PW, Pennsbury and Pennridge were winners in Saturday’s opening round of the PIAA Class AAAA Tournament. To view photos of the Abington/McCaskey game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Scott Huff
West Lawn – There is still another chapter to be written about this historic 2014-2015 Pennridge basketball team after the [1-5] Rams (25-4) stunned powerful [3-3] Reading High School (24-6) by a 61-59 score in a PIAA Quad-A first round game before an overflow crowd at Wilson-West Lawn High School.
Pennridge – playing in its first-ever state tournament contest in school history – captured a first-ever state victory and will face [1-2] Plymouth Whitemarsh (25-3) next Wednesday (3/11/15) at a site to be determined.
The Rams won Saturday’s game in dramatic fashion.
With 41 seconds remaining, Joe Unangst, who also had a clutch three-pointer in the fourth quarter, buried a pair of free throws to put the Rams on top 60-59. When Dan Long connected on one-of-two with 16 seconds in regulation, the Rams led 61-59. Reading’s shot for the tie fell short at the buzzer, and the historic win was in the books.
“We really believe that we can compete with anyone,” said Pennridge head coach Dean Behrens. “The players on this team play so well with each other, and to be able to win a game in this environment was amazing.”
The teams played to a 15-15 stalemate in the first quarter – and Pennridge played well in the second quarter and ran off to a 34-27 halftime lead.
It didn’t last as the Red Knights outscored the Rams 19-8 in the third period to take a 45-42 advantage.
“Reading had a couple of monster dunks – and we couldn’t hear ourselves think – it was that loud,” said Pennridge senior guard Zach Muredda who scored a team-high 18 points. “But we weathered the storm and played well at the end of the game.
“Playing in front of a standing room only crowd like that was incredible,” added Muredda. “Nobody really ever expects us to win – but we keep winning.”
Joey Molettiere played a terrific game off the backboards and tied Muredda with a team-high 18 points. Junior guard Dan Long – who missed a good portion of the first half with foul trouble – came on strong and scored 14 points for the Rams. Unangst – who scored the key points at the end of the game – finished with seven points.
“We could easily have lost this game and nobody would have been upset,” said Behrens. “People would have tapped us on the shoulder after the game and told us what a great year we had.
“But this team doesn’t want to hear that,” added Behrens. “They don’t want this season to end – not now – not next week.”
Plymouth Whitemarsh is going to be a huge hurdle for the Rams to clear next week.
“We beat some storied district programs like Lower Merion and Coatesville in the district playoffs,” said Muredda. “And now we get to play another storied program in Plymouth Whitemarsh.
“We were a little upset that they didn’t play in the SOL championship tournament,” added Muredda. “We wanted to take a crack at them.”
And now the historic Rams will have that chance.
Pennridge Rams 15 19 8 19 – 61
Reading Red Knights 15 12 19 13 – 59
Pennridge: Joey Molettiere 18; Zach Muredda 18; Dan Long 14; Joe Unangst 7; Kyle Yoder 2; Ryan Cuthbert 2. Total – 61.
Reading: Khary Maurus 16; Lonnie Walker 15; Ty Gibson 13; Damon Stern 8; Nagor Cooke 5; Justin Kellman 2. Total – 59.
Colonials Coast to Big Win in PIAA Quad-A First Round
Fort Washington – Any concerns about how the Colonials would respond to their disappointing loss to Abington in the District One 4A title game were put to rest with Saturday’s dominating performance. The 
Colonials, who found themselves deadlocked 21-21 late in the second half, outscored Northeastern 50-25 the rest of the way on their way to an impressive 71-46 win.
“You don’t know – and at this stage with a team that’s never been here before – (how they’ll respond),” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “You do your regular routine and prepare, and the one thing you hope is that they want to keep on playing.
“That sounds crazy, but the season is long. You have two weeks after the league and the districts where you have a week to keep going, and they’re kids. The first (game) – the good news is you’re at home. You’re at Upper Dublin, so you’re comfortable with the place, you get a nice crowd, but in the end, players have got to play. They’ve got to make plays, and we made plays today.”
Four PW players finished the game in double figures, led by Xzavier Malone with 20, which included several spectacular dunks. Devon Monteiro-Gray and Andre Mitchell both added 17 points while Jimmy Murray had 13.
“Oakley Spencer goes in and steals a ball in the second quarter and goes coast to coast and hits Dre (Mitchell) for a three,” Donofrio said. “The shots that were made – Xzavier Malone’s shots that were made.
“Obviously, there’s going to be personal pride after Friday night and how flat we were. For Malone and Jimmy especially – they’re not used to being in single digits.”
Monteiro-Gray also had a team-high 11 rebounds as well as one steal and one assist in a huge performance.
