Archbishop Wood edges Fox Chapel, returns to PIAA-6A final

CHAMBERSBURG >> Fox Chapel got the shot it wanted in the final seconds and for a moment the fate of the Archbishop Wood boys basketball team’s season hung in the air.

With just 3.7 seconds remaining in the PIAA-6A semifinal and the Vikings holding a slim two-point advantage, the District 7 champ Foxes got close-to-perfect execution on an inbounds from the left sideline. JP Dockey lofted a cross-court pass to Russell Fenton, who in mid-air quickly sent the ball to an open Jacob DeMotte for a 3-point shot from the right wing.

“From where I saw, I was like ‘Oh that’s going in,’” Wood senior Tyson Allen said.

DeMotte, who drained four threes in the first half, got his shot over the leaping closeout of Jalil Bethea but his effort hit the back of the rim. Dockey’s putback try just before the buzzer also was off the mark and Archbishop Wood survived to hold on for a 56-54 victory Saturday afternoon at Chambersburg High School to reach the state championship game for the second straight season.

“We’ve been through wars,” Wood coach John Mosco said. “I told them it’s a marathon, it’s hard, you got to stay together. And we’ve always been saying teams that get too high and teams that get too low lose. Teams that stay even, try to stay even for the most part win the game and I thought we stayed together, especially in the second half.”

Bethea scored a team-high 13 points for Archbishop Wood (21-7), the sophomore’s three free throws after getting fouled on a 3-pointer putting the Vikings up for good 55-54 with just 51.3 seconds remaining.

“My free throw game, there’s really no pressure for it cause I work on it a lot,” Bethea said. “It was just my normal thing.”

Allen, Justin Moore and Carson Howard each added nine points as Wood advances to face Philadelphia Catholic League rival Roman Catholic in the PIAA final 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.

“I can’t wait to play Roman,” Allen said. “PCL matchup’s all you can wish for on a Saturday at Hershey. It’s going to be a good game.”

Roman knocked off District 1 champ Lower Merion 53-41 in 6A’s other semifinal at Coatesville. The Vikings and Cahillites met Jan. 12 with host Wood earning a 64-61 victory.

Archbishop Wood fell to Reading in last year’s 6A final and despite graduating its entire starting lineup the Vikings will play in the state final for the fourth time in program history.

 “We lost a great game (to Archbishop Ryan in the PCL quarterfinals) and then we didn’t win the Catholic League,” Mosco said. “But our goal was to get here and I thought from Day One we had a great bunch of guys.”

DeMotte scored 16 of his game-high 19 points in the first half for Fox Chapel (27-2), which was trying to reach its first PIAA final since 1977 when the Foxes won the Class 3A title. Eli Yofan had 15 points before fouling out on a charge with 1:31 remaining while Dockey finished with 10 points.

“I expected a big fight” Mosco said. “Watching them on tape, they beat North Hills, they got tough kids and they just play, they play together, they have five seniors and seniors, they’re playing to win. Not that sophomore and juniors aren’t but they think they have another year, couple more years so it means a lot but not as much as it do when you’re a senior.”

Tied at 40 after three quarters, Fox Chapel scored the first six points of the fourth while Drexel commit Moore picked up his fifth foul with 4:44 remaining. The Vikings, however, hung close and pulled even twice before taking the lead when Bethea was fouled on a 3-pointer from the left wing and the sophomore connected on all three at the lane to put Wood up one.

After forcing a Fox Chapel turnover, Bahsil Laster was fouled at 28.0 seconds and hit the second of two from the line for a 56-54 Wood advantage.

“This is like the same situation as Reading (in the second round) cause in the Reading game I fouled out early and (Moore) told me he had my back,” Allen said. “So this game I was like ‘Yeah, I got you bro, we’re going to get this one for you, we’re going to go to Hershey.”

