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By Scott Huff
ROYERSFORD – Hunger.
Plymouth Whitemarsh played with a ferocious appetite for victory and consumed Norristown 72-50 in a second round PIAA Quad-A basketball game played before a packed house at Spring-Ford High School.
“Norristown played with a tremendous hunger to win their District One championship,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Jim Donofrio. “And sometimes when you win a championship like that, you can get a little comfortable.
“When we got knocked out of the districts, we began to rebuild our hunger for states,” added Donofrio. “We had a game plan coming in, but I really didn’t expect that we would be able to come out the way that we did.”The first period was Plymouth Whitemarsh’s dream – and Norristown’s nightmare. After just eight minutes of play, the Colonials hit their first five shots - shot 13-17 from the field - and led by a staggering 27-6 score.
PW received a balanced scoring attack in the period as junior C.J. Aiken and sophomore Jaylen Bond both scored eight points, sophomore Sam Pygatt scored seven points, and sophomore Brandon Dixon scored four points.
“Coach wanted me to go hard to the middle of the floor,” said Aiken who scored a team-high 19 points on a variety of dunks and dominated the boards. “We wanted to come out hard and play good defense early in the game.”
“We basically brought the intensity early in the game,” said Bond who finished with 12 points. “We watched a lot of video, and I thought we were able to focus on what we had to do to win the game.”
The tall and talented duo of the 6-foot, 9-inch Aiken and the 6-foot, 6-inch Bond were well-known factors going into the game. The play of Pygatt, however, was more than a nice surprise to his coach.
“We’ve been waiting 29 games to see Sam play that way,” said Donofrio of his slashing guard that scored 15 points. “We have guards that can spot up and shoot the three-pointer, but Sam can be a breakdown type of guard that you need to win at this level.”
“The coach has been after me all year to be myself,” said Pygatt. “All I needed to do was go out on the floor and play with more confidence.
“The fact that we were playing Norristown may have made it a little easier,” added Pygatt. “I know the energy that they play with, and I knew what to expect.”
The 21-point first quarter lead, though, was not to be expected by the crowd that was wedged into the Spring-Ford gymnasium.“That first quarter was like a blur,” said Norristown coach Michael Evans. “We surely didn’t expect that. They just played with a lot more intensity.
“They seemed to get to every loose ball,” added Evans. “For whatever reason, it looked like we were out of gas and they had a full tank.”
Norristown did play better in the second period – in fact, when the Eagles closed to within 36-20 by the close of the half many assumed it was still a ballgame.
“When it got to 16, honestly, I was scared to death,” said Donofrio. “They were up 14 at their place in the last game of the regular season, and we were able to come back and beat them.
“You have to be able to play an entire 32 minutes when you play a team the caliber of a Norristown,” added Donofrio. “Khalif Wyatt is a champion – and Norristown is the District One championship team. The third quarter was going to be very important for us.”
Wyatt – who worked extremely hard to score a game-high 26 points – was unable to lead the Eagles all the way back. Norristown would only come as close as 44-31 midway through the third period.
“At halftime we talked about not looking at the scoreboard but just chopping away at the lead,” said Wyatt. “We put out the effort, but we were never able to cut into the lead deep enough.
“Plymouth Whitemarsh is an athletic team, very young, and very talented,” added Wyatt. “Tonight they wanted it more and played with more energy. They deserved to win the game.”
The win will move Plymouth Whitemarsh into a third round game against Williamsport who defeated Chester 62-49. The game will be played Saturday with the time and site to be determined.
“The way we played that first quarter – wow,” said Donofrio. “It just seemed like all the light bulbs went on at the same time.
“We have a lot of underclassmen, but we played with confidence tonight against an experienced team,” continued Donofrio. “When you can play that way, against the type of pressure that Norristown can bring, it means that we may have moved up to the next level.”
The loss will conclude the careers of a veteran Eagle team that includes Wyatt, Lorenzo Christmas, James Ramsey, and Jerrell Gardner.
“We won a District One championship,” said Evans. “And I’ve been proud of every single player on this team
“We just lost to a team tonight that was a little bit hungrier than us,” added Evans. “But it was still a great year.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh 27 9 20 16 - 72
Norristown 6 14 14 16 - 50
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Brandon Dixon 2 4-4 8; Whis Grant 6 2-3 16; Jaylen Bond 6 0-0 12; C.J. Aiken 9 1-1 19; Mike Barbee 1 0-0 2; Sam Pygatt 6 2-3 15. Totals 30 9-13 72.
3-point field goals – Grant (2) Pygatt
Norristown: Sheldon Mayer 0 2-4 2; Lorenzo Christmas 3 0-2 6; Jerrell Gardner 1 1-1 3; Khalif Wyatt 9 7-12 26; Aaron Webb 1 0-0 2; Jaquil Hargrove 1 0-0 2; Allen Yates 2 0-0 4; Tyreese White 1 0-0 3; Tom Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 10-19 52.
3-point field goals – Wyatt, White
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