By Matt Smith
On paper, Penn Wood should’ve taken care of business against Bishop Shanahan in the first round of the District One Class AAAA playoffs.
In really, it was no contest.
Behind Malik Jackson’s 15-point performance, the No. 8 Patriots routed the 25th-seeded Eagles, 74-48, Saturday.
Penn Wood used a 10-0 run in the first quarter, flocking to the ball on defense and running the floor. Its Ches-Mont League opponent had difficulty moving the ball up court, capitalizing on second-chance points and finding consistency with its long-range shooting.
Penn Wood did those things very well.
“We wanted to speed them up a little bit and we felt like we could get them under pressure,” said Jackson, who shot 5-for-12 from the floor and drained a trio of 3-point baskets. “We felt that, if they were under pressure, they couldn’t run their offense clean against us. So, we wanted to keep them guessing and force them into mistakes.”