Penn Wood Defeats Bensalem in a Barn-Burner

I just returned home from tonight's second-round playoff match-up between host Penn Wood and Bensalem. A more complete recap will be up tomorrow, featuring write-ups on Penn Wood juniors Aaron Brown and Shawn Oakman. Penn Wood led 16-3 before Bensalem could catch their breath, with Aaron Brown scoring 10 of Penn Wood's first 11 points. A game that appeared to be a blowout was all knotted up at the half. Bensalem saw a small deficit turn into a ballooning lead as the 4th quarter edged on. With a little over 2 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, Bensalem held a comfortable 10 point lead. Penn Wood head coach Clyde Jones kept his team calm and cool down the stretch, forcing a number of Bensalem turnovers and getting lucky with a number of missed Bensalem free throws. With just under 20 seconds remaining in the game, and down 2, junior Aaron Brown drove down the right baseline and saw him layup bounce off the rim and into the hands of teammate Jeff Kyem. Kyem got the bucket to go, was fouled, and drained the free throw. The free throw put Penn Wood up 56-55 and turned out to be the final score. Again, a more complete recap with some notes on Brown and Oakman will be on the site tomorrow afternoon.