Rustin Surges into District Final Elite Eight With Victory Over Penn Wood

On a District I Tournament night when Cory Blake got couldn’t get untracked and Anthony Nash found foul trouble, you’d have to believe that a perennial power team like Penn Wood would take care of business, even on Rustin’s home court here in West Chester.

After all, Penn Wood won the 2009 PIAA Class AAAA championship and the 2010 District I title and Rustin is still trying to establish a tradition of excellence in only its fifth year of existence. Penn Wood has one 6-6 player locked and loaded for West Virginia of the Big East and another 6-8 player who is headed to Penn State for football.

But Rustin has assets other than Blake and Nash and coach Keith Cochran showed the confidence to let them deliver as the Golden Knights delighted a capacity crowd with an impressive 59-51 victory Tuesday night to move into the District I quarterfinals against another perennial power, Plymouth-Whitemarsh.

“We just have to find a way to stay alive,” said Cochran, whose sixth-seeded squad chalked up win number 22 against three losses.  “Have a little faith. That’s been our motto all year.”

For that game on Friday night, Rustin will have to play at Plymouth-Whitemarsh’s homecourt, but after Tuesday’s performance, who can doubt that another upset could be in the offing.

Those other assets that Rustin’s brings each night include Latrell Shelton and Dan Myers, who delivered key plays in the big moments of the second half so that Rustin could keep the taller and more talented Patriots from taking the momentum.

Midway through the final period, Rustin was nursing a five-point edge when Myers fed Zach Butcher for a layup to forge the Knights’ biggest lead of the night.  Less than a minute later Myers converted underneath to make it nine before Shelton went coast to coast with a defensive rebound to lift the lead to 10 with 3:22 remaining.

Penn Wood kept pounding it inside to keep things close during the final two minutes, but Rustin’s aggressive approach to breaking the Patriots press paid off with a Blake breakaway dunk and a clutch Shelton free throw in the final 30 seconds.  For the nationally-known Patriots, it was their eighth loss of the season and their first to a team that is not ranked among the top 75 in the country.

“The way we looked at it was, ‘Go at them,’” continued Cochran “Don’t fear them.  We won 20 games.  We knew we’d have to keep them off the offensive boards and for the most part, we did that.”

Four Rustin turnovers and the impressive play of West Virginia recruit Aaron Brown had the Rustin faithful nervous early, but Shelton hit a couple of threes to pull Rustin even towards the end of the first period.  Late in the second, Blake gave Rustin its first lead at 26-25 and then added three more points to give the home team a 29-28 halftime advantage.

In the third, Nash picked up his fourth foul just eight seconds in and Myers answered Cochran’s call with several rebounds and loose ball recoveries as Rustin patiently found a way through the frenetic Penn Wood press time after time down the stretch.

Blake, a Division I recruit himself (still undecided) had 17 points, Nash 13, Butcher 10 and Shelton nine.  Myers ended up with five points and guards Cordairo Taylor and Ethan Ridgeway combined for five more while playing key roles in the ball security that kept Penn Wood at bay.

Brown finished with 18 points and the future Penn St. defensive end, Shawn Oakman, added 10 and a host of rebounds.  Malcolm Richardson scored 11 from the point for the Patriots.

Plymouth-Whitemarsh earned the right to host Rustin Friday night with a 50-27 victory over Pennridge. In the other game involving a Ches-Mont team, Coatesville lost to Norristown, 67-62.