Wissahickon saw its season end at the hands of Norristown in Thursday’s opening round of the District One 6A Tournament.
#12 Norristown 49, #21 Wissahickon 34
Sparked by a 14-6 second quarter, the Trojans took a 26-20 lead into halftime, but then came a third quarter that saw the visitors score just two points while the Eagles scored 19, all but putting to rest any thoughts of a Trojan comeback.
“I always tell the kids – one game doesn’t define you,” Wissahickon coach Kyle Wilson said after his team’s season-ending loss Thursday. “Sort of a bugaboo we always had was we found stretches in games where we couldn’t put the ball in the basket.
“We execute, we ran, we got an open look but didn’t knock it down. Breakaway layup that was light contested but still should have made it – we had opportunities tonight to really make that a game, put pressure on them at home to win, and we just didn’t do those things. But that’s now in the past.”
The Trojans’ coach went on to pay a tribute to his three seniors – Phil Dias, Morgan Wilson and Josh Twersky.
“One of the things I’m really pleased with – I heard a term used by a leader of the Miami Heat organization on the NBA Channel, and he talked about one of their players, (Udonis) Haslem, an old sage on the team,” Wilson said. “He said (Haslem) was still on the roster, still on the team because he’s a ‘culture carrier,’ and those three guys – I couldn’t ask for better young kids from our community to wear that Trojan or Wissahickon across their chest because that’s what they are.
“They’re guys that let the guys that are juniors, sophomores and even some of the freshmen understand what it is to be a Wiss basketball player. They never took things for granted, they always worked hard, they were vocal at practice, they never put other guys down. They kicked guys in the butt when they needed to and lifted them up when they needed them to. They were early to practice, last to leave. You can’t ask for better kids than that. It’s just a shame that’s the way their season exited.
“I told them – after 23 years or whatever of coaching, people always ask, ‘You still enjoy it?’ I tell them, ‘It’s because of kids like that.’ We had a team full of them this year, and I couldn’t be happier to be called their coach. It was just unfortunate it was a tough exit.
Twerksy’s 11 points led the Trojans, who also received seven points each from Morgan Wilson and Jaylon Williams.
“Credit to Norristown,” Wilson said. “For half the game, it looked like it was ours, and they came out the second half, flipped a switch and put us in the same situation they were in. My hat’s off to them. I hope they have more success moving forward.”
Wissahickson closed out its season with a 14-9 record. The Trojans were 11-5 in SOL Liberty Division play, finishing one game out of first place.
Wissahickon 12-14-2-6 34
Norristown 14-6-19-10 49
Wissahickon (34) – Josh Twersky 4 3-3 11; Jaylon Williams 3 0-0 7; Morgan Wilson 3 1-1 7; Phil Dias 1 0-0 2; Dom Vacchiano 1 0-0 2; Earl Stout 2 1-3 5. Totals 14 5-7 34.
Norristown (49) – Zaki Gomez 2 3-4 8; DJ Johnson 4 8-9 16; Righteous Mitchell 1 1-3 3; Myon Kirlew 2 2-2 6; Rayshawn Stinson 0 1-2 1; John Dinolfi 6 2-2 15. Totals 15 17-22 49.
3-point goals: Wissahickon – Jaylon Williams; Norristown – Zaki Gomez, John Dinolfi.
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