District 1-6A: Plymouth-Whitemarsh prevails in OT, beats Garnet Valley for fifth place
PLYMOUTH MEETING — The Plymouth-Whitemarsh boys basketball team added another chapter – and another win – to a season marked by resiliency.
The Colonials played into overtime Friday night, extracting a 55-51 victory out of a back-and-forth battle with visiting Garnet Valley in the District 1-6A Fifth-Place Game.
“It was a great team win. Even though we lost to Cheltenham (in the quarterfinals), we managed to bounce back, keep our heads up and get the fifth seed in states,” said Qudire Bennett, who led the way with a game-high 24 points.
The Colonials (19-8), who began the season 4-5, are now 15-3 in their last 18 and rose from the No. 22 seed in districts to the No. 5 squad out of District One heading to PIAA’s next week.
“Everybody’s excited,” Bennett said.
It wasn’t the smoothest night for the Colonials, but again, they somehow got the job done.
“Garnet Valley’s putting out a flat three-two. You don’t see it a lot. We had a lot of nice sets to run, and we don’t convert early because we rarely convert early for some reason,” said coach Jim Donofrio, who has his team back in states again. “We get very good-looking shots and we just don’t convert.
“It’s very much like Rocky One,” Donofrio said, “where he just wants to take a beating. And I’m talking 10 rounds of beating, and then all of a sudden, you do just enough with your pride to win a game, but none of it’s pretty. Nothing about that was pretty at all, and yet, in the playoffs, if you win by one, you won. So we do have grit. We do have fight.”
The contest was close the whole way, neither team pulling away.
A drive for two turned into a three-point play by Bennett, giving PW a 46-43 lead with 3 minutes, 20 seconds left in the fourth. After a jumper by Logan McKee slashed the margin to one, the Colonials built the lead back up to three with 14 seconds left on a pair of free throws by Jaden Colzie (9 points).
But with just five seconds left, Ryan Wooten nailed a three for the No. 24 Jaguars, deadlocking things at 48 apiece and ultimately sending the game to overtime.
Garnet Valley went ahead 50-48 on a pair of foul shots by Max Koehler, but PW closed out on a 7-1 run to end it.
Bennett’s reverse layin propelled the Colonials into the lead for good at 52-50, with a minute left in OT.
Colzie’s free throws extended the margin to 54-51 with 20 ticks left. PW missed three straight free throws in the final seconds, but Colzie sank one with seven seconds to go to lock it up.
From No. 22 to fifth in the district…
“That’s a heck of a climb,” Donofrio said. “That’s something for them to really be proud of.”
Key for PW was the play of Rob Vinson.
“Cat quick,” Donofrio said. “Their point guard (Max Koehler) really drives it hard, drives it well, and with Zende (Hubbard) out for us, it’s a big loss, and Rob can kind of maintain that pace for us. We need that gear. That’s what we do – we have a gear that has saved us multiple times this year. When we need it, we get the steals – even on the back end.”
PW didn’t allow a field goal in overtime.
The Jaguars, who got 13 points each from Jake Sniras and Ryan Wooten, led 26-23 at the break and 36-35 after three but PW came back.
“We turned the ball over too much,” Jags coach Mike Brown said. “Their pressure defense forced us into a lot of tough decisions. But the effort was there – it was a good game. Two good teams.
“It looks like we play at Lincoln (in the first round of states), and they play a similar high pressure. So we have to do a better job with the ball. But we’re looking forward to it.”
District 1-6A Fifth-Place Game
Plymouth-Whitemarsh 55, Garnet Valley 51
GV 10 16 10 12 3 – 51
PW 12 11 12 13 7 – 55
GV: Jake Sniras 5 0-0 13, Ryan Wooten 5 0-0 13, Logan McKee 2 0-0 4, Ryan Faccenda 4 3-5 11, Max Koehler 3 4-5 10. Totals 19 7-10 51.
PW: Jaden Colzie 2 4-6 9, Marshall Baker 4 1-3 12, Trey Jones 1 0-0 2, Rob Vinson 0 2-4 2, Taji Hubbard 0 4-4 4, Qudire Bennett 9 5-6 24, Pat Flynn 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 16-23 55.
3-pointers: GV-Sniras 3, Wooten 3; PW-Colzie, Baker 3, Bennett.
