SPRINGFIELD — The Vikings are in.
With Archbishop Wood and Northeast sharing the same mascot, whichever team won Tuesday night’s District 12-6A third place play-in game would say it was a state tournament team. Wood hadn’t taken a conventional path to the game, played at La Salle College High School, but there was a second chance for the taking.
Wood’s firepower left no doubt, downing Northeast 65-43 to secure a berth in the PIAA tournament.
“After that tough loss in the PCL, we had a chance to recuperate and our last few days of practice had a lot of energy,” Wood guard Mike Green said. “We stayed ready, that’s really it.
“Not too many people get another chance at it once you lose, so it was a blessing to get that second chance.”
Wood (16-8) never trailed despite playing for the first time since losing to Father Judge in the PCL quarterfinals on Friday, Feb. 16. That loss left the Vikings in an unusual place, their season pending the outcome of a game they weren’t even playing in.
Roman Catholic’s win over Judge in the Catholic League semifinals bought Wood that second chance, but there was still another game to win. As far as that went, Wood jumped out to a 16-5 lead after the first quarter and by the midpoint of the third, the team’s regulars were on the bench as the clock continued to run.
Senior Jalil Bethea netted 23 points, hitting 13 of 13 at the foul line, to pace Archbishop Wood.
“It gives us a second chance at winning a championship,” Bethea said. “The goal now is going to Hershey and holding up that big chocolate bar.”
Josh Reed added 12 for Wood, the Drexel recruit adding a few more dunks to his season register. Green and Brady MacAdams each had eight for Wood, which got 12 players minutes thanks to a 25-12 advantage in the second quarter allowing the Vikings to enact a running clock in the third.
Green and Bethea, who each had an assist on a three to the other, kept putting the work in as they waited out the days between the PCL quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. As a sophomore, Bethea had to endure a similar wait after Wood lost in the quarterfinals but ended up getting the chance to play its way into states.
“I think I was more amped up,” Bethea said. “Normally you come right out of league play and right into states, so it was more of a mental thing.”
That season ended with the Vikings playing for a state final, falling to Roman Catholic in Hershey.
This year’s quest will again have to follow the path out of the 12-3 line on the 6A bracket like last season, where Wood’s run ended in the semifinals against Roman. Wood will start its state playoff push against District 1’s fifth-place finisher on March 9.
“We know how good we can play,” Green said. “We’ve had some tough losses but I mean, when we’re all rolling, we all know how good we can be.”
Bethea will have a lot of basketball ahead of him following the eventual end of Wood’s season. The senior, who will be off to the University of Miami next year, was selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American game as well this spring. Nationally, he’s also seen his stock starting to rise, with ESPN’s Jonathan Givony rating him as a potential top-five pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, should Bethea opt to turn professional after one year in college.
Even with all that, Bethea still wants a state title.
“I’m going to miss everybody on the team,” Bethea said. “I spent four good years here, so leaving’s definitely going to hurt.”
