Toughness, Cercado guide Becahi to ‘Holy War’ victory
Bethlehem Catholic boys basketball coach Scott McClary has five freshmen on his roster this season and two of them start.
He also has a new-look team overall since eight of his top nine players are gone from last year’s District 11 championship squad and state quarterfinalist.
With so many newcomers McClary had to provide some history of the rivalry between Becahi and Allentown Central Catholic, the so-called “Holy War” that exists in several sports.
“We shared a ton with them about the ‘Holy War’ because we love our sport, we love our rivalry, we love our history,” McClary said. “You can’t go to Bethlehem Catholic or Allentown Central Catholic and not have this be a big deal. It just is. People remind them all the time of how big a deal it is. These games always feature a great atmosphere, great energy and a great battle.”
Becahi persevered through this version of the “Holy War” a little more successfully. The Golden Hawks got a quality effort on defense, on the boards, and on offense from Alex Cercado in posting a 45-37 Eastern Pennsylvania Conference victory over the visiting Vikings.
It was Becahi’s fifth straight win and boosted the Golden Hawks, considered by some to be in rebuilding mode, to 6-2 overall, 4-1 EPC.
Cercado, who is one of the league’s premier players, scored 18 points. Freshmen starters Josh Benka-Coker and Marcus Drysdale added 11 and 9 points respectively and junior Josh Brown delivered 10 rebounds, as Becahi took control early and never relinquished it.
The Golden Hawks had just one field goal in the final period but scored more than enough to put away the Vikings, who were limited to 43 points or less for the sixth time in eight games.
McClary felt his young team set a firm tone immediately when it grabbed leads of 8-3, 10-5, and 12-6 in the first quarter. Then 3-pointers by Cercado and Drysdale quickly opened an 18-6 advantage in the first 1:24 of the second quarter.
“We’re asking Alex to trust guys who haven’t played varsity before and they’re going to make mistakes, but he has to keep trusting them. Tonight he was really good with that. He made a couple of bad decisions, but he didn’t make them back-to-back. That showed tremendous growth from our leader.”
— Scott McClary, Bethlehem Catholic coach, on Alex Cercado
“The tougher team usually wins and I like the way we started the game dominating the glass,” McClary said. “That set the tone with our younger guys because we lean on our two freshmen. The way those guys attacked the glass early in the game showed that we weren’t going to back down from what is a great team that’s physically strong and tough.”
McClary was concerned about the Vikings imposing their will early, but it was Becahi doing the asserting.
“The second big thing for us was Cercado,” McClary said. ‘The story with us is that we lost eight of our top nine, but the one guy we have back is special. He was our MVP at our team banquet last year even though he had a lot of good players around him.”
Cercado averaged 9.5 points per game last year and was instrumental down the stretch when Becahi went on a 5-game run that it through districts and into the elite eight in Class 4A.
“We’re asking Alex to trust guys who haven’t played varsity before and they’re going to make mistakes, but he has to keep trusting them,” McClary said. “Tonight he was really good with that. He made a couple of bad decisions, but he didn’t make them back-to-back. That showed tremendous growth from our leader.”
While Cercado has clearly emerged as his team’s catalyst, ACCHS is still searching for guys to step forward.
On a night when former all-staters and state champions Liam Joyce and Tyson Thomas were in the building to support their alma mater, the current Vikings could have used them on the floor.
Nico Pulieri tried his best to keep ACCHS in it with 17 points, including all six of his team’s points in the third quarter. But it wasn’t enough.
The Vikings made just 11 of 41 shots from the field, 3 of 19 from 3-point range and despite that coldness they still had a shot late.
Trailing 35-22 entering the fourth quarter, ACCHS went on a 7-0 run off a Lucas Mushrush 3-pointer and layups by Cole Cook and Anthony Jones off turnovers.
But after getting within 35-29 with 6:49 left in regulation, the Vikings didn’t score again until Jones made two free throws with 2:39 left and Becahi up 11. The flurry followed by futility typified the night.
“Becahi came out with great energy to start the game and was able to play with the lead and we had to scratch and claw along,” ACCHS coach Dennis Csensits said. “We did some good things, but we never got into enough of a flow offensively and put consecutive possessions together. Give their defense credit because their length bothered us at a couple of different spots on the floor. We had good looks for some of our shooters, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.”
Csensits still believes his team can be good. The Vikings host their own event next week with games against LaAcademia from Lancaster and Roberto Clemente and then return to league play Jan. 3 against Parkland.
“I really like this group because they’re grinding and they’re trying to get better,” he said. “They’re trying to do the right things. But we’ve got to start turning out more wins.”