Bethea propels Wood over S-F

Vikings closed game on 10-0 run to end Spring-Ford’s season

Armed with a four-point lead, less than three minutes stood between SpringFord and the state semifinals.

Unfortunately for the Rams, that was more than enough time for Archbishop Wood senior Jalil Bethea to finish his masterpiece.

University of Miami-bound Bethea scored 18 of his game-high 31 points during an electric fourth quarter, putting the Vikings on his back and catapulting them to the PIAA semis in a gritty, hardfought 67-61 comeback win over Spring-Ford on Saturday afternoon at Norristown High School. District 12’s third seed scored the final 10 points of the game and advanced to play District 11 champion Parkland on Tuesday with a berth in the Class 6A state championship game on the line. SpringFord, the ninth seed from District 1, fought valiantly but couldn’t quite hold on when they needed to most in a classic back-and-forth slugfest.

“The fourth quarter is the last quarter, so I feel like that’s when I’ve got to play my hardest,” Bethea said. “It was a slow first half for me, so at halftime I just thought to myself, ‘You got this.’ Just pumping my own head up, and everything came to me.”

Bethea had just six points at halftime, with the Rams holding a 29-28 advantage. Wood’s other Division-I recruit, the Drexel-bound Josh Reed, had the hot hand early with 10 first half points.

Then, with the game and season on the line, Bethea woke up in a big way. The Rams rode the hot shooting touches of senior E.J. Campbell (13 points, 5-for-9 shooting) and juniors Jacob Nguyen (team-high 22 points, 5-for-7 from deep) and Matt Zollers (13 points, 5-for-11 shooting) for the first three quarters, and Nguyen’s fifth triple of the game gave

ED MORRONE — MEDIANEWS GROUP Archbishop Wood senior Jalil Bethea poses University of Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga after Wood’s 67-61 win over Spring-Ford in the PIAA quarterfinals. Bethea, who scored 31points in the win, will play for Larrañaga at the University of Miami next season.