King rallies Constitution to playoff win

Abdul King said he knew all along that he was not going to allow Constitution High to lose last night in a PIAA basketball playoff.

Sure took his time in showing it.

The Generals trailed Reading Central Catholic by 10 points with 6 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in a PIAA Class AA quarterfinal at Norristown High. And still by eight with 2:40 showing. And still by five with 104 ticks to go.

But as the buzzer sounded . . . Hey, guess what? King and his teammates were soaring for chest bumps and the Cardinals - with some sprawled around the court - were experiencing profound sadness, knowing the plug had been pulled not only on their season but also the school's hoops history (it will merge next year with Holy Name, also in Reading, to form Berks County Catholic).

Constitution 55, RCC 53.

King, a 6-2, 180-pound senior swingman, won the game by storming along the left baseline and canning a contested layup at 1.3 seconds.

"They hadn't stayed in front of me the whole quarter," King said, still breathing heavily, after emerging from the Generals' extra-noisy locker room. "So I knew I was going to take it to the hole. No need for a jump shot. There was enough time for a drive. I even got bumped a little on the way up. Still went in. We needed that.

"I never thought that maybe we were going to lose the game. Never. That's not how I am. Yeah, we were down by 10, but there was still enough time left to change things around. Lots of things can happen in high school ball."

With 8.7 seconds remaining, Central, as it's called, inbounded at halfcourt across the way from the benches. Star junior Marquis Marshall, son of ex-76er Donyell Marshall, was quickly double-teamed by Daiquan Walker and Erik Raleigh, and the nearest ref called traveling at 6.8.

ConHigh coach Rob Moore did not draw up a specific plan. He did try to insert three-point sniper Amonie Holloman, but Holloman did not make it to the table in time.

"He wanted to have fewer bigs out there," said King, a lefty, "because we figured there wouldn't be a chance for a follow anyway."

King inbounded from three-quarters court, same side. He passed to Walker, a star junior guard who headed straight down the left side and, whoa, good thing King turned around when he did. The ball arrived and King made the semi-clumsy catch. From there he forged ahead, in bat-out-of-hell fashion, to craft his memory for a lifetime.

Oh, King was not a one-play wonder. He finished with 18 points.

OK, so he was a one-quarter wonder. Fourteen were packed into the final 8 minutes.

"The chances were there," he said, simply. "They were really worried about Daiquan. Like I said, they never really got in front of me [correctly].

"We knew they'd double Daiquan on that last possession. So I knew I'd be getting the ball. Just didn't know it would be that early."

King shot 5-for-6 and 3-for-6 in the session. His one trey, launched from the top of the key after some hesitation, came with 1:04 left.

It was his only three-point attempt of the evening.

Like two teammates, Walker and rotation guard Marvin Champ, King began his scholastic career at Roman Catholic. This is Walker's first season as a General. King and Champ are 2-year vets; this is only the school's second season.

Speaking of two, Constitution scored only that many points during a 7 1/2-minute period that saw Central ring up 18 while seizing a 40-30 edge.

Forward Xavier Harris, a Penn commit, ended the misery by hitting a right-wing jumper after noticing that no one was within three counties. Later, Walker finally got rolling again with a regular bucket and a trey. He'd swished three treys in the game's first 5 minutes, but then attempted just three shots until breaking his drought. He finished with 14 points and five assists.

King, who lives near 20th and Diamond, also claimed five rebounds. Harris notched six along with the same number of points. Six-eight Erik Raleigh, sidelined for a long stretch this season with a broken wrist, contributed eight points and nine rebounds.

With his father watching, Marshall paced Central with 18 points. The Cards' cause was hurt when two other mainstays, Marcus Dawkins and Donovon Jack, fouled out down the stretch.

As a sitting King talked, people kept walking over to slap his hand.

"I did this a couple times last year. Scored a lot of points in the fourth quarter to bring us back," he said. "When we were down like that, I knew I'd have to be the one to step up."

With 1 second left, he went the Paul Bunyan route.

Constitution will meet Pub rival Math, Civics & Sciences in a state semifinal on Tuesday at a site to be determined after MC & S routed District 1 champ Church Farm School, 70-48, in another quarterfinal last night. The teams have split two previous meetings this season.