A veteran PW team adjusts its goals

By DENNIS C. WAY
21st Century Media

PHILADELPHIA ->>Last year Plymouth Whitemarsh High’s basketball team got a taste of the pressure, the pace and yes, the fun of the PIAA District One Class AAAA playoffs.
This year, the Colonials want to see the gold medal.
They moved one step closer Tuesday night with a 53-42 win over Lower Merion in a contest that gave the championship hopefuls a mouthful of what it takes to win it all.
With the victory, the Colonials moved into the district final, where they’ll play the winner of Tuesday’s second semifinal between Chester and Ridley.
And to their credit, the Colonials looked in the face of some early adversity and responded just like a seasoned team should – with calm when it was needed, with explosiveness when it was needed and with the look of a team that knew what it will take.
“Last year, at this point in the season (the Colonials) were still cheering on the bench,” said Colonials head coach Jim Donofrio. “We were happy to be here.
“This year these guys have that confidence. It’s there.”
There was reason for it not to be.
The Aces rattled the Colonials early with full-court pressure, and PW did not respond favorably.
“We were so awesomely bad,” Donofrio said. “When you’re a team that traps and presses, teams tend not to trap and press you.”
But PW would not stay dazzled.
Instead, they overcame their early shakiness, and came back strong, primarily behind the scoring of Xavier Malone.
But at crunch time, it was the unheralded foot soldiers who put the team over the top.
“We’ve got a couple guys here who’ve gone through this before,” said senior tri-captain and point guard Oakley Spencer. “Losing in the district final last year left a bad taste in our mouths.
“We’re used to the big lights and the big crowds. Hopefully, we can have a different result in the (district) final.”
And while the enigmatic Malone (19 points) put the team in position to win, it was the foot soldiers who carried them over the top.
After the Aces closed to 43-40 with 4:32 left, Ahmin Williams hit a short jumper and Spencer calmly planted both ends of a one-and-one to push the advantage to 47-40 with 3:33 to play.
Williams and Spencer added crucial free throws down the stretch as the Aces continued to foul in order to try and get the ball.
At the same time the Colonials were like rabid dogs at the defensive end, never allowing the Aces to get in a comfortable set in the closing minutes.
“That’s what made Chester the district champs for so many years,” Donofrio said. “They played shut-down defense late in the game.
“This team has a little bit of that.”
Enough to take on the Chester-Ridley winner?
“I sometimes don’t give our guys enough credit for what they do,” Donofrio said. “But Lower Merion is a very strong team and when they came back on us, our guys knew what needed to be done, and did it.”