“Devon Monteiro-Gray has been hobbled with a pulled groin for three weeks, and he seems to have turned the corner for recovery,” Donofrio said. “What a difference, what a pop in his step – some tip-ins, some offensive boards, foul shooting.
“A year gets long, the kids sometimes get a little beat up and you hope they sustain and you bounce back with your energy, and that’s what I saw – a team that’s a little bit rested. I actually gave them off Thursday with the snow, and I think it helped them. I was highly impressed with the balance.”
The Colonials, according to Monteiro-Gray, had to regroup after their district loss to the Ghosts.
“It was just depressing to know we went all that way and didn’t win,” he said. “We really worked hard. We were doing stuff in the preseason to get ready for that, and our goal the whole season was to get to the district finals and win, but it just didn’t happen.
“The last three practices we were just focused. We knew we had to get this win today. We went hard at practices – there was no silliness, none of that. We were just focused, planning to get this win. We just want to go far in states. This (win) will give us something to run on the rest of the playoffs.”
The first half was tightly contested with Northeastern leading 12-10 after one quarter. The Colonials used a 17-9 second quarter to go into halftime with a 27-23 lead. Mitchell had nine points in the half and Murray had eight to lead the Colonials.
The second half belonged to the Colonials, who outscored the Bobcats 21-9 in the third quarter to go on top 48-32. Malone and Mitchell both scored six points in the quarter.
“That atmosphere just shifted after X (Xzavier Malone) had that one dunk in the second half,” Monteiro-Gray said. “It was the first dunk he had, and the whole atmosphere shifted. All the fans started going crazy. There was just a lot of adrenalin. I feel like just everyone felt it, and we just ran with that.”
Monteiro-Gray spent the fourth quarter taking trips to the foul line, burying 9-of-10 as the Colonials added to their lead with a 23-14 fourth quarter.
Malone also had nine rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Cameron Johnson had six rebounds and a steal while Mitchell had four rebounds, four steals and two assists. Murray had three steals, two assists and one block.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (25-3, 13-1) will face Pennridge in a second round game on Wednesday.
Northeastern 12 11 9 14 – 46
Plymouth Whitemarsh 10 17 21 23 – 71
Northeastern: Michael Coleman 2, Kobi Nwandu 14, Donovian Maxfield 11, Marcus Josey 2, Jeffrey Reynolds 2, DeAireus Brown 11, Derrick Hoffman 2, Fred Mulbah 2.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Grady Minick 3, Xzavier Malone 20, Jimmy Murray 13, Devon Montiero-Gray 17, Cameron Johnson 1, Andre Mitchell 17.
Falcons Soar To PIAA Quad-A First Round Victory
Holland – They might not be exactly the Three Musketeers – but the Pennsbury senior threesome of Cameron Jones, Derrick Woods, and Mekhi Bryant are pretty darn close. The trio of Jones, Woods & Bryant once again rescued the Falcons as the [1-3] Black & Orange (24-6) won their PIAA Quad-A State playoff game over [3-4] 
Cedar Cliff (24-4) – 73-53 – in a game played at Council Rock South High School.
Jones – the sharp shooting point guard – fueled the Pennsbury scoring attack with 28 points that included four 3-pointers. Woods – the 6-foot, 8-inch commit to St. Bonaventure – scored 22 points and was relentless off the backboards with 22 rebounds. And fearless defender Bryant shut down the top scoring Cedar Cliff guard and added spark to the offense with 19 points.
The final box score math showed that Jones, Woods, and Bryant scored an astounding 69 of the 73 Pennsbury points on the afternoon.
“Once again, the game pretty much went through the three of them,” said Pennsbury head coach Bill Coleman. “These are the guys that have been here before – these are the guys who knows what it takes to win.
“They know that it is either win or go home,” added Coleman. “The opportunity to win a state championship is still there – but it is far ahead. We have to focus on the game ahead of us – and sometimes we look too far ahead.”
“This is our senior year, and we intend to go out with a bang,” said Jones. “We know that for us to be successful – we have to play hard on both offense and defense.
“We are at our best when we play our game,” added Jones. “And that is up-tempo – we play well when we play up-tempo.”
Cedar Crest led 10-6 early in the game, but the Falcons rebounded to take a 12-10 lead at the close of the first quarter. The Pennsbury lead was just 32-28 at the close of the first half.
“We began to pick up the pressure at the beginning of the second half,” said Coleman. “Sometimes we have a tendency to gamble too much – but we settled down and played some good basketball.”
The game turned in Pennsbury’s favor at the outset of the third period. The Falcons scored the first nine points in the third quarter and never looked back. The Black & Orange put the game safely away with a 14-point unanswered run in the fourth period.
