CHELTENHAM — In a bright, thumping-packed gym with standalone DJ speakers on one end, everything was on the line in Friday night’s District 1 playback game between these old Suburban One League rivals.
For the winning team, the prize was a state tournament berth. For the losing team, the season was over.
It was all or nothing, and the 13th-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials brought the all.
After a season defined by growing pains, the mostly young Colonials — led by senior guard Jaden Colzie and sophomore big man Michael Pereira — were reborn into the PIAA Class 6A tournament with a dominant, ultra-physical, 69-45 victory over the 12th-seeded Cheltenham Panthers who, for generations, have stood next to PW as one of the SOL’s premier clubs.
PW will travel to No. 8 Bensalem for Tuesday’s district ninth-place semifinal.
“Going into this game, we knew we had to play way harder against them than we did when we lost here in December (61-48),” said Pereira, who finished with a double-double. “We wanted to punch them in the mouth, and that’s what we did tonight.
“It feels great to be going to states,” he said. “The team is feeling good. I’m really happy.”
Pereira, who seemed to be under assault at the rim, hauled in a monstrous 13 rebounds to go along with 15 points and three blocks.
Colzie scored a game-high 17 points, lanky sophomore Mani Sajid — quiet for much of the first half — ended up with 15, and senior guard Ben Marsico had 13 as four Colonials finished in double digits.
“We were up and down all year, with so many games we just coughed up at the end, and we’re finally starting to click,” Colzie said. “It took us until this game. It feels good.”
The Colonials (16-10) were coming off a second-round defeat at No. 4 Chester after leading by seven points late.
“We played hard that whole Chester game, and we were really down after that game,” Colzie said. “We thought we had that game in the bag, and we didn’t get the ‘W.’ So we just had to let it go and on to the next game, Cheltenham, and we took care of business.”
Cheltenham (18-8), which led 8-7 after first quarter, went nearly 5 minutes without a basket from the late first to mid second periods. Colzie netted 11 points in the second and PW dominated the glass, 13 rebounds to 2, in that frame while outscoring the Panthers 22-4 to build a 17-point advantage by halftime.
Also in the second period, Marisco added a pair of threes — including one at the end of the half — before adding seven more points in the third.
“Cheltenham is a very good team, and we knew they weren’t going to give up,” Marsico said. “We kind of had that mentality coming off the Chester loss, and we knew we had to keep our foot down. Just getting that momentum going into the half was big for us.
“Jay (Colzie) did a really good job moving the ball,” he said. “We played together as a unit, everyone got their looks. I credit my wide-open looks to him and Mani and Jack (Hayes) for controlling the game.”
Jack Hayes, a 5-11 sophomore and the team’s Swiss Army knife, brought life off the bench in the second period with two offensive rebounds on 3-point tries, including one he dished to Colzie, who drained a shot from deep.
“This win was big, we knew what we had to do to get to states,” Hayes said. “We played hard, we moved the ball great tonight, and the defense was great. I love moving the ball and facilitating for my teammates, getting them open. I do that more than scoring, and I love it. I love getting my teammates open and doing whatever I need to do to get the win.”
Hayes later hit a layup as the third-quarter buzzer went off to put the Colonials up 46-29.
“Jack Hayes is an unbelievably diverse player,” said PW coach Jim Donofrio, who has more than 500 career wins under his belt. “He’s the dog on the team. He loves to be in the mix.”
Sajid got going early in the second half. From the wing, he saw an open lane and glided to the basket to slam the ball down, afterward clinching his fists and letting out a yell.
Despite an off-balance shooting night and getting outrebounded, Cheltenham never really let up, though no Panther scored in double digits. Osei Johnson finished with 9 points, and Nile Tinsley and Josiah Hutson finished with eight apiece.
Pereira, relentless throughout, was key in limiting Cheltenham’s second attempts.
“We all knew they were going to play a lot like Chester,” Pereira said. “They were going to bump us, rough us up a little. So we were just preparing for that in practice. I feel like Chester’s a more physical team than them, especially historically speaking, so going from that high level of physicality to what’s still another very physical opponent helped us.”
Every time Cheltenham tried to climb back into it, Plymouth Whitemarsh — with an enthusiastic visiting crowd that travels well — laid down the hammer.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of game planning other than, are you going to let them make a run?” Donofrio said. “You don’t be immature and you don’t relax. Teams that are in a rebuild evolve during the season, and we’ve really evolved.”
———
Plymouth Whitemarsh 69, Cheltenham 45
PW 7 22 17 23 — 69
Cheltenham 8 4 17 16 — 45
PW: Jaden Colzie 4 2 3-4 17, Mani Sajid 2 3 3-6 16, Michael Pereira 4 0 7-15 15, Ben Marsico 2 3 0-0 13, Terron Davis 1 0 0-0 2, Ehab Ahmed 0 0 2-2 2, Eddie Patruno 1 0 0-0 2, Jack Hayes 1 0 0-0 2. Totals — 15 8 15-24 69.
Cheltenham: Osei Johnson 2 1 2-2 9, Nile Tinsley 3 0 2-2 8, Josiah Hutson 2 1 1-2 8, Kevin Addison 3 0 0-0 6, Kamal Mason 1 1 1-4 6, Mark Hill 2 0 0-1 4, Aidan Wilson-Worley 1 0 2-2 4. Totals — 14 3 8-13 45.
———
Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.
