Bennett helps Plymouth Whitemarsh pull away to beat Hatboro-Horsham

HORSHAM >> Knowing the caliber of talent his team possesses, Plymouth Whitemarsh boys basketball coach Jim Donofrio is looking for a portion of the game when the Colonials can put all the pieces together.

 “There’s a core five that has done things since the end of last season, into the summer that they are a level above, of experience and pace and speed,” Donofrio said. “And in the end it’s just a matter of if we can get that for seven minutes a night. That’s usually what we need to do.”

Friday night in a tough battle with host Hatboro-Horsham, PW finally found the necessary span of success late in the third quarter.

The Colonials used a seven-point burst to take the lead and kept the surge going into the fourth, outscoring the Hatters 20-5 in the final period to pull away and claim a 51-32 Suburban One League Liberty Division win.

“It felt good with the momentum on my team and that fourth quarter was like a lock-in quarter, that’s what my coach, Coach D said,” PW junior Qudire Bennett said. “We needed seven minutes to kill and we killed. And they couldn’t handle it, couldn’t stop it.”

The Colonials (3-0, 2-0 division) had trouble finding points against Hatboro-Horsham’s zone defense but PW’s high-energy pressure finally wore down the Hatters. Trailing by one in the third, Plymouth Whitemarsh proceeded to put together an 18-4 run that gave the visitors a 42-29 advantage with 3:51 remaining in the contest.

“That’s a big thing in our program – offense not working, our defense will make up for it,” Bennett said. “That’s why when Coach D put in our speed package with me, Zende (Hubbard), Jaden (Colzie), Taji (Hubbard) a light bulb just clicks.”

Bennett scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth. Colzie collected eight of his 10 points in the second half for the Colonials, who jumped out a 7-0 lead but struggled to get 3-pointers to fall and also made things a bit tougher on themselves by not converting on a few close-range opportunities.

“The guys know this, you can’t miss what I believe was six wide-open layups throughout the course of the game that’s what separates for us and stretches it,” Donofrio said. “So if you don’t, you’re going to make it interesting. If offense is going to go completely dead, which it did tonight, then conversely the defense is going to have to do a lot more of the work.”

Jake Grier and Kyle Dittus had nine and eight points, respectively, for Hatboro-Horsham (0-4, 0-2), which took its first lead off the night with 1:32 left in the third when Noah Schlosser’s turnaround baseline jumper made it 25-24.

Colzie, however, put PW back ahead with a three with a Taji Hubbard reverse layup off a baseline drive extending the margin to four. The Colonials came up with a steal quickly after the ensuing inbounds and Marshall Baker’s basket had Plymouth Whitemarsh up 31-25.

“We seem to be a team that has to almost go through a few rounds of the fight before we find the sweet spot,” Donofrio said. “We did at Quakertown on Tuesday night, we literally were OK, not quite the energy we needed and all of a sudden it was about a five-minute run of stretching it by 15, 18.”

A Dittus bucket had the Hatters down 31-27 entering the fourth but Bennett answered with the final quarter’s first four points – scoring on a transition layup off a Zende Hubbard steal then grabbing an offensive rebound, spinning and putting a shot in off glass to make it 35-27.

“This is his year to establish himself as a star,” said Donofrio of Bennett. “He’s been a varsity freshman but to get his feet wet. Last year he I think got frustrated cause as a sophomore, you’re young still at this level. And this year he’s got to decide to know what he is. He’s become a great, unselfish player but he has great ability to score.”

Two Zende Hubbard free throws had Plymouth Whitemarsh up 38-27 at 4:52 before Schlosser scored on a drive, cutting the Hatters’ deficit to nine. But Taji Hubbard hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 4:13 left. Bennett came up with a steal then found Taji Hubbard up the court for a layup and a foul at 3:15, giving the Colonials a 42-29 lead.

“When I had that steal in the middle and Taji had the and-one layup, that’s how we knew we was winning that game,” Bennett said.

Plymouth Whitemarsh hosts Methacton in a nonleague contest 2:30 p.m. Saturday then has two SOL Liberty home games next week – Upper Dublin 7 p.m. Tuesday then Abington 7 p.m. Thursday.

Hatboro-Horsham stays in the division for its next two games, visiting Abington 7 p.m. Thursday then home against Quakertown 7 p.m. Thursday.

Baker opened Friday night with a 3-pointer with back-to-back Bennett baskets sending PW out to a 7-0 lead. A Bennett three had the Colonials up 12-6 heading into the second quarter.

A Colzie fast-break layup after a Taji Hubbard steal gave PW a 14-8 advantage but the Hatters chipped the margin to 17-16 after a Sam Fink free throw with 1:27 left before halftime. Bennett made a pair from the foul line at 1:04 for a 19-16 Colonials lead at intermission.

Dittus began the third draining a corner three to tie the game at 19 with Hatboro-Horsham pulling even again 23-23 on a Grier basket.

PW went up 24-23 on a Trey Jones free throw at 2:00 but Schlosser’s turnaround jumper gave the Hatters their first and only lead. Colzie responded with his second 3-pointer of the quarter to put the Colonials ahead for good.

Plymouth 51, Hatboro-Horsham 32

Plymouth Whitemarsh 12 7 12 20 – 51

Hatboro-Horsham 6 10 11 5 – 32

Plymouth Whitemarsh: Qudire Bennett 7 5-6 20; Jaden Colzie 4 0-0 10; Marshall Baker 2 3-4 8; Taji Hubbard 2 3-5 7; Zende Hubbard 0 5-6 5; Trey Jones 0 1-2 1; Totals 15 17-23 51.

Hatboro-Horsham: Jake Grier 4 0-2 9; Kyle Dittus 3 0-0 8; Noah Schlosser 2 2-2 6; Matt Wingen 2 0-1 4; Sam Fink 1 1-2 3; Chrishon Avery 1 0-0 2; Totals 13 3-7 32.

3-pointers: PW-  Colzie 2, Baker, Bennett; HH-Dittus 2, Grier.