Bensalem was a winner in Thursday’s District One 6A playback game.
CLASS 6A 7th place game
#5 BENSALEM 71, #23 ABINGTON 58
The Owls made their final home game of the season a good one. Sparked by the 28-point effort of Aaron Sanders and the 21-point performance of Allen Myers, Bensalem notched the bounce back win in Thursday’s seventh place game.
“We played not good at all on Tuesday night – we played really bad, I coached really bad,” Bensalem coach Ron Morris said of the Owls’ 72-40 loss to Garnet Valley in Tuesday’s playback game. “We were just at that point where we’ve had so many practices. It’s a grind.
“Our theme has always been – you’ve got to be a goldfish. Yesterday we decided as a staff to give them off from basketball, so what we did yesterday was we did some team bonding in the pool at school. We went swimming, so we were jumping off the diving board, playing basketball at the pool. We hit the reset button to rejuvenate ourselves and hopefully go on a nice run, and it paid off tonight. We came out with a lot more energy, so we benefitted from what we did yesterday.”
The two teams were deadlocked 19-19 after one quarter, but the Owls used an 18-12 second quarter to go into halftime with a 37-31 lead. The Ghosts rallied and trailed by just one with possession late in the third quarter, but three straight turnovers allowed the Owls to take a 56-47 lead into the final quarter. Sanders was a catalyst for the Owls in the third quarter, scoring 10 points. The Ghosts never threatened the rest of the way.
“We took a punch early – we were going back and forth,” Morris said. “They had five 3s in the first half. We know that no matter who plays on the court for Abington – Charles (Grasty) does an awesome job. It’s a great program year in and year out, so we knew we were going to be in for a dogfight either way, no matter who’s on the court for them.
“They came out, they hit some nice shots early, and in the second half, we were able to build a lead. They came back, and we built a lead again. It was our last home game, so it was really nice. We got to play a lot of seniors. We finished the game with five seniors on the court – guys that are at the end of bench, don’t play as many minutes, but they’re there every day. They grind, so it was really nice to see them in the game and finish strong.”
Joining Sanders and Myers in double figures was Jeremy Rodriguez with 14 points.
“We shared the basketball,” Morris said. “We were trying to get inside with Allen (Myers). Their two best players – Derrius (Lucas) and Connor (Fields) – didn’t play, so we were trying to establish Allen down low, and it was working. He shot 9-for-13 from the line.
“Aaron (Sanders) shot the ball extremely well tonight. He had four 3s, and his energy level was high. He was getting to the rim, he had some nice dump down passes, and we were getting inside to Allen (Myers). Jeremy (Rodriguez) had some really nice plays out in transition.”
In the absence of Lucas and Fields, senior Kayjel Morris and freshman Paul Glants found themselves in the starting lineup. Both came up big for the Ghosts. Morris led the way with a career high 18 points while Glants added 12 points. Sophomore Jeremiah Lee also had a big game, scoring 15 points and also contributing seven rebounds and three blocks.
The Ghosts connected on 24-of-58 shots from the field (41.3 percent). They were 6-for-21 from beyond the arc (28.5 percent).
Bensalem (21-8, 13-3 SOL) will face District 3’s third place team – the winner of Friday’s Cedar Cliff/Central Dauphin game – in Wednesday’s opening round of the PIAA 6A tournament.
“Being one of 32 teams left in 6A basketball in the state is really special – we don’t take that lightly,” Morris said. “We have work to do. Every team is really good, so we’re looking to be the first team in school history to win a state playoff game.”
Abington (16-11, 11-5) will play the loser of Saturday’s District 11 championship game pitting Parkland against Pocono Mountain West.
Abington 19-12-16-11 58
Bensalem 19-18-19-15 71
Abington (58) – Fhenyx Scutt 1 1-2 4; Paul Glants 6 0-0 12; Jeremiah Lee 6 1-2 15; Kayjel Morris 7 2-3 18; Liam Rardin 1 0-0 2; Josh Young 2 0-0 5; Damon Rawls 1 0-2 2. TOTALS 24 4-9 58.
Bensalem (71) – Jeremy Rodriguez 4 5-6 14; Tra Edwards 0 2-2 2; Allen Myers 6 9-13 21; Eric Gonzalez 0 2-4 2; Aaron Sanders 11 2-2 28; Matt Ebner 1 0-0 2; Antonio Morris 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 23 20-27 71.
3-point goals: Abington – Jeremiah Lee 2, Kayjel Morris 2, Josh Young, Fhenyx Scutt; Bensalem – Aaron Sanders 4, Jeremy Rodriguez.
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