By Matt Smith
There wasn’t much Penncrest could do.The Lions knew they were in for a battle Tuesday night at Harriton High against District 12 champion Archbishop Wood.
The Lions also knew they had to play a flawless four quarters of basketball to have any shot at winning their PIAA Class 5A second-round playoff game.
Early on, it wasn’t looking too bad. The Lions were ahead by five points in the opening minutes and trailed by two at the beginning of the second quarter.
But Penncrest could only hang on for so long. Wood forced turnovers, popped 3-pointers and scored fast-break points during a game-changing run in the second quarter. The exclamation point was a steal and a one-handed slam dunk by Daeshon Shepherd in the last seconds of the first half.
Penncrest headed into the locker room down eight points and never recovered. Archbishop Wood ended the Lions’ season with a 61-38 victory.