By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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FAIRVIEW VILLAGE — The Plymouth Whitemarsh boys basketball team faced a seven-point deficit when its star player fouled out with just five and a half minutes to go Wednesday night against Methacton.
It was an early test for the inexperienced Colonials to find out what kind of supporting pieces they have alongside 6-4 sharpshooter Mani Sajid this season.
While a slew of PW players earned passing grades, juniors Michael Pereira and Terron Davis stood out above the rest as they combined for 13 fourth-quarter points, leading the Colonials to a comeback 59-54 win.
“I just wanted to prove to people that I could step up too, and do stuff do,” said Davis, who scored all 11 points in the second half.
PW junior Terron Davis had all 11 of his points in the second half. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)
Sajid finished with 20 points in Wednesday’s win. He made three of his four triples in the first quarter as he poured in 13 points, outsourcing Methacton himself as PW jumped out to a 19-10 lead.
However, the Warriors locked in on Sajid through the rest of the contest, giving him the “marked man” treatment he’s sure to see throughout the rest of his time in a Colonial uniform as one of the region’s top talents. And the Colonials struggled without him scoring the ball.
Methacton kept him to a bucket in the second quarter to close the gap to 27-25 and took the lead by the end of the third, 41-37, as the Warriors held him to just a pair of free throws. Sajid’s last points of the game were a 3-point shot that cut Methacton’s largest lead (48-40) down to five before he exited with his fifth foul at the 5:38 mark.
“All the really, really talented guys I’ve been lucky enough to coach, usually they make their name coming into their senior year,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “This is different because he just blew up. He’s going to be that every game, face guarded, this that, pushed, bumped. … We gotta go through it. We’re an interesting team, but we’re also an inexperienced team.”
Sophomore Buddy Denard was the first PW player to score in the final five minutes of the fourth. Then came a run of 10 straight from Davis and Pereira, turning a 50-43 deficit into a 55-52 lead by the 1:49 mark with a 12-2 run. Junior guard Jack Hayes (six points) split a pair at the line and Denard, a transfer from Archbishop Wood, hit two clutch foul shots with 11.3 seconds left to help ice the game.
Davis, a 5-10 guard, entered the game off the bench for PW and didn’t get on the board until a pair of buckets in the third that lifted the Colonials offense as it struggled. He added seven more in the fourth to finish with 11 points and a pair of steals.
“I just tried to bring some defensive energy and turn it into offense,” Smith said. “Defense, that’s what we work on everyday in practice, the main priority. … I used to be an all offensive player, but I turned up my defensive energy as you can see in my game. Defense is what gets you minutes on this team.”
PW junior Michael Pereira had two important putbacks late in the comeback effort. (Photo: Owen McCue/CoBL)
His defense turned into fastbreak offense, getting some easy buckets for a squad that needed a spark with its half-court offense given fits by the Methacton defense.
“I thought Terron Davis changed the game because we were just getting beat off the ball constantly,” Donofrio said.
Pereira, a 6-foot-9 forward, began coming into his own as a player this offseason as he played with Sajid on the Nike EYBL circuit with Team Final.
He knows he will play an important two-way role for the Colonials this season. After serving mostly as a defensive enforcer (three blocks) through the first three quarters, he had six of his 10 points in the fourth, all three buckets coming during the game’s defining stretch.
“Coach always says that if we’re gonna win anything, me and Mani both need to have double digits,” Pereira said. “Me and Mani both had double digits in this game, making his theory true. Overall, if we’re going to do big things like we want to do, we need to look inside, not even just to me but to Micah (Thompson).”
Methacton sophomore Jack Lineen had 15 in the game, including two third-quarter triples, and senior Sal Iemmelo finished with 11 points, five assists and six rebounds. Senior Jack Bradford (seven points) provided a spark early in the fourth quarter.
The Warriors, who get another stiff challenge in Lower Merion on Saturday before jumping into Pioneer Athletic Conference play at Perkiomen Valley, likely opened some eyes around the area with Wednesday’s performance despite letting an opportunity for a big win slip.
“I told our guys, I don’t want to waste this loss,” Methacton coach Pat Lockard said. “If we don’t learn from this, it’s an absolute waste of a loss. We gotta grow from this and try to do better from it. I think this gives us some confidence that we can hang with some teams that not a lot of people outside our locker room give us a chance on, so that gives us some confidence that if we put a good effort out there we can battle with teams at the bare minimum if not win some of these games.
The Colonials don’t have another established perimeter threat like Jaden Colzie (Jefferson) to star alongside Sajid and take some of the pressure away. Though Pereira’s continued improvements could demand more attention inside, particularly on nights when he and frontcourt mate Micah Tompson (6-6) are both going.
That will be part of the fun parts for Donofrio during the 2024-25 campaign as the season progresses. NIghts like Wednesday — and there will be plenty with a loaded scheduled that has Neumann-Goretti next — could churn out a different hero every night.
“To have Mani go out … five minutes to go, that was really pleasant to see, the fight,” Donofrio said. “We said we’re not losing the game, figure it out.”
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Plymouth Whitemarsh 19 | 8 | 10 | 22 | | 59
Methacton 10 | 15 | 16 | 13 | | 54
Upper Dublin: Mani Sajid 20, Terron Davis 11, Michael Pereira 10, Buddy Denard 7, Jack Hayes 5, Micah Thompson 4, Caleb Bridgeman 2.
Lower Merion: Jack Lineen 15, Sal Iemmelo 11, Mason Conrad 8, Jack Bradford 7, Henry Goldstein 3, Wes Robinson 4, Jahmir Carter 2, Lucas Leckerman 2, Ben DePaul 2.
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