Dominant win earns new crown for Vikings
Vikings 16-17 state title team dominates La Salle in final
The Archbishop Wood boys basketball team dominated postseason play at the end of the 201617 season.
The Vikings won their three Philadelphia Catholic League playoff games by 12.6 points per game, the District 12-5A championship game by 36 points and five PIAA-5A state playoff games by 24.6 points per game.
That trend continued over the past four weeks. Archbishop Wood 2016-17 dominated its competition en route to being voted The Reporter/Times Herald/
Montgomery Media Boys Basketball Team of the Decade.
The second-seeded Vikings opened the tournament with a win over No. 15 Archbishop Carroll 2015-16, earning 76.1% of the votes. Their tightest matchup came in the second round, topping No. 10 Pennridge 2018-19 with 57.1% of the votes. In the semifinals, Wood hammered No. 3 Archbishop Carroll 2014-15 with 69%. The championship was their biggest win of the tournament — handling No. 13 La Salle 2013-14 with 86.8% of the votes.
Senior and PCL MVP Collin Gillespie helped the Vikings get off to a white-hot start against the Explorers and Wood never looked back. Gillespie scored 11 of his game-high 26 points in the first
quarter — sinking three three-pointers in the opening eight minutes. Senior Matt Cerruti and junior Tyreek Pickron each added five in the first to help the PCL champs to a 12-point lead after one.
Wood’s dominance continued in the second quarter. Gillespie and junior center Seth Pinkney connected for a pair of rim-rattling alley oops and junior Andrew Funk hit a pair of threes to send the Vikings to the locker room with an 18-point lead.
The Vikings advantage ballooned to 25 points in the third quarter. Senior Shawn Thompson, junior Karrington Wallace and sophomore Julius Phillips combined for 15 points in the third and Wood went to the fourth with a 22-point lead.
Wood emptied its bench in the fourth quarter. Junior Kyle McNamee, sophomores Bryce Stock and Joe Wade and freshmen Zahree Harrison and Chris Garland all played the final 6:34 to help the Vikings close out a 17-point win in the Best of the Decade Tournament final.
Pickron, Cerruti and senior Keith Otto joined Gillespie
in double figures with 19 points, 17 points and 12 points, respectively.
Juniors Najee Walls, Shawn Witherspoon and Dave Krmpotich all scored in double figures for La Salle, tallying 15, 14 and 11 points, respectively.
If the Best of the Decade Tournament is looked at as a post-state playoff bracket then Wood 2016-17 would have won 25 straight games. After going 7-2 in nonleague play and losing their PCL opener to Father Judge, the Vikings won 12 straight games to close the regular season. They followed that with three PCL playoff wins to claim the league title, a District 12-5A title win and five PIAA-5A playoff wins to end the season as 28-3 state champions. The four Best of the Decade wins would bring their record to 32-3. First Round
(1) Plymouth Whitemarsh 09-10 def. (16) Lower Moreland 18-19
(9) Plymouth Whitemarsh 17-18 def. (8) Germantown Academy 12-13
(5) Abington 17-18 def. (12) Archbishop Wood 18-19
(13) La Salle 13-14 def. (4) Abington 13-14 (3) Archbishop Carroll 14-15 def. (14) Germantown Academy 15-16
(11) La Salle 18-19 def. (6) Abington 18-19 (10) Pennridge 18-19 def. (7) Plymouth Whitemarsh 15-16
(2) Archbishop Wood 16-17 def. (15) Archbishop Carroll 15-16
Quarterfinals (1) Plymouth Whitemarsh 09-10 def. (9) Plymouth Whitemarsh 17-18
(13) La Salle 13-14 def. (5) Abington 17-18 (3) Archbishop Carroll 14-15 def. (11) La Salle 18-19
(2) Archbishop Wood 16-17 def. (10) Pennridge 18-19
Semifinals (13) La Salle 13-14 def. (1) Plymouth Whitemarsh 09-10
(2) Archbishop Wood 16-17 def. (3) Archbishop Carroll 14-15 Championship
(2) Archbishop Wood 16-17 def. (13) La Salle 13-14