By Ed Morlock
Plymouth Whitemarsh scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter of its District 1-6A second-round playoff game against Penn Wood to turn a seven-point deficit into a three-point lead.
The final seven minutes of the game were played within one possession and when the seasaw stopped moving it was No. 3 Plymouth Whitemarsh on top, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 64-62 win over No. 14 Penn Wood at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
Chase Coleman’s three-point play after an offensive rebound gave the Colonials (24-2) their first lead of the second half, 47-46, with 6:23 left in the game and another Coleman putback gave the Colonials the lead for good, 63-62, in the final 30 seconds.
“They don’t expect me, as a six-foot guard, to go get rebounds,” Coleman, who had six offensive rebounds and eight total boards, said. “Where I come from, though, you have to be hard so I play with that type of energy, physicality, so I go in and try to get offensive rebounds. I’ve got one of the best big mans (Lincoln Sharpe), like a Dennis Rodman-type big man, he goes and gets it. It doesn’t matter where it’s at he’s going to go get it. (Qudire Bennett), he’s going to go in there and he’s going to rebound. Just go get rebounds and play hard – that’s what we did on the offensive end. That’s how we win.”