2009 PIAA State Basketball Championship Finals

At Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center

Saturday March 21, 2009

 

Boys AAAA

Penn Wood 72, York 53  FINAL

 

York   9    17    16   11  -- 53

PW    19   15   23    15 --  72

Halftime score: PW 34, York 26

Score after three quarters: PW 57, York 42

 

Leading scorers

York: Jevaughn Murphy 17, Mlachi Leonard 14, Malik Generett 9

PW: Aaron Brown 20, Duane Johnson 20, Tyree Johnson 14, Will Brown 12

 

Recap: Penn Wood (28-4), the District 1 runnerup, bolted to 7-0 and 19-4 leads to start the game... York (32-2), the District 3 runnerup, rallied cut the lead to 22-20 but never led in the game...Philadelphia boys basketball dominated the 2009 state championships...of the four boys champions two were from District 1 (Girard College A and Penn Wood AAAA) and two were from District 12 (Archbishop Carroll AAA and Imhotep Charter AA)...Most of Penn Wood's top players are underclassmen and are expected to return next season...They include Aaron Brown, Tyree Johnson, Dequan Pelzer, Will Brown, Shawn Oakman...District 1 teams (Chester 2005, Lower Merion 2006, Chester 2008, Penn Wood 2009) have won four of the last five AAAA state championships...Attendance for the eight state championship games (four doubleheaders) sunk to 18,620, 3,941 less than 2008 at Penn State and 11,720 less than 2007 at Penn State....In the final year at Giant Center in Hershey in 2006, the eight games drew 33,001...

 

York coach Troy Sowers:

"They came out and punched us in the face first. We got a little sloppy with the ball. They attacked the basket better than we did. It was their game today much like the C.D. East game (District 3 championship game). We lost to a very good team. My hat's off to Penn Wood. Today they were better than we were. We battled and battled. Today Penn Wood was the better team. I'm not satisfied but today I'm fully satisfied. Of the 166 Quad A teams in the state, we were one of the teams here. I'm very happy today. This team will be remembered for the character it displayed all season. It made York High a very respectable place..."

 

Penn Wood coach Clyde Jones:

"It's difficult to prepare for our press. It's not so much our pressure but the length of our players. You can't practice against that. It gets some teams frustrated early. The great start was important because it gave us the cushion. We started responding to that York surge with execution...It's far too soon (to talk about the potential next season). You know how hard it is to get out of District 1. The level of play in District 1 is second to none. This isn't easy. Coaching becomes a lot easier when you have talent. We're in the gym 12 months a year..."

 

 

 

Girls AAA

Archbishop Carroll 68, Lampeter-Strasburg 45 Final

 

AC     26   19   16   7   -- 68

L-S     15    4    10   16 -- 45

Halftime score: AC 45, L-S 19

 

Leading scorers:

AC: Erin Shields 13, Hollie Mershon 13, Kerri Shields 12

L-S: Katie Lynch 14, Danielle Rittenhouse 10

 

Recap: Archbishop Carroll girls (30-1) joined the boys in winning PIAA state championships this weekend...The Aliquippa boys and girls in 1989 and York Catholic boys and girls in 1979 accomplished the same double...This was the first season the Philadelphia Catholic League was eligible to play in the state tournament...The Patriots made 10 of 21 three point shots...L-S (29-4) made three of seven three-point baskets...AC shot 65.4 percent in the first half and 48.1 percent for the game...AC's only loss this season was to Cardinal O'Hara...The District 12 and Philadelphia Catholic League champions finish the season with a 22-game winning streak.

 

Boys AA

Imhotep Charter 75, Pittsburgh North Catholic 67 Final 2 Overtimes

 

PNC     12  14   21  11   5  4 --- 67

IM        5    16   25  12   5 12 -- 75

Halftime score: PNC 26, IC 21

 

Leading scorers

PNC: Jesse Long 20, Henry Pwono 16, Matt Long 13

IC: Sam Prescott 21, David Appolon 15, Kenny Battle 12, Will Adams 11, Parrish Grant 10

 

Recap:

The only other double overtime boys state championship game, according to the PIAA game program, was Annville-Cleona's 69-57 win over Quaker Valley in 1999...Imhotep (32-1), the District 12 champion, finished the season on a 31-game winning streak...This was the Panthers first state championship...North Catholic (28-3), the WPIAL champion made nine of 23 three-point shots and 12 of 20 free throws... Imhotep made four of 18 three-point shots and 25 of 40 free throws...The score after regulation was 58-58 and 63-63 after the first overtime...Jesse Long dribbled the length of the floor and made a three-point shot just outside the arc in front of the North Catholic bench as the buzzer sounded to end the first overtime and send the game into the second overtime...North Catholic led 12-0 with 10 seconds left in the first quarter before Imhotep scored its first points...Imhotep led just once in the first half (21-20)and didn't lead again until 3:37 of the first overtime (59-58)...

 

North Catholic coach Dave Long:

"(Imhotep) made some shots. They're some super athletes. That was a first-rate team. I'm proud we did lead against one of the better teams in the state for most of the game. Unfortunately, we didn't answer the last bell. I was ready to pound my chest when we were leading for that many minutes..."

 

Imhotep coach Andre Noble:

"I'm proud of my guys. They showed a lot of poise. All season long our motto was poise. I didn't expect us to get that slow start. We played awful. We were sloppy with the ball uncharacteristically. We came out flat. If you look at our scores, they were all like this. Guys were antsy trying to win the game. It was a heckuva game. To me, it was much more memorable than winning by 40. I only saw them twice on film and I didn't see them take a bad shot. It's tough to win 31 straight basketball games. It was tough for us to keep staying up."

 

Girls A

Bishop Guilfoyle 49, Nativity BVM 27

 

Friday March 20, 2009

 

Girls AA

Villa Maria 56, York Catholic 51

 

Girls AAAA

Mount Lebanon 67, Cardinal O’Hara 58

 

Boys A

Girard College 80, Kennedy Catholic 70

 

GC    13    21    17   29   --   80

KC    24    16     8    22   --   70

Halftime score: KC 40, GC 34

 

Leading scorers:

GC: John Johnson 30, Lance Devero 20, Torrell Candelaria 15

KC: Kyle Randall 33, Aundra Jones 14

 

Boys AAA

Archbishop Carroll 75, Greensburg Salem 54

 

GS    14    11   9   20  -- 54

AC    16    21   20 18  -- 75

Halftime score: AC 37, GS 25

 

Leading scorers:

GS: Jake Matthews 22, Chris Klimchock 16

AC: Kasheef Festus 18, D. J. Irving 17, Juan'ya Green 16, Andre Wilburn 12

 

Recap: A G-S basket with 6:50 left in the second quarter tied the score at 16-16 and then AC outscored G-S 19-2 to take a commanding 35-18 lead...This was the first year that the Philadelphia Catholic League participated in the PIAA state basketball tournament