Asparagus, Pettit carry Rustin past Penn Wood to lock up state bid

WESTTOWN >> West Chester Rustin senior forward Tajir Asparagus has been a four-year starter for the Golden Knights boys basketball team. 

Wednesday night, Asparagus was playing his last home game on his home floor. And he made it count. 

The senior led the Golden Knights to a tough, 56-52 win over Penn Wood that put the Golden Knights into the PIAA Class 5A playoffs, and ended the Patriots’ season.

Asparagus had 16 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and two assists as he and superb freshman IV Pettit, who led Rustin with 21 points, combined to better Patriots (16-10) senior Devante Smith, who led all scorers with 22 points. Penn Wood turned the ball over 16 times, with three of those coming in the decisive fourth quarter.

“Taj is a four-year starter and he is a leader of this team,” West Chester Rustin coach Keith Cochran said. “He was playing his last home game and he came up big for us. I expect that from him because he is that kind of player and a leader on this team. IV was big again and he hit 10 of 11 from the free throw line and he and Taj and the rest the guys closed out the game well. This is the first step for us.”

Rustin will hit the road Friday night to face second-seeded Holy Ghost Prep to decide fifth and sixth place in the district. Both teams are already assured a state berth.

On Wednesday, Rustin (17-9) had a three-point lead after three quarters, and the biggest lead of the night was seven points for either team, when asparagus scored in tight for a 49-42 Golden Knights lead. But Antoine Campbell buried a long three for Penn Wood to make it a 49-45 game, and the Patriots had life. The score would end up 50-48 Rustin with a little over a minute left.

Penn Wood came down the floor and turned the ball over, and Pettit was fouled with 43 seconds to play. The rookie buried both free throws to make it a 52-48 game with 43 seconds to play. 

Penn Wood coach Matt Lindeman talked about the Patriots’ 16 turnovers. 

“We had too many turnovers and we had them at bad times,” Lindeman said. “But give Rustin credit. They made the plays when they had to and they capitalized on our mistakes.”

Penn Wood would not go away, however. Smith went hard to the basket, got fouled and hit both from the line to make it 52-50 game with just 30 seconds to play. Rustin had trouble bringing the ball up, but Asparagus bailed them out and passed to Pettit, who got fouled and once again the freshman buried both free throws to put the game away and send Rustin back to states after missing out last year.

“We had a lot of goals coming into the season,” Asparagus said. “And one of them was to make the state playoffs and we did that tonight. We missed out last season and last week we had a tough loss to Penncrest, but this team is tough. We rebounded well tonight against a very physical team.”

West Chester Rustin 56, Penn Wood 52

PENN WOOD (52): Smith 9 2-2 22, Stevens 1 0-0 2, Kyem 3 3-4 10, Williams 1 0-0 2, Cambelll 3 1-2 10, Poles 1 0-0 2, Johnson 2 0-4 4. Totals 19 6-14 52.

WC RUSTIN (56): Pettit 5 10-11 21, Asparagus 7 2-5 16, Nelson 3 3-5 10, Barrouk 1 0-0 3, Hickson 2 0-0 6, Barksdale 0 0-0 0, DeMarco 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 15-21 56.

Penn Wood 17 8 9 18 – 52

WC Rustin 15 10 12 19 – 56

3-point goals: Kyem, Smith 2, Campbell 3, Pewttit, hickson 2, Nelson, Barrouk.