Fast start helps Plymouth Whitemarsh win second SOL Tournament title over CB East

WHITEMARSH >> Jaden Colzie hit a three-pointer on the first possession of the Suburban One League Tournament championship game between Plymouth Whitemarsh and Central Bucks East Tuesday night and the Colonials never took their foot off the gas.

The lead grew to 10 points late in the first quarter, 17 points at halftime, 26 after three quarters and over 30 midway through the fourth before the top-seeded Colonials closed out a 68-40 win at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. It’s the program’s second SOL Tournament title after winning in 2018.

“Tonight is hopefully a mature moment,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “The theme of the night was the regular season is gone, yesterday’s gone. The future is a week from now, but this is a really cool opportunity to play for a championship and you don’t get many of those in your childhood. You don’t. Even if you go to the NBA, most teams don’t get there. When you get the chance to play for titles anywhere – how good can your focus be, how confident are you, how calm in the moment are you. These are all championship qualities that you get to put on display and we were an A-plus on that tonight. That is really, really important stuff to draw on a week from now.”

“This is the next step to districts,” Colzie, who finished with 16 points, said. “I always said at the beginning of the season I want to go 4-for-4 (league, SOL Tournament, district and state titles). This is the next step. We’re going for the third one – district title.”

Colzie scored eight points in the first quarter and assisted on another basket. Chase Coleman added four points early and Jahseir Sayles had two to help the PW (23-2) build a 14-4 lead. CB East (21-4) made the final basket of the first quarter to make it 14-6 after eight minutes.

“We started out great,” Colzie said. “I hit the three and I felt it. When it got to 7-1 I’m like I feel like we got this already. We played the defense that coach (Jim Donofrio) wanted us to play. We were really locked in. I feel like these games, the big games, we really need to have a statement. That was a statement by almost thirty points. I’m happy for all the guys.”

Qudire Bennett took over in the second quarter and scored 11 of Plymouth Whitemarsh’s 17 points. Bennett, who scored a game-high 21 points, hit a three-pointer and split four free throws to go along with three layups in the quarter to help the SOL Liberty Division champions build a 31-14 lead at halftime.

It was Chase Coleman’s turn to lead the Colonials offense in the third quarter. The junior, who finished with 15 points, scored nine in the frame while Bennett added five to extend the lead to 53-27 going to the fourth.

The Colonials defense was just as impressive as their offense. They forced 15 turnovers and were able to hold CB East star Jake Cummiskey to two points.

“We knew he was a tough coverage,” Colzie said. “He can go both ways. I feel like Chase (Coleman) and Q (Bennett) were the main guys guarding him. They did a great job being elastic like coach says. We have good defenders, we help, we did everything. He’s a good player but I think our defense is better.”

Lincoln Sharpe had five points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Colonials.

Tyler Dandrea led CB East with 11 points. Dhruv Mukund added nine points and Kyle Berndt had eight.

Plymouth Whitemarsh 60, Central Bucks East 48
Central Bucks East 6 8 13 13 – 40
Plymouth Whitemarsh 14 17 22 15 – 60
Central Bucks East: Kyle Berndt 3 2-2 8, Jake Cummiskey 1 0-0 2, Tyler Dandrea 3 3-4 11, Dhruv Mukund 3 2-3 9, Nolan Jacon 1 0-0 2, Nick Condo 0 3-4 3, Bryce Lolas 1 0-0 3, Justin DiRoberto 0 0-0 0, Caleb Lyzinski 0 0-0 0, Nolan Behm 0 0-0 0, Justin Panaia 0 0-0 0, Ryan McDonald 0 0-0 0. Total 13 10-13 40.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Jaden Colzie 6 2-3 16, Chase Coleman 6 2-2 15, Qudire Bennett 8 3-6 21, Jahseir Sayles 2 0-0 5, Lincoln Sharpe 2 1-2 5, Jimmy Flowers 0 0-0 0, Rodney Willis 1 0-0 2, Mani Sajid 0 0-0 0, Josh Dejesus 0 0-0 0, Evan Ring 1 0-0 2, Ben Marsico 1 0-0 2, Josh Harris 0 0-0 0, Shawn Wyatt 0 0-0 0. Total 27 8-13 68.
3-point goals: CBE: Dhruv Mukund, Tyler Dandrea 2, Bryce Lolas. PW: Jaden Colzie 2, Chase Coleman, Qudire Bennett 2, Jahseir Sayles.