Academy Park’s Semaji Young steals a pass and heads down for a layup in the first half against Penn Wood Tuesday night. (Pete Bannan – MediaNews Group)
By Matt Smith
Neither Semaji Young nor Emani Banks overstated the importance of Thursday’s 46-43 victory at Penn Wood. After all, it’s only one game in a long season.
But it was hard for Academy Park’s star players not to be thrilled with the result.
“It was an exciting game, it was fun,” said Young, AP’s senior point guard. “It was a real battle. We had a good game, moving the ball and taking good shots.”
“And it went back and forth, it wasn’t a blowout or anything like that,” said Banks, the Knights’ talented 5-10 forward. “It was … wow.”
The Knights and Patriots put on an instant classic at the Shoebox. In the end, it was Banks’ 12th rebound of the night, off a Xenia Gillis miss, that sealed AP’s victory. The Knights (7-7) improved to 4-0 in the Del Val League and are favored to defend their championship.