EA hangs tough against tall, talented Westtown
PHILADELPHIA >> Craig Conlin acknowledged that trying to break down Westtown School was a tall order Friday afternoon.
Try as he might, the Episcopal Academy coach couldn’t devise a matchup capable of dealing with Westtown 7-footer Mohamed Bamba or assemble a lineup to equal Westtown’s passel of high-Division I prospects.
Accordingly, Westtown brought its superior talent to bear on a 17-0 run built around an 8½-minute EA drought in a 56-42 victory in the semifinals of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association Tournament at Penn Charter.
The win advances top-seeded Westtown into Saturday’s final and ends No. 4 Episcopal’s season.
For most of three quarters, though, EA’s belief never waned, as the Churchmen were tied at the half with Westtown’s arsenal of blue-chippers.
“By just playing as hard as we possibly can,” Conlin said of his simplistic gameplan. “We talk all the time about our three foundation points, and that is to play hard, play smart and play together. And when we do that, I think we can play with anyone, and we saw that in the first half.”
Making the early performance even more staggering was that it came without star Nick Alikakos. The junior forward picked up his second foul late in the first quarter and sat the final 10-plus minutes of the half. But behind the hot 3-point shooting of Matt Woods, EA (19-7) forestalled what felt like an inevitable Westtown run as long as it could.
“That’s a huge boost,” Woods said of the success sans Alikakos. “We came into halftime knowing that we can play with these guys and knowing that if we play hard, we can run with them. It doesn’t matter where you’re going to college or what you’re doing; if we come out hard, we can play with anyone.”
Woods hit three of his five triples in the second quarter, scoring 11 of his 17 points before halftime to knot the game at 22. The teams traded baskets out of halftime, including four of Alikakos’ nine points. Woods canned his fourth triple with 3:29 left in the third to get within one at 30-29.
Matt Woods corner 3. EA trails 30-29 https://t.co/j8bVwgeAX0
— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) February 26, 2016
And then, nothing. EA missed open jump shots, coughed up the ball, and Westtown capitalized. The Moose rattled off 17 straight points, getting out in transition and finishing on the break.
At the forefront was Cameron Reddish, the sophomore who played at Haverford School since eighth grade. He was limited to four points, but he led Westtown with four assists, including a pair of pinpoint dimes on the run.
“It’s kind of easy,” Reddish said of the unselfish play. “You just look up and see somebody. It’s just making sure it’s accurate. I’m confident that they’re going to catch the pass and make the layup.”
Jair Bolden got to the rim at will to lead all scorers with 18 points, and Najja Hunter paired 17 points, many of them second-chance, with eight rebounds. Bamba was a constant force, soaring to 10 points and 11 boards.
By the time Episcopal scored again — an Alikakos three-point play that left the deficit at 15 with three minutes to play — 8:28 had elapsed since the Woods’ trifecta, as had their chances of an upset.
“Against a team like this, the only thing we can control is how hard we play,” Woods said. “And if we do that, the chips will fall where they may. That’s what we did in the first half, and we struggled a little bit in the second half, which led to some turnovers and some easy baskets that hurt us.”
