City of Basketball Love

By Evan Hartenstein (@EvanHartenstein)
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When Penncrest suffered a crushing loss to Holy Ghost in the second round of districts, they could have backed down and let the defeat get to them. 

But a Mikey Mita-led team wasn’t going to do that.

The 6-foot-7 junior forward guided his team to a 68-54 victory over the Firebirds, this time in the second round of states.

Mita was simply unstoppable, scoring 32 points and grabbing 13 rebounds despite Ghost’s physicality. He used his lethal mid-range jumpshot and precise postwork to attack his defenders at all angles, leaving limited options to a befuddled Firebird squad. 

However, it wasn’t just Mita’s superb skills that helped lead his team to the next round of states; rather, his attitude played a major role.

“One of the biggest aspects for me is just bringing the energy and being a great teammate,” Mita said. “I feel like bringing your team up, making sure that they are all positive, it helps the team flow. When they are playing better, I’m playing better and we all play as a team.”

Penncrest coach Mike Doyle thinks that it’s Mita’s smarts and makeup that makes him so valuable to the Lions.

“Mikey is one of the smartest basketball players,” Doyle said. “I’ve been at Penncrest for 20 years — I defer to Mikey, his basketball IQ is unmatched. His positivity, how hard he works — he’s one of the hardest working players around.”

Penncrest started off somewhat slow, as Ghost jumped out to a 13-7 lead after the first period. The Lions had little-to-no answers in response to 1,000 point-scorer Adrian Varella and big-man Thomas Nahill, who combined for nine of the Firebirds’ first quarter points. On the other side, Penncrest heavily relied on Mita on the offensive end, as he scored all 13 of his teams’ points.

But when Nahil fell into foul trouble in the second quarter, Mita was able to take advantage. In the second and third periods combined, Mita brought the team back from down six to up 12, scoring 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

Not only did he score at an elite level, but he drove his team back into it by getting his teammates good looks. Specifically, Sean Benson made the most of Ghost’s new focus on Mita and utilized the elbows and blocks to get shots up. Benson nailed all four of his free throw attempts along with five mid-range jumpers to help add 14 points to the scoresheet, eight of which came in the second and third.

In these two periods, Penncrest outscored Ghost by sixteen points and brought significant momentum going into the fourth after a Will Stanton buzzer-beater from beyond the arc, making 48-38 Lions.  

Penncrest would continue to handle Ghost in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 20-16. For every shot that Ghost hit, Penncrest was able to knock one down. For every turnover that the Firebirds forced, the Lions had an answer not too long after. Penncrest was simply able to capitalize on miscues while Ghost could not. Additionally, players like Stanton and Theo Gladue were able to make their mark on the game with excellent free throw shooting. Gladue shot six for six from the line in the fourth, while Stanton hit four of his six.

Despite this unfortunate loss for Holy Ghost, their effort never shied away. Even when they were down by fourteen points with two minutes left, the Firebirds didn’t back down. 

Zachary Sharlin nailed three straight three pointers in crunch time and Varella didn’t slow down when Penncrest was in his grill. Freshman Liam Condon didn’t just let Mita just have his way - instead he guarded him hard and even blocked a shot. Toughness and fighting through adversities is the Holy Ghost way and nobody preached it more than Tom Heston.

“We’ve been down before,” Heston said. “We just fought back and we just never gave up…these guys give their hearts and that’s what makes this so tough.”

Holy Ghost, which finished its season 15-9, will have a much different look next year. Sharlin, Varella and Nahill are part of a nine-man senior class for the Firebirds, who greatly improved upon last year’s first-round district playoff exit. Several pieces will return, including Condon and juniors Adam McDonald and Liam Duffy, but there’s no doubt Heston and his program will have to turn a big page this offseason.

“They bought in, they worked their butts off,” Heston said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of seniors.”

Penncrest now moves on to play against Neumann-Goretti in the third round of the 5A state playoffs and looks to continue their quest for an improbable, but not impossible state championship run.

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Team Scoring
Penncrest:   7 | 17 | 24 | 20    68
Holy Ghost 13 | 11 | 14 | 16   54

Individual Scoring
Penncrest: Mikey Mita 32, Sean Benson 14, Theo Gladue 13, Will Stanton 9 

Holy Ghost: Adrien Varella 18, Zachary Sharlin 16, Thomas Nahil 8, Liam Condon 4, Robert Segarich 4, Adam McDonald 2, Mark Stenardo 2

Team Shooting
Penncrest 23-48 FG (4-19 3PT), 18-27 FT
Holy Ghost 19-46 FG (5-18 3PT), 11-20 FT