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Plymouth Whitemarsh 69, Upper Moreland 55
A big fourth quarter was the difference as PW won a must-win game and put itself in good position to earn a spot in the upcoming District One Class 6A playoffs.
“Light bulbs are slowly going off,” coach Jim Donofrio said. “Upper Dublin’s game was high energy for us. You just don’t know what to expect when you’re having an up and down year and kids are learning, but something’s gone on in the last week.
I think the Abington loss away had a serious effect on our guys.
“We were brutally honest with them and told them, ‘There’s a real good chance you’re not making the playoffs for the first time in over three decades. Do you want to be that team?’
“We kind of raised our energy at practice and said, ‘It’s going to have to be an all-out mentality.”
Caelin Peters finished with a game-high 25 points, including four 3-pointers, and when the game was on the line, he had eight in the fourth quarter.
Luke DiCianno had 20 points, while Jaden Pryce ended up with six of his eight points coming in the critical 22-11 fourth quarter.
“It’s amazing to me how kids improve on all teams over the course of the season,” Donofrio said. “We took Upper Moreland very seriously with great respect. They’ve grown up in a month.
As they say in baseball, it was a crooked score when we played them the first time (a 76-33 PW win), and unless you’re really a superstar team, it’s hard to do that twice to anybody.
“It was a playoff atmosphere high school basketball game, and I loved how our kids responded.
It was a 22-11 fourth quarter. We just kept plugging away with the pressure. They’re listening better, they’re changing the paces up. We weren’t making big plays offensively, but there’s something about the style that over 32 minutes you find a crack in the wall of the other team.
“With three minutes to go in the game holding about seven, it went from seven to 15 in about a minute. To be honest, I haven’t seen that all year. I’m happy for the kids because I have been relentless with the criticism, and they keep hanging in there.
To see them smiling after a game and singing on the bus ride home is okay with me.”
The Colonials took a 33-28 lead into halftime but led by just a 47-44 score heading into the final quarter.
“They really put a lot of ideas together,” Donofrio said. “I took Luke DiCianno out of the game with about five minutes to go and said, ‘If you’re not going to raise your game, I’m not going to put you back in. You’ve got to raise your game.’ I put him back in a minute later, and he was unreal.
“What we envisioned might be back in April finally showed itself in a five-minute stretch in the fourth quarter. They brought a lot of heat in the fourth, and the fact that we punched back – that was a huge change for us tonight.
“Good for the kids. That doesn’t mean I’m predicting anything for Thursday night. In a long season of frustration against a high level schedule, the fact that we went over to Upper Moreland and showed great respect and focus for the game, you could have looked back on that last game score and fallen asleep. To their kids’ credit, to lose two key players and actually keep getting better themselves, it was a really, really impressive thing to see from both teams.
“It was a really well-played playoff level intensity game. Caelin Peters raised his game in a big way. Jaden Pryce raised his game. He just struggled a week ago and didn’t play against Abington.
“For the kids to realize that you can’t even celebrate with three minutes to go, you have to keep grinding. All my coaches are looking at the numbers. All I knew was we had to win tonight to feel a lot better about things.”
PW (10-11, 8-5 SOL) finds itself in the No. 21 position of what will be a 24-team field when the brackets are filled out on Sunday.
The Colonials host Hatboro-Horsham on Thursday.
Upper Moreland was led by Matt Tiernan, who had 14 points, while Jourdan Gregg added 12 and Tyler Ibbotson 11.
The Golden Bears (14-6, 7-6 SOL) have two games remaining, at Wissahickon on Thursday and home in a nonleague game against Sun Valley on Saturday night. They are currently No. 8 in the Class 5A power rankings.
Game Summary brought to you by
Plymouth Whitemarsh 17 16 14 22-69
Upper Moreland 12 16 16 11-55
Plymouth Whitemarsh (69) – Peters 9 3-5 25; DiCianno 8 3-4 20; Hubbard 2 0-0 4; Pryce 4 0-1 8; Tomassetti 1 0-0 2; Harris 3 0-0 8; Glover 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 6-10 69.
Upper Moreland (55) – Byron Hopkins 2 2-2 6; Jourdan Gregg 4 4-6 12; McKie Walker 2 0-1 4; Jake Tiernan 3 0-0 8; Matt Tiernan 7 0-1 14; Tyler Ibbotson 4 0-0 11. Totals 22 6-10 55.
3-point goals: – PW- Peters 4, Harris 2, DiCianno 8; UM-Ibbotson 3, J. Tiernan 2