City of Basketball Love

Ryan Coyle (@ryancoyle35)
––

As the race to the finish line in the SOL Liberty Division comes down to the final laps, a division title is still within grasp for the Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s boys basketball team.

With one of their preseason goals still in reach, the Colonials need to focus on one thing: Keeping their foot on the gas for all 32 minutes.

They might not have had their ‘A’ game for all 32 minutes on Tuesday night, but they hit the gas enough to give themselves a comfortable 67-45 win over Abington.

“We have been going through struggles up and down this season,” senior point guard Jaden Colzie said. “We had a lot of close games that we could have definitely won, but this is definitely a statement win for sure. We know it came down to the wire the first game of the season against Abington, so I am glad we got the 20-point win today.”

With Tuesday’s win, Plymouth-Whitemarsh (10-6, 8-2) now controls its own destiny for the SOL Liberty title with a pending matchup next week at Upper Dublin as the Colonials defeated the Cardinals already earlier this season.

Despite their usual success in the Suburban One this year, the young Colonials team that gets contributions from only a handful of upperclassmen and relies on a slew of sophomores has struggled in the non-league, dropping games to Sanford (Del.) and other District 1 6A foes in Methacton and Henderson.

As the season has gone on, head coach Jim Donofrio has been in search of ways to get this young team to finish out these games to prep them for what is to surely come during the playoffs.

“You had a lead on Sanford and you gave it up, you had a lead on Henderson and gave it up, you had a lead on Methacton and gave it up,” Donofrio said to his players during the third quarter on Tuesday. “This is not about relaxing ever. If we buy into that, if we buy into that we need to have a different persona when we are playing basketball than when we are in history class, we got a shot I think.” 

The Colonials took a 31-19 lead into halftime, but Abington (11-4, 7-3) came out of the gates hot in the third quarter and cut the lead to 33-29 with 4:43 left in the third with some pressure defense and key buckets from Jeremiah Lee (10 points) and Khalid Jenkins (12 points) to give the Ghosts some real momentum.

That momentum was halted when Donofrio used a full timeout to challenge his team's toughness.

“They haven’t responded enough,” Donofrio said. “During the first two thirds of the season, they had like a regulator on them. You can get them fired up, but sometimes we see them still not sprinting, still not fighting for the ball. And with that, you aren’t going to win much, you are going to have heart breaking losses that you should win. How do you sell toughness? You just keep trying and tonight they responded.”

The fiery speech in the huddle seemed to wake up his squad as they outscored Abington 34-16 the rest of the way.

“I have been in plenty of situations like that and definitely this season,” Colzie said. “We have given up so many leads this season. I don’t feel like we deserved to lose this game today. We played hard from the jump. Everybody that played today played their living butt off. That timeout really helped us, and I am glad we got the win today.”

Colzie had 19 points for the Colonials, including 11 in the second half and sophomore wing Mani Sajid led the PW with 23 on the night, including two big first-half slams.

“I know what he can do, he’s a talented kid,” Colzie said of Sajid. “This is his wakeup year basically. I am glad he woke up tonight, and I know every single night he can do that. I’m really proud of him.”

With Colzie and Sajid combining on the night for 42 points, that type of offensive output on a regular basis will be hard to contain down the stretch. Key contributions on loose balls, the glass, and the defensive end from guys like Jack Hayes (seven points), Jah Sayles (two points), and Mike Periera (seven points) on a consistent basis raises the ceiling of this team even more.

“To win these big games down the stretch you have to be able to rise up in big moments and have the focus to hit key foul shots and we aren’t there yet,” Donofrio said. “We haven’t been there all year. I thought there were moments again like that tonight where they cut into the lead in the third, and I thought ‘here it goes again’. 

“We play the game moment to moment. If something good happens, we're happy. If something bad happens, we let it impact the way we play. And I need these guys to know you have to play the same way every night to be the type of team that we can be.”

PW’s swarming pressure defense gave Abington troubles all night and never let the Ghosts get into a rhythm. Abington only shot 31.4% from the field and 7.6% from three. PW is now 6-0 on the season when they hold opponents to 50 or less as they continue to build an identity on both ends of the floor.

As guys like Colzie and Sayles wrap up their Plymouth Whitemarsh careers, they know what it takes to win championships in both the league and in District 1 as they were both members of last year’s championship squad. Getting the young guys with them to gear up for this final stretch of the season will ultimately determine how far this team can go.

“I’m hoping the seniors focus on what we expect them to do and that is going out on a high level,” Donofrio said. “Then, I am hoping the sophomores realize how much you have to focus and grow up to do that.”

“At some point you get tired of losing. At some point you get tired of getting called soft and you grow up. We have to fall in love with being a team, not caring about playing time, scoring, or any of that stuff, but coming together as a team to do what we expect to do here and that is win and win at a high level. I was proud of the way they responded tonight in the second half and the growth I saw from this group tonight.” 

By Quarter
Plymouth-Whitemarsh:  16  |  15  |  17  |  19  ||  67
Abington:           13  |  6  |  19  |  7  ||  45

Shooting
Plymouth-Whitemarsh: 27-53 FG (4-17 3PT), 9-14 FT
Abington: 17-54 FG (2-26 3PT), 9-14 FT 

Scoring
Plymouth-Whitemarsh: Sajid 23, Colzie 19, Masico 7, Periera 7, Hayes 5, Harris 2, Davis 2

Abington: Jenkins 12, Lee 10, Brashear 10, Jones 9, Miller 3, Phillips 1