HERSHEY - For the second straight year the Sullivan County Griffins open play in the PIAA playoffs with a victory.
On Friday the Griffins left Milton-Hershey High School with a 56-32 victory over Greenwood in the Class A playoffs.
"After a really disappointing game last Saturday (in the district final against St. John Neumann), I felt like the kids responded," Sullivan County coach Glenn Vaughan said. "I was pleased with their energy and their enthusiasm. It shows our ability to bounce back from adversity."
It was a fairly even first quarter as the Griffins led 15-13 after eight minutes, but Sullivan County limited Greenwood to seven points over the next two quarters, outscoring their opponent by 22 points in that span.
"(Adam) Harrison had 11 of his 18 points for them in the first quarter," Vaughan said. "I just felt we did a way better job of guarding him after that. He surprised us with his quickness. He hit a couple threes and we knew he could shoot the ball, but our defense in the middle two quarters did a better job."
Derek Wilkins led three Sullivna County players in double figures with 16 points.
Zach Meyer had 11, with three threes, and Conner Wylie finished with 10 in the game for Sullivan County.
Lucas Hatton had eight for the Griffins and Adam Szklanka had six, while Kelby Mullen finished with five points in the game.
Wylie had five assists, Wilkins had a double-double, adding 10 boards, and Hatton had seven rebounds, while Meyer had four boards and three steals.
Harrison led District 3 runner-up Greenwood with 18.
Sullivan County faces the winner of Roberts Vaux and Delco Christian on Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.
Vaughan expects he will likely face Vaux, the number one team in the most recent state rankings.
Vaux is led by Rysheed Jordan, who averages over 27 points a game and is getting recruited by schools like UCLA.
"If your goal is to move on and to try and win a championship, and that should be your goal if you are in this tournament, then you need to beat the NO. 1 team in the state at some point, and they are ranked NO. 1.
"We did a good job of competing against Math, Civics and Sciences last year and I expect us to come ready to play on Tuesday night."