Laster blocked a Dockey shot on a drive with Fenton grabbing the rebound but was off-target on a shot as he fell down in the lane. A Jeff Moorefield-Brown rebound kept possession with the Foxes with 8.6 seconds. Fox Chapel did not put up a shot and called time out for a last chance with 3.7 seconds – Wood moving on as DeMotte’s three then Dockey’s follow both missed.

“He made the pass from the sideline all the way over there with Tyson on him,” Mosco said. “and then they caught the ball and then screen the other kid, I was just watching it, I didn’t know what to do cause He was killing us all day, Number 12 (DeMotte).”

Archbishop Wood had a slow start on offense, enabling Fox Chapel to jump out to a 10-4 lead after a DeMotte 3-pointer. A Bethea trey had the Vikings down 12-11 before a Yofan jumper had the Foxes up 14-11 at the end of the opening quarter.

“We didn’t leave on time, little bus ride, we were a little lethargic starting the game,” Mosco said. “And then we picked it up and then we couldn’t get no flow with Justin, a lot of fouls called both ways ticky-tack, I thought there was no flow to the game.”

Two Bethea free throws at 6:33 in the second quarter pulled Wood even at 14 but a Moorefield-Brown basket in transition then five straight from DeMotte had the Foxes up 21-14.

DeMotte’s fourth 3-pointer of the half gave Fox Chapel a 24-16 with the District 7 champs extending the margin to nine twice, the second time at 29-20 on a basket from Colin Kwiatkowski. A pair of Howard free throws had Wood down seven at halftime.

“I think in the first half we were just miscommunicating,” Allen said. “We weren’t switching hard, we were being lazy. We just thought we were going to come here and get a win. So I think second half we were like ‘All right guys we can’t do that, this is a good team, we got to step it up, let’s play.’”

Moore began the third with a 3-point play at 7:38 and Wood scored 12 of the second half’s first 15 to go up 34-32 on a Bethea three.

After Dockey scored inside of a Yofan assist knotted things at 34, a Josh Reed basket and two Bethea free throws had Vikings up 38-35.

Fox Chapel answered with six straight points for a 38-36 lead after Fenton made two at the line with 9.6 seconds. However, Moore tipped in his own miss before the buzzer, sending the matchup to the fourth even at 40.

Two Yofan free throws at 7:32 then baskets from Fenton and Dockey gave Fox Chapel a 46-40 advantage. With Wood trailing 47-44, Moore was whistled for his fifth foul at 4:44 and DeMotte hit the second of a two from the line to put the Foxes up four.

Reed scored inside and drew the foul at 4:20 while the Vikings forced a turnover and a Laster basket tied the game at 48.

Fox Chapel took a 52-49 lead after a Dockey two on a drive but Wood came back to pull even at 52 when Allen scored inside off a Bethea assist. Kwiatkowski found Fenton for a layup and a 54-52 Fox Chapel lead with 2:15 left.

The Vikings missed two free throws at 2:02 but Howard drew a charge on Yofan at 1:31 for the senior’s fifth foul. Bethea was fouled on his three in the final minute, hitting the trio at the line to finish 7-of-7 on free throws for the day.

PIAA Class 6A Semifinals

(12-3) Archbishop Wood 56, (7-1) Fox Chapel 54

Fox Chapel 14 15 11 14 – 54

Archbishop Wood 11 11 18 16 – 56

Fox Chapel: Jacob DeMotte 7 1-2 19; Eli Yofan 4- 7-11 15; JP Dockey 4 2-5 10; Russell Fenton 2 2-2 6; Jeff Moorefield-Brown1 0-0 2; Colin Kwiatkowski 1 0-0 2; Totals 19 12-20 54.

Archbishop Wood: Jalil Bethea 2 7-7 13; Tyson Allen 3 3-4 9; Carson Howard 3 3-4 9; Justin Moore 4 1-1 9; Bahsil Laster 3 2-6 8; Josh Reed 3 0-1 6; Mike Knouse 0 2-2 2; Totals 18 18-25 56.

3-pointers: FC-DeMotte 4; AW-Bethea 2.