City of Basketball Love

Anthony Dabbundo (@AnthonyDabbundo)
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Just eight days after a comeback win at the buzzer over Suburban One rival Cheltenham, Plymouth Whitemarsh found themselves trailing late yet again against Pennridge.

And for the 15th out of 15 times this season, they prevailed.

“They know how to win basketball games, it’s an interesting trait,” Colonials’ head coach Jim Donofrio said.

In the game’s biggest moments, the Colonials turned to senior Xzavier Malone, and the star guard answered with 26 points to lead his team to a 50-48 win.

Plymouth Whitemarsh found a way to win, despite having to overcome a brutal start to the game. The Colonials were just 8-of-24 from the field in the first half, and trailed by 10 at the break.

They lacked energy, sharpness, and intensity as Pennridge (13-3, 7-1) was able to force long shots and keep Malone from getting into the game. The Rider commit had just six of his 26 points in the first half, which was a big reason for the Plymouth Whitemarsh struggles.

Knowing that he needed to provoke a response within his team to spark a comeback, Donofrio made his message very clear to his team at the half.

“I asked them who they were, and told them they were going to lose because I had no answer for what they were doing,” the Colonials' head coach said.

The Colonials dug in to start the second half, going on a 15-2 run to open the third quarter and temporarily grab the lead from the Rams. The highlight of that huge Colonial run was a slam dunk by Malone, which ignited and inspired a packed Plymouth Whitemarsh home crowd that was eager to get into the game.

“The dunk gave us some momentum and pep in our step which helped us get the win,” last-minute hero Devon Burrell said.

Despite Malone’s 26 to lead all scorers, no points were more important than Burrell’s mid-range jumper with less than one minute to play to give Plymouth Whitemarsh a lead they never relinquished.

Down by one, Donofrio isolated Malone at the top of the key who drove and kicked to a wide open Kevin Ashenfelter on the wing. Despite Pennridge head coach Dean Behrens pleas with his team during the timeout to secure the rebound, Burrell managed to grab the weak side board and go back up, sinking the shot for the Colonials to retake the lead for the final time.

“I said boys, we need one rebound, one rebound to win the game, and it’s the attention to detail that we missed tonight,” Behrens said.

After Burrell’s bucket to give Plymouth Whitemarsh the lead, Oakley Spencer came up with a huge steal on Pennridge senior guard and captain Dan Long. Long, who was frustrated all night by the Colonials’ length, intensity, and zone press, scored just nine points and three in the second half.

“Dan Long is one of the best all-around high school athletes you’ll see. He’s gritty, cagey, and an all-team player so we just tried to use our length to frustrate him and make him play all 90 feet,” Donofrio said.

After the huge steal by Oakley on Long, Malone sunk his free throws which left Pennridge needing a three to tie it. After Long drove and kicked to an open Ryan Cuthbert, it looked like the Rams had a golden chance to equalize.

But, Cuthbert’s three was in and out, and the Colonials did just enough to squeeze out the close win.

“This team has a never say die attitude and it showed in the final minute,” 6-foot-6 Colonials’ forward Mike Lotito said.

Lotito, who was the hero last week when he scored the buzzer beater to beat Cheltenham, scored 10 points for the Colonials including eight in the first half to keep them within striking distance when the offense was sputtering.

The now 12-3 Rams did receive a big contribution from senior guard Devon Balmer, who scored 11 points off the bench on 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Balmer helped power the Pennridge offense along with Long and 6-foot-8 senior forward Max Wagner.

On a night when nothing went well early on against another District 1 title contender, Plymouth Whitemarsh could have folded or crumpled in the big moments. But this team has shown yet again why they are a legitimate favorite come district and state playoffs.

“We did just about everything wrong, and we survived,” Donofrio said.

Now at 15-0 and in the driver’s seat for the top seed in the District 1-AAAA playoffs, winning is all that truly matters to this undefeated Colonial team.

And at this point,  it’s safe to say that Plymouth Whitemarsh is pretty good at it.