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Pennsbury tops Spring-Ford, marches into Final Four

02/22/2014, 11:45am EST

By Jeff Neiburg

Jeff Neiburg (@Jeff_Neiburg)
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Since the beginning of the season, Bill Coleman has been preaching the same thing. Every time his Pennsbury team wins, they’re “1-and-0.”

One game at a time.

With that logic, Pennsbury will start from scratch again–only this time in the District 1 Class AAAA Final Four.

Behind the highly-talented junior trio of Mekhi Bryant, Derrick Woods and Cameron Jones, the No.5 Falcons fought past their 18 turnovers and pounded No. 4 Spring-Ford in a wire-to-wire 69-52 victory.

Bryant led all scorers with 19 points, 14 of which in the first half. Jones added 13 points and six rebounds, but it was Woods who was the biggest difference maker.

The 6-foot-8 center was a complete game-changer on both ends of the floor. Woods scored 16 points, collected 15 rebounds and swatted away four Spring-Ford shots.

His back-to-back dunks put the game away for good in the fourth quarter with just under five minutes to go. On the second, Woods was all alone in transition and rose up for a monster one-handed slam that sent the Pennsbury student section into a frenzy.

Woods is arguably one of the most improved players in the area.

“I think that comes with, more or less, becoming more comfortable in the environment,” Coleman said. “We’re a very hands-on basketball staff. When Derrick came to school I don’t think he realized how hands-on we are. As long as you believe in what we got going on, and how much work we ask you guys to put in, then you can see the improvement.”

“From the beginning of the year until now, it’s been huge.”

Bryant opened the scoring for the Falcons by knocking down a pair of triples. Spring-Ford on the other hand, couldn’t make a basket.

Pennsbury used a 15-0 run in the late portion of the opening quarter toseize all momentum. The 2-for-13 shooting in the first quarter from the Rams allowed Pennsbury to jump out to a 21-7 first quarter lead.

The Falcons were controlling the pace, turning five early turnovers into easy baskets.

“We were really fired up in the locker room getting ready for the game,” Woods said of the fast start. “We knew it was going to be a team that wanted revenge on is since we beat them earlier in the year and they only lost two games.”

“They came out and dictated the pace of the game,” Spring-Ford coach Chris Talley said. “We weren’t able to match it. If you can’t match their intensity at this point of the season, it’s going to be an uphill battle.”

Spring-Ford would battle back though. Senior forward Alex Epps-Ortiz backed Woods down in the post and scored a layup, capping off a 15-2 run over five and a half minutes to open the quarter – bringing the score to 23-22 Pennsbury.

But the run would stop there.

Bryant would score eight points in the final 1:25 of the first half, including a transition dunk with 40 seconds left and a layup just before the buzzer, allowing the Falcons to build a 35-25 lead at halftime.

“We always know that if we get a lead, a good team – especially now in this part of districts – is going to come back,” Coleman said. “They’re going to make a run at you. Can you sustain the run, take the punch, and then make your own run? We countered every run that they made.”

Pennsbury scored the first four points of the second half and led by double digits until early in the fourth quarter when junior forward Mike Olsen cut the lead to 53-45.

Then the two dunks from Woods happened and the Falcons coasted down the stretch.

Ciotti, a senior point guard, pitched in 10 points to join the juniors in double figures.

Senior forward Nick Stanek paced Spring-Ford with 16 points and five rebounds. Senior wing Gary Hopkins chipped in 11 points and Epps-Ortiz scored four points while adding seven rebounds.

Woods’ 15 boards let the Falcons dominate the rebound margin, 36-24.

Pennsbury will take on No. 1 Conestoga, who knocked off No. 9 Lower Merion, on Tuesday night in the Final Four at the Liacouras Center at Temple University.

The plan has always been to get here, if not even further.

“These guys have worked hard since March,” Coleman said. “At the end of last year our goal was to get to Villanova. These guys work their tails off everyday.”

“We just want to win it all right now, it’s just one goal in our mind,” Bryant said. “It was kind of mandatory for us to get here. It’s wonderful to be here. I know we’re all going to go home and sleep it off, but when we get back in the gym on Monday, it’s going to be just straight focus.”

If they can get by Conestoga, the goal of reaching the District One championship at Villanova will be reached. That won’t be an easy task though, the Pioneers already beat Pennsbury 53-42 this season. Turning the ball over 18 times in that game will probably lead to a different result.

“Turnovers were really killing us this game,” Woods said. “If we go to Temple and turn it over, we probably won’t win. They beat us before. We really underestimated them. We look forward to playing them again and try to get revenge.”

Spring-Ford’s season isn’t over, having already clinched its first berth in the PIAA Class AAAA State Playoffs. They’ll enter the playback portion of the district tournament to determine their seeding in the states.

The Rams will take on No. 9 Lower Merion at home on Tuesday night.

“We challenged them to have the best practice of the year tomorrow,” Talley said. “We have another home game and a chance to play another day, get a better seed and to continue to do something special.”