Pennsbury falls in district semifinal
Despite 28 points from Pepper, Falcons ousted by
Norristown in semifinals for second straight year.By Bill Kenny
Special to BucksLocalSports.com
PHILADELPHIA — The dream isn’t over, but it certainly took a hard hit last night.
Pennsbury High School’s boys basketball team saw a quicker and more physical Norristown High dominate early and slam the door late to beat the Falcons, 60-53, in the District One Class AAAA tournament semifinals at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.
It was Pennsbury’s second loss in as many years to the Eagles in the district semifinals. The fourth-seeded Falcons (22-4) will next take on second-seeded Conestoga Friday night in the third-place game at a site to be announced. Ninth-seeded Norristown (21-5) will meet third-seeded Penn Wood in the championship game Friday at Villanova University (9 p.m.).
Pennsbury’s Dalton Pepper came out on top in the head-to-head match-up of NCAA Division I recruits, outscoring Norristown swingman Khalif Wyatt, 28-17. But the Temple-bound Wyatt’s supporting cast got the early jump on the Falcons and never looked back.
Pepper’s driving lay-up in the opening seconds provided Pennsbury’s only lead of the night.
Norristown used a barrage of three-pointers to build a double-digit lead in the first quarter. West Virginia-bound Pepper scored 18 points and guard Eddie DiRugeris 10 after intermission as the Falcons narrowed the gap to five points on four occasions.
DiRugeris finished with 12 points. No other Falcons scored more than six.
Norristown burst to a 12-2 advantage and led by as many as 13 in the first half thanks to its scorching outside shooting and a disciplined zone defense designed to minimize Pepper’s scoring opportunities.
The Eagles stroked five 3-pointers in the half, including two by senior forward Lorenzo Christmas and one apiece by point guard Sheldon Mayer, Wyatt and forward James Ramsey.
Wyatt, who scored 31 points in Norristown’s previous tournament game, turned set-up man as his three first-half assists created opening for the other Eagles. Four of the three-pointers came during a 2:41 span late in the first quarter.
Pennsbury tried to respond behind Pepper’s three second-quarter field goals, but the 6-foot-5 all-state selection shot only eight times in the half, connecting on four.
Junior guard Dante Devine hit a pair of 3-pointers in the half to help keep the Norristown lead to single digits.
Wyatt put his personal stamp on the early action with two head-to-head successes against Pepper.
With 6:39 to go in the half, Wyatt found himself isolated on the right wing with Pepper guarding him man-to-man. The Norristown star feinted then rose up over the defender to knock down his team’s fifth 3-pointer of the game.
Then with the Falcons down eight points and working for the last shot of the half, Pepper tried to break down Wyatt off the dribble, but the Norristown player blocked Pepper’s pull-up jumper as time expired.
In last night’s first game, Penn Wood point guard Tyree Johnson scored 23 points to lead the third-seeded Colonials (23-3) to a 62-52 win over second seeded Conestoga (25-3). Six-foot-10 center Jake Cohen paced the Pioneers with 25 points before fouling out in the final minute. Forward Doug Jakiela added 14 points.
PIAA District 1 Class AAAA
Semifinals
Penn Wood 62, Conestoga 52
Norristown 60, Pennsbury 53
Consolation Bracket
Central Bucks West 55, Neshaminy 45
Glen Mills 82, West Chester Rustin 44
Chester 59, Central Bucks South 52
Plymouth-Whitemarsh 52, Lower Merion 46 OT
Labels: Pennsbury, Pennsbury boys basketball
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