Abington advanced to Saturday’s District 1 6A title game against Coatesville at Temple. Cheltenham saw its season come to an end. Pennridge/Abington photos provided courtesy of Kim Supko and Geanine Jamison. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-1 Abington 50, #1-4 Pennridge 38
There truly is no substitute for experience.
The Ghosts have made a habit of playing games at Temple's Liacouras Center in late February, so the bigger court, the lighting, the crowds and everything else that goes with it – that doesn't faze them anymore. It's an undeniable edge against any team, but more so one that had never been there before.
Pennridge certainly deserved to make the trip down Broad Street, but the stage caught the Rams off guard early and Abington would go on to find itself advancing to another stage its used to – the District I championship game.
"It doesn’t get old,” Abington senior Lucas Monroe said. “We have bigger goals than winning just a district championship. We want to go all the way to the end of March and win a state championship. But, it’s always fun, the whole town comes out, everyone’s already talking about it, they’re all going to be excited about the game.”
Monroe led Abington with 16 points, with three first half dunks that included a pair of alley-oops, but his play wasn't the driving force behind the Ghosts’ win.
Nor was it Eric Dixon, who was ferocious on the glass with 10 rebounds and flicked outlet passes half the length of the court all night. Dixon finished with a season-low nine points and didn't even score after halftime.
The top performer for Abington on the big stage was senior Maurice Henry, who scored 15 points and played relentless defense on Pennridge's Sean Yoder from start to finish.
"He’s one of the fastest kids in the states, so if he could make (Yoder) take tough shots and just always be around him, he did a wonderful job,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said.
Henry helped hold Yoder to 11 points, chasing the Navy recruit over and around screens and pressuring him the entire length of the floor.
“I had to play harder than I normally do, and I had to step up for the team,” Henry said. “I had to sacrifice my body for the team and play as hard as I could to stay in front of him. He’s their whole team, you limit him and it’s hard for them to go.”
Certainly, having their all-time leading scorer work that much harder to get looks hurt, but the Rams as a unit struggled offensively. Pennridge shot 35 percent from the floor and coach Dean Behrens thought his players were at times tentative on the glass.
“I felt like we were confident coming in, we played them three times and the second time we had them on the ropes,” Behrens said. “The one thing they have over us is they have more experience playing down here. I think we were a little bit in awe of the environment and a little starstruck.”
Reaching the Liacouras Center has been a long time coming for Pennridge, and the Rams never let the game get away from them. Yoder managed to shake Henry long enough to hit a second quarter 3-pointer that cut the Ghosts lead to 19-16, only to watch Abington rip off a 12-2 run to end the half that was punctuated by Henry lobbing one up to Monroe.
In the third, the Rams used an 8-0 run to get within seven, but again the Ghosts responded. Manir Waller had two key buckets, including a put-back dunk, to keep Abington up nine after three quarters.
“Listen, it was awesome and what a great experience,” Behrens said. “It didn’t turn out the way we would have liked, but I thanked them for letting me coach here because without our players and the success we had, I wouldn’t be coaching on Temple’s floor."
Henry not only scored 15, he seemed to score them at crucial times. After Yoder's three made it a three-point game, the senior answered with a trey of his own, which the Ghosts needed to try and break Pennridge's strong zone defense.
He also thrived as the outlet man in transition, taking quite a few of Dixon and Monroe's long passes and making buckets out of them.
"Normally we (outlet) really well so when Lucas or Eric gets a rebound me or the other guards try to get an easy fast break,” Henry said. “They just know if they get the rebound, I’m going.”
Monroe didn't hesitate to laud his teammate either.
“At this point of the season, it’s not about the X’s and O’s, it’s about who wants it more and Maurice was by far the game MVP,” Monroe said. “He completely took them out of their offense because they couldn’t get Yoder going.”
Abington will return to Temple on Saturday where the Ghosts will face second-seeded Coatesville, a 71-66 winner over Lower Merion, in the district title game. It's the second meeting in the last three seasons in the final for the two teams, with Abington taking out the Red Raiders for the 2017 championship.
Pennridge 11-7-10-10 38
Abington 17-15-6-13 50
Pennridge (38) – Jon Dominic 2 0-0 4; Luke Yoder 0 2-2 2; Sean Yoder 4 2-2 11; Trent Fisher 2 0-0 4; Jon Post 3 0-2 6; Jack Gillespie 2 0-0 5; Christian Guldin 0 2-2 2; Paul Croyle 1 0-0 2; Connor Pleibel 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 15 6-8 38.
Abington (50) – Manir Waller 4 0-1 8, Maurice Henry 6 1-2 15, Darious Brown 0 2-2 2, Lucas Monroe 5 6-6 16, Eric Dixon 3 2-2 9; TOTALS 18 11-13 50.
3-pointers: Pennridge – Sean Yoder, Jack Gillespie; Abington – Maurice Henry 2, Eric Dixon.
District One 6A Playback game
#1-13 Spring-Ford 62, #1-9 Cheltenham 61 (2 OT)
It took a pair of overtime periods to determine a winner. Neither team scored in the first, and in the second, it was the visiting Rams edging the Panthers 7-6 in a playback game that was every bit as close as the final score suggests.
“It was a great game,” coach Patrick Fleury said. “I’m very proud of our kids. Obviously, I take this loss on me. The kids gave everything they had and put themselves in a position to win the game.
“As a first year (coach), just being able to bond with kids that you love and watch grow through good and bad is amazing. It’s more than basketball. The loss is definitely a good learning experience for me, but the beautiful thing about it is the relationships with those kids won’t end, so for me, it’s a learning point and it’s definitely a driving point to make sure more of our kids don’t feel this way after a hard-fought loss.
“I’m very proud to be able to coach and represent Cheltenham and look forward to reaching more of our kids and keeping more of our kids home because the atmosphere is only going to get greater, the kids are only going to get better.”
Zahree Harrison and Jalen Mickens both scored 20 points to lead the Panthers. Harrison also had six assists, five steals and three rebounds. Mickens added six steals and three rebounds. Tim Myarick had eight points and three rebounds. Kyin Healey had a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with four points.
Justin Moore and Brandon Scott both had two steals while Mike McClain had one.
“I’m thankful for the seven seniors that were there – Kyin Healey, Tim Myarick, Jalen Mickens, Lance Toliver, Ian Marquette, Seth Arinsberg and Dom Vazquez,” Fleury said. “Just their time and commitment was invaluable.
“I’m thankful to the coaches and managers and the administration that supported us throughout the process. Hats off to Spring-Ford, for sure. The state tournament is definitely something every team wants to be a part of. We wish them the best and look forward to building with our guys moving forward.”
Cheltenham (12-2 SOL) closed out its season with a 17-9 record.
Spring-Ford 12-10-16-17-0-7 62
Cheltenham 13-12-16-14-0-6 61
Spring-Ford (62) – Tyler Scilingo 6, Ryan Hagan 14, Patrick Kovaleski 10, Robert Bobeck 15, Noah Baker 17.
Cheltenham (61) – Zahree Harrison 20, Jalen Mickens 20, Tim Myarick 8, Brandon Scott 2, Jaelen McGlone 6, Kyin Healey 4.
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