Wissahickon finishes strong in win over Plymouth Whitemarsh

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Qudire Bennett made a layup through contact and completed the three-point play to cut the Colonials deficit to four on the first possession of the fourth quarter against Wissahickon Tuesday night.

Those were the last points PW scored.

The Trojans closed the game on a 12-0 run and held the Colonials scoreless for the final 7:50 in a 50-34 Suburban One League Liberty Division win at Wissahickon High School.

After Bennett made it a 38-34 game, Wissahickon’s Rondale Stewart and Earl Stout sandwiched layups around a Jaylon Williams three-pointer to extend their lead to 45-34 with 4:35 left on the clock. Morgan Wilson made a layup and Stout hit a dagger three with 3:22 left to close out the scoring in the 16-point win.

The Trojans (6-3, 3-1 SOL Liberty) defense forced six turnovers in the fourth quarter and Josh Twersky blocked three shots to keep PW off the scoreboard for 7:50.

“Historically they’ve never been able to shoot the ball well in this gym,” Twersky said. “Our gameplan was to sit in a zone until they proved we needed to get out of the zone and they could shoot their way out of it. I think they shot like 2-for-23 or something from three. We packed it in tight and they didn’t really get anything.”

“They’re a good shooting team,” Wiss coach Kyle Wilson said, “but when you’re struggling to knock shots down, that makes it tough. We weren’t going to chase out. We were waiting to see if they’re going to hit a bunch of them. We’re going to continue to pack it in because if you do go out, then they open you up, spread you out, get to the boards. We were fortunate enough. I thought Dom (Vacchiano) had a phenomenal game not only offensively, but defensively.”

“We were just struggling like crazy putting the ball in the basket,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “It’s that simple. We are just struggling like crazy. You go into the season assuming certain things and we assumed that we have two or three, if not four, guys who will be able to score consistently all season and right now they’re just struggling.”

Wissahickon got off to a fast start and never trailed. After the game was tied, 2-2, the Trojans rattled off seven straight points. Vacchiano had six points in the opening frame to help Wiss to a 13-9 advantage after eight minutes.

Twersky scored six of his eight points on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter. With the Trojans lead trimmed to 18-15, the 6-foot-4 senior completed consecutive three-point plays to make it 24-15. They maintained a multiple-possession lead the rest of the night and took a 28-20 lead to the locker room at halftime.

“I really couldn’t get my shot going at all,” Twersky, who stuffed the stat sheet with eight rebounds, four assists and four blocks, said. “In warmups I felt really good, but I couldn’t get the shot going. Coach was yelling at me to get inside so I started attacking the basket, trying to be more physical on the boards and get second chances. (Three-point plays) are what happens.”

The Colonials (4-3, 2-1 SOL Liberty) made their run in the third quarter. Bennett scored five straight points before setting up teammate Marshall Baker for a layup. The 7-0 run, aided by PW’s defense forcing eight turnovers in the quarter, made it a 33-29 game.

Vacchiano responded with his biggest shot of the night – a corner three in front of the Wissahickon student section to extend the lead back to seven, 36-29. The Trojans ended the quarter with a 38-31 lead.

“That’s my role on this team,” Vacchiano, who scored eight of his game-high 16 points in the third, said. “It’s to shoot. I’ve always been confident as a player. I never back down from any play. Me shooting that shot wasn’t really a mess for us. Coming down the stretch, that’s a shot I need to take and help my team.”

“He’s a confident kid,” Wilson said. “He knows what to do. There’s a reason we brought him up as a freshman last year. This whole offseason this kid has worked his butt off to be a guy that we can go to.”

Wissahickon’s win gives each team one loss in SOL Liberty play.

“Any time you beat PW it’s a big win,” Wilson said. “I guarantee you there will be some people looking at (the score) and going, ‘Oh they didn’t just beat them, they beat them solidly.’ Our guys feel like they’re a good team. We’re sitting at 6-3 now but there’s a couple of games we would love to have back when we didn’t shoot the ball well. We know we can play with anybody out there.”

“Right now we are shooting about as poorly as you can shoot as a team,” Donofrio said. “Thirty-seven against West Catholic, 34 tonight, Hatboro-Horsham 19 at halftime. We put up 80 on Upper Darby and since then we’re not making jumpers, we’re missing layups. It’s not just three or four, you’re giving eight, nine, 10 guys a chance to show if they can get a minute to do something. They’re all trying to figure it out. They have to figure it out quicker.”

Wissahickon 50, Plymouth Whitemarsh 34
Plymouth Whitemarsh 9 11 11 3 – 34
Wissahickon 13 15 10 12 – 50
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Z Hubbard 1 2-2 4, Colzie 3 0-0 7, Baker 1 0-0 2, Mitchell 0 0-0 0, T Hubbard 2 0-1 4, Wyatt 0 0-0 0, Flowers 0 0-0 0, Bennett 5 2-2 13, Flynn 1 0-0 2, Sayles 1 0-0 2, Willis 0 0-0 0. Total 14 4-5 34.
Wissahickon: Stewart 1 1-2 3, Twersky 3 2-2 8, Yun 0 0-0 0, Ryan 0 0-0 0, Cupid 0 0-0 0, Williams 2 0-0 6, Wilson 3 0-2 6, Dias 0 0-0 0, Vacchiano 7 0-0 16, Stout 4 1-3 11. Total 20 4-9 50.
3-point goals: PW: Colzie, Bennett. W: Williams 2, Vacchiano 2, Stout 2.