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PIAA Class 5A: Wood's underclassmen show Vikings' future is bright

03/25/2017, 10:30am EDT
By Michael Bullock

Andrew Funk (above) is one of five juniors returning to Archbishop Wood next year. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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HERSHEY — Tight on the basketball court — as one can quickly see whenever Archbishop Wood starts running its transition game or flashes its halfcourt stuff — the Vikings are just as close and well-connected when sporting civvies.

Seniors hang with juniors and those even younger.

Underclassmen spend all sorts of time with their older teammates.

And it worked splendidly well as Wood punctuated its first state tournament appearance by charging to its first PIAA Class 5A championship with a convincing 73-40 victory over an overmatched Meadville side Friday night at Giant Center.

Friday’s victory also capped a terrific run highlighted earlier by Philadelphia Catholic League and District 12 championships, all snugly tucked into a 22-game win streak.

Yet while Friday night’s contest was over almost as soon as it started — Wood sported a 17-2 lead late in the opening quarter that just continued to grow — what’s frightening is the Vikings (28-3) popped four players into double figures.

Including a trio of juniors.

Hot-shooting Tyree Pickron topped the powerful Vikings with 18 points — the 6-3 junior had 14 at halftime — while 6-11 classmate Seth Pinkney matched his 11 points with 11 boards and blocked four shots. Andrew Funk was the third junior to reach double digits, as the 6-4 wing hopped off the bench to chip in 10 points.

“On and off the court, we’re really close friends,” confirmed Funk, the 6-4 wing. “We spend so much time together. Through basketball, we’ve built great friendships and that translated on to the court especially today. We have great chemistry and we’ve built that on and off the court. … That’s just been huge for us.”

“These guys are all like family, my brothers,” Pickron added. “We treat it like a brotherhood. Even when we’re not busy with basketball, we’re all hanging out. We’re always talking. We’re always joking. We treat each other like family.”

Villanova-bound Collin Gillespie was the lone senior to wind up among Wood’s scoring leaders, as the 6-2 lead guard nearly posted a triple-double in his final high school game, posting 15 points, 10 rebounds and dropping eight dimes.

Nonetheless, winning No. 1 generates some incredible emotions.

“It’s just special,” Funk said. “You just try to take it all in, especially since it’s the first time we’ve ever been here and it’s the first time Wood’s ever been here. You try to take it all in, but you try to take it as just another game. We just want to celebrate this now.”

Yet while everyone was busy celebrating Friday night on the Giant Center floor and in the back hallways — senior Keith Otto had the sizable chocolate bar that accompanied the gold-colored trophy under his watch — others were looking ahead.

Especially since five members of John Mosco’s sparkling nine-man rotation will be back next season when the Vikings become the hunted and not the hunter.


Karrington Wallace (above), at 6-7, teams with Pinkney to give the Vikings some serious frontcourt length. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

In addition to Pickron, Pinkney and Funk, 6-7 forward Karrington Wallace (4 points/3 rebounds/3 blocks) and powerful 6-5 sophomore Julius Phillips (6 points/7 rebounds) are capable of making an impact in any particular contest.

“He’s holding the floor down next year,” Otto cracked, while slipping in front of the grinning Pickron. “He’s gonna be MVP.”

Pickron, Pinkney and Funk are all getting Division I offers: Funk from Lafayette, Pinkney from Temple, St. Joe's and La Salle, Pickron from Drexel and Stony Brook. When the three hit the AAU circuit in April with their respective programs, plenty more schools will jump on board.

While Gillespie knows his teammates are going to be challenged, he’s also remarkably optimistic that the group he and others are leaving behind will do just fine.

“They’re definitely going to have to take up a big role next year,” Gillespie said. “Ty’s going to have to handle the ball more, Andrew’s going to have to step up, Seth and Karrington, Jules, even [Zahree Harrison is] going to have to step up a little bit.

“But they’re going to be pretty good next year,” Gillespie continued. “They’re going to have a target on their back now but they can handle it, they’re a tough group.

“They’ll be fine.”

And that aforementioned five could be on the floor when the ball goes up for the first time next season and Wood begins trying to defend its trio of titles.

“Oh yeah, I mean they’re supposed to play that way at this time, they’re seniors,” Mosco said. “So we want them to be playing like seniors, it’s their time next year to shine.”

Harrison, a 5-8 freshman with all sorts of promise, is another strong possibility. Same for stocky 5-10 freshman Chris Garland.

Since Wood’s championship group had a terrific grasp of its individual responsibilities within the team concept, that likely will continue — even though some of the players may be asked to add dimensions to their games and log more minutes.

Regardless of the roles assigned, the one thing that’s unlikely to change as Wood moves forward is the closeness of this group. They really, really, really like one another and that translates into the continuity needed to succeed consistently.

While it won’t be easy carrying those sizable targets on their collective backs, Mosco was privy to how one adapts to maintaining a lofty expectation level despite the usual turnover in personnel during his lengthy run on the Neumann-Goretti staff.

“We’re graduating a great bunch of seniors,” Funk said. “We had four seniors, Shawn [Thompson] came in from football and then we’ve obviously got Keith, Collin and Matt [Cerruti]. They’ve been great and great leaders.

“But I think us juniors and sophomores, we’re gonna learn a lot from them,” Funk continued. “And I think we’re gonna just try to keep that moving forward into next year, have a good summer and with all that experience time will tell. “We’re gonna have the same expectations next year and I think we’re just gonna look to build upon this.”

Bottom line is this group should be mighty, mighty dangerous again next season.

Yet several of them already are aware that they’re going to absorb lots of quality shots — whether facing a grueling non-league slate or trying to navigate through a minefield otherwise known as the Philadelphia Catholic League.

Regardless, it’s tough to be the hunted.

“We’ve still got a lot of players coming back,” Pickron said. “And that’s one thing about us, our bench is loaded. Even our freshman, Zahree Harrison, he’s a great player. I’m not worried about next year. I think we’ll be pretty good.”


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