STATE COLLEGE – The East is the beast in the PIAA basketball world, as all four 2009 PIAA basketball champions hail from the Eastern half of Pennsylvania.
In games played at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Penn Wood High School took home the Class AAAA title with a 72-53 win over York’s William Penn High School, Archbishop Carroll knocked off Greensburg Salem 75-54 to get the Class AAA gold, Imhotep Prep defeated North Catholic 75-67 in double overtime to get the Class AA title and Girard College High toppled Kennedy Catholic 80-70 to win the Class A championship.
It is the first time since 2002 that all four titles belong to teams from Eastern Pennsylvania, and each winner won the championship for the first time in school history.
Class AAAA: Penn Wood defense keys win over William Penn
Penn Wood, from Lansdowne near Philadelphia, used a stifling defense to knock off York’s William Penn 72-53 to take home the Class AAAA title Saturday night.
The Patriots (28-4) scored 30 points off 18 William Penn turnovers and raced to a 7-0 lead 39 seconds into the game thanks to a pressure defense that created three turnovers during that span. The lead eventually grew to 19-4 late in the first quarter.
“It’s difficult to prepare for our pressure,” Penn Wood head coach Clyde Jones said. “Not because our pressure is so great, but the length of our players, when we get in the passing lanes, it kind of gets some teams flustered early.”
William Penn (31-2) actually found its sea legs for a while cutting the lead to two, 24-22, in the second quarter thanks to an 18-5 run. But Penn Wood had the answer in the form of a 21-8 run that started before halftime and ended in the third quarter that restored the double digit lead at 43-30.
The Bearcats did get back within six, 45-39, late in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Patriots allowed William Penn.
Aaron Brown led four players in double digits with 20 points for Penn Wood, while Duane Johnson had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Tyree Johnson and Will Brown each added 14 tallies.
Malik Generett had 13 points and 12 rebounds for William Penn, while Jevaughn Murphy had 25 points and Miachi Leonard 12.
The championship is the first in school history for Penn Wood, which was just 12-13 two years ago.
“I have a group of kids who have bought into being in the gym, working on your game daily,” Jones said. “It’s going to pay off, you expect to improve.”
Class AAA: Archbishop Carroll runs away from Greensburg Salem
In the Class AAA title game, Archbishop Carroll used a 19-2 second-quarter run and a 13-1 third-quarter spurt to beat Greensburg Salem and claim its first PIAA Class AAA boys basketball title in its first year in the PIAA with a 75-54 win Friday night.
“It means a lot,” Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk said. “We’ve played a little second fiddle, third fiddle to Neumann-Goretti and Roman (Catholic). Just to be able to hoist the trophy means a lot. Not just in our league but in our area.”
The Patriots (27-3), who lost to Roman Catholic in the District 12 semifinals before beating Simon Gratz in the consolation game, were tied with Greensburg Salem (23-6) at 16 early in the second quarter when they went on the 19-2 run to take a 35-17 lead late in the half.
The Lions were able to close within 12, 37-25, by halftime and trailed by 14, 44-30, nearly three minutes into the third quarter when Archbishop Carroll put the game away with the 13-1 run.
“I was concerned that if it came down to a close game at the end, that they were battle tested,” Romanczuk said. “It was important for us to jump on them early.”
Archbishop Carroll used a balanced effort to get the victory with four players scoring in double figures and a fifth netting eight points.
“This has been an unselfish team the whole year,” Romanczuk said. “Really, I do think it’s a team, where you can’t take away one player because someone else is going to step up big for us. That’s the way it’s been all year. I wasn’t surprised that was the way it was all through the state tournament.”
Kasheef Festus led the Patriots with 18 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. D.J. Irving added 17 points, seven steals and six rebounds, Juan’ya Green chipped in 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals, Andre Wilburn had 12 points and seven rebounds and Ben Mingledough chipped in eight tallies and six rebounds.
Jake Matthew’s 22 points led Greensburg Salem, while Chris Klimchock added 16 points and four assists.
