Cherry Hill East looks poised to make a consecutive NJSIAA boys’ basketball final appearance

Dave Allen knows how to cultivate a winning culture.

With stops at Eastern and Cherry Hill West, Allen, now in his 13th season as the Cherry Hill East boys’ basketball coach, has amassed 400 career wins at the helm, earning 28 playoff victories and two Group IV championships in the process.

This year’s Cougars look like a direct extension of Allen’s winning ways.

East ended the regular season 21-3, winning seven of its eight Olympic Conference matchups. The Cougars are slated to host Toms River North (9-17, 3-7 Shore) in the first round of the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV Tournament on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

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The Cougars are looking to build off last season’s playoff run, in which they fell to Lenape, 48-47, in the Group IV championship — just a point away from raising their third championship banner in program history.

Allen, however, would be the first to say that this year’s team is different.

“Traditionally, we’ve always been a three-point shooting team,” Allen said. “We push in transition but also play some control-tempo basketball, but this year, we’ve been more of a pressing team, more of a team trying to play transition more so than we had in the past. At some points in the year, we were averaging over 70 points a game.”

The catalyst for this change, Allen says, has been the team’s “really good guard play.”

This backcourt effort is led by junior Chris Abreu. The 6-foot-1 guard transferred to East after his freshman season at Paul VI and has been a constant triple-double threat. He’s averaging 16.8 points, 6.3 assists, and 6.1 rebounds this season.

“We’re a fast-paced team,” Abreu said. “Push the ball a lot and push it in transition.

“I’m really excited for the playoffs, actually.”

Tuesday will mark the second meeting between East and Toms River North this season. On Dec. 20, the Cougars trounced the Mariners, 91-38, behind Abreu’s triple-double (14 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds.)

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Allen indicated that his team will look to key in on the Mariners’ Jake Greenberg. The sophomore guard is averaging 13.5 points and is known to get hot from deep.

“[Greenfield is] solid,” Allen added. “He was solid against us the first time, and he’s having a good year for them, so we’re going to have to try to keep up what we’re doing defensively.”

To start the season, Abreu had a running mate in sophomore Jamieson Young. Against the Mariners, Young totaled 23 points. The combo guard was the Cougars’ leading scorer, averaging 21.8 points through the team’s first 12 games.

However, on Jan. 17 against St. Rose, Jameson went to save the ball from going out of bounds, landing awkwardly on his right ankle, which he had previously tweaked in the summer. This time, it required surgery. He was ruled out for the remainder of the season.

“[Young] gave us a lot in terms of his ability on the floor,” Allen said “He was our secondary ball handler and also our leading scorer. … We had to then kind of reshift some things to make up for those 22 points [per game].”

First, Allen’s eyes turned to Abreu, challenging the junior to take over the scoring load and “make people better” around him. He did just that, as East won five straight following Young’s injury.

“[The message was] to just stay focused, stay disciplined,” Abreu said. “It’s hard with injuries and us being hurt, but you’ve obviously just got to push through it.”

Allen also turned to senior guard Chris Delgado. The four-year starter scored a career-high 28 points in the Cougars’ first game without Young, while surpassing 1,000 career points in the process.

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“The best thing I can say about [Delgado] is that he’s a kid we want our younger players to emulate. That’s it,” Allen said. “He’s a kid who is a program kid who sacrifices. All he wants to do is win.”

This year, Delgado is averaging 11.5 points, 1.5 assists, and 2.25 rebounds, while being tasked to guard the other team’s best player. The senior has seen two deep playoff runs with the Cougars: a Group IV semifinal loss in his freshman year and last year’s final loss.

This will be the senior captain’s final chance to earn a championship. Consistent messaging is important for Allen, but winning is not the only thing the coach wants his players to focus on.

“Win or lose, the process is what’s going to be lasting for players,” Allen said. “Even when you win, that’s not what’s lasting. … What happens is, when you win, you change the goalpost — you start thinking about competing again.”