To view game action photos, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
CHESTER – As Jim Donofrio headed into his team’s locker room, the Plymouth Whitemarsh coach said to no one in particular, “The heartbreak and ecstasy of basketball.”“Crazy,” he added shaking his head. “Crazy. Crazy.”
Donofrio undoubtedly was recalling the final 5.9 seconds of Saturday’s Pete Nelson Classic against St. Joe’s Prep that saw the ball change hands more times than he cared to count. Time finally expired as PW sophomore Jaylen Bond – while lying on the court – swatted the ball in the general direction of his team’s basket.
“Jaylen Bond looked like a man rolling down a hill, but what an effort though - to smack at it, tip it or whatever, but that’s basketball,” Donofrio said. “That’s the luck factor.”
The Colonials had somehow escaped with a dramatic 44-42 win over the Prep, and if it’s wild endings you’re looking for, few are wilder than this one.
“I think as a coach you’re so used to everything going wrong in that moment,” Donofrio said. “It’s amazing the feeling you get. You just relinquish yourself to fate.
“No timeouts left, it’s in the worst spot to inbound, and who knows what they’re going to do on defense. They go some kind of crazy zone thing, and the ball starts rolling.”
The drama began building long before those final frantic seconds.
It was a 44-42 game after the Hawks’ Dan Fitzpatrick sank a pair from the foul line with 47 seconds remaining. Seventeen seconds – and two timeouts later – the Prep’s Pat Stewart came up with a steal, setting the stage for a potential game-tying or game-winning shot.
Inexplicably, that shot never happened as the Hawks – reluctant to pull the trigger - threw the ball out of play in the far corner, giving PW possession with 5.9 seconds remaining.
Bond inbounded the ball, and chaos ensued.
“I tried to run a play,” the sophomore center said. “But I threw it too far.”
The Prep came up with the ball near midcourt, but Bond stripped the Hawk player of the ball.
“I tried to dribble, and it hit off my foot,” the 6-6 sophomore said. “Another guy picked it up, and I just dove on the floor and grabbed it. It was a long six seconds.”
But in the end, the Colonials had pulled off their biggest win of the young season, a win they hope is an omen of things to come.
“It was very important,” Bond said. “When we played Roman and Conestoga, those were close games, but we never pulled it out. This is a game that was close, and we finally pulled it out.”
Bond contributed eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. C.J. Aiken, PW’s 6-9 man in the middle, had a team-high 11 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots, and the two big men owned the paint down the stretch. Guards Joe Hughes (nine points) and Will Mascio (eight points) also delivered some big baskets.
According to Donofrio, trying to bring this multi-talented group together is no easy task.
“One of the challenges with us is I’m trying to develop about 12 guys at the same time, which is obviously either ingenious or the dumbest thing you could ever do,” the PW coach said. “(Prep) coach (Speedy) Morris is going to do what PW usually does – play five guys with two subs, and you get chemistry that way.
“We’re trying to do it with 14, partly because we’re new, partly because we’re young and partly because we can.”
The difference in Saturday’s game, according to Mascio, was the Colonials’ intensity.
“We had the memory in the back of our minds of losing those two big games, so it just fueled us,” the senior guard said. “We kept thinking – we can’t lose another big one.”
The Colonials actually trailed for the better part of three quarters as the Prep – playing a disciplined, possession style game – repeatedly burned time off the clock and then buried a trey.
“It’s hard,” Bond said. “You have to stay focused.”
“You have to be patient,” said Mascio.
All told, the Hawks had seven three pointers while the Colonials struggled to find their stride offensively.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Mascio said. “We have been running these plays for three years now. The seniors and juniors have them down, but the new guys, young guys are definitely learning. They’re getting better game by game, but there’s a learning curve.”
Behind three Joe Nardi treys, the Prep opened up a 15-11 lead at the end of one quarter. Back-to-back buckets by Aiken and Hughes knotted the score, but the Prep’s Mike Leithead (11 points) answered with a bucket to put the Prep on top 17-15. The Hawks led 22-17 after a Pete Buzby bucket and took a five-point lead into halftime (24-19).
“You face a team that can shoot threes like that, and you shake their hand and hope they don’t have quite enough,” Donofrio said. “It’s a frustrating thing to play a team that runs their offense as beautifully as the Prep does.
“Coach Morris is probably the best in the business in high school basketball in this area.”
A Nardi trey put the Hawks on top 29-23 at the 5:20 mark of the third quarter, but the Colonials owned the rest of the frame. A bucket by Mascio after a drive made it a four-point game, and when Mascio buried a pair from the foul line, the Hawks’ lead was trimmed to 29-27.
“Will had a couple of big baskets – driving to the hole, got fouled and made free throws,” Donofrio said. “That’s what you have to do in that kind of game.”
The score was deadlocked after a Damien Williams bucket in close, but Sean Brophy found Leithead for an easy deuce off the spread to put the Hawks back on top. With time winding down in the frame, Aiken turned Mascio’s alley-oop pass into a dunk that knotted the score 31-31.
The Hawks went on top 34-31 after Nardi (20 points) buried a trey off the screen, but Bond answered with a basket at the other end, and when Mascio buried a trey, the Colonials led 36-34.
“I just try to do whatever my team needs me to do – whether it’s passing, scoring, rebounding,” Mascio said.
Aiken delivered a monster block on the defensive end and then capped the sequence by draining a trey. The PW faithful erupted when Mascio found Bond for a bone-jarring dunk at the end of a fastbreak, giving the Colonials a 41-34 lead midway through the quarter.
“They’re big,” Bond said of the dunks. “They get everybody playing harder. It brings the intensity up.”
“Even though I’m not the one dunking it – just to even pass it brings the intensity up for everyone – fans, players,” Mascio said.
The Hawks came roaring back to make it a 42-40 game after Nardi’s sixth trey of the day with 1:20 remaining. Mascio found Hughes cutting for a bucket to put the Colonials on top 44-40, but the Prep had one last run, setting the stage for the wild finish.
“They had a look in their eye during timeouts today that was different than Conestoga or Roman - they had that look that we’re not going to lose this game,” Donofrio said.
“And,” he added. “You need a little bit of luck.”
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 44, ST. JOE’S PREP 42
St. Joe’s Prep (42) – Pat Stewart 1 0-1 3, Mike Leithead 5 1-3 11, Dan Fitzpatrick 0 2-2 2, Joe Nardi 6 2-5 20, Pete Buzby 2 0-0 4, Sean Brophy 1 0-0 2, Brandon Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5-11 42.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (44) – Joe Hughes 4 0-1 8, C.J. Aiken 5 0-0 11, Brandon Dixon 0 0-0 0, Jaylen Bond 3 2-4 8, Sam Pygatt 2 0-0 4, Will Mascio 2 3-4 8, Damien Williams 2 3-4 8, Julian Bond 0 0-0 0, Marcus Badger 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 5-9 44.
St. Joe’s Prep 15 9 7 11-42
Plymouth Whitemarsh 11 8 12 13-44
Three-point goals: Joe Nardi 6, Pat Stewart, C.J. Aiken, Will Mascio, Joe Hughes.
- Log in to post comments
0
