Abington earned a spot in Tuesday’s District One AAAA semifinals while CB South and Norristown kept their seasons alive with big wins.
AAAA QUARTERFINALS
#5 ABINGTON 46, #13 RIDLEY 40 By Mike Prince, Sportswriter
A 36-point loss to Chester back on Dec. 27 wasn’t enough to scare the Abington boys’ basketball team or its fans for what’s to come.
After watching its team win for the 10thconsecutive time on Friday night, the Abington student section stormed the court and started the chants: “We want Chester! We want Chester! We want Chester!”
“We played Chester early,” Abington senior Jordan Simmons said. “We got the rematch we wanted and we’re ready for them now.”
Thanks to a monster second half by Simmons, the Ghosts defeated Ridley by a score of 46-40 in a District One Class AAAA quarterfinal in front of over 1,600 people at Abington High School on Friday night.
The win advances the Ghosts to the semifinals, where they will face the top-seeded Clippers, in a game next Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.
“This win feels good,” Simmons said. ”We played hard. We earned it and we’re not surprised by it. We knew we had to turn it up on the defensive end tonight and that’s what we did.”
Following a 66-52 beat down of Penn Wood three days earlier, Abington (21-4) started out by appearing to set the tone in the first quarter, which ended with a Ghost 17-2 run that was sparked by 10 points from senior Anthony Durham.
Leading 19-8 after eight minutes of play, Abington started slowing down, which allowed 13th-seeded Ridley (19-8) to end the second quarter on a 16-4 run and lead 24-23 at the half.
“I thought Ridley controlled the pace there (in the second quarter) a little bit and I thought we needed to pick up the pace,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “They really controlled us with their style of play and we went in the locker room and told them the basic basketball stuff. Our guys came out in the third quarter and made a nice run and didn’t settle.”
In the third quarter, it was Simmons’ turn to help Abington to another big quarter, as the senior scored nine points in the period to help Abington to a 37-31 lead entering the fourth. There, Simmons continued his dominance and helped the Ghosts to stay on top until the final second ticked off the clock.
“We executed better than they did later in the game,” Grasty said. “Our guys were patient on offense, and we were able to get some layups, and towards the end, that’s where we were able to put it away a little bit.”
Abington was led by Simmons’ 21 points and three rebounds. He scored 14 of those points in the second half.
“He stepped up and had some big shots,” Grasty said.
Durham added 12 points and four rebounds, while Penecale added four boards to go along with a pair of steals and a pair of blocked shots.
“Our guys got to the basket,” Grasty said. “Jordan Simmons played big tonight.”
The win was the 21stof the season for Abington, the most the Ghosts have had in a season since 1997.
Chester, which has won the district championship the last two years, destroyed Upper Darby 78-29 in another quarterfinal on Friday night.
Last season, Abington fell one game short of having the opportunity to face Chester in the district finals when the Ghosts lost to Lower Merion, 68-54. This season, Abington has four of the five starters who helped the Ghosts make it to states in 2012.
“We start four seniors – last year we started two, and they have experience,” Grasty said. “We’ve been to Temple (last year). Now this year we are going to take care of business.”
Ridley (40) – Foster 1 0-0 2; McGill 7 1-1 16; Shaw 1 1-2 3; Smoluk 4 2-3 11; Wing 0 0-0 0; Bartow 4 0-0 8; Plousis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 4-6 40.
Abington (46) – Durham 6 0-0 12; Simmons 9 0-0 21; Penecale 1 0-0 2; Morrisey 1 2-2 4; Lee 2 1-4 5; Bond 1 0-0 2. Totals: 20 3-6 46.
Three-point goals: McGill, Smoluk; Simmons 3.
Ridley 8 16 7 9—40
Abington 19 4 14 9—46
#1 CHESTER 78, #9 UPPER DARBY 29
#2 LOWER MERION 73, #10 COATESVILLE 63
#3 GREAT VALLEY 41, #6 METHACTON 38
PLAYBACKS AAAA
#14 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 54, #11 SOUDERTON 40
Jason Campbell says that his nine senior leaders don’t want their season to end, and they did what they needed to do to keep that wish alive. The Titans faced Continental Conference rival Souderton for the third time this season on Friday. The two teams had split their regular season meetings, and both teams knew it would be a battle.
Unfortunately for the co-conference champion Indians, they were playing without their top-scorer John Kanas, who was ejected in Wednesday’s second round game against Methacton and was not permitted to play on Friday, and that setback was coupled with the absence of junior point guard Steve Shaffer, who was out with a concussion. It’s fair to say that Big Red had some difficult odds to overcome to defeat South.
“I reminded our players that when we played them at home John (Kanas) was in foul trouble, and we never capitalized when he was out of the game,” said Campbell. “We weren’t taking anyone lightly. We know how good they are and how tough they play.”
Led by the scoring efforts of Matt Scamuffo (16 points), the Titans opened up a 15-7 lead in the first quarter but struggled to find the basket in the second quarter. They still took a 21-13 lead into halftime.
