City of Basketball Love

Graham Foley (@graham_foley3)
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Penncrest is a team of role players.

Each player on the squad has his own specific duty that comes together to form a tremendous basketball team. 

“In this day and age of me, me, me, this team is clearly just ‘we,’” head coach Mike Doyle said. “We have four guys who are all filling in their roles and playing as hard as they possibly can on every possession. To try to score against us is really, really hard.”

Penncrest took down Upper Merion on Saturday afternoon at Villanova's Pavilion by a score of 39-37 to capture the District 1 5A Championship, overcoming a 10-point deficit in the third quarter. The Lions were led on offense by junior guard Tyler Norwood, who finished the day with 26 of the team’s 39 points.

“I’m just really excited for our team, for the community,” Norwood said. “We kept battling, our defense picked up and we got the job done.”

Norwood himself fills the role as the team’s go-to scorer. He shot 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and hit three vital 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. In the second half, he had 18 of the Lions’ 24 total points.

“For me, when we need a basket, they call, they look at me, I do what I can,” Norwood said. “I do play defense once in awhile but offensively scoring is my role.”

Norwood did not shoot the lights out for the entire game. He was unable to connect on his first four attempts for three and was 4-of-14 from the field in the third quarter. 

But as the team’s offensive playmaker, his teammates trust him. 

“They have all types of confidence in me,” Norwood said. “They tell me to keep going after I miss one, I miss two, three, they tell me keep shooting, keep shooting, keep shooting. So I give a lot of credit to them because if they don’t tell me that then I’m not going to keep shooting.”

“It’s his role,” Doyle said. “They look for him off screens and they find him, and he’s never selfish either, we need him to take those shots and he does.”

Senior guard Justin Ross (8 pts) and senior forward Mike Mallon (5 pts) were the only other Penncrest players who scored in the victory. Norwood said those guys filled their roles as the top scorers who can also hold their own defensively.

“Mike, he’s defensive and offense, he knocks down that paint shot,” Norwood said. “Justin, he’s our defender and one of the best players even offensively, we all sort of have that offense and defense mentality.”

“I think everyone has a role,” Mallon said. “We had to keep shooting, draw fouls, try to get to the basket more, even if you get blocked you had to keep going up, and rebounding was a big key too.”

The Lions, however, are a defensive team

Despite being outsized, Penncrest forced Upper Merion to shoot just 14-of-38 from the field, holding the Vikings to 37 pts. Upper Merion’s 6-8, Holy Cross-bound Matt Faw was held to just nine points, tying teammate Ethan Miller to lead the team in scoring.

The defensive roles are filled by Mallon, junior forward Chris Mills, and senior guard Manny Ruffin. The trio’s interior defense was key in keeping the Vikings off the scoreboard.

“You can’t find better defense anywhere with Mills and Manny and Mike,” Doyle said. “It was an amazing game.”

Mills is considered by his teammates to be the team’s top defender. His steal with nine seconds left allowed Penncrest to hold its lead and begin to shoot free throws for the win.

“I knew exactly what he was doing, they ran that same play all game,” Mills said. “I knew that he was going to No. 20. He wanted it, I was up for the challenge. And I knew he was backing up I could get around him. When he threw it up I made a quick move and grabbed the ball.”

Norwood was especially proud of Mills defensive play this season.

“Chris Mills, he preaches defense,” Norwood said. “Offensively, he doesn’t look for his shot. Chris’ role is to stop their big guy. He does a great job. That’s one player that I can say has a specific role on the team.”

When each player steps up and fills in his role, Penncrest finds ways to win. As the team heads into the 5A state tournament, where they will take on Hershey in the first round, the key to winning the most important games of the season will be sticking to these roles and playing at a high level. 

“We have the utmost confidence in everyone,” Mills said. “Ty does his thing, (Malcolm Williams) does his thing, Ross, Manny, we all have our roles. And we just all come together.

“We’re going to keep moving forward. We’re not satisfied yet. So we’re going to keep practicing and see how far we can go.”