The Centurions men’s basketball
team played their hearts
out behind a 16-point effort by
power forward David May, but
were no match for undefeated
Philadelphia’s speed, inside
strength and unparalleled
athleticism in a
88-63 loss on Feb. 10.
The team was set for
an upset when they
faced Philadelphia
Community College in
the first round of the
community college
playoffs. The
Centurions played their
way into the game
when they faced and
defeated Harrisburg.
Bucks were clearly
the underdog in the
game and had high
hopes for an upset victory,
even talking about
it as a group minutes
before the game.
Playing against the no.
1 seed as the eighth
seed, the Centurions
were aware of the formidable
task ahead of
them.” Upset Baby,”
said freshman guard John
Michael Chuba, a nursing
major from Levittown.
When asked his views on the
Philadelphia squad before the
game, freshman forward Julian
Sherman, an accounting major
from Newtown, said, “I mean
(they’re) alright, they ain’t
nothing special honestly. We
have a great skill level; there is
just unleashed potential that is
going to come out tonight. We
are coming in confident,
extremely confident.”
Head Coach Steve Coyne,
who has been coaching the
team for three years, expressed
the same confidence in his
team about the big game.
Coyne exclaimed, “My
expectations are that my team
will play hard, they will give
everything that they’ve got and
leave nothing on the floor.”
Defining the importance of
this game versus the unbeaten
and rarely tested favorite,
Coyne said, “They will do the
absolute best that they can; we
are going up against the No. 1
team in the league, who has not
been defeated yet this year. We
have got our hands full, but we
are going to battle.”
The gym at the Newtown
Campus of Bucks County
Community College was filled
with fans and family from both
teams. The stage was set for
the Centurion’s biggest game
of the year. With tip-off looming,
the Centurions took the
court for their David vs.
Goliath battle.
The game started off with
each team kicking the ball
inside to their star player for a
lay-up – in this case Bucks
freshman David May, a physical
education major from
Warrington, and Philly’s
Tyrone Hill, a sports management
major from Philadelphia.
The teams matched three point
field goals in the next two possessions.
The game was looking
tight and the roar of the
Centurion crowd was thunderous
as the score was locked at
11-11, four minutes into the
game.
Speed, strength and athleticism
proved to be the
Centurion’s nemesis as Philly’s
dynamic inside out duo of forward
Tyrone Hill and guard
James Williams began to take
over the game. Williams threw
down an emphatic slam dunk
as Philadelphia started to pull
away midway through the first
half with three unanswered
buckets.
Although Philly was starting
to establish a rhythm with
strong inside presence and precision
shooting, David May
and the Centurions fought hard
to stay in the contest. May
blocked Hill’s shot, which led
to a basket for Bucks down the
floor. On the ensuing possession,
May stole the ball and
headed down court for an easy
lay in to bring the score to 24-
18 with 8 minutes left in the
half.
May’s play sparked the
Centurions’ emotions as the
team let out piercing cries,
confident in their ability to
stick with the highly favored
opponent. Starting to fall victim
to the persistent speed and
pressure of Philadelphia at this
point, the Centurions picked up
the speed themselves and
repeatedly drove to the basket.
This momentarily slowed the
game down as three offensive
fouls in a row were called on
Philly and the score reached
38-26 with 2:45 left in the first
half.
At this critical juncture in the
game Philadelphia continued
their aggressive play. The
Centurions let up a 10-0 run in
the last 2 minutes of the half,
leaving Bucks in a 22 point
hole at halftime. Philadelphia
led Bucks 48-26 at the midway
point.
As the Centurions headed
into the locker room to regroup
for the second half,
Philadelphia Community
College head Coach of 11
years Dondi Desheilds talked
about the first 20 minutes.
“It’s a tight ball game, Bucks
came out to play,” he said.
“It’s good that they have this
game on their home court. You
can throw out the records during
the regular season; it’s a
whole new season now.”
He added: “Those kids are
going to play hard; they don’t
have anything to lose. We have
everything to lose, being the
No.1 seed and they’re the No.
8. They’ve had a good half and
now my guys have got to play
like there is no tomorrow,
because we have got to win the
ball game to move on.”
In the second half
Philadelphia certainly did play
like there was “no tomorrow,”
and the Centurions came out
more aggressive in the second
half, starting it off with a couple
of three pointers. But The
Centurions seemed to have no
defensive answer for Philly’s
stars.
By the midway point of the
second half, Bucks was facing
a full onslaught of slam dunks,
attempted alley oops and unrelenting
inside scoring as the
deficit reached twenty-three
points at 68-45.
Using a basic seven-man
rotation Bucks’ offensive effort
was valiant and skilled, but
they never seemed to be up to
the high-speed pace of
Philadelphia and
their 11-man rotation.
Throughout the
second half the
Centurions constantly
faced a 20-plus
point deficit and
never seemed to be
able to overcome the
critical 10-0 run by
Philly at the end of
the first half.
The game ended in
a final score of 88-
63. Tyrone Hill and
James Williams led
the way for
Philadelphia with 24
and 17 points
respectively. David
May and freshman
guard Keith
Milnazik, a business
major from the
Central Bucks area,
led the scoring for
the Centurions with
16 and 10 points respectively.
Although the Centurions
tasted defeat, they played
Philadelphia with heart, intensity
and passion. At the end of
the day they were simply physically
mismatched, but ended
the game and the season with
their heads held high, gaining
the respect of the entire basketball
community.
Catching up with David May
at the end of the game he
talked about his thoughts on
the game and the Centurions’
improvement throughout the
season.
“I think we played our hearts
out today, we were just over
matched because they have a
very athletic team,” he said. “I
think if we work on some
things next year we can make a
good run, I plan on coming
back next year and am looking
forward to it.”
Thanks to the Centurions and
Coach Coyne, Bucks basketball
is once again highly
respected in and out of the
community.