Abington & Neshaminy were winners in Thursday’s opening round of the District 1 6A Tournament on Thursday.
CLASS 6A
#20 ABINGTON 45, #13 PENNSBURY 42 (OT)
The Ghosts connected on some huge foul shots late in overtime and escaped with a win in Thursday’s opening round thriller. Damon Rawls gave the visiting Ghosts a 43-42 lead with 2:06 remaining when he buried a pair at the foul line, and with 1:12 on the scoreboard clock, Kamari Brasher – scoreless to that point – sank a pair to give the Ghosts their final margin of victory.
As a result of the win, Abington is guaranteed at least two more games.
“This is when you want to start playing your best,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “We have at least two more games – we let our guys know that. That’s why it’s super important to get out of the first round.”
The Ghosts, who had seven steals in the game, had four in the first quarter but trailed 10-6 after one. The Falcons took a 16-15 lead into halftime, but the Ghosts outscored their hosts 14-7 in the third quarter to go on top 29-23.
Abington’s lead – which grew to eight points – was anything but secure as the Falcons rallied to knot the score when junior Teddy Mangan buried a shot just inside the arc with six seconds remaining to knot the score. The Ghosts never got a shot off for the win, and the two teams went into overtime.
“We had nice little run to go up, and they just made shots,” Grasty said of the Falcons’ comeback. “They’re good. We defended well. It wasn’t like we just gave them shots. They hit one or two 3s, they got to the basket and got a couple of layups. They just chipped away.”
Although the host Falcons appeared to have all the momentum after rallying to send the game to OT, the Ghosts would not be denied, outscoring the Falcons 10-7 to eke out the win.
“Our guys just stuck with it,” Grasty said. “They knew they had four more minutes of basketball – let’s get back to playing the way we got the eight-point lead. Let’s not play the way we left them in it. Let’s play the right way, let’s spread the floor a little bit and take what they give us.
“We were aggressive going to the basket. They did a good job with their run-and-trap (defense). We turned it over a little bit, but we made them run a little longer. We wanted to spread the floor. We got two feet in the paint, and we were able to make decisions off that. I thought our guys handled that pretty well because the guys could have folded at any time, but we just kept fighting and kept fighting.
“It’s a fairly young group experience-wise. We had three juniors, a sophomore and a senior on the court for most of the (second) half. They just kept talking and sticking with it. It was good to see.”
After Connor Taddei scored on the Falcons’ opening possession of OT, Jeremiah Lee connected on a 3 to give the Ghosts the one-point advantage. Neither team could put the other away, and in the end, it was Rawls and Brasher coming up big at the foul line when it mattered most. The Ghosts’ defense did the rest, keeping the Falcons off the scoreboard.
Lathan Miller’s name doesn’t show up in Abington’s box score, but according to his coach, Miller played an important role in the win.
“Lathan Miller didn’t score, and he didn’t play in the second half, but you know what – he was right there the whole game,” Grasty said. “Kids don’t realize how important that is. I thought that was huge for us. He was telling our guys what he saw from the bench and what he thought was going to happen next. He was on point.
“He’s a guy that probably should have been playing more than he did tonight, but he’s someone that I’ll definitely talk to tomorrow about how important he was, so that was good.”
Lee led the Ghosts with an impressive double-double, finishing with a game-high 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds and one blocked shot. Rawls added 11 points while Paul Glants and Josh Young both had seven points. Young also pulled down eight rebounds, and Glants had six rebounds and five assists. Brasher also had eight rebounds and one blocked shot.
The Ghosts connected on 14 of 46 shots from the floor (30.4 percent). They were 5 of 10 (50 percent) from beyond the arc.
For the Falcons, Ty Kocak led a balanced attack with 11 points while Taddei added 10 and Mangan had eight points.
Abington (13-10, 10-6 SOL) will travel to #3 Central Bucks East for a second round game Tuesday.
“We scrimmaged them earlier this year – they’re very good,” Grasty said. “They’re playing a lot better than they did in the scrimmage at the beginning of the year. We’ll watch some film, see what they like to do, and we’ll try and make it difficult to do the things they like to do. We’ll try and minimize their good looks. That’s what we’ll try to do.”
