Lenape musters comeback win over C. H. East

With his team down by 18 at halftime, Lenape's Jeff Dinich wasn't thinking about a remarkable victory.

He was thinking about a respectable loss.

"We just didn't want people to think that first half was what Lenape was all about," said Dinich, a senior guard.

Slowly but surely, with tenacious defense and determined offense, Lenape fought its way back into contention against highly touted Holy Spirit on Sunday at the Cherry Hill Invitational.

In the end, the Indians made play after play down the stretch and emerged with an emotional 57-52 victory over the Spartans at Cherry Hill East.

"It was a tale of two halves," Lenape coach Chuck Guittar said. "As much confidence as they played with in the first half, that's how much confidence we played with in the second half."

Senior guard Brad Robertson scored 16, senior center Will Kelly scored 14 and Dinich scored 12 for Lenape (18-5), which won its fourth game in a row.

Senior guard Asmar Williams scored 18 for Holy Spirit (18-5), the No. 7 team in South Jersey in The Inquirer Top 10.

Holy Spirit had a 38-20 lead at halftime. But in the second half, the Spartans managed just 14 points, including just four in the fourth quarter.

"They were shooting the lights out in the first half," Guittar said. "We just wanted to make things more difficult for them and if they continued to shoot that way, well, then it wasn't our day."

Lenape got a big lift in the second half from Kelly, the 6-foot-8 athlete who has committed to attend the Naval Academy.

Kelly's three-point play gave Lenape a 51-50 lead with 3 minutes, 18 seconds on the clock. Kelly added two free throws for a 53-50 lead, and Ben Cunningham scored off a steal and nice feed from Dinich to make it 55-50 at the 2:30 mark.

"Coach didn't let us sulk [at halftime]," Kelly said. "We just had to get back out there and play the way we were capable of playing."

Holy Spirit   13 25 10 4 - 52

Lenape   14 6 19 18 - 57

H: Dylan Price 1, Jate Cheshul 10, Larry Jones 2, Tyler Miller 7, Paul Moore 7, Josh Popper 7, Asmar Williams 18.

L: Josh Nace 6, Jeff Dinich 12, Brad Robertson 16, Will Kelly 14, Ben Cunningham 6, Evan Ward 3.