City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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BETHLEHEM — Disappointed at first when told to take a seat — maybe even a bit angry — Ish Horn was ready to go when his second chance finally arrived.
 
Even if Plymouth-Whitemarsh skipper Jim Donofrio was reluctant to reinsert the wiry junior back into the Colonials’ talented lineup.
 
“Wake up, that’s it,” Horn said of Donofrio’s early challenge.
 
“Don’t wake up, we lose. I had to wake up.”
 
And when the 6-2 wing returned to the fray for the start of the second half, he responded by pocketing 18 of his 20 points after the break as P-W turned back Pocono Mountain West 66-63 in a high-octane second-round scrap in the PIAA Class 6A playoffs Friday night at Bethlehem Freedom High School’s Joseph J. McIntyre Gymnasium.
 
“I told him you can’t play in this game because you’re not ready for this game,” Donofrio said afterward. “That’s why I sat him down. He has a really beautiful soft side and he has a tough side — and he decided to bring his soft side.
 
“I said, ‘You can sit and watch. All of the assistant coaches want you in the game.’ But I don’t believe you can play in this game,” Donofrio continued. “And then someone got in foul trouble and I had to put him in.”
 
Ahmad Williams added 15 points and Cheo Houston chipped in 13 more for the Colonials (25-5), who will meet Reading in Sunday’s quarterfinal round — quite possibly at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.
 
Isaiah Wiggins poured in 28 points — he banked 20 of his game-high effort after the break — while Jalen Vaughns popped a double-double (24 points/11 boards) before fouling out in the final seconds. Lance Singh chipped in 11 points for the Panthers (23-5), who were playing for the final time under retiring skipper Brad Pensyl.
 
“To get to the Elite Eight, that’s a big deal,” Pensyl said. “It’s a big deal for everybody.”
 
And when Singh fouled out with 1:06 to play in the third quarter — the 6-5 senior collected two personals and was part of a double technical also issued to Williams in a mere six seconds — Horn tied the game moments later on a drive to the tin.
 
“Certainly, Lance not playing the whole fourth quarter [was critical],” Pensyl admitted. “Take [Williams] off their team and put him on the bench for the whole fourth. Not making excuses, I’m just saying it is what it is.”
 
An exchange of buckets later, Horn was standing at the free throw line with 11.4 seconds remaining in the third, about to bag both ends of a one-and-one opportunity. Then, after a PM West miss, Horn buried a half-court heave at the … horn.
 
“That’s what really woke me up,” Horn admitted. “After all that and I made that shot, I’m like here we go. It’s coming. It’s coming, I knew it was.
 
“After that, my confidence was [sky high].”
 
Up 55-50 after three, the Colonials never yielded the lead.
 
Sent to the bench by Donofrio early in the first half, the PW staff had to convince the Colonials’ driven skipper to put him back in the game. Naheem McLeod, the Colonials’ 7-0 sophomore, didn’t play much either against a Panthers group that just attacked and attacked the backboards at both ends.
 
Once PW realized it needed to keep Vaughns away from the bucket and managed to accomplish that effectively — the slick 6-5 senior had 16 points and 10 rebounds at the break — is when the deeper Colonials were able to dig in and go.
 
“If you watch the NBA, it’s not an age of boxing out any more,” Donofrio said. “Vaughns is phenomenal at finding position and you have to actually give the ball up.
 
“It’s a 1960s concept. Give the ball up and go put a body on him.”
 
“It’s about who outlasts,” said Horn, the Martin Luther King transfer. “If you fight longer and you fight harder, you’ve got to win. That’s how it goes.
 
“Stay disciplined, you got it. That’s all Coach teaches.”
 
Horn scored nine points in the third quarter — including those seven in the final minute — then added nine more down the stretch. And with the game dangling in the balance, the 6-2 junior was 5-for-5 at the line in those precarious final moments.
 
“Ish Horn has to know he’s a talented kid and get after it, and you set him loose,” Donofrio said. “You don’t get this far without having talent. It’s 95 percent talent and if the talent is not sure of itself, it’s a coach’s job to make sure it is.
 
“And he was terrific. I just got out of the way.”
 
“He’s got good players,” Pensyl said of Horn. “He’s a little bit deeper than we are.”
 
The rest of the Colonials, meanwhile, were a collective 2-for-8 at the stripe.
 
Yet, despite Wiggins racking up 11 points in the final quarter, PW had enough to hold off the powerful Panthers and advance to meet Reading in Sunday’s quarters.
 
Plus, PM West scored the first eight points of the game, converting stickbacks and unleashing nasty pressure to wobble the Colonials early. PW, in fact, committed 13 first-half turnovers yet finished with just 20 against its remarkably athletic adversaries.
 
While the Panthers were up by 10 early (14-4), PW was down just six (33-27) when the halftime break finally arrived and everyone could take a needed breather.”
 
“At halftime, there wasn’t even a marker on the board,” said Donofrio, who used 11 players in the opening half. “It was just you understand this is for each other now. It really is right out of the emotional book. It really is. Do you want to go home?
 
“They’re a confident, tough bunch of kids.”
 
Balance also proved beneficial for Donofrio’s outfit as Alan Glover chipped in nine points off the bench and Matt Walker buried a pair of treys in the third quarter. Conversely, PM West’s entire output came from Wiggins, Vaughns and Singh.
 
All three finished their Panthers careers with 1,000-plus points.
 
Horn’s ability to get to the basket consistently also led to Pensyl’s bunch accruing all sorts of foul troubles before everything came to a close with three PM West starters parked on the bench at the end with their total allotment.
 
And while it didn’t start well for the Colonials, Horn’s emergence after the break propelled Donofrio’s club past one land mine and into a matchup with another.
 
“We’re ready,” Horn said. “We’re ready.”

~~~

Quick start propels Constitution into quarterfinals

In the opener at McIntyre, Constitution took advantage of an early spurt, maintained command from that point on and captured a 63-53 victory over Holy Cross in a Class 2A second-round game that moved the Generals into Sunday’s quarterfinals.
 
Raquon West (16), Keshaun Hammonds (13) and Maurice Waters (11) reached double figures for Constitution (17-9), which parlayed a 10-0 finishing kick at the end of the first quarter into a 21-10 advantage. The Generals eventually led 39-22 at the break.
 
Up next for Constitution — West had 12 first-half points — is a date with District 9 entry Ridgway at a site and time that will be revealed sometime Saturday.
 
Malachi Phillips tossed in 16 points and Kieran Burrier wound up with 11 for Al Callejas’ Crusaders (19-9), who came in riding a 10-game winning streak.
 
Down by just a single point (11-10), the District 2 champions watched Constitution punch it into gear and collect the last 10 points of the opening quarter.
 
And that pivotal spurt was punctuated with a Waters slam in transition off an outlet pass from Leeron Wills-Worthy.
 
“The main focus was to break out early,” West said.
 
“So, it was just like an easy game the rest of the way.”
 
Although transition was key to Constitution’s timely salvo, so was the Generals’ in-your-grill defensive approach, a tactic that really kept Holy Cross out of whack.
 
“Defense is always our main focus,” added West, a 6-0 junior. “All season long, we try to outscore teams but we also try to hold teams to a certain number of points.
 
“Today we accomplished our goals.”
 
While the Generals’ lead would grow before halftime, Moore’s bunch held steadfast and never really let Holy Cross get back in the game.
 
Next up: Ridgway.
 
“We just trying to get to Hershey,” a grinning West said. “I’m ready. I’m hungry. I just want to win, that’s all I want.
 
“I can speak for my teammates because we all got one common goal.”