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District 1 6A: P-W overcomes Upper Darby scare to get to Temple

02/24/2018, 12:45am EST
By Tyler Sandora

Ish Horn (above, in Jan.) and P-W found themselves in an early hole on Friday against Upper Darby. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Tyler Sandora (@tyler_sandora)
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It was a situation Plymouth-Whitemarsh wasn’t too familiar with.

The Colonials have been beating their opponents all year by margins as big as big as 50 points. Entering Friday night 25-0, and ranked the 23rd-best high school team in the country by USA Today, P-W has been beating most opponents with ease this year.

But against eighth-seeded Upper Darby in the quarterfinal round of the PIAA District One tournament, in a home gym which has seen the Colonials win 50 straight games, the top-seeded Colonials knew the Royals wouldn’t go down without a fight.

What they might not have been able to guess, however, is that Upper Darby would start the game by hitting six straight threes, and lead by 12 at the end of the first quarter.

Sure, Upper Darby is a talented shooting team. But jumping out to a 12 point advantage in the first quarter on P-W this season? Almost unheard of.

“Everybody comes here and will give it everything they got,” senior guard Ish Horn said. “We didn’t think it would be six shots in a row, but we knew they would come out with energy.”

But P-W didn’t let the Royals’ big lead stick around for long. Runs of 19-6 and 9-0 led the Colonials right back into a neck-and-neck battle with Upper Darby.

Then a strong second-half surge from P-W shifted the momentum of the game, ultimately ending with a 70-58 victory for the Colonials, sending them off to Temple University next week for the district semifinals.

“If you are going to take a lead on us, do it in the first quarter,” P-W head coach Jim Donofrio said. “It’s a weird psychology when you do that. Unless you are shooting 88 percent from the field all night, that is it.

“A game is usually won in an eight minute run. In the playoffs, it can be a two-minute run. That’s what it was tonight.”

Even though P-W blew out most of its opponents, there was a particular matchup against The Haverford School back in January that brought back some memories on Friday night.

The Colonials trailed by as many as 18 to the Fords, but scratched their way back and avoiding the first loss of the season. Against Bonner-Prendergast on December 29, P-W went back and forth with the Friars, and the game went into double overtime.

“We know that when we are down like that we can hit another gear and get back,” senior forward Alan Glover said. “Just our defense. Our press defense.”

In the first half against Upper Darby, P-W allowed whoever its 7-1 junior center Naheem McLeod was guarding on Upper Darby to safely bring the ball up. After a while, easy shots were created with the big man outside of the paint, and Upper Darby took a lead.

McLeod came out in the half and threw down a pair of thunderous dunks, and set a tone which P-W continuously built on throughout the closing two quarters.

When P-W’s zone defense was used after halftime, Upper Darby ran into some trouble. The Colonials forced Upper Darby into eight turnovers in the second half, most of which came off of traps in the backcourt. When McLeod was taken out of the game for the benefit of a faster lineup, the quickness of P-W’s guards took over and was unmatched by Upper Darby.

“Our whole philosophy starts with 90 feet of pacing and creating the pace,” Donofrio said. “It’s nice to have that. They did it really well. [Upper Darby] had some turnovers that went cleanly out of bounds.”

A play that highlighted the second half run by P-W was a poke-away by guard Danny Cooper, which triggered Ahmad Williams to dive on the floor and dish the ball to Ish Horn for an acrobatic layup.

Those were two of Horn’s game-high 27 points on the evening, while McLeod chipped in 16. Ahmad Williams had 12, and his twin brother Ahmin Williams had six.

“Not that we weren’t playing hard, because we were,” Donofrio said, “but my job is to worry about the opponent playing a great game. What if this team makes every shot no matter what you do?

“[Upper Darby] played great and they are tough kids and not afraid of anybody,” he continued.” We have seen this game on every level. It comes down to how mentally tough you will be.”

With the win, P-W advances to play Central Bucks West in the district semifinals next Tuesday, the same team they defeated in the Suburban One League championship game only two weeks ago.

Upper Darby’s season isn’t over even though they lost. Since they had made the quarterfinal round, the Royals have qualified for the state tournament.

This was the last game P-W will play in the Colonial Elementary School gym -- a new arena is under construction for next year -- and the Colonials were able to go out with a win. Games won’t get any easier moving forward, but at least the Colonials have the confidence to know they can come down from a large deficit; something they haven't had to do much this year.

“There is a lot going for us in this house, this atmosphere, this heritage, this experience and talent,” Donofrio said. “To come in here and beat us in the moment, even if you’re exceptional, we’re gonna find a way to raise it. And to the kid’s credit, that’s what they did.”

 


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