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LANGHORNE – Dante Devine didn’t sidestep the obvious question.Pennsbury’s junior guard readily admitted that perhaps the Falcons – who displaced Penn Wood as the state’s number one team in this week’s Patriot-Express rankings - thought they would be in for an easy time when they faced neighboring Neshaminy on Tuesday night.
And why not?
After all, the Redskins, who brought a 6-5 record into the game, were barely above .500 while the Falcons boasted a 49-game SOL winning streak.
“I think we thought we were going to come in and blow this team out, and that’s not the mindset we want to have,” Devine said.
It’s a safe bet the Falcons won’t be taking anyone lightly any time soon. Certainly not after watching the upstart Redskins take a 20-19 lead into halftime.
“Coach really gave it to us at halftime,” Devine said. “Everyone is out to get us because we’re their biggest game. I don’t think we realized that until now. It was a big a wake-up call.”
The Falcons led by just three (35-32) heading into the final quarter but then turned up the defensive intensity several decibels, opening the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run and not allowing a field goal until the final minute on their way to a 50-40 win.
“We got a double-digit road win on a night when we struggled, but you have to credit Neshaminy,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “They had a game plan, they stuck to it, and they played really well.
“I said earlier in the year – I think they’re going to be a factor at the end of the season and in the playoffs. Top to bottom they have a lot of good guys.
“Neither one of us is very big, so no one has a size advantage. Both teams have ball handlers. Obviously, we have Dalton (Pepper), which is an advantage.”
Pepper needed just 10 points to surpass Dana Mitchell as Pennsbury’s all-time leading scorer. He reached that historic milestone early in the third quarter when he connected on a basket in close. He finished the night with 17 points while Marcus Healey had 12 and Eddie DiRugeris, 11 points.
Steve Warhola led the Redskins with 12 points, and according to the junior guard, staying with the highly regarded Falcons for three-and-a-half quarters made the loss all the more disappointing.
“It does make it hard to swallow,” he said. “We know if we can keep it up for the fourth quarter, we’re right in this game. Eight more minutes of playing well, and we’re right where we need to be, but that pill got a little bit bigger to swallow.
“For the first three quarters, we had a great effort. We were playing great ball. We know if we play that way for the rest of the season we’ll be fine, but that’s the only thing we’re taking away from this.”
The Redskins delighted their fans with a performance that gave glimpses of good things to come. For the better part of four quarters, coach Jerry Devine had two freshmen – Tyler Katz and Ryan Arcidiacono - and a sophomore -Dwight Williams - on the floor with a junior and senior.
The Redskins’ youth sometimes showed against the Falcons’ suffocating defense.
“They defend - that’s why they’re number one in the state right now,” Devine said. “They defend well as a team.
“We talked about it at halftime. We knew they were going to turn up the pressure.”
The long line at the ticket window 30 minutes before the opening tipoff suggested that while many fans have been hit with Falcon Fever, still others were hoping to see their home team play the role of giant killer.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the bleachers pulled out here all the way,” Sciolla said. “I’ve come to games here for 20 years, and I’ve never seen them pulled out all the way except for gym night, so it was a great atmosphere.”
Fans certainly got their money’s worth and then some.
Pepper buried a baseline trey on his first touch on offense, but Warhola sank a shot off the dribble at the other end, and when the junior guard connected on his first of three treys, the Redskins led 5-3.
The tone had been set. The Redskins weren’t backing down.
The Falcons led 8-7 at the end of one quarter, but back-to-back fastbreak buckets by Katz at the end of the press put the Redskins on top 14-12. A Pepper dunk knotted the score.
The Redskins went on top 18-14 after back-to-back buckets by Justin Deeter and Arcidiacono, but the Falcons trimmed the Redskins’ lead to one (20-19) at halftime.
“We defended our butts off,” Devine said. “I thought we frustrated Eddie and Dalton a little bit. I thought Tristan Emig and Ryan (Arcidiacono) did a great job of defending, and Dwight Williams did a great job on Eddie.”
Late in the third quarter, the Falcons opened up a 35-30 lead after a Pepper baslet off the dribble, but Arcidiacono answered at the other end to make it a 35-32 game at the end of three quarters.
On the Redskins’ opening possession of the fourth quarter, Pepper stripped the ball from a Neshaminy ball handler near midcourt and coasted in for a layup. Then, after several turnovers by both teams, DiRugeris came up with a steal and turned it into one of his patented pull-up jumpers at the other end.
“We got back on our heels, and they were imposing their will on us,” Warhola said.
Devine came up with a steal and seconds later turned a DiRugeris feed into a bucket, and just like that, the Falcons led 44-32.
“At halftime, he (Sciolla) gave us a speech and got us motivated,” Devine said. “We just fought back, did whatever we could in our power to win this game.”
The Redskins did not get on the scoreboard until Warhola sank one-of-two from the foul line. By that time, the Falcons led 47-33.
“I think tonight the first half they did a really good job defensively,” Sciolla said. “The big talk at halftime was getting to the basket and creating opportunities. We really had a lot of layups – some we made, some we didn’t.”
Despite the outcome, Devine was pleased.
“If we defend like that against everyone, we’re going to put ourselves in a pretty good situation in the league,” the Redskins’ coach said. “We’re excited about the effort. You never want to lose, but I thought the kids played really hard.
“I don’t think anybody did anything spectacular. I thought they played with desire and passion, and that has to come out every day at practice. You should only be disappointed if you don’t bring that every day. If we do that and we defend and we play with that kind of emotion, we have a great chance to be where we want to be at the end of the year.”
PENNSBURY 50, NESHAMINY 40
Pennsbury (50) – Jesse Krasna 0 2-4 2, John Ryan Wolff 0 0-0 0, Eddie Dirugeris 4 3-4 11, Dalton Pepper 7 2-2 17, Marcus Healey 4 1-3 12, Dante Devine 1 0-0 2, Zachary Kumor 0 0-0 0, Goran Dulac 1 0-0 2, Tom Marcinkowski 1 2-4 4. Totals 18 10-17 50.
Neshaminy (40) – Justin Deeter 3 0-0 6, Tristan Emig 1 0-0 2, Steve Warhola 4 1-2 12, Ryan Arcidiacono 3 0-0 7, Paul Carrezola 0 0-0 0, Dwight Williams 2 1-1 5, Tyler Katz 3 2-2 8. Totals 16 4-5 40.
Pennsbury 8 11 16 15-50
Neshaminy 7 13 12 8-40
Three-point goals: Dalton Pepper, Marcus Healey 3, Steve Warhola 3, Ryan Arcidiancono.
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