Pennsbury closed out a successful season under first-year coach Wes Emme with 16-8 record overall and the SOL Patriot Division title.
Abington 6-9-14-6-10 45
Pennsbury 10-6-7-12-7 42
Abington (45) – Damon Rawls 2 5-8 11; Jeremiah Lee 5 4-7 16; Paul Glants 3 1-2 7; Kellen Ingram 1 0-0 2; Kamari Brasher 0 2-2 2; Josh Young 3 0-0 7; TOTALS 14 12-19 45
Pennsbury (42) – Teddy Mangan 3 2-3 8; Mike Roccograndi 1 2-4 5; Danny Cohen 1 0-0 2; Sam Callahan 0 1-2 1; Connor Taddei 3 2-2 10; Ty Kocak 4 3-4 11; Ryan Zuckerman 1 3-6 5; TOTALS 13 13-21 42.
3-point goals: Abington – Damon Rawls 2, Jeremiah Lee 2, Josh Young; Pennsbury – Connor Taddei 2, Mike Roccograndi.
#18 NESHAMINY 62, #15 BOYERTOWN 48
Emeer Coombs had himself a second half to remember.
After scoring just three points in the opening half on a first-quarter, the Neshaminy junior came out on fire in the third quarter, burying three 3s and scoring 13 points on his way to a 20-point half in a dazzling offensive showing.
Coombs finished with a career high 23 points, which included five 3-pointers.
“He played his butt off tonight,” Neshaminy coach Mark Tingle said. “Their team plays a lot like us in a zone – they play a ton of different zones. We just did a really good job of being patient and moving the ball, and he got great open looks.
“Emeer’s our third leading scorer, so when your third leading scorer is popping 23, that’s usually a good night.”
The Redskins – after battling the Bears to a 12-12 tie after one, took control of the game in the second quarter when they outscored their hosts 16-2 to go into halftime with a 28-14 lead. Sean Curley’s nine points led the Redskins in the half. Nate Townsend and Joey Zack both had five points in the pivotal second quarter.
“We played a good first half,” Tingle said. “It was 12-12, and we held them to two points in the second quarter, and we just never looked back.”
The second half belonged to Coombs, and the Redskins – as a result of their win – guaranteed themselves at least two more games as 12 of the 16 remaining teams will earn state berths.
“The first one’s always the biggest just because 1) obviously to keep playing and 2) you have the opportunity for states and two more games, so it was a big one,” Tingle said. “We had a good game plan going in, and we followed the game plan to a ‘T’ so it was great.”
In addition to Coombs, Curley added 15 points, but it was his defense on Jake Kapp that was a difference maker.
“He held their best player to seven points when he normally averages 19,” Tingle said. “You’ve got to love that. He always has his scoring duties, and I can’t say enough about Sean playing defense on their best player.”
Townsend added nine points, five rebounds and five assists. Zack contributed seven points and six rebounds.
“Overall, we had a good night,” Tingle said. “If you weren’t scoring, you did well on defense. It was a good team victory.”
Neshaminy (15-9, 10-6 SOL) will travel to #2 Lower Merion for a second round game on Tuesday.
Neshaminy 12-16-15-19 62
Boyertown 12-2-13-21 48
Neshaminy (62) – Joey Zack 3 1-2 7; Ashton Lovelace 1 0-0 2; Emeer Coombs 8 2-4 23; Bolma Gobah 1 0-0 2; Guy Horton 2 0-0 4; Sean Curley 4 5-8 15; Nate Townsend 4 0-0 9; TOTALS 23 8-14 62.
Boyertown (48) – Braedyn Johnson 1 1-2 4; Zach Ward 1 2-2 4; Trey Kern 1 0-0 2; Michael Moccia 0 2-2 2; Jake Kapp 3 1-2 7; Seth Kiefer 2 0-0 5; Dylan Klass 6 5-6 19; Richard Black 2 0-0 5; TOTALS 16 11-14 48.
2-point goals: Neshaminy – Emeer Coombs 5, Sean Curley 2, Nate Townsend; Boyertown – Dylan Klass 2, Braedyn Johnson, Seth Kiefer, Richard Black.
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