To view game action photos, visit the photo gallery by clicking on the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
READING – The roar of the crowd was deafening as the ball found its way into the hands of a wide open Dante Devine deep in the right corner. With time about to expire in regulation and his team deadlocked with Central Dauphin East in Wednesday night’s PIAA Class AAAA second round contest, the Pennsbury junior had virtually no time to think.
“I couldn’t even breathe actually, and I was numb,” Devine said. “I couldn’t believe they gave the ball to me for the last play.
“The only thing I could think was to drive and try and get fouled, but then I realized I was wide open. No one was near me, and I had to get some lift on my shot.”
One moment, Devine was raising up for a three-pointer.
The next, he was mobbed by teammates and fans as the ball – which had just enough lift - fell softly through the net as the final horn sounded, giving the Falcons a heartstopping 45-42 win over the stunned Panthers at Reading High School’s Geigle Complex.
“I can’t believe it,” said Devine, clutching the game ball. “I can’t believe I actually made that shot. It was like a dream.
“I never had this happen before. Actually, I don’t want it to happen again. It was a lot of nerves. I was petrified.”
Petrified or not, Devine – also a force on defense - was money with the game riding on the line, and as a result of the win, the Falcons have earned a spot in the state’s elite eight. They will face District One runner-up Penn Wood – a 78-53 winner over Bartram - in a quarterfinal contest on Saturday.
But no one was looking that far ahead after Wednesday’s huge win. This was a win for the ages over a Central Dauphin East squad that was the District Three champion and brought a 17-game winning streak into the game.
“The Geigle Complex has been Pennsbury’s waterloo,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “We have never won here.
“Obviously, we played tremendous defense. They averaged 67 points a game, so we played great on ‘D.’”
The Panthers will undoubtedly be seeing Pennsbury orange in their sleep as defense was unquestionably a key to the win. As was Devine’s clutch shot.
But there wouldn’t have been a game-winning shot by Devine, and no one would have cared a whole lot about the Falcons’ superb defensive effort had it not been for the marvelous performance of Dalton Pepper, who was battling a migraine and suffering flu-like symptoms.
“I was pretty sick,” he said. “Last night I probably got 14 hours of sleep – I went to bed at 7:30. My mom let me go in to school late, and I pretty much just ate oranges and drank liquids all day.”
That apparently was more than enough.Pepper – still ‘sick as a dog,’ according to Sciolla - picked up his team and carried it on his back in the first half, scoring the first 10 Pennsbury points and 18 by halftime on his way to a game-high 26 points.
“He battled it, but when he came in at halftime, he was rocking back and forth,” Sciolla said. “The thing is he doesn’t want to come out of the game. To play tonight (is) a testament to how tough he is, especially to perform the way he did.
“You’re talking about one of the all-time great players in Pennsylvania. Certainly the best player ever to come through our county, and his toughness can only be measured on the Richter Scale.”
All but lost in the shuffle of the fantastic finish was the Falcons’ strong start. With Pepper – despite being the focal point of the Panthers’ defense - hitting shots from everywhere, the Falcons turned a 7-7 tie into a 16-9 lead.
“I thought whoever got up in this game was going to win the game because they play similar to us,” Sciolla said. “They spread the floor.”
The 9-2 Falcon run consisted of three consecutive treys. First it was Pepper hitting nothing but net on a three-pointer to cap his personal 10-point run, and the senior star admits he is driven by the realization that a loss would mean the end of his high school career.
“We’re a senior-oriented team,” he said. “We just play with our heart.”
The Falcons led 13-7 after Devine turned an Eddie DiRugeris pass into a three-pointer. Marcus Healey capped the run with a baseline three that put the Falcons on top by seven. It was still a seven-point game at the intermission (29-22).
It looked as though the Falcons were on their way to an easy win when they opened the second half with a 9-4 run that was capped when Goran Dulac scored on a putback at the 4:55 mark of the third quarter to make it a 38-26 game. That’s when their offense inexplicably disappeared.
The Falcons scored just one point – a foul shot by Jesse Krasna early in the fourth quarter – during the next 12 and a half minutes.
“We had some good opportunities offensively, but give them credit, they’re athletic,” Sciolla said. “They’re so long inside, and normally those layups we get when we spread the floor became those roll-off-the-rimmers, and they blocked shots.”
While nothing good was happening offensively for the Falcons, the Panthers chipped away at their lead, and with 30 seconds remaining, CD East finally got over the hump, knotting the score for the first time since the opening quarter when Sienna-bound Jonathon Breeden (12 points) scored on a floater in the paint.
Pepper had an immediate answer, banking home a shot – despite being fouled - on a tough drive and burying the foul shot to put the Panthers on top 42-39 with 18 seconds remaining. With seven seconds showing on the game clock, Demond Bates, who had just seven points, buried a three-pointer to knot things up.
“That was probably the best backcourt we’ve seen all year,” Pepper said. “We wanted to contain their point guard (Breeden) because we knew if we contained him, he couldn’t find 24 (Bates), who’s a real good shooter.”With only 4.1 seconds on the clock, overtime appeared imminent, especially when the Panthers took away any chance of Pepper touching the ball on Pennsbury’s inbounds from midcourt. But Dulac received the inbounds pass and looked opposite where Devine (eight points) was ready and waiting to fill the role of hero.
“I thought (my shot) was short, so I started running full speed in (for the follow), but then I saw coach Sciolla coming at me,” he said. “I was so excited.”
“I was right under the basket, so I saw it go right in,” Pepper said. “If he made the shot or if I made the shot, it didn’t matter who made it.
“I knew he was going to knock it in. He’s a huge factor on this team. He plays with so much heart. He doesn’t care who he’s defending. He’s just going to go out and play his hardest.”
While the District Three champions closed out their season with a 27-4 mark, the Falcons upped their record to 24-5 and lived to see another day.
PENNSBURY 45, CENTRAL DAUPHIN EAST 42
Pennsbury (45) – Jesse Krasna 0 1-2 1, Dante Devine 3 0-0 8, Eddie DiRugeris 1 0-1 2, Dalton Pepper 9 6-7 26, Goran Dulac 1 0-0 2, Tom Marcinkowski 1 0-0 3, Marcus Healey 1 0-0 3, Jon Ryan Wolff 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 7-10 45.
Central Dauphin East (42) – Amani Glenn 4 0-1 9, Demond Bates 3 0-0 7, Jonathon Breeden 4 1-2 12, Terrence Kellum 1 0-0 2, Brian Chatman 3 0-0 6, Kevin Onyeika 3 0-0 6, Christian DeVan 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 1-3 42.
Pennsbury 16 13 9 7-45
Central Dauphin East 9 13 11 9-42
Three-point goals: Pennsbury – Dalton Pepper 2, Dante Devine 2, Marcus Healey, Tom Marcinkowski. Central Dauphin East – Jonathon Breeden 3, Demond Bates, Amani Glenn.
- Log in to post comments
0