“We’re excited that we won the game, but we have to get ready for the next one,” said Jones. “We just want to be able to go out and do what we do best. It’s up to us.”
“Cameron, Derrick, and Mekhi played the game the way we need them to play,” said Coleman. “They are seniors – and they don’t want their season to come to an end.”
The Three Musketeers will have at least one more adventure as the Falcons move to second round PIAA Quad-A State playoff action against [11-1] Parkland on Wednesday (3/11/15). The Trojans defeated [1-8] Conestoga 53-42 in a first round PIAA Quad-A playoff game.
Cedar Cliff Colts 10 18 15 10 – 53
Pennsbury Falcons 12 20 20 21 – 73
Cedar Cliff: Derek Ford 16; Owen Shenk 14; Tyler Hoagland 8; Jesse Deaner 7; Manny Los Santos 3; Trevor McCloskey 3; and Stone Vasiloff 2. Total – 53.
Pennsbury: Cameron Jones 28; Derrick Woods 22; Mekhi Bryant 19; Rob Daly 3; and Zack Dea 1. Total – 73.
Abington PIAA Quad-A Championship Hopes Devastated by Red Tornado
Wyncote – Abington played with the heart of a champion on Saturday afternoon – however, a late rally that trimmed a seemingly insurmountable 15-point deficit late in the third period into a 67-64 deficit late in the fourth period – was simply not enough as the District One champion [1-1] Ghosts (26-4) were jettisoned from the PIAA Quad-A State playoffs in a 71-66 first round loss to [3-8] Lancaster McCaskey (21-9) in a game played before a standing-room only crowd at Cheltenham High School.
“It has been the makeup of this team all season to continue to fight,” said Abington head coach Charles Grasty. “We kept telling them that there was time left in the game – we have been in tough situations before – and to keep playing hard.”
“We didn’t let their big lead affect us – we told ourselves that our shots would begin to fall,” said Abington senior guard Amir Hinton, who closed out a superlative career with a team-high 28 points. “We didn’t have a good defensive game – and you have to give them credit for hitting their shots.”
McCaskey is known as the Red Tornado – and the scalding whirlwind for McCaskey against the Ghosts was diminutive junior guard Randolph Speller. The 5-foot, 8-inch Speller was an outrageous 9-for-12 from beyond the arc – three of them from NBA range – and scored a game-high 35 points for the Red Tornado.
“He got it rolling early – and sometimes good shooters just get into a zone,” said Grasty. “But it is still a team game – and his teammates got him the ball for some open shots.
“Once they got the big lead, we had to speed the game up,” added Grasty. “And that really isn’t the style or pace that we want to play. But we really didn’t have a choice.”
Abington held a 14-12 first period lead as Ghost senior guard Matt Penecale scored seven of his 13 points. Speller was just warming up with a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point land in the period.
Speller added a trio of 3-pointers in the second period – and scored 11 points in all in the quarter – as the Red Tornado outscored the Ghosts 22-13 and took a 34-27 lead into intermission.
Speller & Company would extend the lead to 50-35 with 2:24 left in the third period – but Abington refused to quit. A flurry of points in the final 2:24 included a pair of 3-point bombs by freshman Robbie Heath (16 points) – five points from Hinton – and the Ghosts trailed by just 54-48 going into the final period.
Abington closed to 65-64 with 2:41 left as baskets by Heath and Hinton – along with a 3-point field goal by Curtis Lockner – brought the sold-out crowd to its feet. However, the Ghosts would get no closer. A pair of costly turnovers – and a pair of failed 3-point field goal attempts – sealed the Abington fate.
“We are all very disappointed,” said Hinton, his eyes rimmed with tears. “We surely didn’t plan on losing in the first round of the playoffs.
“We worked so hard to get a chance to win a state championship,” added Hinton. “And now it’s over.”
“We have a team of competitors, and losing isn’t easy for them,” said Grasty, whose squad has collected a SOL National Conference championship, a SOL championship and a District One championship this season. “When we have our banquet – we can look back at a season filled with accomplishments.
“This entire year has been a fun run,” continued Grasty. “Our seniors are all a class act. They have done a great deal for the Abington basketball program – and they will be missed.
“We learned a very important life lesson today,” added Grasty. “There is going to be only one winner at the end of this tournament – and it won’t be us.”
JP McCaskey Red Tornado 12 22 20 17 – 71
Abington Ghosts 14 13 19 18 – 66
JP McCaskey: Randolph Speller 35; La’Detrius Sibley 15; Tyler Owens 8; Kobe Gantz 6; Kyaire Bynum 4; and Brandon Allen 3. Total – 71.
Abington: Amir Hinton 28; Robbie Heath 16; Matt Penecale 13; Jack Steinman 5; Curtis Lockner 3; and Robert Young 1. Total – 66.
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