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Jameer Nelson Classic provides major progression for Plymouth Whitemarsh

12/30/2015, 9:30pm EST
By Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)

Oakley Spencer (above) and Plymouth Whitemarsh took down a tough Pope John XXIII squad at the Nelson Classic on Wednesday. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Rich Flanagan (@RichFlanagan33)
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When the season started, Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Jim Donofrio was not sure what to expect from his team.

Having many players thrust into new and more prominent roles while another player was returning from an injury, Donofrio knew it could take his team a good portion of the season to mesh together.

“Even though most of them are sophomores and juniors, it’s really big for us because we really haven’t been together all summer like some teams that you get,” Donofrio said. “They mesh, get together in the offseason, know each other, and build some bonds. Mike Lotito was out basically the entire summer. [Xzavier Malone] was nursing a few things. [Ahmad and Ahmin Williams] weren’t here. You have a bunch of juniors that sat on the bench last year and saw time so it looks like you have seven guys who know each other, but we literally did not play organized basketball until November 16.”

Following an impressive 73-57 victory over Pope John XXIII in the Jameer Nelson Classic at Widener University, the Colonials showed a lot of maturation and improvement as a cohesive unit.

Donofrio was impressed with his team’s progression from early practices in November to now.

“Talent is nice but there’s a lot that can go wrong,” Donofrio said. “You’d rather win and get humbled by that than lose and get humbled by that. The way the district lines up with the playoff seeding situation, you have to get as many wins as you can get and when you put a schedule together that’s going to be a higher level, that’s a real risk. The fact that we’re halfway through our nonleague games and 4-0 is a nice cushion. This is the kind of team that’s too comfortable, they’re too relaxed. I’m very impressed with how they played today.”

The Colonials took a 35-28 lead into halftime and played with more urgency and intensity than Pope John XXIII as seven different players scored. Eventually that intensity would propel them to a ten point lead with six minutes left in the third quarter and they would never relinquish the lead.

Lotito, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, fracutured his L5 vertebra while on the AAU circuit and also broke his wrist in August. Against Pope John XXIII (0-4), Lotito scored 14 points to go along with seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block for Plymouth Whitemarsh (7-0).

Lotito, who said he is receiving interest from high-academic Division III schools John Hopkins, Haverford, Rochester, Rosemont and Vassar College, has worked his way back and feels he and his team are really starting to come together.

“I think we’re doing really well. We were thrown together and the first time that everybody played together was the first game of the season,” Lotito said. Over the summer, I was injured and [Malone] was [playing] AAU. We got the [Williams’] twins. I think for the amount of time that we’ve been playing together we’re doing really well. It’s only up from here as long as we continue to gel.”

Another big contributor to Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s win over Pope John Paul XXIII was the play of senior point guard Oakley Spencer, who scored 12 points and record three steals. Spencer was an integral part of a full court press that allowed the Colonials to rack up ten steals.

Spencer said the full court press is one of the key areas his team focuses on in every practice.

“Coach [Donofrio] preaches that a lot and emphasizes that he wants us [to play] up-tempo,” Spencer said. “It’s good for us to apply pressure.”

Donofrio said the full court press is “one of our staples” and his Colonials are “a 90-feet team.” Lotito, the game’s most valuable player, reiterated his teammate’s and head coach’s point about the commitment to the full court press.

“Ever since I came into the program, it’s been all about full court man-to-man defense,” Lotition said. “A lot of what we do is try to exhaust the other team and [tire] their legs by the third or fourth quarters so that they’re not making [shots] they usually make. That’s a big part of our gameplan every game.”

Defensive pressure allowed Plymouth Whitemarsh to get a number of other players involved and sustain a double-digit lead for the entire second half. Senior guard Kevin Ashfelter had eight points and two steals. Leading scorer and Rider commit Malone had a triple-double with 14 points, ten rebounds and ten assists as well as two steals. Malone's impressive game was highlighted by a backdoor alley-oop dunk from Spencer.

Ahmin Williams, Davon Burrell and Grady Minick all provided a nice spark for the Colonials. Williams record five points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Burrell had seven points, four rebounds and two assists while Minick scored eight and grabbed two boards.   

Plymouth Whitemarsh outplayed Pope John XXIII which was led by Louis King with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists. King was stymied by Lotito for much of the first half before scoring ten in the second. The Colonials held their largest lead at 18 at the end of the third quarter. Donofrio said his team “really grew up today.” 

Lotito said thorough preparation of and understanding their opponent’s mindset was the difference in the game.

“We were actually watching the film of them playing St. Anthony’s (NJ) which is a nationally-ranked program,” Lotito said. “We knew that they wouldn’t be scared by our pressure or full court defense. That’s a big time program so that’s a great win for us.”


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