Rockets earn first playoff win since 2000
JEFFERSON – Jeremiah Robertson moved into the Jefferson-Morgan School District from Coatesville two years ago, but he quickly learned about the history of the Rockets’ boys basketball team.
It had been 26 years without a playoff win entering Monday night, but Robertson helped make sure that streak came to an end.
Robertson scored a game-high 26 points and No. 6 Jefferson-Morgan beat No. 11 Springdale, 49-35, in the first round of the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs.
The Rockets (22-1) avenged a preliminary round loss to Springdale (12-10) on its home floor last year and clinched a state playoff berth. Their last playoff win was against Serra Catholic in 2000.
“I moved here two years ago, so to help them get this (playoff win) for the school feels great,” Robertson said. “Playing (Springdale) again was a huge part of my performance, because last year they knocked us out. I had a chip on my shoulder and did not want to leave here with a loss.”
Jefferson-Morgan plays No. 3 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Thursday’s WPIAL quarterfinals at a site and time to be announced.
Robertson had 16 of Jefferson-Morgan’s 23 first-half points and helped put the game away with six points in the fourth quarter.
Last year Springdale left Jefferson-Morgan with a 42-33 victory, but the Rockets led the rematch from start to finish.
Jefferson-Morgan led by double-digits after three quarters, which was similar to the situation it had in its section finale against Chartiers-Houston. The Rockets had to withstand a late comeback to beat the Bucs, 38-36.
They didn’t have to sweat anything out late against Springdale. The Rockets continued to maintain their advantage in the fourth.
Brayden Ellsworth sank a huge three, which increased the lead to 41-25.
“It can be a difficult position to be in, because you’re not ahead enough to get too conservative and you still have to attack, but at the same time you want to waste time,” Jefferson-Morgan coach Brandon Lawless said. “There’s a fine line there and (against Chartiers-Houston) I didn’t think we did a good job of attacking with our dribble, but we did a much better job tonight with keeping our spacing and using our dribbles.”
All five senior starters, Robertson, Ellsworth, Dayten Marion, Jaymison Robinson and John Woodward got to dribble out the last 15 seconds and leave the floor together.
“We’ve played basketball together for most of our lives and for us to win the section and a playoff game for the first time in a long time feels surreal,” Marion said. “This is probably the last game we’ll ever have here, so it feels good to come out with a win.”
The ball did not want to go down for Jefferson-Morgan to begin the third quarter. The Rockets missed their first six shots and some of them bounced around the rim several times before rolling off.
But at the same time they suffocated Springdale on defense and didn’t allow any ground to be made up.
Robertson finally broke the streak with a basket at just over the halfway point. Then, Marion, who had seen three shots rim out, made a basket in the paint while being fouled and let out a loud scream. He converted the free throw and the Rockets led 29-19. Marion finished the quarter with a driving layup to give the Rockets a 34-21 lead.
They ended up winning the quarter, 11-4.
Marion finished with 14 points and six blocks.
Robby Simmen had 15 points for Springdale. Jefferson-Morgan did a good job on Liam Dexter, the other half of Springdale’s dynamic duo. Dexter was limited to nine points and was held scoreless at halftime.
Jefferson-Morgan led 16-8 at the end of the first quarter and 23-17 at halftime