Tough as nails Justin Smith, Cherry Hill West basketball upset Pemberton in quarterfinals

PEMBERTON – Aaron Burt has coached several NBA players over the years.

The list includes former 10th-overall pick Cam Reddish, Villanova standouts Mikal Bridges and Donte DiVincenzo and more.

However, the Cherry Hill West High School boys’ basketball coach doesn’t think he’s ever been tougher on a player than he has on Lions senior Justin Smith.

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It began his freshman year. Smith, a four-year starter, remembers having a poor game and Burt getting nose to nose with him.

It’s all been preparation though. Preparation for his final season. Preparation for Thursday night.

Smith, the only player on the roster with any semblance of varsity experience entering the winter, carried 10th-seeded Cherry Hill West to one of the biggest upsets in the state playoffs this year as they rallied past No. 2 Pemberton 50-49 in the South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinals.

The Lions, the lone double-digit seed remaining in the area, will travel to No. 3 Burlington Township on Saturday afternoon for the semifinals.

“I’m just so happy for the kids,” Burt said. “The kids, they followed the game plan. We made mistakes, but you know what, we played two freshmen a lot and Justin Smith, he played his (butt) off the entire game.”

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Smith knows what it takes to make a deep postseason run – he helped Cherry Hill West get to a sectional final two years ago. However, this team wasn’t expected to make that kind of push this season.

He even admitted that.

“I know we was the underdogs, and we’re going to be the underdogs going into every matchup,” he said.

That didn’t stop him from going after it though.

The Lions looked like they were in trouble against Pemberton early in the third quarter down 21-12. They couldn’t hit any shots whatsoever, yet they kept coming.

“He said we’re in this game, we’re going to win this game,” said freshman Quinn Gibson, who kept West alive in the opening half with six of his team’s 12 points.

Slowly but surely, the tide turned, and by the end of the period they trailed just 32-30.

Then, Kanye Paxton buried a triple off a feed from Smith to put Cherry Hill West ahead 33-32 early in the fourth. They never relinquished the advantage again.

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Smith scored 12 of his team-high 14 points and grabbed six of his 13 rebounds in the final eight minutes. He was 10-of-12 from the charity stripe, connecting on his last nine attempts.

“I wasn’t going home,” he said. “I wasn’t going home. I was going to do whatever I had to do.”

Smith has built that determination over the past four years.

Burt calls him “tough as nails,” someone he can coach harder and harder and continue to respond.

“I’ve always held him to a different accountability,” Burt said. He added later, “It’s kind of unfair that he has to bear the burden, but he takes it. … He always steps up for us. I can coach him, yell at him, tell him whatever, and he just responds. He plays hard, competes and he’ll take it on the chin, but I can rely on him in those lines.”

It’s an example Gibson and the other varsity newcomers are doing their best to follow.

“Justin has taught me so much,” Gibson said. “He’s taught me to be so calm. At the end of the game he made everything (because he’s) under control. If we were ever close to getting too scared, he would bring us back in and be back with us. He fights.”

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And West gets to fight another day because of it.

“I know what it takes to get to the (South Jersey) Group 3 championship,” Smith said. “I know a lot guys on the team don’t, but I just want to get us there and I want to finish the job this time.”

Game notes

► Pemberton had a chance to send the game to overtime in the final seconds.

Cherry Hill West was inbounding with a 50-47 lead, but Jordan Lomax stole the ball with 5 ticks left. The ball worked its way to the outside, but the Hornets went for a layup instead of a 3-pointer. It was made, but the clock ran out, sending the Lions onto the court in celebration.

► Gibson and fellow freshman Drew Pullano played huge roles in the West win. Gibson finished with 11 points and 7 boards while Pullano hit a 3-pointer with just over four minutes remaining to put his team ahead 36-32, and had two big fourth-quarter steals as well.

“I love ’em,” Smith said of the youngsters. “I love ’em. I love ’em like they my little brothers because they play so hard and they fight with me.”

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► Paxton tallied nine of his 11 points in the second half and was also instrumental to the comeback.

“I said you’re going to make shots, and when you start making shots other things are going to happen for you,” Burt said he told Paxton during a tough first half. “He started playing well, confidence rolled and he figured it out.”

► The Hornets were led by Cameron Downs, who had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Marty Sigler, who netted 11 points.

“It’s definitely a tough way to end the year, especially leading in the first half, but they’re a really good team,” head coach Tim Collura said. “We didn’t shoot well today at all. I think we made two 3-pointers on the game (2-for-13), so it’s just, it was one of those days where as the game went on, they just kept cutting the lead and they took it.”

Collura was still very proud of his team, which has gone 32-11 over the past two years after winning 11 games the previous three seasons combined.

“They just kind of changed the culture here,” Collura said. “The younger programs can see you can do special things here if you stay here and they kind of set the mark for the groups to come, what we expect out of them.”

Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Cherry Hill West stuns Pemberton in South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinals