Check out the recaps for SOL boys’ basketball teams in action in the District One 6A Tournament. PW/Abington photos provided courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for a gallery of photos. All SOS photo galleries for BOYS’ BASKETBALL can be viewed by clicking HERE.
Class 6A semifinal
#2 LOWER MERION 61, #3 CHELTENHAM 54
The Panthers could ill afford a slow start in front of a packed-to-the-rafters crowd at Lower Merion, but that’s exactly what happened. Unofficially, they connected on just one of their first 12 shots and trailed 8-2 before scoring five points in the final 40 seconds of the first quarter.
Rasheem Dearry suggested it just might have been karma.
“We started practice slow yesterday, so that definitely affected us today,” the Panthers’ senior said. “No one was prepared, no one was ready. It’s just karma, honestly.
“They were definitely good shots that we usually make in a game, but the crowd is loud, everyone is distracted. That definitely impacts the game. Usually when we’re at home games, we really have a crowd, but this was different. You have other people going at you. It’s definitely hard, but we stayed together as a team and did everything possible.”
The Panthers, who trailed by just one after a quarter of play, fell behind by eight in the second quarter but made it a 25-20 game at halftime.
“I think I jinxed myself,” Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury said. “I’ve never seen two rims that were completely different, but I shouldn’t have said anything because the kids probably paid attention to it. Whatever it is – we didn’t shoot well, and we weren’t able to manufacture enough offense to overcome our shooting woes.
“It was just one of those nights. I could have made better adjustments with them, and that would have probably gotten them in better spots. We believe in these kids. (The shots) just didn’t fall tonight. As a coach, I should have found something better or different for them to be effective, and I wasn’t able to do it enough for them, but it gives us a learning point and a great opportunity to learn from.”
Playing no small role in Lower Merion’s success in the opening half was Penn State-bound Demetrius Lilley. The 6-10 center accounted for 13 of the Aces points.
“Moving forward in the state, we’ll see teams with 6-10 kids, and we’re going to have to battle and make sure we’re a little bit stronger,” Fleury said. “We tried to make him work and score over us. Obviously, he’s 6-10, and he’s going to have his opportunities.
“I don’t think he shot that high of a percentage, but what we had to do was we had to gang rebound, and we weren’t able to do that consistently enough to be able to push in transition. And then defensively, we didn’t speed them up enough and we weren’t as solid as we like to be.”
The Aces – behind eight points, including a pair of 3s, from Sam Brown – opened up a 35-22 lead midway through the third quarter. The Panthers came roaring back. A Justin Savage block set the stage for a Dearry three, and it was a 35-31 game with 54 seconds remaining in the quarter when – after another Savage block – Brandon Bush scored on a fast break. Brown’s basket at the buzzer gave the Aces a 37-31 lead heading into the final quarter.
The Aces opened up a 51-38 lead and still led 52-42 with two minutes remaining. The Panthers pulled to within five after a Kevin Addison-Anderson basket with 10 seconds remaining, but they ran out of time, absorbing their first loss of the season.
”We’re kind of sad that we lost districts, definitely for our seniors, including myself,” Dearry said. “But we have to prepare for states, one game at a time. We take on Methacton Friday, so we’ll prepare for that game. It’s one game at a time. We just have to be careful what we do on offense and defense.”
“The kids were amazing for 27 games,” Fleury said. “They’ve carried me, they carried us. This one right here – I’ll take the blame for. We just have to refocus. We just want to regroup, remember what our purpose is and what our goal is and look at the possessions that we threw away and understand why that’s happening and change that.
“We threw away 15-17 possessions, and it was a two-possession game. We lucked out giving away as many possessions as we did to be in that position. I think our defense held us and kept us in the game. There were a couple of times where it got up to 10-12, and then we were able to refocus and lock in, so the biggest thing for the kids and what we were preaching was not to be down when adversity hits. They’ve given everything they have, so I have to be better. I had to make adjustments quicker and faster so they’re in positions to be successful. To come up short is something we’re definitely going to use as fuel.”
Savage led all scorers with 21 points.
“The ball finds energy,” Fleury said. “He was just energetic. We wanted him to get going a little bit earlier. I could have made a couple of switches that would have allowed that. I waited a little longer than I should have.
“We believe in Justin. He’s one of our leaders. I think he had a monster game because he understood that even though they were playing off him – he can get to the basket. We didn’t do that consistently. We’ve been a team that can definitely knock down the shots, but tonight we didn’t do it.”
Dearry also finished in double figures with 14, and Brandon Bush added eight.
“Shoutout to Justin Savage – he definitely did good,” Dearry said. “The way we played and blocked shots, hands up, and we didn’t foul them. I think we did good.
“We cut the lead down, but we got too comfortable. Our defense started slacking, and they’ve just got a better offense. That’s one thing you learn in life – you never settle for anything. You have to keep going.”
The Aces connected on five 3s in the game, and four of them came in their second half surge on Tuesday night. Brown – who managed just two points in the first half – scored 17 in the second half.
“They hit (3s) at timely times, and we just didn’t,” Fleury said. “That was the biggest thing. I think everyone that shot and didn’t make their shots – I know they’re going to text me and they’re going to want to get in the gym tonight, and I’m going to tell them – ‘No, go home.’
“We talk about adversity in life – sometimes it doesn’t go your way, and now we have to retool. One thing we said in (the locker room) – ‘There’s no putting your head down. We had a remarkable season to this point.’ We are 100 percent behind them. Tonight is a hiccup. We go back and we continue to push and get better.”
Cheltenham (27-1, 16-0 SOL) will travel to #1 Methacton for Friday’s third place game.
Cheltenham 7-13-11-23 54
Lower Merion 8-17-12-24 61
Cheltenham (54) – Rasheem Dearry 4 4-6 14; Josiah Hutson 1 0-0 2; Elias Walker 1 1-4 3; Nasir Edens 2 0-0 4; Brandon Bush 4 0-1 8; Justin Savage 8 5-9 21; Kevin Addison-Anderson 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 21 10-20 54.
Lower Merion (61) – Jaylen Shippen 2 5-7 9; Justin Poles 1 0-0 2; Demetrius Lilley 9 2-7 20; Sam Brown 5 6-10 19; Henry Bard 0 0-2; Sam Wright 2 5-7 11. TOTALS 19 18-23 61.
3-point goals: Cheltenham – Rasheem Dearry 2; LM – Sam Brown 3, Sam Wright 2.
Class 6A playbacks
#22 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 53, #23 ABINGTON 38
The third time was the charm for the Colonials.
After losing by five and then later in the season three points to the Ghosts in the regular season, the Colonials opened up a commanding 36-16 halftime lead on their way to the win in Tuesday’s
playback game.
“I think the playback game especially in the quarterfinal playback is a little odd,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “Especially when you’re talking Abington – PW. I’m sure Charles Grasty and myself were in our minds hoping to play in the semifinals/finals.
“Abington came out kind of flat. I think it’s interesting to see how your kids are going to come out, and I was very pleased with our kids. As much as they can drive me crazy sometimes with their laidback demeanor, it kind of helped tonight that they don’t let things bother them too much.
“Defensively, in the Cheltenham game (a 52-40 loss in the quarterfinals), we did a lot of good things. Offensively, I know a number of our guys would like to have that moment back – they had to live through that moment. We learned from that game, and that’s a great positive. The kids could have dropped their heads and said, ‘We’re not in the semis’ and that kind of thing, but boy, they continued to play with energy and played very, very strong defense.”
Qudire Bennett led PW’s first half charge, scoring eight points in a 23-point second quarter and 10 overall in the half. Trey Jones had eight points in the first half while Zende Hubbard had seven. Jaden Colzie had a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter.
The Ghosts outscored the Colonials 15-3 in the third quarter to pull to within eight, 39-31. Jimmy Marino had a pair of 3s in the quarter to spark the Ghosts, and Derrius Lucas also had six points. The Colonials – sparked by eight points from Taji Hubbard – responded with a 14-7 fourth quarter to close out the game.
“We had a 20-point lead at halftime, but everything is a learning experience for us,” Donofrio said. “If you’re up 20 at halftime, in your mind, you kind of think, ‘Well, that’s going to 30 or 40,’ but that’s not always the case.
“Especially against proud programs like Abington, so here we go with a (three-point) third quarter, and next thing you know it’s an eight-point lead. We had to explain to them – ‘Listen, at this time of year, if you’re winning by one, you’re winning.’ That’s your mentality now. Whatever teams have done that are 25-0 or 26-1, that’s a tough position to be in compared to the team that has gone up and down and has had to humble itself a number of times. That team is actually more resilient, so here we go. I just loved how we righted ourselves and flipped it right again in the fourth quarter and just said, ‘Okay, good run by you guys, but we’re still winning by 10.’”
Bennett’s 17 points led the Colonials. Taji Hubbard also finished in double figures with 10 while Zende Hubbard had nine points and Trey Jones had eight. Jaden Colzie chipped in six points.
