E-town - Penn Wood Preview

Here's a preview on the E-town - Penn Wood game that appeared in this week's issue of the Chronicle. I'm not going to offer a prediction for this game because of the simple fact that I've never seen Penn Wood play, and the only thing I know about them is what I see through their statistics. Also, I'm going to be blogging live from the game tomorrow for those who can't make the 80-mile trek to Spring-Ford. Of course, all of that hinges on me being able to get wireless Internet access at Spring-Ford, which should be available, but you never know. Anywho, check this space tomorrow afternoon and I should be able to give you as many updates as possible.

Here's the preview:
Game Details: Elizabethtown Bears (17-12 overall) vs. Penn Wood Patriots (21-8 overall). Saturday, March 1, 2:30 p.m. at Spring-Ford High School, Royersford, Pa.

Head Coaches:
E-town: Kevin Dolan, first year, 17-12 career.
Penn Wood: Clyde Jones, second year, 33-21 career.

Starting Lineups:
E-town: G – Jordan Hallman, senior; G – Kyle McNeil, junior; F – Chad Styer, junior; F – Quinn Cozzens, junior; C – Nate Koach, senior.
E-town's five starter players all fit together like pieces of a puzzle. There is no one player that the team relies on for the bulk of the scoring or rebounds. Instead, they all understand their roles and play within themselves, which usually leads to balanced stat lines. On offense, Cozzens, Koach and Styer will take care of the bulk of the scoring, with all three capable of scoring 12 to 16 points. If one of those three has a good night, 20 or more points can be expected.
Hallman has struggled a bit shooting the three-ball in the past two games, but he is a good shooter that is capable of getting hot and hitting shots. He'll also take care of running the point and setting up the Bears for good looks at the basket.
McNeil is a scrappy player who fights for loose balls and will battle for offensive rebounds down low. He can handle the ball if the Bears need to break a Penn Wood press, and is most dangerous within 15-feet of the basket.
Styer has been E-town's best scorer in the postseason, and is coming off of a 16-point outing against Harrisburg. He is a good 3-point shooter, but is also capable of putting the ball on the floor and driving for a shorter jumper.
Cozzens is coming off of a sprained ankle that forced him to miss the Bears' last game. He is E-town's leading scorer, averaging better than 13 points per game and is also one of the best rebounders and passers on the team. Cozzens can beat you outside from behind the arc, and can also get to the basket through traffic and score inside.
Koach is probably E-town's most consistent player and is the team's second leading scorer. Game in and game out, you can pretty much count on him for at least 12 points and nine rebounds. He's aggressive in the paint and will challenge taller players in the post.

Penn Wood: G – Tyree Johnson, sophomore; G – Dequan Pelzer, sophomore; F – Duane Johnson, junior; F – Austin Smith, senior; F – Shawn Oakman, freshman.
The Patriots are a young group with a lot of height along the front line. Smith and Johnson are 6'4" and 6'5", and Oakman is 6'7", making the Patriots a formidable group that will make it tough on the Bears to get second-chance points.
Penn Wood's best all-around player is Duane Johnson. He leads the team in scoring at around 16 points per game and in rebounding at around 12 boards per game. He is also the team's best defender and will be often assigned to the opponent's top offensive threat.
Tyree Johnson will handle the point guard duties for the most part. He's a quick guard who averages about four assists per game.
Oakman and his big 6'7" frame can wreak havoc on opposing shooters. He is the team's leading shot blocker and is nimble for a freshman with his height.
Smith is another big body that will get physical inside. He is the Patriots' only senior and provides the team with some important leadership for the rest of the young roster.
Pelzer played his way into the starting lineup and gives Penn Wood another quick guard to pressure the ball and fuel the Patriots' potent transition game.

