Senior guard Matt Engle leads Central Bucks West to a turnaround season
Engle, who has dealt with numerous injuries this offseason, has led CB West to its first Suburban One League title game appearance since 2018.
Late in the fourth quarter of the Suburban One League quarterfinal against Bensalem on Friday, Matt Engle limped back onto the floor.
“Thank God,” said teammate Sam Jankowski.
Central Bucks West had its point guard and captain back. Engle had missed a couple of possessions after hitting the ground hard on a fast-break layup attempt. Two staff members helped get him to the trainer’s table.
“I was just thinking about my team,” Engle said after CB West captured a 56-53 victory. “I didn’t want to let them down.
“I was battling through stuff, but I was just trying to let the energy take over.”
He showed no fear when he returned to the floor and kept the West offense and defense humming. The four-year varsity player has been irreplaceable in leading a turnaround season for the Bucks.
“He’s huge for us,” said head coach Adam Sherman. “Matt sets the table.”
“He knows how to handle the ball,” Jankowski added. “He knows how to manage the floor, time-wise. He knows how to do a lot of stuff.”
The Bucks (18-6) have put together their first winning season since 2020 and are showing signs of a team that could make the program’s first deep postseason run since reaching the District 1-6A semifinals in 2018.
However, they wouldn’t be here without Engle, a 5-foot-10 senior who has been battling through injuries all season.
Engle dislocated his knee and tore his patellar tendon in June. The typical recovery time for a patellar tendon surgery is six to 12 months.
He turned down knee surgery so he could play his senior season — his last year of competitive basketball before he attends Villanova in the fall.
Engle opted for platelet-rich plasma treatment, which involves getting an injection into the injured area. That treatment will accelerate the healing process by increasing the reparative cells.
The recovery can be painful for seven to 10 days. Then it gradually improves after three to four months.
“It’s manageable,” Engle said. “I do a lot of treatment with it.”
» READ MORE: Academy New Church boys earns first Friends Schools League title since 2009
Although he couldn’t play basketball in the summer and fall, Engle knew that this season would be special.
Each day, he would work on strengthening the muscles around his knee.
“He’s a tough kid,” Sherman said.
His energy has spread to his teammates, too. The Bucks, who were 6-16 a year ago, are hungry for a postseason.
Their first test came in this weekend’s league Tournament. After knocking out Patriot division champion Bensalem in Friday’s quarterfinals, CB West took down CB East in the semifinals on Saturday to advanced to the program’s first Suburban One title game appearance since 2018.
The Bucks were to play Upper Dublin on Tuesday night at Holy Family, searching for their first league crown since 2016.
After that is the District 1-6A tournament starting Friday.
“It’s been a special season, [but] we’re still going.” Engle said. “We have a long way to go.”
This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.