City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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HERSHEY, Pa. -- Mastery North Charter’s deep postseason run came to an end against the top team in the state, as Aliquippa finished off its undefeated season with a 68-49 win in the PIAA Class AA championship.

The Quips (30-0), behind 22-point outings from senior guards Jassir Jordan and Sheldon Jeter, made amends for last year’s 62-51 defeat at the hands of Conwell-Egan to take home their first state championship since 1997.

“That team was a lot more seasoned, they’ve been here before,” Mastery North head coach Terrence Cook said. “No matter what the outcome was of this game, I told them before we started, we’re proud of the way we played this year, we made a lot of accomplishments, and it’s nothing to put our heads down for.”

Mastery North (27-4) was powered by a tremendous performance from Daeqwon Plowden, who provided nearly half of the Pumas’ entire offensive output. The 6-foot-3 junior wing had a game-high 24 points (on 10-of-16 shooting) to go along with 11 rebounds, hitting some tough pull-up shots to go along with several rim-rattling dunks.

Cook, who’d seen Plowden put up big numbers all season long, was not surprised in the least of the outing by the Public League “C” Divison’s most valuable player.

“Oh man, I’m so proud of that kid, man,” said Cook, who played at Dobbins in the late 90s. “Just bringing him out of his shell and making sure he understands what type of player he is, he has a strong support system with his mom and his dad, and he’s just an excellent kid. I’m extremely happy that he had the game that he did have. He worked so hard for us, so he deserved it.”

Plowden was noticeably emotional during the medal ceremony and during team pictures afterwards, needing consolation from several teammates after pouring his heart and soul out on the GIANT Center court.

“It was amazing, to play with my guys at this level,” he said. “It’s just been an amazing experience this year and to be out there in the state championship has been one of the best experiences.”

Mastery North looked like it would be able to keep up with the explosive group from the western part of the state after trailing just 25-22 at halftime, but Aliquippa took control in the third quarter.

Jordan and Jeter, both 5-10 seniors, took advantage of 18 turnovers by Mastery North to punish the Pumas in transition, and both were able to break their man down off the dribble and get to the hoop or the foul line.

That led to a 23-10 third quarter which gave the Quips a 48-32 lead going into the final stanza, and Mastery North never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.

"Once I saw it got like that in the first half, I went in and prayed about it and I just told myself, ‘Come out and play basketball, don’t think too much and worry about getting a foul, just play defense and on offense watch for the charge and get everyone else involved,'" said Jordan, who added seven dimes. "Once I get them involved, I can play my game."

Pitt football commit Kazeon Pugh added nine points and 11 boards for the Quips, who also got seven points and eight rebounds from Chucky Humphries.

Aliquippa got to the foul line 21 times, knocking down 19 attempts, compared to just 8-of-15 from the charity stripe for Mastery North. The Quips also shot better overall (23-of-49, 46.9 percent) than the Pumas (19-of-50, 38.0 percent), who were just 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) from 3-point range.

The Pumas were trying to become the fourth Public League team to win the AA crown, along with Prep Charter, Imhotep Charter and Constitution.

Last year, Mastery North made it to the state quarterfinals before losing to Loyalsock Twp. After his team took two steps further to make it to the state finals for the first time in school history, Cook is hoping that momentum carries over into 2016-17.

It certainly helps that he'll be returning Plowden plus starting guard Eli Alvin, though a few key seniors like Rodney Ross, Asa Kitchen and Benford Jones have played their last games in Mastery North uniforms.

“They felt the experience, they got the itch and they want to feel that itch again," Ross said. "This isn’t going to anything but fuel our fire, we’ll be back.”