Strong board work powers Penn Wood past Downingtown East

WEST GOSHEN<< Coming into Tuesday night’s boys basketball matchup with Penn Wood, Downingtown East coach Brian Grashof knew his team would have to play an almost perfect game to defeat one of the better 6A teams in District 1. Downingtown East played very well except on the offensive boards and the Patriots used their rebounding prowess to roll past a game Cougars squad, 71-58 in the West Chester East Holiday Tournament.

Penn Wood (6-1) scored 14 points on second chance shots in the first half alone and forwards Jayden Thompson, who had 18 points and Donald Hairston, who added 14, were the main difference in the game. Penn Wood shot 29 for 54 from the field with most of them coming on the offensive glass. Anthony Murray added 17 points for the Patriots.

“I was not 100 percent thrilled with our effort on the boards in the first half,” Grashof said. “I thought we did a much better job in the second half on the boards. We are a little undersized but I don’t want to take anything away from their forwards. They were very good and they deserve a lot of credit for the job they did.”

Penn Wood had a slim 34-31 lead at halftime but the Patriots came out of the locker room on fire in the third period. The Patriots started the period on an 8-0 run with Hairston and Thompson scoring inside and Thompson also delivered a three point play to put the Cougars (1-8) back on their heels.

Penn Wood outscored Downingtown East 23-12 in the third period to take a 57-43 advantage after three periods. Connor Shanahan, the Cougars senior point guard led all scorers with an impressive 23 points to go along with six assists and he tried to bring the Cougars back at the start of the fourth period.

“They are a very, very good team,” Shanahan said. “And games like this are a good learning experience for us. They were athletic and very fast. Losing is very tough but I feel we are close to turning the corner and our schedule gets a little more favorable right now. This was a good effort from our team tonight.”

The Cougars started the fourth period with Shanahan hitting Ishaan Jha with a pretty pass and Jha scored inside to make it a 57-45 game. After a Patriots turnover Shanghai fed a striking Micah Hill, who went very high for a power slam and it was a 57-47 game early in the fourth period. Hill added 15 points for the Cougars.

Penn Wood came down the flor and Anthony Murray missed on a three-ball try. Jha cleared the boards for Downingtown East and fed Shanahan, who drove hard to the basket for a lay-up and suddenly it was a 57-50 game after Shanahan completed the old fashioned three point play.

But, Penn Wood went back to doing what worked for them in the first half. the Patriots attacked the offensive boards and Hairston and Thompson scored on put backs and the Patriots lead was back up to 61-50 with a little over four minutes to play.

The Cougars were still fighting but a costly turnover resulted in a Murray basket. another cougars turnover turned into a Hairston runner and the patriots had survived the Cougars comeback effort and they walked away with the hard fought win.

“The guys never stop fighting out there,” Grashof said. “We hate to lose but we say it is about us first and me second on this team. We are building something here and we have to take care of the little things to turn some of these games into wins. We will get there.”

Penn Wood 71, Downingtown East 58

PENN WOOD (71) Murray 6 4-7 17, Fountain 4 0-0 11, Clarke 2 1-3 6, Thompson 8 2-5 18, Hairston 7 0-1 14, Washington 2 0-0 5, Atolagbe 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 7-16 71.

DOWNINGTOWN EAST (58) Shanahan  9 4-7 23, Littlepage 1 2-2 4, Henderson 0 0-0 0, Segarra 1 0-0 2, Pell 0 0-0 0, Hill 6 1-1 15, Jha 2 2-2 7, Tafo 1 0-0 2, Kelly 2 1-3 5. Totals  22 10-15 58.

Penn Wood             22 15 23 14-71
Downingtown East 15 16 12 15-58
3-point goals: Murray, Fountain 3, Clarke, Washington. Shanahan, Hill 2, Jha.