the team’s first-ever county title.

Not bad for a team that only started playing last year.

“The defense was just unbelievable,” Ratcliffe said of the performance in the finals, and praised it as a total team effort.

The Minor Eagles—Brandon Ratcliffe, Colby Garrison, M.J Iraldi, Kyle Maska, Ryan Ainsley, Logan Nichols, Matt Topeka, Jordan Moore, Michael Barney, Luke Baines and Connor Fair—were in large part the same team that first took the court last season, where they posted a third-place finish.

And after a summer playing together and plenty of work on the little things—passing and defense especially—Phil Ratcliffe said he and assistant coach Wes Topeka thought they had a shot this year, despite the program being essentially brand-new.

“We knew we had a chance to do something special,” Phil Ratcliffe said.

The fourth-quarter rally against Glassboro and league championship capped off what was a stellar year: The Eagles went 14-1, steamrolling through their schedule, with the lone hiccup against Logan Township midway through the season.

When West Deptford met up with Logan again in the semifinals, though, it was a much different story—the Eagles hung a 13-point win on the board to avenge that lone defeat and set up the title game.

It was that kind of resilience, coming back to beat the one team they’d lost to all season, then coming back again in the championship game, despite a big deficit, that epitomized the Eagles’ season, Phil Ratcliffe said.

“It was amazing how they reacted after we won,” he said. “It was a great group of kids.”