‘Stoga falls to visiting Colonials in first round of district playoffs
By Tracy Cook, Senior Staff Reporter
The Conestoga boys basketball team lost to Plymouth Whitemarsh in the first round of district playoffs at home on Friday night, 51-39. It was their lowest offensive output of the year. The loss also marked the end of the Pioneers’ 2011-2012 season.
Before tip-off, Pioneers Head Coach Mike Troy said that the game would present an “interesting matchup” in that Plymouth Whitemarsh was more athletic and would look to push the ball, but Conestoga would control the fundamentals and strive to keep it a half-court game. Troy also said that Conestoga’s three keys to the game were to stop penetration in the lane, control the defensive boards and play unselfishly on the offensive end.
At halftime, the Pioneers headed into the team room facing a seven point deficit, down 27-20. Coach Troy told his team that they needed to start boxing out on defense and prevent Plymouth Whitemarsh from getting points off of drives down the lane.
Unfortunately for Conestoga, a combination of missed offensive opportunities and an overall lack of first-half defensive rebounding gave Plymouth Whitemarsh the edge they needed to pull out their eventual 12-point victory. Although the Pioneers dominated the defensive boards in the third quarter, they were not able to overtake the Colonials’ lead.
The fourth quarter began with Conestoga trailing, 33-29. Despite Plymouth Whitemarsh’s foul trouble early in the second half, Conestoga was unable to capitalize on inside post play and struggled from the free-throw line late in the game. The Pioneers had some open looks from the 3-point line, but their shots were not falling.
In the final minutes, Conestoga was forced to foul and Plymouth Whitemarsh put the game away from the charity stripe. The Pioneers ended their season with a final record of 16-8 and 12-5 in the league (including Central League playoffs).
The visiting Plymouth Whitemarsh Colonials will go on to play #2 seeded Lower Merion in the second round of district playoffs on Tuesday.
Tracy Cook can be reached at tcook@stoganews.com.
The game’s box score can be found online at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/high_school/scores/?mode=match_detail&schema=bbk_2011&state=1001&fname=match_id&fvalue=24560.
