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By Scott Huff
READING – You wouldn’t have blamed the Plymouth Whitemarsh fans after the first three minutes of the first quarter for getting on their cell phones and making reservations at State College for the PIAA Quad-A finals to be played Saturday night at the Bryce Jordan Center.The Colonials stormed out of the gate and led William Penn (York High) 11-2 and dominated the opening minutes in the Eastern Division finals played at the Geigle Complex at Reading High School.
C.J. Aiken scored on a vicious dunk on a feed from Joe Hughes, Jaylen Bond followed seconds later with another powerful dunk on an assist from Brandon Dixon, Sam Pygatt floated home a basket to extend the lead to 6-2, and Dixon scored on a drive to boost the lead to 8-2 to force a Bearcat timeout.
Hughes came out of the timeout to drain a three-pointer and the 11-2 advantage gave PW fans visions of the Norristown game when the Colonials destroyed the Eagles with a 27-6 opening frame.
“We played with great energy early in the game,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh Jim Donofrio. “But William Penn didn’t win 30-plus games without knowing how to respond to being behind.“When you punch someone like that early you can either knock them out or wake them up,” continued the coach. “They woke up.”
Those same PW fans who made reservations after the first three minutes, called back to put them on hold as the halftime score was in favor of William Penn, 27-26. And by the close of the game, the reservations were canceled as the Bearcats ended the Colonial season with a 64-56 win.
William Penn (32-1), the runner-up in District Three, utilized an up-tempo offense and a trapping defense to get itself not only back into the game with the Colonials (25-6), but earned itself a date for the PIAA Quad-A championship game. The Bearcats will face Penn Wood, a 78-59 winner over Mount Lebanon.
“We took the early lead, but the coaches told us that anything can happen,” said Aiken. “The only time the score counts is when there are 0:00 on the clock in the fourth quarter.“They were more physical than us, and played with more heart,” added Aiken. “We have to learn from this and think about what we can do next year.”
Next year is a promising one for the Colonials. Aiken is just a junior, while Bond, Dixon, and Pygatt are all sophomores. The first man off the bench is junior Whis Grant.
“We have the talent, now we have to be able to go even further next year,” said the 6-foot, 6-inch Bond who fought through foul problems and scored just eight points. “This was still a great season for us.”
“I had a great time playing and learning from our seniors (Hughes and Will Mascio),” said Dixon as tears streamed down the face of the point guard. “This loss will make us much hungrier for next season.”
There will be no next season for Hughes.
“It was a great season – with pretty much a brand new team,” said Hughes in reference to Aiken and Bond who transferred to PW from La Salle High School. “We all came together at the end of the season, but it came down to the fact that we couldn’t knock down shots at the end of the game.”
Coach Donofrio agreed.“We made big shots all during this playoff run, but we didn’t tonight,” said Donofrio. “I think their quickness bothered us, and they had a good combination of speed and size.
“I think our (young) age showed a little tonight,” added Donofrio. “We did some things we hadn’t done in a while, we had some ‘young panic.’ These kids will bounce back, though.
“I have never been around a bunch of kids that really seemed to like each other,” continued Donofrio. “I think this team laughed more than any team that I have ever coached.”
Unfortunately. William Penn had the last laugh.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 15 11 13 17 - 56
William Penn 10 17 18 19 - 64
Plymouth Whitemarsh: C.J. Aiken 3 2-3 8; Jaylen Bond 3 1-4 8; Sam Pygatt 6 1-2 14; Brandon Dixon 2 1-2 5; Joe Hughes 2 0-0 5; Whis Grant 4 2-2 11; Damien Williams 0 1-2 1; Marcus Badger 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 6-13 54.
3-point field goals – Bond, Pygatt, Hughes, Grant.
William Penn: Milachi Leonard 6 4-6 16; Ryan Matthews 3 3-4 8; Kelvin Parker 8 1-3 19; Zachary Newby 0 1-2 1; Malik Generett 5 0-0 10; Chemin Lambert 2 1-2 5 Jevaun Murphy 2 1-3 5. Totals 26 11-20 64.
3-point field goals – Parker (2), Matthews.
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