Penn Wood falls short to Ryan, promises to return

WEST NORRITON — As the Penn Wood High basketball players and coaches tried to enjoy a late-season ride to the PIAA Class 5A state tournament, they realized it came with some bumps. By Friday, there would be one bump too many.

Falling behind early and then struggling all night to keep pace, the Patriots fell, 62-50, to Archbishop Ryan, their season ending at 16-10 at neutral-site Norristown High.

Shamir Baynes scored 20 points, including 10 in the third quarter and a couple of late three-pointers, but the damage caused by the Raiders’ 18-7 first-quarter success proved too burdensome.

“The start was disappointing,” Penn Wood coach Matt Lindeman said. “We just didn’t have that sense of urgency that we had during our district run. I don’t have any excuse why, but it just got us behind the eight ball and we had to battle back. And every time it seemed we got within one or two plays away, there would be a bounce, or they would make a shot. So you have to give them credit for that.”

Among the most likely explanations for Penn Wood’s early struggles was the Raiders’ fluid match-up zone. Forced to shoot from distance, the Pats were just 4-for-24 from three-point range, allowing for long rebounds and repeated Ryan run-outs.

Gediminas Mokseckas paced the Raiders with 20 points, with Christian Isopi adding 15 and Dominic Vazquez supplementing his 14 points with plentiful impressive passes.

“The ball wasn’t going in,” Baynes said. “One of my best bigs got into foul trouble early. When he fouled out, we couldn’t get the clutch rebounds that we needed.”

Penn Wood pillar Jerry Flynn was hit with three first-half fouls and fouled out with 4:38 left, complicating any comeback effort.

“I just felt things didn’t go my way,” Flynn said. “They got me in foul trouble early. Potentially, I didn’t foul. I just put my hands up.”

With the stakes raised from Penn Wood’s push to the District 1 final to the PIAA’s single-elimination challenge, the game was particularly rugged, with a total of 36 fouls. By the third quarter, however, Penn Wood began to find some solutions, smothering Ryan with a press and inching back into contention.

Desman Johnson, who scored 11 points, hustled for a put-back to draw the Patriots within 34-26 with 4:10 left in the third. Four late third-quarter free throws from Baynes would shave that deficit to 37-32.

“The pressure got us moving a little bit,” Lindeman said. “It got us moving our feet. And it did give us a little bit of energy. But every time we got close, it seemed like they hit us with a layup or with an open three.”

Vazquez helped settle Ryan early in the fourth with a follow-up shot and an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 46-33. But a three-pointer from Abdullah Dublin with 4:45 showing kept Penn Wood within 48-38.

Though Flynn by then was on the bench, the Patriots kept working. Johnson scored on a follow-up to narrow the gap to 50-41, then added a layup to make it 50-43. But a Mokseckas drive with 2:43 left was enough to necessitate stop-the-clock fouling strategy from Penn Wood in the final two minutes. When Ryan proved efficient from the line, it was off to the second round of the tournament.

As for Penn Wood, the next season already was growing in appeal.

“We’ve got a lot coming back,” Lindeman said. “We’re going to miss our seniors. Des (Johnson) has been with us for three years and has been a starter for us. And just like he was the quarterback for our football team, he has been our quarterback. That’s going to be missed. And Shamir’s passion and how hard he plays is going to be missed.”

Among the underclassmen expected to drive Penn Wood again next season are Flynn, Dublin and Saalih Moore.

“We’ll be back,” Lindeman said. “We have a lot of young kids. And hopefully they learned what this level looks like.”

For a three-week run, it looked impressive for Penn Wood, which overcame a deficit to defeat Penncrest before falling to West Chester East in the district championship game. The experience should matter next season.

“I feel we all should get better over the summer,” Flynn said. “That’s what I am going to do, get better. And we will be right back here next year.”