Penncrest boys capture District 1 5A championship
Monte Ross, the former Delaware men's head basketball coach and St. Joseph's assistant, is now the proud father of two champions.
Monte Ross, the former Delaware men's head basketball coach and St. Joseph's assistant, is now the proud father of two champions.
First, Lauren Ross, a sophomore at Shipley, helped the Gators beat Germantown Academy in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association final.
And Saturday afternoon at Villanova, Justin Ross played a key supporting role as No. 3 seeded Penncrest rallied late to beat No. 8 Upper Merion, 39-37, and capture the PIAA District 1 Class 5A basketball crown.
The Lions trailed the Vikings, 30-20, with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
"I think the most important thing is to be a leader," Justin Ross said. "When we were down by 10, I kept telling my teammates, 'Stay calm. We've won a lot of close games this year. We'll be fine.' "
Trailing by 37-31 with 2:48 to play, Penncrest closed with an 8-0 run. The second of Tyler Norwood's two successful free throws, after the speedy junior guard was fouled on a right-side drive with 41.7 seconds remaining, was the difference.
"We focused on making one stop at a time, getting close, and letting Tyler win the game for us," Lions coach Mike Doyle said.
Norwood delivered a game-high 26 points, including four second-half three-pointers, two assists, and a steal to spark the come-from-behind win. He buried a pair of right-wing treys to cut the gap to 32-31 early in the fourth stanza.
Justin Ross contributed eight points, including a pair of treys, and two assists. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound senior wing guard said the offseason training he did with father resulted in considerable improvement.
"A lot of people know my father, so I guess certain things are expected of me," Ross said. "But it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I just go out and play my game."
Ross is averaging nearly 10 points per game and has hit 30-plus threes. "He's a tremendous young man," Doyle said. "He's a joy to be around. And his basketball IQ is off the chart."
Senior forward Mike Mallon (eight boards, five points) was the undersized Lions' only other scorer. Manny Ruffin, a 6-1 senior guard, and 6-2 junior Chris Mills, focused on slowing Upper Merion 6-8 forward Matt Faw.
Faw, who is bound for Holy Cross, finished with 12 boards, nine points, four blocks, and four assists. His off-balanced shot at the end, on the right side and just inside the arc, was off the mark.
The Vikings (16-10) opened the second half with a 16-5 burst that included two of Andrew Persaud's four treys.
Upper Merion 11 3 16 7 - 37
Penncrest 8 7 8 16 - 39
UM: Aidan Newell 2, Andrew Persaud 12, Matt Faw 9, Ethan Miller 9, Joe Breece 5.
P: Tyler Norwood 26, Mike Mallon 5, Justin Ross 8.