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By Scott Huff
VILLANOVA – The Penn Wood faithful paraded around the Pavillon at Villanova University with black T-shirts and block white letters that proclaimed – ‘We Are The Real PW – District One 2010 champions’.Four quarters and an overtime period later, those Penn Wood fans were rewarded with a PIAA District One Quad-A championship as the Patriots (23-3) defeated Plymouth Whitemarsh (25-2) - 54-49.
“Penn Wood beat us, and congratulations to them,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Jim Donofrio. “But we beat ourselves in too many ways tonight. We did too many silly things, crazy things, and we went backward tonight.
“We came here to get a ‘W’ – not put on a show,” added Donofrio. “We may have learned a tough lesson tonight – this isn’t a playground.”Plymouth Whitemash played its best basketball in the first period. The Colonials used a stifling defense to generate its offense and take a 16-6 lead.
C.J. Aiken slammed home a pair of dunks and scored six points in the period. Aiken – the 6-foot, 10-inch St. Joseph University recruit - would finish the game with 10 points and seven blocked shots.
Whis Grant – who scored a game-high 23 points – also scored six points in the initial eight minutes.
It appeared that the Colonials would be able to attack the rim when Penn Wood junior center – 6-foot, 9-inch Shawn Oakman – was on the Patriot bench with foul trouble.
“We held that team to 16 points in the first half,” shrugged Donofrio. “You have to be thrilled with a defense effort like that, but we only scored 21 points.
“We threw away a lot of precious scoring opportunities in that second quarter,” continued Donofrio as the Colonials scored just five second period points. “We were not very patient on offense, and we should have scored at least 30-35 points in that first half.”
The third period began with another scoring drought for Plymouth Whitemarsh. The Colonials scored just one point in the first 5:33 of the quarter, but Grant caught fire and the Colonials tallied nine points in the final 2:27 to lead 31-30 at the close of the period.
“Whis was brilliant tonight,” said Donofrio of his flashy 6-0 senior guard. “He came to play, and it was his show.”The game was played at erratic pace the entire night, and both teams traded points in the final period to force overtime. Both teams had opportunity to win – but neither seized the opportunity and the score was knotted at 41-41 at the buzzer.
The difference maker in the overtime was Penn Wood’s Aaron Brown. Brown – who scored a team-high 20 points - scored six quick points as the Patriots outscored the Colonials 13-8 in the extra stanza.
Another black eye to the Colonial performance was its free throw shooting. Plymouth Whitemarsh shot just 16-for-31 on the line, while Penn Wood was 19-of-25.
“I don’t want these kids leaving the locker room feeling okay about themselves,” said Donofrio. “It’s not okay. I don’t want them going home and getting big hugs and thinking it’s okay.“I want them to leave here feeling angry,” added Donofrio. “We can still make this a special year, but we are going to have to stay angry.”
Grant – the Colonial co-captain – got the message.
“We are all frustrated, angry, about how we played tonight,” said Grant. “We will be ready to play our next game in states, and I wouldn’t want to be the other team.
“We will get another chance at Penn Wood,” added Grant as the two would have to meet in the PIAA state final on March 27 at Penn State University for that rematch to take place. “And we’ll see what happens.”
And then the Plymouth Whitemarsh faithful might wear T-Shirts that say, “We Are The Real PW – 2010 State Champions.”
PW-PW box score
Penn Wood 6 10 14 11 13 - 54
Plymouth Whitemarsh 16 5 10 10 8 - 49
Penn Wood – Tyree Johnson 5 5-7 16; Aaron Brown 7 5-6 20; Shawn Oakman 2 3-6 7; Will Brown 3 3-4 10; Dequan Pelzer 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 19-25 54.
3-point field goals – Johnson, A. Brown, W. Brown.
Plymouth Whitemarsh – C.J. Aiken 5 0-1 10; Sam Pygatt 1 5-6 7; Whis Grant 6 8-12 23; Jaylen Bond 2 3-12 7; Stephon Baker 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 16-31 49.
3-point field goals – Grant (3).
Pennsbury 47 – Neshaminy 40
Pennsbury (17-10) defeated Neshaminy (19-8) for the third time this season as the Falcons flew to a 47-40 win over the Redskins.
The victory will make Pennsbury the #5 seed from District One in the upcoming PIAA Quad-A state tournament. The loss will make Neshaminy the #6 seed.
Senior Jesse Krasna led the Falcons with 15 points, while sophomore Kieran Bolger scored 12 points. Jay Jabat also scored in double figures for the winners with 11 points.
Sophomore Ryan Arcidiacono led the Skins in scoring with 15 points. Mike McGarry added 10 points for Neshaminy, while Dwight Williams scored eight points for the Skins.
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