North Penn picked up its program’s first ever state playoff win. PW/Chambersburg photos courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f582224377
CLASS 6A
#1-8 NORTH PENN 64, #12-3 CENTRAL 52
The Knights earned their spot in the history books Saturday, winning the program’s first ever state playoff game.
“I’m going to be honest – I didn’t really think we would go that far this season, but we started off 4-0, and I thought we had something going,” junior Norman Gee said. “Then we were on that 12-game win streak. We were like, ‘Okay, we have a chance.’
“We went to the SOL Tournament – we lost to PW. It was a tough game, but we knew we still had districts. Then we moved on from districts, and all we had to do was win one game to go to states. We won that game, and now we’re here. It’s definitely a lot to take in. I wasn’t expecting it, but I’m just proud of – not me – but the whole team.”
And what does it mean to be in the program’s record books?
“I don’t really know the answer to that, to tell the truth,” NP coach John Conrad said. “If you had told me we would be here at the beginning of the year, I would have thought you were crazy.
“To the kids’ credit, they really work hard, and they play well together. It’s been a great ride, and I’m so appreciative of them taking me along because it’s been fun.”
The Knights – sparked by six points from both Teddy McAllister and Ryan Deininger – led 20-11 after one quarter and still led 22-13 early in the second.
“They went on an 8-0 run and made it 23-21,” Conrad said. “We came out, and we had a couple of kids off the bench – Lee Hammond, Ahmaar Godhania and Nick Hoffman, and we played a little bit of 1-3-1, and they were awesome.
“Defensively, they were able to get stops, runouts and easy baskets, and after they trimmed it to two, we answered with a 10-0 run with a couple of key contributors off the bench. That was what was able to distance us.”
“Basketball is a game of runs” Gee said. “Their team is going to make runs, we’re going to make runs. We knew that was going to be their run, but we weren’t nervous. We’ve been through those situations a bunch of times.”
The Knights – led by Deininger’s nine points – took a 33-21 lead into halftime.
“Definitely, I want to point out Ryan Deininger – his aggression definitely kept our momentum up,” Gee said. “We were all hitting 3s and stuff, and then we switched to the 1-3-1 and ended up locking them down right before half.”
Deininger scored eight of the Knights 14 third-quarter points, and they took a 47-31 lead into the final quarter on the way to the historic win.
For a Knights’ squad that didn’t earn a district bid last year, it’s been quite a turnaround.
“I definitely feel like everyone is more aggressive this year, and also, we’re a scrappy, fast team,” Gee said. “We love to get the ball up in transition a lot, and I feel that’s definitely the key. We outrun teams, and that’s why our record is what it is right now.”
Deininger’s 18 points led the way for the Knights, who received scoring from nine different players. Gee added 10 points, including a pair of 3s. McAllister also had two 3s and nine points while Mario Sgro and Ryan Zeltt both had six points.
“We’re very fortunate to be here and then to get (a win) is great,” Conrad said. “One of the kids afterward said to me, ‘No North Penn team has ever won two state playoffs’ That got a roar, so we’re ready to go.”
North Penn (20-9, 12-4 SOL) will meet Coatesville, the ninth place team out of District 1, in a second round game. The two teams met in the second round of districts with the Knights earning a 64-60 win.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Gee said. “We know they’re coming after us after the last game, but we’re confident. We’re going to go in there and just play our game.”
North Penn 20-13-14-17 64
Central 11-10-10-21 52
North Penn (64) – Ahmaar Godhania 2 0-0 4; Mario Sgro 2 2-4 6; Norman Gee 3 2-4 10; McAllister 3 1-3 9; Ryan Zeltt 2 2-2 6; Lee Hammond 0 5-6 5; Ryan Deininger 8 1-3 18; Corey Meade 2 0-2 4; Robbie Sukaly 0 0-1 0; Tre Simpson 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 18-5 13-25 64.
Central (52) – Salim Kellly 1 0-2 2; Sizwe Morris-Louis 7 8-10 22; Tyriq Taylor 1 1-2 3; Malachi Brown 2 0-0 6; Rob Martin 2 0-0 5; Cedric Zellars 1 0-0 2; Spencer Rosman 1 0-0 2; Erik Borgia 1 0-0 2; Jasir Dollard 3 0-0 8; TOTALS 19 9-14 52.
3-point goals: NP – Norman Gee 2, Teddy McAllister 2, Ryan Deininger; Central – Malachi Brown 2, Jasir Dollard 2, Rob Martin.
3-6 CHAMBERSBURG 68, #1-1 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 56
One by one the players left the locker room after their final postgame meeting.
Each acknowledged their coach as he talked to reporters in the hallway. Most with a handshake, some with a fist bump and others with a hug.
“You got it, we’ll talk,” coach Jim Donofrio said to one.
“All right, we’ll talk,” Donofrio said to another.
A special season had come to an unexpected and disappointing end in the opening round of the PIAA 6A Tournament in front of a sellout crowd. Donofrio acknowledged each player as they left the gym.
