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PIAA Class 5A: Hershey spoils Penncrest party at Marple

03/11/2017, 12:30am EST
By Matt Chandik

Jake Wilson (above) and Hershey came into Marple Newtown and survived a sizeable Penncrest contingent. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Matt Chandik (@MChandik26)
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NEWTOWN SQUARE —It didn’t need much encouragement to do so, but once Hershey air balled four consecutive 3-point attempts, the massive sea of red-clad students reached a fever pitch.

Penncrest’s student section came out in force for Friday night’s PIAA Class 5A tournament opener against Hershey, with only 10 minutes or so separating them from Marple Newtown’s gym. The Lions’ faithful were quick to not-so-subtly remind the Trojans that those 3-pointers hadn’t even come close to hitting rim, let alone dropping through the hoop.

Jake Wilson made sure to bring the volume down, though. Minutes later, Wilson, who was part of the nothing-but-air 3-point barrage, cashed in on all six of his fourth-quarter free throws. In what essentially a road game, Wilson and the Trojans quieted the crowd and ousted the District One champions via a 51-42 victory.

“I love this kind of environment, so I feed off that energy. The crowd’s against you, stuff like that just motivates me to play even harder,” said Wilson, who finished with 14 points and six rebounds. “The adrenaline was going for us, which is probably we air balled those shots, but we were able to come back, make our free throws and ice the game.”

Hershey moves on to take Chester, which crushed Milton Hershey, 72-53, in the first round. The Trojans and Clippers will tangle on Tuesday night with a spot in the quarterfinals hanging in the balance.

Hershey didn’t waste any time in showing the District One champs that they were in for a tough game. Drew Painter came out hot, collecting all eight of his points in the opening quarter. He canned all three of his shots as part of a 6-for-10 opening quarter, and at the half, the Trojans boasted an impressive 12-for-21 shooting line.

By comparison, Penncrest struggled to a 6-for-22 mark. The Lions struggled to maintain the level of intensity, poise and precision that helped them navigate through the loaded district field without tripping up.

“It’s basketball. You have to keep that intensity level,” Lions coach Mike Doyle said. “We weren’t the biggest, we weren’t the strongest, we weren’t the fastest team every night, but we played with so much emotion and energy and precision defensively. To try to keep that up, we just had some difficulty.

“The red flag went up when we gave up 16 points in the first quarter, which is really a lot for us. It’s one of the hardest locker rooms I've ever walked into because they weren’t satisfied. The message was that you had a historical season, keep your heads up and be proud.”

Tyler Norwood was the engineer behind Penncrest’s success, scoring close to 50 percent of the team’s points. Friday, he struggled to find his shot and couldn’t shake it off. Normally a dead-on sniper, Norwood finished with a team-best 17 points, but he hoisted up 30 shots to get there. Norwood insisted that the Trojans didn’t do anything unexpected to knock him off his rhythm. He just couldn’t find his groove.

“The shots just weren’t falling,” Norwood said. “There’s nothing I could do about it, but my teammates kept me motivated and confident. I just kept shooting and it just wasn’t my night. …We just got down and couldn’t get back into it. We had missed layups and turnovers. It just wasn’t our night.”

“Tyler’s at the level of player that I’ve never coached before,” Doyle said. “It doesn’t matter what defense you’re in. You just hope he misses shots (if you’re the other team). It’s like Kevin Durant taking a 3. You just hope that doesn’t go in. It just didn’t go in tonight.”

For its part, Hershey spread the wealth by using its array of shooters to keep the Lions off-guard. Sean Coller grabbed seven rebounds to go with seven points, Luke Blackburn canned a pair of 3-pointers and Luke Hedrick provided five assists to go with six points and a pair of steals.

The Lions countered with a double-double from Chris Mills, one that featured 11 points and 12 rebounds, and eight points from Mike Mallon. But no matter how close it got, Penncrest couldn’t get its shots to fall, finishing 14-for-48 as a team from the field.

“It just wasn’t our night, and every time we shot the ball, it came rolling in and out,” Mills said.

“It was that kind of night. They didn’t do anything special. We just didn’t make the most of opportunities.”

On the other side, Hershey did, and the Trojans got rewarded for it with a date with Chester.

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CLASS 5A
FIRST ROUND

Friday, March 10
Hershey 51, Penncrest 42
Chester 72, Milton Hershey 53
Abington Heights 67, Lampeter-Strasburg 48
Martin Luther King 43, Bishop Shanahan 33
Mechanicsburg 49, Springfield-Delco 45
Archbishop Wood 92, New Oxford 62
East Stroudsburg North 58, Manheim Central 55
Spring Grove 49, West Scranton 48
Northeastern York 78, Wissahickon 66
Upper Merion 62, Greencastle-Antrim 46
Archbishop Carroll 61, Great Valley 48
Palmyra 58, Pottsville 43
Mars 85, Hampton 81
Erie Cathedral Prep 55, Central Mountain 46
Franklin Regional 52, Moon 51
Meadville 55, Chartiers Valley 45

SECOND ROUND
Tuesday, March 14
Sites and times, TBA
Hershey (3-10, 14-13) vs. Chester (1-5, 21-6)
Abington Heights (2-1, 23-3) vs. Martin Luther King (12-2, 21-9)
Mechanicsburg (3-2, 23-6) vs. Archbishop Wood (12-1, 24-3)
East Stroudsburg North (11-1, 18-10) vs. Spring Grove (3-4, 21-8)
Northeastern York (3-1, 28-2) vs. Upper Merion (1-2, 17-11)
Archbishop Carroll (12-3, 19-8) vs. Palmyra (3-6, 22-5)
Mars (7-4, 16-9) vs. Erie Cathedral Prep (10-2, 14-12)
Franklin Regional (7-5, 14-11) vs. Meadville (10-1, 23-1)

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