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FAIRLESS HILLS – Jaymes Miller admits he has never played in an environment quite like the Falcons’ Nest.
“The fans are crazy,” Abington’s senior forward said of Pennsbury’s rabid student section. “There are tons of them. Not one of our games this year has been played in front of a crowd like this.”
Miller and his teammates certainly didn’t let the hostile environment bother them.
As a matter of fact, just the opposite was true.
The fired-up Ghosts went out and shot 73 percent from three-point range, draining 8-of-11 shots. That’s a good percentage from the foul line. It’s unheard of from beyond the arc.
Although the Ghosts weren’t quite as sharp from in close, they still managed to connect on 63 percent of their shots overall. That was more than enough to propel Abington to a 54-43 win.
“The more fans, the more you have to step up,” Abington junior Wesley Rines said. “You have to play that much better.”
Rines certainly elevated his game, burying four three’s and finishing with a game-high 17 points. Miller added 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Ghosts had their inside-outside game working to perfection.
“He (Rines) hits shots, and they have to go out on him, which takes away the pressure from me because to start the game, they were kind of packing it inside, but when we started hitting shots, they had to go out, and I was open and able to hit some shots,” Miller said.
“We really work together,” Rines added. “When they were denying me the ball, he (Miller) was stepping up. When they were denying him the ball, I stepped up. “
While the Ghosts couldn’t miss, the Falcons once again couldn’t buy a shot, particularly in an ice cold second quarter that saw them score just four points.
Jesse Krasna led the Falcons with 15 points, but all of those came in the second half after the Ghosts had opened up a 29-17 halftime lead.
“They were just making shots, and we weren’t getting hands up in their faces,” Krasna said. “In the second half, we came out with more energy. We need to do that from the start. We need to get some baskets closer to the hoop and get things inside.”
A statistic that underscored the Falcons’ offensive woes was the fact that they connected on just 3-of-18 of their three-point attempts.
“We’re in a situation where we’re getting a lot of tremendous shots, and we have got to make them,” Pennsbury coach Frank Sciolla said. “We have won games shooting under 30 percent, but it can’t keep happening. Eventually, you’re going to have to make shots. Your guys who have done it in the past are going to have to make them.
“Tonight was the first night I thought we didn’t defend well, but I credit Abington for being patient and doing a great job.
“We’ll stay positive, but the tough part for us is when we miss some, there are not going to be a lot of second shots because we’re giving up a lot of size.”
The two teams matched baskets in the opening quarter of Thursday’s game.
The Falcons actually led 11-5 after Zach Kumor – despite being fouled – converted a reverse layup and then sank the foul shot. Rines answered with a trey at the other end, and then Miller turned a Vince Tranquillo steal into a basket, making it an 11-10 game.
Ryan Charity scored on a drive to up the Falcons’ lead to three, but that was erased when Rines buried his second trey of the quarter to knot the score 13-13.
A Mike Piunti trey to open the second quarter – his first of three in the game – was followed by a Rines three from NBA range, and just like that the Ghosts led 19-13. Miller converted a tough basket in traffic, and when Piunti came up with a loose ball and hit nothing but net on a three to put the Ghosts on top 24-13, the Falcons might have had an idea this was not going to be their night.
“We came out ready to play,” Rines said. “We wanted to beat them after all those years of them beating us, and we hit shots.
“Everybody was ready to play, everybody was fired up. We know we have to win to make playoffs.”
The Falcons made it a 26-17 game after a Kumor basket, but Tranquillo buried a baseline three in the closing seconds to send Abington into halftime with a 29-17 lead.
“We didn’t turn the ball over in the first half, and we knocked down shots,” Abington coach Tony Hall said. “You know what – we were stable on defense.”
After a quiet first half, Krasna opened the third quarter with a tough putback that he turned into a three-point play. After a Devine steal, Krasna sank one-of-two from the foul line. A Kumor steal resulted in a bucket by Kris Hassel (10 points) on the low post, and it was a 29-23 game.
