Plymouth Whitemarsh, Lower Merion, Chester, and Souderton
all advance to the District 1 AAAA Semifinals at Villanova University on Tuesday
night.
By
Gregory Goettner
(5) Plymouth Whitemarsh
48- (4) Pennsbury 42
Plymouth
Whitemarsh vs. Pennsbury: The Rematch; what can get much better then this on
Friday night? Earlier this season at St. Joseph University, these two teams met
up with Pennsbury winning 53-44.
That would not be the case the
second time around. In front a standing room only crowd at William Tennent High
School; Plymouth Whitemarsh defeated Pennsbury 48-42.
Plymouth Whitemarsh didn’t
waste any time getting on the scoreboard. Right off the opening jump, Plymouth
Whitemarsh senior Anthony Minor picked up a loose ball and finished with
a monster dunk. Pennsbury would respond and outscore Plymouth Whitemarsh 11-10
after the first quarter. Pennsbury senior Derek Wright had the hot hand
for the Falcons scoring 5 points.
The second quarter was a
quarter that Pennsbury would like to forget as they were held to only 3 points
and fell behind 26-14 at halftime. Pennsbury had a tough time scoring on the
feisty Plymouth Whitemarsh defense. Anthony Minor was the lead scorer at
half with 10 points.
Pennsbury cut the Plymouth
Whitemarsh lead to 33-26 after three quarters. After a few Dalton Pepper
and Mike Avilves baskets, Pennsbury found themselves down 43-40 with
under a minute left of play when Pennsbury freshman Jesse Krasna got
fouled with 31 seconds remaining in the game. Krasna missed the first free throw
and converted on the second one to cut the Colonials lead to 43-41. Pennsbury
quickly fouled Plymouth Whitemarsh senior point guard Lance Wilson.
Wilson made both free throws to take a 45-41 lead. Pennsbury senior Mike
Avilves tried to cut the Plymouth Whitemarsh lead with a three pointer of
his own, but miss fired as Plymouth Whitemarsh would put the Falcons away with
three free throws from guard Mike Acquaviva as they would go on to win
48-42.
Plymouth Whitemarsh was led by
Mike Acquaviva, who in my opinion was the X-factor for the Colonials.
Acquaviva ended the game with 17 points (3 three pointers). Acquaviva has a
sweet outside stroke, one of the best three point shooters I have seen all
season. Hartford signee Anthony Minor scored 12 points including 2
monster dunks in the beginning of the game.
Pennsbury was led by sophomore
Dalton Pepper 16 points and Temple University signee Lavoy Allen
who added 10 points.
Game notes:
The stat line won’t show it but Plymouth Whitemarsh guards
Marquise Boggs and Lance Wilson did an excellent job pressuring the
Pennsbury guards and forcing many turnovers.
In the house:
Temple University head coach Fran Dunphy and Hartford
University head coach Dan Leibovitz were in attendance.
T’d up:
With only 5 seconds remaining in the game tempers were flying as
Pennsbury sophomore Dalton Pepper and Plymouth Whitemarsh center Greg
Maugle would both pick up technical fouls.
Other
scores around the District:
(8)
Lower Merion 77 – (1) Upper Darby 53
Lower Merion avenged two
earlier season losses to Upper Darby by defeating them 77-53 in the District
quarter finals. Lower Merion was led by sophomore Greg Robbins 18 points.
(2)
Chester 79 – (7) Ridley 53
The Clippers jumped out to an
early 23-14 led and held on to win 79-53. The Clippers were led by University of
Pittsburgh signee Nasir Robinson who scored a game high 27 points.
(3) Souderton 61 – (6)
West Chester Henderson 53
Souderton will be making their
first trip to the District 1 AAAA semi finals since 1935 as they defeated West
Chester Henderson 61-53. Souderton capitalized on a 16-3 first quarter led.
Souderton was led by Kevin Weaver, who scored 18 points.
Semifinals Match ups
Tuesday, February 27th,
2007
@ Villanova University
6:00pm: (2) Chester vs. (3)
Souderton
8:00pm: (5) Plymouth Whitemarsh
vs. (8) Lower Merion
District one bracket:
http://www.district-one.net/brackets/boysbasketballAAAA.htm
Follow the
Philadelphia Public League play offs also:
http://www.bracketmaker.com/tlist.cfm?tid=205270
If you have any questions or
comments e-mail Greg at
greg@metrohoops.com
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