Seasons at a glance:
E-town: It’s been a tale of two seasons for the Bears. E-town started the year 2-1 but then lost its next six games in a row – four of those by a combined total of 12 point. In late December, the Bears sat at 2-7 overall and 1-5 in league play. But E-town turned it around in January and the Bears won 12 of their final 14 regular season games to get into the Lancaster-Lebanon League and District Three playoffs.
In the L-L playoffs, E-town surrendered a halftime lead and lost to Columbia in the first round 61-52.
The Bears then earned the No. 13 seed in the district. In the play-in round, E-town blew out Gettysburg 60-45, advancing to face fourth-seeded Cedar Crest in the first round. The Bears pulled off the upset, beating the Falcons 65-57. And in the second round of the tournament, E-town punched its ticket to the state playoffs witha 67-53 win over Mechanicsburg to advance to the district semifinals at the Giant Center. In semis, E-town was beaten by undefeated Reading and was sent to play Harrisburg in the third-place game. The Cougars used a large halftime deficit to beat E-town, and the Bears finished with the fourth seed in the district.
Penn Wood: The Pioneers are a very young team that, like E-town, experienced a terrific turnaround from a year ago. Last season, Penn Wood was just 12-13, but rebounded to go 21-8 this year and earn their first trip to the state playoffs since 1992. The Pioneers play a very tough schedule (they are in the same conference as No. 1 Chester) and have lost to some very good teams – Chester three times, Pennsbury (the No. 6 team in the state) twice, one to Communications Tech (the Philadelphia Public League champion) and once to Glenn Mills (a District One playoff team).
Penn Wood is battle tested with that schedule and is currently No. 9 in the Class AAAA rankings. After four losses in five games early in the season to put their record at 5-4, the Patriots reeled off nine straight wins and won 13 or their final 15 games to reach the playoffs.
In the District One playoffs, they won their first three games. In the first round, the Patriots took care of Central Bucks South, and then beat Cheltenham in the second round. Penn Wood then beat Souderton by 10 to advance to the district semifinals and qualify for states. In the semis, they lost to Chester and lost to Pennsbury in the third place game.

Outlook:
These two teams have a few things in common. Both are young teams that played their best basketball in the second half of the season. Neither of these two teams are experienced in the state playoffs, either, so they won’t have the PIAA-seasoning that some of the other teams in the tournament have.
Also, both teams are very athletic and like to run up and down the court and play transition basketball.
Penn Wood has a ton of athletic ability and will run all game long, but the Patriots aren’t a very disciplined team. They tend to stick to their gameplan for two quarters or so, but often get out of it, which allows opponents to go on runs and either get back in the game or extend a lead.
On defense, Penn Wood likes to double down on the opposing team’s top scorer. But E-town doesn’t really have one stand-out scorer, so expect the Patriots to make a lot of adjustments on defense. They could start out doubling Cozzens, but may have to switch to Styer or Koach if one of them gets hot and starts scoring points in bunches. On offense, Duane Johnson is a lot like Harrisburg’s Quincy Roberts in that he is a big, athletic forward who can hurt you in a variety of ways. The Bears will probably assign one defender – likely Cozzens – to lock him down and will adjust their help defense as they need to. Tyree Johnson is a quick point guard who will be difficult to contain in a full-court press. In the second half against Harrisburg, E-town’s Jordan Hoover and Mike O’Shea did a good job of forcing turnovers with the press against the Cougars’ equally quick guards, and the Bears will need more of the same on Saturday.
For the Bears, the game will hinge on whether or not they will be able to break out of a recent shooting funk that has plagued them in their last two games. To have an off night offensively against a team like Reading on the Giant Center rims was understandable, but the Bears simply couldn’t get going in the first half against Harrisburg, scoring only 11 points, and it eventually cost them the game.
If they are going to hang with the No. 9 team in the state, they’ll need to shoot well from the opening tip.
E-town does have the ability to slow the tempo down and play the half-court game at times, and that could help them if they get into a track meet with the Patriots.
The winner of this game gets the winner of Abington Heights (top seed from District Two) and Pocono Mountain West (second seed from District 11).

Cheers.