“They forced us to play outside and it was working in the second quarter,” said Campbell. “We weren’t making wide open looks, but we did much better job in the fourth quarter.”
In the third quarter, the Indians - who were led by Brendan Wagner (12 points) and Jared Bernhardt (10 points) - seized the opportunity to cut the Titans’ lead to 25-24.
The momentum the Titans had been looking for came in the shape of a Ricky Dennis (11 points) three-pointer that extended the lead to 28-24. The Titans never looked back.
“We tried to do better job getting to the basket and being patient,” Campbell said.
Kevin Doyle (8 points) added to the energy with a crowd-pleasing play in the third.
“He made a nice, no look behind-the-back type pass to TJ (Ohntrup) who got fouled and hit both foul shots,” said Campbell. “(Doyle) was an animal.”
The Titans (16-9) outscored the Indians 22-14 in the fourth quarter to claim the victory and remain alive in the playbacks for a state tournament berth.
“I think there’s a sense of urgency because they know they’re not in yet,” said Campbell. “They’ve been working hard for the past couple years to get to this point, and they are having fun playing together even under pressure situations.”
The Titans’ win brought an abrupt end to the Indians’ (16-9) “dream” season. South will host 15th-seeded Penncrest on Tuesday with a state berth at stake.
“I’ll take a home game - we do well at our home court,” said Campbell. “Penncrest has had some quality wins so we need to figure out a game plan and make sure we defend our home court.”
#4 NORRISTOWN 73, #12 PENN WOOD PATRIOTS 59
The Eagles had something to prove on Friday night, both to themselves and their fellow District One teams after dropping their quarterfinal game to 13th-seeded Ridley on Tuesday.
“They knew they didn’t come ready to play that game,” said head coach Mike Evans. “They wanted everyone to know they belong there.”
The Eagles set out to handle the Patriots, and that is exactly what they did. After one quarter, they held a narrow 11-8 lead due in part to an implementation of an unfamiliar zone defense they were using to handle Penn Wood’s guards.
“We wanted to neutralize their guards,” said Evans. “Once we wore them down, we started improving in the second quarter.”
Curt Lever (eight points) came into the bench early in the first quarter and provided some much-needed momentum.
“Curt is our sixth man,” said Evans. “He came off the bench and gave us a spark early.”
BJ Gordon (14 points), who has had some spectacular plays in the postseason, also was instrumental in the victory, draining several key treys in the second quarter to help propel the Eagles to a 29-18 lead at halftime.
Another force to be reckoned with was Josh Johnson, who Evans said was “all over the place.” Johnson not only led the Eagles in scoring with 16 points but also added nine rebounds and six blocked shots.
In the third quarter, the Eagles added to their lead, outscoring the Patriots 18-15 to go on top 47-33 and creating a deficit that would be too difficult to overcome.
Jahbri Hargrove posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Marquis Bryant chipped in 14 rebounds and six points in what Evans called, “a total team effort.”
The Eagles (21-4) ended the Patriots’ season and move on to face 25th-seeded Harriton – an upset winner over 16th-seeded Strath Haven - on Tuesday.
“I reminded them that the last time we lost was to Wissahickon and then we ran off eleven straight (wins),” said Evans. “It’s a ‘refuse to lose’ mentality from here on out. We plan to continue getting better as a team and growing game by game.”
#15 PENNCREST 48, #7 HATBORO HORSHAM 44
The 15th-seeded Lions pounced on the Hatters early in their quad-A playback game, opening up a 26-16 lead at the half despite the standout second quarter effort of Hatboro’s Mike Brown, who scored eight points on his way to 15 for the day. The Hatters used a 17-7 third quarter burst to knot the score 33-33 heading into the pivotal final frame. However, the Lions went on a 6-0 run at the start of the quarter and kept the Hatters fighting for their playoff lives for the remainder of the frame, eventually outscoring them 15-11 to clinch the victory and keep their season alive. The Lions (17-8) will move on in playbacks to face 14th-seeded Central Bucks South while the Hatters end their season with an 18-7 record.
#25 HARRITON 42, #16 STRATH HAVEN 41
Class AAA Quarterfinals
#4 UPPER MORELAND 66, #5 POTTSTOWN 46
Matt Kohn had the hot hand for the Golden Bears in Saturday’s District One AAA opener, and in a preview of things to come, he scored seven points and also had a pair of steals in the first quarter. Despite Kohn’s early heroics, the game was deadlocked 12-12 at the end of the frame.
The Golden Bears closed out the first half with an 11-3 run, outscoring the Trojans 17-9 in the second quarter to go into halftime on top 29-21. They led 45-33 heading into the final quarter and never looked back on their way to the big win.
Kohn led all scorers with 22 points. He also had four rebounds, six assists and two steals. Junior Kevin McFall finished with a double-double, collecting 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Sophomore James Martin had 12 points and three rebounds, and Chris Corr came off the bench to contribute nine points.
The Golden Bears will face eighth-seeded Octorara in Wednesday’s semifinal game at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School at 7:30 p.m. Octorara upset top-seeded Holy Ghost Prep 49-48.
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