A bucket by Miller down low was followed by a Rines three after a Falcon turnover, but Krasna answered with a three of his own to make it a 34-26 game.
“You saw Krasna really picked it up and attacked,” Hall said. “He’s a special player. He knows what he’s doing. He’s been there, done that for the last three years, and we knew they were going to make some kind of run.”
The Ghosts took a 40-26 lead into the final quarter and stretched that lead to 47-30 after a Jeff Rowley bucket, but the Falcons didn’t go down quietly.
Devine buried a trey, and moments later, Jay Jabat sank a shot. After a Ghost miss, Krasna completed a three-point play. On the defensive end, Mike Ciotti deflected a ball that was picked up by Kumor, who found Ciotti for a deuce to make it a 49-40 game.
A 10-second call against the Ghosts set the stage for a Krasna trey, and the Falcons trailed by six (49-43) with 1:42 remaining.
“That’s the best defensive team in the league,” Hall said. “I know they’re not where they used to be, but they still play the best defense, and they just started to turn us over like crazy.”
The Falcons couldn’t capitalize on yet another Ghost turnover, and Jordan Monroe buried both ends of a one-and-one for the Ghosts.
A Falcon traveling violation set the stage for another Monroe one-and-one. Again, he delivered, icing the win by connecting on both ends to give the Ghosts a 53-43 lead.
“It got to six and Jordan Monroe did a great job handling the basketball, and he hit four in a row from the line,” Hall said. “When he hit the second set, I knew we were going to be good enough to eke out the win, and that’s exactly what happened.”
The win was the Ghosts’ second of the season over the Falcons. Their first – on Jan. 5 – brought to a halt Pennsbury’s 60-game SOL winning streak.
“This is huge,” Hall said. “We have been Jekyll and Hyde. We have been up and down. We’ve played real well at home, but the road hasn’t been kind.
“I have been telling our guys the last two weeks, ‘If we can get a nice road win, that will give us a lot of confidence.’ This was the one. I think they can sniff the playoffs, and that’s a good feeling.
“This team hasn’t been to the playoffs in a while. Yes, we have some work to do, but it’s kind of right in front of us for the taking, and that’s a good spot for us to be in.”
The loss was the fourth straight for the Falcons, who dropped to 6-4 in league play. Things won’t get any easier when they face Pennington School on Friday at Villanova University at 5:30 p.m.
“We’re on a low right now, but we can’t go anywhere but up,” senior Jesse Krasna said. “We have to get our confidence back, get our swagger back and play as a team.
“Once we get the next one, we’ll get rolling.”
The Ghosts’ big road was the perfect warm-up for Saturday night’s annual non-league showdown against neighboring Cheltenham.
“A rivalry game, it’s a rivalry game,” Rines said. “Probably the same crowd, the same atmosphere – maybe even worse.
“Our school is ready, their school is ready – calling us all day, talking trash. We have to get another and start a (winning) streak.”
ABINGTON 54, PENNSBURY 43
Abington (54) – Mike Piunti 3 0-0 9; Wesley Rines 6 1-3 17; Jeff Rowley 1 1-2 3; Vince Tranquillo 3 0-0 7; Jaymes Miller 7 0-2 14; Jordan Monroe 0 4-4 4. TOTALS 20 6-11 54.
Pennsbury (43) – Jesse Krasna 5 3-4 15; Dante Devine 1 0-0 3; Kieran Bolger 0 0-0 0; Zach Kumor 4 1-1 9; Zach Kumor 4 1-1 9; Kris Hassell 5 0-0 10; Zach Sibel 0 0-0 0; Mike Ciotti 1 0-1 2; Ryan Charity 1 0-0 2; Jay Jabat 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 18 4-6 43.
Abington 13 16 11 14-54
Pennsbury 13 4 11 15-43
3-point goals: Abington – Rines 4, Piunti 3, Tranquillo. Pennsbury – Krasna 2, Devine.
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