Archbishop Wood eclipsed by Moon’s 4th-quarter rally in PIAA-5A final

HERSHEY >> In the moment, it felt like one small jump for Daeshon Shepherd and one giant lob for Archbishop Wood.

Shepherd’s thunderous alley-oop off a half-court lob from Rahsool Diggins sparked a furious finish to the third quarter from Archbishop Wood’s boys basketball team against Moon in the PIAA 5A title game at Hershey’s Giant Center. It was the type of knockout run that had finished teams off in the four contests leading to Friday night.

Moon proved to be a different type of opponent. The Tigers took Wood’s best shot and answered with their own, rallying behind Connor Ryan to top the Vikings 74-64 and win the state title.

“We started lacking on defense,” Shepherd said. “Once we had to start pressing, I think that’s what hurt us the most, they were fast and we were getting back too slow.”

The Vikings have eight sophomores, two juniors and two freshmen on their roster and just their lone senior in Phillips. For all but Phillips, it was their first time at the Giant Center and Wood coach John Mosco felt his guys may have been playing against some nervousness early on.

Moon, the District 7 runner-up, was also really good in every aspect of the game. A senior-heavy team, the Tigers ran crisp offense and got into it defensively. While they didn’t have the edge in athleticism Wood did, the Tigers made up for it in other areas.

“They made shots, they’re a senior team and they played steady the whole game, they didn’t rattle,” Mosco said. “We got a few turnovers late and didn’t capitalize on them. They made their foul shots late and all their seniors stepped up.”

Wood only trailed 25-23 at the half and started the third quarter trading buckets with Moon. If this group of Vikings has shown anything this winter, it would be that they’re fearless. After a try for a launch to Shepherd botched on takeoff, Wood got a stop and went for it again.

This time, the pass from Diggins reached escape velocity and there was no Apollo 13 scenario as Shephered threw it down for a 32-32 tie that had Diggins let out a yell of celebration at midcourt.

It also lit a spark in Shepherd, who finished the third quarter in spectacular fashion and led Wood with 22 points. He scored 10 straight points as part of a 12-2 run where Wood broke Moon’s orbit for a 51-44 lead at the end of the third.

“Someone told me to get him a rest and I told them he could get a rest at the end of the quarter,” Mosco said. “He played his heart out. They all did and I was proud of them.”

Prior to Friday, that would have been the finisher, but a new Moon came out in the fourth. The Tigers dug down defensively, read Wood’s drives to the rim and used a 2-1-2 defense to take away the looks that had gotten the Vikings out in front.

Offensively, Moon let Connor Ryan handle the scoring. The senior guard scored a game-high 28 points and was perfect from the floor in the second half. He made a number of big shots, but also passed to brother Austin for a go-ahead three with 3:34 left in the final quarter.

“I don’t think we ever were comfortable on defense,” Mosco said. “We chased too much worrying about (Donovan) Johnson. The other kids stepped up and hit some big shots and 12 (Ryan) was really good.”

Moon dropped 30 points in the final quarter, shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor and 15-of-18 from the foul line in doing so. Connor Ryan put the Tigers up for good at 61-60 with 3:15 left, and Wood started to go adrift in space trying to get back in the game.

Every time the Vikings forced a turnover in the last three minutes, they just gave the ball right back which Shepherd and Mosco cited as just trying to do too much too fast.

“We tried to play fast, we were up by seven so we didn’t have to play fast,” Phillips said. “We could have stayed at our pace, but they got us playing their pace, came back and took the lead.”

Phillips said he told his teammates to just keep working hard over the summer and he sees only good things coming for Wood the next two years. The senior is weighing several Division II offers and while he didn’t get the ending he wanted, Phillips said he’s proud of what he and his teammates did this year.

“They can go do big things,” Phillips said. “I think they can get to the Palestra and win there, they can come back here and take over. They have big upside, they work hard, they’re respectful and they work hard in school.”

“We take it as reminder we have to always stay together,” Shepherd said. “The goal now is to come here the next two years. We’re hurting for Julius (Phillips), we tried to get this game for him with it being his last year.”

MOON 74, ARCHBISHOP WOOD 64
MOON 16 9 19 30 – 74
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 11 12 28 13 – 64
Moon: Connor Ryan 8 10-12 28, Smith 2 4-4 8, Johnson 6 3-3 17, A Ryan 3 0-0 7, Jones 5 1-2 13. Totals: 24 18-21 74
Archbishop Wood: Julius Phillips 3 1-2 7, Rahsool Diggins 8 4-6 20, Jaylen Stinson 4 2-2 12, Daeshon Shepherd 9 4-8 22, Muneer Netwon 1 1-2 3. Totals: 25 12-20 64.
3-pointers: M – Johnson 2, C Ryan 2, Jones 2, A Ryan; AW – Stinson 2.