Entering the fourth quarter of Friday night’s WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal matchup with a 21-point lead over Penn Hills, Thomas Jefferson knew that it wasn’t a sure thing.
Despite the large cushion, both coach Dom DeCicco and star forward Nick Trklja acknowledged that there was work to be done.
Neither of them could’ve foreseen what Amon Hawthorne, a senior for the Indians, almost pulled off in the fourth quarter. Hawthorne took “microwave scorer” to a new level, absolutely refusing to miss and singlehandedly clawing his team within just three points of a tie.
The game’s leading scorer finished with a whopping 44 points as 30 of them came in a remarkable fourth frame. But in the end, Justin Fry and Trklja did enough to close out a testy win for the No. 3 Jaguars.
“I’ll be honest with you: This team’s a little different,” DeCicco said. “I knew that at the beginning of the year. They just have that quiet concept and feel like they can beat anybody. We’re not perfect, but we play pretty hard.
“It’s funny, we just hate success. When you get that lead — I don’t care who you are, college, watching the pros — you’re human. You take your foot off the gas, no matter how many times you scream at them. They’ll take chances, and then you get a kid like (Hawthorne) where everything he was throwing up was going in, and they’re getting excited. I was more proud of our team being able to withstand that. Lesser teams turn the ball over and lose that game.”
Down the stretch, while Hawthorne was scorching, it was Fry and Trklja who combined for Thomas Jefferson’s last six points, which proved to be pivotal in advancing them to the WPIAL semifinals Tuesday against Hampton.
Trklja was definitive in his praise for Hawthorne and Fry, who has been his partner in crime for the entire season as the two leading scorers for Thomas Jefferson (22-2).
“Hands down, best player we’ve played all year,” Trklja said of Hawthorne. “We literally tried our best, but we couldn’t do anything. He was making everything. But we found a way to win. When he scored, we scored back. We didn’t go on any droughts at the end.
“(Justin) takes a lot of pressure off me. He really grew into a great player this offseason. When I’m not doing well, he picks me up, and when he’s not doing well, I pick him up. He’s someone that I can rely on, and the whole team.”
Noah Sear and Kane Eggerton were also crucial to the win as Sear knocked down three triples to finish with nine points and Eggerton added eight more points along with his defensive impact.
For No. 6 Penn Hills (17-7), the story of the loss will be the middle two quarters that slipped away as they were outscored 41-17 during that span. But coach Chris Giles was proud of his team’s resiliency given the adversity it faced.
“If you go in there, we talk about having a warrior’s mentality,” he said. “Our guys, Amon’s been with me since eighth grade. Calix Clark has been with me since eighth grade. So, I would like to think that they take some of that from me, but it starts with who they are inside. If you’re a quitter, you’re always going to be a quitter. If you’re a champion, a warrior, then you always fight.”
Darian Robinson joined Hawthorne in double-digits with 13 points, but it was obvious that no one fought harder than Hawthorne in trying to get his team a miraculous victory.
“I’ve had a couple of quarters like that, but this really meant a lot because it was win or go home,” Hawthorne said. “I had no doubt in my mind that we were going to win that game, and that was the only thing on my mind: fight until the clock hits zeroes.”
Penn Hills will now enter the consolation bracket and determine its seeding in the state tournament, which is the next goal for a team featuring 11 seniors.
“We told our guys, ‘There’s only one state championship at Penn Hills, and that team — with Akida McLain and coached by Jim Rocco — didn’t win the WPIAL championship,’” Giles said. “It’s doable. I know I have warriors in my locker room, and they’ll be ready to go on Monday.”
After trailing 15-12 at the end of the first, Fry came alive with nine points in the second to put TJ ahead 35-24 at the half. Thomas Jefferson again dominated the third as Fry scored six, Trklja had five and Eggerton scored four, giving the Jaguars a large 53-32 lead entering the fourth that Hawthorne eventually evaporated.
He opened the final quarter with an and-one before Fry replied with a layup. Hawthorne then came back with a 3 and another lay-in through contact, but he missed the free throw to make the score 55-40. Trklja fired back with a three-point play to counter that, but the Indians responded time and time again.
After a Hawthorne layup, Sear nailed his third and final triple of the game. But Robinson came back with two and Hawthorne connected from deep to cut the Penn Hills’ deficit to 61-47.
Both sides traded points before things got even more stressful for the Jaguars when PH rattled off nine straight points in the final minutes.
Tyrone Johnson started that spree with a strong take to the bucket before Hawthorne added four points on two possessions. Robinson then split a pair of free throws and, with 1:45 left to play, Hawthorne cut TJ’s lead to 63-58 with another strong take.
It seemed like the Jaguars might be in the clear when Fry and Trklja combined to add the next three points from the charity stripe, putting them up 66-58 with 1:27 left, but Hawthorne had other ideas. He nailed another trifecta just 12 seconds later, but again the Jaguars replied as Jeff Raible had his only bucket of the night in an important spot.
Hawthorne then came back with another 3 before Trklja made two free throws and extended the TJ advantage.
Trailing 70-64 with 46.7 seconds left, Hawthorne hit his craziest shot of the night as he was defended perfectly and forced to pick up his dribble behind the 3-point line. He proceeded to step through both defenders and launch a 3 off one leg that was true to cut the Penn Hills’ deficit to one possession at 70-67 with 36.7 seconds left.
Once Fry split a pair of free throws to go up four points, the Jaguars finally managed to make Hawthorne miss, and Trklja took advantage at the line to make it 72-67. But Hawthorne still had more fight in him, adding one last layup to again make it a one-possession contest.
Unfortunately for him, two free throws from Fry capped off a remarkable fourth quarter with the score at 74-69 in favor of Thomas Jefferson.
Now, the Jaguars will turn their attention away from the wild win and towards finding a way to get to the Petersen Events Center.
“We’ve got practice (Saturday) at 9 o’clock,” DeCicco said. “We have to get ready for Hampton.”