William Penn Routs Tatnall, 58-40

William Penn's Brian Oliver (#22) celebrates Thursday night's victory over Tatnall with teammate Omar Skinner (#32). William Penn moves on to face Caesar Rodney in the DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament Final. (Photo by Rob Tornoe)

When the Boys DIAA Tournament #2 seed William Penn Colonials (21-4) first met the #3 seed Tatnall Hornets (23-2) earlier this season, they narrowly escaped with a three point victory in overtime.

The Colonials were more fortunate on Thursday in semi-final action at the University of Delaware’s Bob Carpenter Center as they trounced the Hornets by a score of 58-40 to advance to Saturday’s Tournament Final for the State Championship.

The first half saw Tatnall take an early 10-4 lead thanks to the timely three-point shooting of junior captain Nick Ramone (5 points) and sophomore guard Mark Medley (11 points), but Penn finished the first quarter tied at 12. Scoring on the first possession of the second quarter, the Colonials would never again relinquish the lead in the game.

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Tatnall’s lack of depth was exposed by Penn, who seemed to tailor their game plan to run the floor as much as possible, tiring out the Hornets’ starters in the process. As the third quarter commenced, the Colonials built upon their five-point halftime lead with explosive play from junior forward Devon Dorsey (9 points) and senior captain Omar Skinner (21 points).

“We just really wanted to focus more on [senior Justin Perillo], who really went off on us last time we played,” said Skinner, adding “We doubled him all night and kept the ball out of his hands.”

Though Tatnall’s Perillo finished the game with 17 points, 13 of those came in the second half, mostly when the Colonials’ lead was already in double-digits. Perillo’s three-point basket with 6:37 left in the game cut Penn’s lead to 41-35, but the Colonials responded by upping the tempo, going on a 9-0 run in the next 2:57. This not only put the game effectively out of reach, but as it was punctuated by an alley-oop dunk by Skinner from senior forward Brian Oliver (7 points), it also took the remaining wind out of Tatnall’s sails.

The Colonials not only kept Tatnall on their heels all night offensively, they were also able to fairly effortlessly side-step the full-court pressure that the Hornets resorted to as the game wore on. The superior size, depth, and physicality of William Penn were simply too much for the Hornets to overcome.

With this victory, William Penn advances to the DIAA State Championship Game on Saturday at 4pm at the Bob Carpenter Center. They will face the #1 seed Caesar Rodney Riders, who defeated the Glasgow Dragons 64-60 in overtime in the other semifinal match-up.