Class AA: Imhotep Charter goes double overtime to get first PIAA title
In the best game of the weekend, Imhotep Charter survived a lousy first quarter, a late-game five-point deficit and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by North Catholic’s Jesse Long at the end of the first overtime to get a 75-67 win over the WPIAL Champion Trojans in the PIAA Class AA title game Saturday afternoon.
The Panthers (32-1), who won their final 31 games, finished the game on an 8-0 run after being tied at 67 with just over two minutes to play in the second overtime.
“It was a tremendous game,” Imhotep Charter head coach Andre Noble said. “I wouldn’t change the way we had to win it. To me, that’s much more memorable than winning by 40.”
Double overtime was only needed because Long took an inbound pass following a made free throw by Imhotep Charter’s Tyree Morgan with five seconds to go in the first overtime and went up the near sideline before hitting an off-balance 3-pointer at the horn to tie the game at 63.
It was Imhotep Charter that needed to rally in regulation, as the Panthers trailed 56-51 with 2:30 remaining before tying at 58 the game on a Sam Prescott jumper with 19 seconds left. North Catholic’s Tyler Staniski then missed a 3-pointer just before the regulation buzzer that would have won the game.
“It’s just confidence at the end of the game,” Prescott said. “I have the confidence to make the plays at the end when we need them.”
Imhotep Charter trailed 12-0 with less than 10 seconds to play in the first quarter after missing its first eight shots before scoring five points in the final seven seconds of the quarter, including three from the free-throw line, to get back into the game. The Panthers then actually went ahead 21-20 late in the first half before North Catholic was able to gain a 26-21 halftime lead that they held for much of the remainder of regulation.
“It was nerves,” Prescott said of his team’s slow start. “This is my first state championship game. I was 0-for-3 in the first quarter because I was nervous. I had to settle myself down.
“We were a little worried in the beginning, but we are very poised. We are a good team, and we were going to score.”
Prescott led Imhotep Charter with 21 points and 11 rebounds, David Appolon added 15 points, Kenny Battle had 12, Will Adams 11 and Parrish Grant 10 points, five rebounds and five assists. Erik Copes just missed a double-double with 10 rebounds and nine blocked shots to go with four points.
Jesse Long had 20 points, including three 3-pointers, to lead North Catholic. Henry Pwono chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds and Matt Long had 13 points and seven boards.
According to the Centre Daily Times, it was just the second PIAA title game, boys or girls, to go to double overtime. The other one was also in boys’ Class AA when Annville-Cleona beat Quaker Valley 69-57. The last overtime title game was in last season’s Class AA game when Jeannette beat Strawberry Mansion 76-72 in one overtime.
Class A: Girard College overcomes slow start to top Kennedy Catholic
In the Class A title game, Girard College High School showed that it doesn’t matter how you start as long as you finish strong.
The Cavaliers started slow in the Friday’s championship game against Kennedy Catholic but finished strong in getting an 80-70 win over the Golden Eagles Friday afternoon at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center in State College.
Girard College (26-3), which became the first District 1 team to win a Class A boys’ title since Pius X claimed the crown in 1979, trailed by 11, 24-13, at the end of the first quarter but outscored Kennedy Catholic (26-3) 67-46 over the final three quarters including 46-30 in the second half.
“I was concerned (about the slow start),” Girard College head coach Tyrone Morris said. “I knew we had to get into our rhythm. I think we took their power punch in the first quarter, and we didn’t back down. I knew we were going to come back. It was just a matter of time. At halftime, we made some adjustments, and we came out in the second half and were more active on defense. I think that was the difference in the game today.”
Sophomore John Johnson had a monster game with 30 points, seven steals and five assists to lead Girard College. But Johnson wasn’t the only key player for the Cavaliers, as two other players reached double digits to help Girard College offset another monster game by Kennedy Catholic’s Kyle Randall (33 points). Lance Devero added 20 points and six rebounds, and Torrell Candelaria had 15 points, four assists and four steals.
“My whole team helped me a lot,” Johnson said. “Randall is a great player. He’s tough. But everybody played good defense.”
Aundra Jones added 14 points and 13 rebounds for Kennedy Catholic.
