Spencer helps Plymouth Whitemarsh outlast Simon Gratz in PIAA AAAA quarters

PHILADELPHIA >> It’s one of the more popular phrases this time of year.

Survive and advance. It doesn’t matter how it gets done, so long as it gets done. If a team wins, it gets to play another day, if it loses, it’s done.

Saturday afternoon at Archbishop Ryan, Plymouth Whitemarsh most certainly survived. Because they did, the Colonials are moving on after outlasting Simon Gratz 52-43 in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal.

“That’s what’s so unreal about this team,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “They have a learning curve in every game we seem to play that’s new to us in some regard. We stumble a bit and look a little slow at times in certain things but they just believe they’re supposed to win and that’s the most important thing.”

Xzavier Malone scored 21 points despite a rough shooting day while fellow senior Oakley Spencer stepped up his game mightily in the second half on his way to 11 points. Gratz scrapped and battled all game, with guard Tariq Meredith doing everything in his power to keep the game from slipping away.

But it was PW’s maturity that eventually won out. Were this game played a year ago, Donofrio didn’t think he would have been talking as a victor. But his guys have grown up.

“It wasn’t pretty, (Gratz) is a good team with a lot of heart but in the end, we’re just looking for a win no matter how we get it,” Spencer said. “Coach knows that if I’m not playing to my physicality or hard enough, he’ll let me know.”

The Colonials started well, ending the first quarter up 17-8 but from there on out, it was a struggle for both sides to score. Malone endured a string of 11 straight missed shots from the end of the first quarter into the fourth but he was able to step aside enough to let his teammates in to help.

After scoring just five points in the second quarter, but holding a 22-15 lead at half, the Colonials had a poorly timed cold spell in the third quarter. Gratz scaled back to cut the lead to 22-19 before PW’s first second half points, a free throw by Kevin Ashenfelter with 4:29 left in the period. PW’s first field goal of the third didn’t come until 2:07 remained in the frame, but it was a big one.

Spencer scored off an assist from Malone, setting off a 9-0 run before Meredith’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer ended the quarter.

“X, I think has been putting a lot of heat on himself lately, it’s too much, just enjoy this,” Donofrio said. “But a year ago, he would’ve held the ball even more, crossed over five more times, made the game harder and we would have been done tonight. I took him out of the game and said we’ve been here, you’ve evolved. Trust Oakley, trust Mike (Lotito), trust Ahmin (Williams), whoever is in the game.”

After Spencer’s first bucket, the senior got free on a runout and went up for a layup when he was fouled hard in midair, slamming hard to the floor. He got up, hitting one of the two free throws on the flagrant call, then 20 seconds later, got open under the hoop and hit two foul shots to keep the run going.

“I didn’t think he was going to foul me that hard,” Spencer said. “I guess it made me a little angry, my teammates had my back and I knew I had to keep pushing and keep going.

“I think I’ve grown. I did a lot of work in the offseason to become tougher.”

After Gratz cut it to 35-31 with 5:50 left in the fourth, Malone snapped his drought with a 3-pointers then with 1:30 left, Spencer drove and rolled in a shot to put the Colonials up 45-37. From there it came down to free throws, with PW making 7-of-10 to close out the game and hold off the Bulldogs.

Up next is a state semifinal matchup with defending state champion Roman Catholic. Winning that game will require a much better offensive performance, but the one thing the Colonials have going for them can’t be taught.

They have the will to keep surviving.

“We learned a lot from last year. We lost in the quarterfinals to (Martin Luther King), that left a bad taste in our mouths, so did losing to Abington in the district final. We’ve been working all year to get back and get farther than we did last year.”