2009 PIAA State Basketball Tournament Boys AAAA second round

Parkland and Pennsbury advance to PIAA State AAAA boys basketball quarterfinals after victories Wednesday night in Reading
By Gorden Blain
READING -- Pennsbury guard Dante Devine didn't expect to be the one on whom his teammates would call to win their PIAA State AAAA boys second round playoff game against Central Dauphin East Wednesday night at Reading High School's Geigle Complex.

With the score tied 42-42 with 4.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Pennsbury wanted to get the ball into the hands of the West Virginia recruit Dalton Pepper, who had already scored 26 points.

But the C.D. East defense was all over Pepper.

So the inbounds pass from in front of the Pennsbury bench went to Goran Dulac and Dulac turned and found Devine wide open on the right wing.

Devine didn't have time to realize anything when the pass came to him from Dulac. The clock had wound down and the final horn was about to blow.

Devine launched his jump shot from just outside the three-point line and it found nothing but net, just in time to give Pennsbury a 45-42 win that set off a wild celebration and punched the Falcons' ticket to the state quarterfinals on Saturday against District 1 rival Penn Wood.

"I wasn't even an option," said Devine. "All of the defense dragged down to Dalton. I didn't feel anything. I was numb."

Numb, cool under pressure, clutch. All fit nicely for Devine and the Falcons, who took the lead at 10-7 in the first quarter and held it until the final minute but saw their 38-26 lead with 5:00 left in the third quarter dissolve into a 39-39 tie with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

East, the District 3 champions, held Pennsbury to one point over 12:41 in the third and fourth quarters to rally to tie the score. Siena recruit Jonathan Breeden tied it with a basket with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Then the final half-minute of basketball had March Madness written all over it.

Pepper drove to the basket, made the shot and was fouled with 18.8 seconds left. His free throw completed the three-point play and gave Pennsbury the lead again at 42-39.

But East's Demond Bates answered when he sank a three-point shot with nine seconds remaining to tie the score at 42-42.

"I told the kids we weren't going to let (Pepper) beat us at the end," said East coach Bruce Leib. "For one their so-called role players to hit it, I give him credit. Jon hit a huge shot. Demond hit a huge shot."

While East struggled to score against Pennsbury's tight man-to-man defense for the first three quarters and Pepper, despite dealing with flu-like symptoms, dominated at the offensive end with 23 points, the Falcons weren't able to put the game out of reach.

"Our kids weren't going to give up," said Leib. "We had more to show. I think we shocked them a little bit with the comeback. I knew we weren't going to fold."

East finished the season with a 27-4 record. Breeden led the Panthers with 12 points. Amani Glenn, who kick-started the rally with back-to-back baskets in the third quarter, had nine and Bates had seven points.

For Pennsbury, which won for the first time ever at Geigle to reach the state quarterfinals for the second straight season, Pepper finished with 26 points and Devine had eight. The Falcons (24-5) are the fourth-place team from District 1.

"I said to my coaches that this game was going to come down to the final play," said Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla. "I didn't really mean that when I said it. The people at home don't realize that (C.D. East) is tremendous. You play a tremendous basketball team against a tremendous coach and you hold that team to 42 points. Obviously we played great on defense. We got a lot of stops when we weren't scoring."

In the first game of the boys AAAA doubleheader at Geigle, District 11 champion Parkland rallied from five down in the final six minutes to defeat Conestoga, the third-place team from District 1, 56-49. The Trojans outscored Conestoga 20-8 down the stretch. Sr. guard Matt Muhr, who averaged more than 10 points a game this season, scored all eight of his points during that stretch.

Jaleel Clark led Parkland with 15 points, M. J. Miorelli had 13 and Jon Ward had nine. For Conestoga, Jake Cohen led with 15 points. Robert Scott scored 12 points and Matt O'Hara had 11.

Conestoga (27-4) started fast by grabbing a 12-4 lead but Parkland (26-3) recovered quickly to tie the score at 12-12. Conestoga regained the lead and led most of the game, until the Trojans, in their first state tournament since 2004 when they lost the state championship game to Penn Hills, caught fire late.

"We just kept grind it out," said Parkland coach Andy Stephens. "I was really proud after the start of the game that we stuck it out. I kept saying let's get the lead and see how they react. Matt Muhr struggled a little bit tonight. But I decided to put him in and he hit those threes."

Parkland faces York and Williamsport faces Plymouth-Whitemarsh in the two quarterfinals on the east side of the bracket. Penn Wood and Pennsbury are one quarterfinal on the west side of the bracket. Cathedral Prep-Mount Lebanon is the other.