“I love these guys,” the PW coach said. “These guys restored my faith in coaching after the last three or four years. I’m not trying to disrespect the kids I coached the last four years. A lot of great kids. Last year’s team after we lost to (Archbishop) Wood asked if they could play pickup ball after the game. That made me think – ‘I may be done with this.’ That’s way too mellow for me.
“This is back to normal, this is genuine tears of sadness. That was just a different mindset. I don’t know if I could understand that mindset. With these guys, it matters.”
Seniors Qudire Bennett and Lincoln Sharpe were two of the last to exit the locker room.
“It’s very hard because I’ve been a four-year varsity player since freshman year,” Bennett said. “Then COVID happened and cut my season short. I had dreams I wanted to accomplish in high school. It just hurts to see it just end. It ended on our home court, it’s just sad.
“All I can say is I was happy to be part of this program. I was happy to play with these players. All my teammates – it was a journey, and it just hurts to come up short.”
An opening round loss was not on anyone’s radar after the Colonials capped a magical run to a District 1 6A title run with a win over Spring-Ford in last Saturday’s title game at Temple University.
“The kids and assistant coaches hear me say all year long – one of the biggest things to overcome if you’re having a great year is happiness and joy,” Donofrio said. “A shift has to occur to use that happiness and joy and success to make you even better.
“Chambersburg is where we were and a lot of teams were. If you get the brass ring and then that gets advertised all over the place and you show such happiness, guess who wants that now? Everyone else who is on the rungs below you. It’s human nature to just relax a little bit.”
The Trojans wasted no time at all before serving notice that they meant business when super soph JJ Kelly – whose 23 points and 10 rebounds led both teams – slammed down a two-handed dunk off the opening tap. It marked the beginning of a 13-0 Chambersburg run that was capped midway through the quarter by a Jacob Bassham 3-pointer as the Trojans scored on six of their first eight possessions while the Colonials came up empty.
“It caught me by surprise because off the tip when (Kelly) got the dunk I’m like – that never usually happens,” Bennett said. They got on a roll, making shots, making layups, getting on fast breaks. We put ourselves in a hole. We punched back, but we didn’t punch back enough in time to give us the lead or cut it to one possession.”
“We’ve been on both sides of (this) game and a lot of times on their side,” Donofrio said. “The psychology is completely different. You have nothing to lose.
“We didn’t score on them in the first two minutes. We’re really not an up-tempo team. We’re an okay horse – I just hit it a lot so you convince people you’re faster than you are.”
Sharpe’s bucket on a putback with 3:39 remaining in the opening quarter put the Colonials on the board and marked the beginning of an 18-7 PW tear to close out the quarter. The Colonials’ run included eight points from Chase Coleman and a clutch 3 by Jah Sayles at the buzzer to make it a 20-18 game.
A Bassham 3 to open the second quarter marked the beginning of a 7-0 run for the Trojans, who took a 35-28 lead into halftime. Coleman accounted for 10 of his team’s first-half points. No one else had more than five.
“We weren’t hitting shots like we normally do on our home court,” Bennett said. “Every shot we took was in and out or just came up short.
“(Chambersburg) is a team that comes from two hours away, so they’re going to have some fire in them. We got punched, and we just didn’t know how to respond quick enough. We started to, but they always had an answer for everything we did.”
That pattern continued in the second half. Chambersburg opened up a 43-30 lead three minutes into the third quarter and then didn’t score until a Bassham 3-pointer at the buzzer. A Coleman layup pulled the Colonials within eight with 10 seconds remaining just before Bassham’s 3-pointer that sent the Trojans into the fourth quarter with a 48-37 lead.
“That was the opening,” Donofrio said of the Trojans’ scoring drought to close out the third. “All of a sudden, they missed, and you’ve got to jump on that, and we came down the floor and everything was clanked. That’s basketball. Basketball can be ungodly joyous and ungodly cruel.”
It didn’t help that Bennett was forced to take a seat on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 3:13 remaining in the third quarter.
“We relied all season long that Q (Bennett) was just going to make three 3s at some point in the third quarter, and Chase (Coleman) was going to do some steal under the basket off their big gun and get an and-one, and (Colzie’s) going to hit a 29-foot shot, Jah (Sayles) is going to hit a 3, and Lincoln (Sharpe) is going to get six boards,” Donofrio said. “Then we’re going to be good. That’s what they’ve shown.”
It looked as though that might happen. A Coleman 3-pointer made it a 50-43 game. Bennett returned to the floor with 5:10 remaining in the fourth, and – after a Jaden Colzie steal – buried a clutch 3 to make it a 50-46 game. Carter Fogal answered for the Trojans with his first basket of the game – a huge 3-pointer.
With 1:46 remaining, another Bennett 3 – this one from NBA range – made it a 59-54 game, and it was still a five-point game after a Bennett basket with just over a minute remaining, but Talon Brewer’s conventional three-point play after scoring a bucket at the end of the press gave the Trojans – who were a perfect 11-for-11 at the foul line in the quarter – a 64-56 lead and sealed the Colonials’ fate.
First round exits for the District 1 champion are not all that uncommon.
“I’ve seen Chester do it a few times, I’ve seen Abington, I’ve seen Harrisburg over the last 20 years win their district and lose the first round,” Donofrio said. “To win District 1 is such a mountain to climb, and then you’ve played at Temple and 700 students come out, and then they give you seven days to think about it.