“In all honesty, none of these kids have experienced a deep district and state run in three years, so I can’t even explain it,” Donofrio said. “So until you see the crowd at Cheltenham, until you see every night big crowds, and you could lose any night – that’s a learning curve.
“You can say whatever you want – ‘Hey guys, back in ’97, hey guys, back in 2000,’ and they won’t care. They’re kids. They weren’t alive in 1996, they don’t know. They’re like ‘What does that mean to me?’ It doesn’t mean anything. I just love that we have this unique resiliency about us, and for a team that started 4-5 and through computers is a 22 seed – now we’re either a five or six seed, which is probably where it should have been all along in our preseason mind. I’m just really happy the kids have done this. What happens now – you have to hope you stay healthy. It’s been a long run – it’s March, and you got there. How are the final pages of the last chapter going to go? There are a whole lot of teams that are not (playing) right now, so good for us. I’m happy for the kids.”
Freshman Paul Glants gave the Ghosts a spark off the bench, scoring a team high nine points. Connor Fields, Jimmy Marino and Derrius Lucas each had six points. Fields led the Ghosts with seven rebounds.
Abington connected on 12 of 43 shots from the field (27.9 percent) and 5-for-21 from beyond the arc (21.8 percent).
Plymouth Whitemarsh (18-8, 12-4 SOL) will host #24 Garnet Valley in Friday’s fifth place game, and Abington (16-10, 11-5) will travel to #5 Bensalem for the seventh place game on Thursday.
“You can’t worry about what seedings mean,” Donofrio said. “Some people start to put that in your head. Play to win basketball games, that’s it. Play to win because that other road is a very slippery slope. That’s a dangerous thing to think you can turn it on and off.”
Abington 6-10-15-7 38
Plymouth Whitemarsh 13-23-3-14 53
Abington (38) – Damon Rawls 1 0-0 2; Connor Fields 2 2-4 6; Fhenyx Scutt 1 1-2 4; Jeremiah Lee 1 0-0 3; Eli Louis- Benjamin 0 2-2 2; Jimmy Marino 2 0-0 6; Paul Glants 4 0-2 9; Derrius Lucas 1 4-8 6. TOTALS 12 9-18 38.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (53) – Zende Hubbard 4 1-1 9; Jaden Colzie 2 0-2 6; Marshall Baker 0 3-5 3; Trey Jones 4 0-0 8; Taji Hubbard 4 2-2 10; Quidire Bennett 6 5-6 17; Pat Flynn 0 0-2 0. TOTALS 20 11-18 53.
3-point goals: Abington _ Jimmy Marino 2, Paul Glants, Jeremiah Lee, Fhenyx Scutt; PW – Jaden Colzie 2.
#24 GARNET VALLEY 72, #5 BENSALEM 40
Not a whole lot went right for the Owls in the first half of Tuesday’s playback game. Bensalem trailed the Jaguars 12-7 after one quarter and 37-9 by halftime. The Owls never could make up the ground they lost.
“We didn’t have enough energy from the start tonight,” Bensalem coach Ron Morris said. “We got down early, and it snowballed quickly. Credit to Garnet Valley for bringing energy the whole game. They made shots early and took it to us.
“We came out of the second half on a 10-0 run but couldn’t sustain it. We didn’t play Bensalem basketball tonight. I take full responsibility for the loss, and we will be ready to go Thursday versus Abington.”
The Owls were led by the 10-point effort of Aaron Sanders. Eric Gonzalez added nine points while Jeremy Rodriguez and Allen Myers both had six points.
Bensalem (20-8, 13-3 SOL) will host #23 Abington in a seventh place game on Thursday.
Bensalem 7-2-19-12 40
Garnet Valley 12-25-13-22 72
Bensalem (40) – Jeremy Rodriguez 2 2-2 6; Tra Edwards 1 0-0 3; Allen Myers 3 0-1 6; Eric Gonzalez 3 0-0 9; Aaron Sanders 3 4-4 10; Matt Ebner 1 0-0 3; Jack Wineburg 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 14 6-7 40.
Garnet Valley (72) – Drew Van Horn 1 0-0 2; Logan McKee 5 1-2 11; Max Koehler 7 0-0 16; Nate Dada 1 0-0 2; Ryan Wooten 7 3-3 21; Jack Krautzel 1 0-0 3; Jake Sniras 6 5-5 17. TOTALS 28 9-10 72.
3-point goals: Bensalem – Eric Gonzalez 3, Tra Edwards, Matt Ebner, Jack Wineburg; Garnet Valley – Ryan Wooten 4, Max Koehler 2, Jack Krautzel.
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