City of Basketball Love

Teddy Bailey (@TheTeddyBailey)
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West Chester’s freshmen backcourt duo of Malik Jackson and Matt Penecale have certainly played in plenty of thrilling games in their competitive careers.

Jackson, in his days at Penn Wood, led the Patriots to back-to-back Del-Val League titles and averaged a county-best 26.2 points per game in his senior season. The 6-foot-2 guard helped Penn Wood to numerous wins over arch-rival Chester in his time in Lansdowne, Pa.

Penecale, meanwhile, scored 13 points and lockdown defense to help Abington secure its first District championship since 1986. The 6-foot-3 point guard played in raucous environments as an upperclassmen, leading Abington to back-to-back appearances in the District 1 Class AAAA Semifinals.

On Thursday afternoon, however, Jackson and Penecale may have played the most exciting of their careers. After 13 ties and 19 lead changes, West Chester finally eluded Wilmington in double-overtime, 103-92.

Malik Jackson scored a team-high 34 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the floor. Only Wilmington (4-9, 0-5 CACC) junior guard Tyaire Ponzo-Meek scored more, pouring in 37 points during the 60-minute game. Penecale was close to triple-double figures, scoring 14 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

“Every college game is so different than high school,” Penecale said. “To play in two overtimes with the amount of minutes makes it so much harder. I like it a lot, but I’ve never played in a game like this with all of the lead changes.”

“It’s definitely a bigger stage,” Jackson said. “I knew that if my team kept on grinding, that we would get the job done.”

In the second overtime, West Chester raced out to an 8-0 run as Jackson drilled a 3-pointer and finished an acrobatic 3-point play to give the Rams an insurmountable 97-89 lead with 3:38 remaining. Three Wildcat players fouled out for Wilmington, allowing for the Rams to take advantage of their depth in the second overtime.

West Chester led 80-77 with 20 seconds remaining in regulation after a pair of free throws from 6-foot-6 senior forward Matt Wisely, who finished with 18 points and a game-high 19 rebounds. With seven seconds left, 5-foot-10 junior guard Tyaire Ponzo-Meek drilled a game-tying 3-pointer with a hand in his face to tie the game at 80-80 and force overtime. Wilmington was able to take an 89-87 lead with 2:23 left in overtime after five points from Ponzo-Meek to open the first overtime period. WCU's Senior forward Avery Brown was fouled with 52 seconds left and converted both free-throws, however, as the two teams were forced to play a second overtime in an 89-89 tie.  

“Defensively, we’re doing a solid job and that’s what is keeping us in games,” West Chester head coach Damien Blair said. “Matt and Malik both had great games, Matt did a great job on the boards and I think that was the difference in the game. We’re a little deeper than they are, they had a bunch of guys in foul trouble once we got to the second overtime.”

Through 11 games this season, Jackson leads the Rams in scoring with 15.6 points per game. Penecale has translated his versatile play to the college game, as he averages 7.8 points, 6.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.

“My team is full of great shooters,” Penecale said. “So it makes it easy on me. I have a lot of faith in the guys when I drive and kick-out. I don’t even have to think twice about it. It opens the lane for me to make layups, I just try to do what I can.”

“We’re having a lot of fun right now,” Jackson said. “We have fun, but we take every game serious. It’s all up to my point guard. Once he finds me, I;m confident shooting. I feel like I played a pretty good game.”

The duo has started every game this season, along with seniors Matt Wiseley and Avery Brown. The combination of a young nucleus and veteran leadership is a dynamic that West Chester’s opposition lacks. Penecale leads the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in assists, while Jackson is 15th in scoring and one of the league’s best freshmen.

“Very few coaches have the opportunity of two very good freshman,” Blair said. “And we have more than that. We’re happy with the nucleus that we have, the key is to get comfortable with each other and mature as basketball players. They have a lot to learn, the atmospheres are going to get a lot more heightened.”

Blair has been delighted with how Jackson and Penecale have adjusted to the Division-II level in such a short period of time. With Thursday’s win, the Rams stand at 10-1 overall, with a 6-1 record in PSAC play.

“There’s not many freshmen in this league, or across the country, that are doing that,” Blair said of his players’ adjustment They have a lot of games in front of them with that uniform on, and they’re going to make us a very good team because of it.”

West Chester will return to PSAC play on Sunday afternoon when they host 4-7 (2-5 PSAC) Seton Hill at 3 p.m as they continue its quest to host the PSAC Tournament.

“We know that there’s some teams that are going to try to come in and knock us off, or even try to knock us off when we go to their places. You can lose to teams that have terrible records because everyone has great athletes.”