“They’re no longer hearing my edginess, they don’t care. Chambersburg walked in the door, they start off the game with a center jump dunk, and number 0 (Bassham) is just having a perfect half, and no one’s missing. I’ve been in that situation – that’s an easy speech to give – ‘We’re not driving two-and-a-half hours to not play well.’
“You have to overcome all of the contentment and a week off of rustiness and whatever intensity you had to focus on Spring-Ford, and that’s why you give it about two-and-a-half quarters and say, ‘Okay, you’ve got to get over it now.’
“This team is new to all of this. They’ve just been happy for the last week. I’m still the guy that has a look on their face like someone just stole my car. They’re 17. After all the COVID stuff, it’s hard to kill joy. I don’t want to kill your happiness. Are we good enough to be loose and confident and upbeat and take on a big physically strong team that went toe-to-toe with (undefeated) Reading. That’s the biggest thing to overcome.
“A game is a long time. I don’t think we quite understood that tonight. We’ve understood it in the past couple of weeks, but we didn’t understand it tonight. That’s a sign of being a little tired or whatever. When you’re impatient like that – you’ve already hit the holy grail in your mind – they gave you a trophy, you jumped all around. How much happiness does one human being need?”
Coleman’s 23 points led the Colonials while Bennett added 12 – eight in the fourth quarter. Sharpe added eight points and nine rebounds and Colzie also had eight points.
The loss snapped a 20-game winning streak for the Colonials.
“I told the boys – ‘I’m so proud of you because 27 out of 29 times before tonight – you made it joyous,” Donofrio said. “This team is so fantastic – they didn’t care about the 20 wins, we never talked about it. They had a great personality to be able to do that
“I’m thrilled with what they’ve done to bring the fans back. PW basketball is more than alive and well. What an afternoon of people. To hear that in 16 opening round games, it was us and Reading that actually sold out arenas. It’s quite a compliment to these kids. They brought it all back.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh closed out a memorable season with a 27-3 record. The Colonials were 16-0 in the SOL Liberty and captured the program’s first District 1 6A title since 2016.
Chambersburg 20-15-13-20 68
Plymouth Whitemarsh 18-10-9-19 56
Chambersburg (68) – Jacob Bassman 6 2-2 18; Carter Fogal 1 4-4 7; Stanley Lozius 1 0-1 2; Colton Cornwell 1 0-0 2; JJ Kelly 9 5-5 23; Sedrick Vessah 6 0-0 12; Talon Brewer 1 1-1 3; TOTALS 25 13-15 68.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (56) – Jaden Colzie 3 2-5 8; Chase Coleman 8 6-7 23; Qudire Bennett 4 2-2 12; Jah Sayles 1 2-2 5; Lincoln Sharpe 4 0-0 8; TOTALS 20 12-16 56.
3-point goals: Chambersburg – Jacob Bassman 4, Carter Fogal; PW – Qudire Bennett 2, Chase Coleman, Jah Sayles.
#12-3 ARCHBISHOP WOOD 61, #1-5 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 37
The Patriots – underdogs against the perennial PCL power Vikings – led 12-10 after one quarter but then scored just three points in the second quarter and trailed 22-15 at halftime.
The Patriots continued to battle but lost ground late in the third quarter, and the Vikings took a 39-28 lead into the final frame on their way to the win.
“We knew we got a tough draw when the brackets came out,” East coach Erik Henrysen said. “Wood has quite the collection of talent.
“We felt like we had a solid game plan and our guys bought in. We ran out of gas a little toward the end of the third. We put a little scare into them, but then the fourth quarter was played at their tempo.”
The loss brought an end to a successful season for the Patriots, who captured the SOL Colonial Division title and recorded 24 wins.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Henrysen said. “They’ve won a third division title this year and recorded the most wins in East history this past season.”
Jacob Cummiskey’s 14 points led the Patriots. Joey Giordano and Tyler Dandrea both added eight.
Henrysen bids farewell to seniors Kyle Berndt, Joey Giordano, Jacob Cummiskey and Nick Condo.
“It’s really tough seeing our seniors play their last game,” Henrysen said. “It’s been an honor to coach each one of them. Our staff is just so grateful. They definitely put their stamp on East basketball.”
Central Bucks East (14-2 SOL) closed out its season with a 24-6 record.
Central Bucks East 12-3-13-9 37
Archbishop Wood 10-12-17-22 61
Central Bucks East (37) – Joey Giordano 8, Jacob Cummiskey 14, Dhruv Mukund 3, Tyler Dandrea 8, Ryan McDonald 4.
Archbishop Wood (61) – Jalil Bethea 13, Carson Howard 15, Gus Salem 3, Milan Dean 11, Carey Maxey 10, Josh Reed 3, Grady Burt 2, Ihsan Beyah 2, Eric Gardner 2.
3-point goals: CBE -Jacob Cummiskey 2, Tyler Dandrea 2, Dhruv Mukund; AW – Carey Maxey 2, Jalil Bethea, Gus Salem.
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