City of Basketball Love

Andrew Robinson (@ADrobinson3)
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NORRISTOWN — The flaws all came out at the wrong time.

At times this season, the Archbishop Wood boys basketball team had been its own worst enemy. Sometimes, the highlights and prolific talent overcame stretches of selfish play, a lack of intensity on the defensive end and other negative attributes when they flared up.

Tuesday night, the flaws were too much at the forefront as Wood bowed out to Parkland 59-51 in the PIAA Class 6A semifinals at Norristown High School, ending the Vikings’ season for a third year in a row a win short of Hershey.

“We didn’t follow the plan, we chased them too much, we weren’t in good help and offensively, we were selfish,” Wood coach John Mosco said. “Everything that killed us all year hurt us tonight. Selfishness, it’s not even selfishness shooting the ball or who’s shooting because in our offense, we give freedom — the selfishness is not guarding or getting the big rebound or doing whatever it takes to win.”

Parkland knocked off its second Philadelphia Catholic League opponent in a row after downing Roman Catholic in the quarterfinals to reach its first state final since 2004. The District 11 champion got 16 points from Davidson recruit Nick Coval, although he had far from his sharpest night, shooting 4 of 13 from the field and 0 of 5 from 3.

Instead, Coval let his teammates share the stage, from Robbie Ruisch’s four made 3-pointers, to the 11 points and secondary ball-handling from Jayden Thomas, to the toughness from Zaire Smaltz and the defense by Luke Spang. The Trojans played a controlled and opportunistic game, and when Wood left them an avenue they exploited it.

“They were hustling more than us, they wanted the ball more than us,” Wood senior Josh Reed said. “When the ball went up, we weren’t boxing out, we weren’t trying to get the ball, we weren’t trying to fall on the ball or be more aggressive than they were. It came down to that, and at the end of the day they wanted it more.”

Reed had a game-high 20 points, the Drexel recruit playing with his usual tenacity while junior Mike Green supplied nine points off the bench. Vikings guard Jalil Bethea finished with 10, part of a frustrating night for the Miami recruit at the hands of a physical Parkland defense determined not to let him get going the way he had in Saturday’s quarterfinal against Spring-Ford.

Even when Bethea made a deep 3 with 4:05 left in the game, tying the score 49-49, Wood never capitalized. The Vikings got one more score — a Reed put-back dunk where he took a fair bit of contact with no whistle — the rest of the way while Parkland waited things out to get the right looks.

“We didn’t help, we chased and (Parkland’s) guys made shots,” Mosco said. “People were supposed to be in help and challenge and rebound, we didn’t show any toughness. They were a lot tougher than we were.”

Reed agreed with the assessment that the Vikings’ flaws from the course of the season ultimately proved their downfall.

“I picked up two quick fouls, that took me out of the game early,” Reed said. “Second half, I picked up a dumb third foul, and it just kept adding up. Jalil picked up his third foul, took us out of the game, took us out of our rhythm and the team out of its rhythm.

“We couldn’t get stops. We couldn’t get defensive rebounds. That’s what took us out of the game.”

Wood led 15-10 after a quarter and had an 18-12 lead 45 seconds into the second frame before an 8-0 Parkland run got the Trojans right back in it. A dunk by Bethea off a Reed outlet pass put Wood in front 29-27, but a trey by Ruisch that banked off the backboard and in at the halftime buzzer gave Parkland a 30-29 lead and an edge it never lost, save for the tie midway through the fourth quarter.

Mosco expressed frustration with the way the game was called, saying he felt his team absorbed a lot of contact that went without a whistle. but ultimately his team didn’t respond the way it needed to.

“The ball wasn’t going in, we weren’t getting a call so we didn’t go back and play defense,” Mosco said. “You gotta be able to play both sides of the floor. When we played defense against Methacton and Lower Merion, when we guarded, we didn’t care about offense and we came out on top.”

Mosco credited the Wood seniors for keeping a high standard in the program, the team making the state final their freshman year and the semifinals each of the last three. While many programs would gladly take that kind of run, the Vikings felt unsatisfied without a championship to go with it.

“I was hoping to leave with some type of win, some type of trophy, but I gave everything I had to this program,” Reed said. “Practices, everything, I fought my ass off and it just sucks to come up short, but I will always be a Viking.”

By Quarter

Parkland: 10 | 20 | 17 | 12 || 59

Archbishop Wood: 15 | 14 | 14 | 8 || 51

Scoring

Parkland: Nick Coval 16, Robbie Ruisch 12, Jayden Thomas 11, Zaire Smaltz 6, Connor Johns 6, Blake Nassry 6

Archbishop Wood: Josh Reed 20, Jalil Bethea 10, Mike Green 9, Deuce Maxey 6, Milan Dean 3, Tahir Howell 3

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PIAA 6A Boys

Semifinals (Tue., March 19)
11-1 Parkland 59, 12-3 Archbishop Wood 51
3-5 Central York 79, 3-4 Reading 65

Championship at Giant Center (Sat., March 23)
11-1 Parkland vs. 3-5 Central York, 8 p.m.