William Penn’s Ny’Jere Hodges drives to the basket in the second half of William Penn’s 47-28 win over Newark at William Penn High School on Thursday night.
Newark’s Michael Drumgo-Sharpe puts up a shot through a group of William Penn defenders in the second half of William Penn’s 47-28 win over Newark at William Penn High School on Thursday night.
William Penn’s Ny’Jere Hodges puts up a shot in the second half of William Penn’s 47-28 win over Newark at William Penn High School on Thursday night.
Newark’s Brendan Sherman has his shot rejected by William Penn’s Mailk Hines in the first half of William Penn’s 47-28 win over Newark at William Penn High School on Thursday night.
NEW CASTLE– Balanced scoring, solid defense and good free-throw shooting can take a basketball team a long way.
The William Penn boys checked all of those boxes on Thursday night, and the result was an easier-than-expected, 47-28 home victory over Newark.
The sixth-ranked Colonials (6-1, 4-0 Blue Hen Flight A) held the eighth-ranked Yellowjackets (8-3, 2-1) to 22.5 points under their season average. Newark hit just 8 of 34 (23.5 percent) from the field.
“We really played great defense tonight,” said William Penn’s Jermal Crumel, who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. “They were a great, high-scoring team and we held them below average. In our book, that’s a great win for us.”
The Yellowjackets hit only 1 of 13 from 3-point range, and had 17 points through three quarters.
“Our defensive goal is under 10 points each quarter,” said Danny Walsh, who scored 11 for the Colonials. “We did a lot more than that tonight.”
William Penn put four scorers in double figures, as Markee Johnson added 11 points and Ny’Jere Hodges chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds. And the Colonials shot a season-high 80.8 percent (21 of 26) from the free-throw line.
“We’re 50 percent on the season until tonight, and we were 80 percent tonight,” William Penn coach Steve Christensen said. “We spent a lot of time over the holiday break working on it, and it finally paid off.
“The guys were extremely excited about it. We wrote the number on the board after the game, and they were all fired up.”
The Colonials scored the game’s first six points, as Johnson hit two free throws, Crumel scored on an offensive rebound and Walsh banged in a baseline jumper.
Then Walsh added a floater in the lane, Johnson dropped two more foul shots and Absalom Bowling scored on a layup as William Penn took a 12-4 lead with 2:29 left in the first quarter.
“They started out playing man, and we thought they would play zone,” Johnson said. “We had to adjust. When we figured out the zone, we ran our plays and just played hard.”
The Colonials led 22-13 at the half, and 29-17 after three quarters. Then they kept hitting free throws to extend the margin.
William Penn is holding opponents to 39.1 points per game, second in the state behind St. Mark’s (33.4). That could serve the Colonials well heading into three road games next week – at No. 5 St. Elizabeth (Tuesday), Sussex Tech (Thursday) and Glasgow (Jan. 16).
“We’re hanging our hat on that right now,” Christensen said of his team’s defense. “We have our ups and downs offensively. But we told them if we can stick with our defense for 32 minutes, it will give us a chance to win every game.”
Brendan Sherman scored nine points for Newark, which lost its third straight after an 8-0 start.
Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @BradMyersTNJ