By Matthew Waters
Central Bucks West may have been the underdog on paper, but the way the Bucks came out fighting at Penncrest showed they wanted the win that much more.
The No. 22 Bucks upset the 11th-seeded Lions, 58-50, in the District One Class AAAA first round Saturday night, led by a lights-out performance by guard Kyle Salvitti. The 5-5 senior sank six three pointers, five of them coming in a span of less than six minutes, en route to scoring 22 points.
Penncrest hit on nine 3-point attempts and received double-digit performances from Nolan Carroll (15 points), Ben Casanova (13) and Mike Doyle Jr. (12). But it’s the Bucks who will move on to a Tuesday date with No. 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh, which defeated No. 27 Downingtown East, 66-48.
“I’m not going to lie, it really hurts,” Lions coach Mike Doyle said. “They shot lights out. They had more explosion, they were quicker than we thought. … They tried to come out and punch us in our face like, ‘We’re here to play, we’re going to really, really challenge you.'”