Plymouth Whitemarsh and Abington advanced to Saturday’s District One 6A title game at Temple University. Bensalem & Neshaminy clinched state berths. Check the recaps. PW/CB West and Abington/Lower Merion photos provided courtesy of Larry Small. Check back for galleries of both games.
By Ed Morrone
PHILADELPHIA — Less than two weeks ago, 24 teams entered the District One Class 6A tournament; heading into Tuesday night, it was whittled down to four, with three of those squads representing Suburban One.
Unsurprisingly, it was the top four seeds that made it to the Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University. In the end, it was the two teams almost everybody expected to advance to the final, setting up a titanic clash on Saturday night between unbeaten Plymouth Whitemarsh and second-seeded Abington with a district championship on the line.
Here’s a deeper dive into how the two semifinal match-ups played out:
#2 Abington 72, #3 Lower Merion 61
Jumping out to a lightning-quick 7-0 lead to start the game, it appeared as if Abington was going to cruise to victory over Lower Merion, especially after the Ghosts opened up an 11-point lead early in the second quarter.
But the Aces, thanks to 11 three-pointers in the contest, would not go quietly. After Abington’s lead shrunk to 45-43 late in the third quarter, the tension inside the Liacouras Center could have been cut with a knife.
Would the Ghosts be denied their opportunity at undefeated PW on Saturday night?
Not if Abington’s two stars had anything to say about it.
Senior Robbie Heath got ignited early, scoring 13 of his game-high 24 points in the first half, and dominant junior big man Eric Dixon finished with a flourish, netting 14 of his 22 points in the second half as Abington held off a feisty Lower Merion team to advance to Saturday’s district title game against the mighty Colonials (more on them later).
Heath shot 9-of-14 from the field and added six assists, while Dixon converted 8 of his 13 attempts to go along with 11 boards. The duo ultimately wore down the Aces, but it took every ounce of energy they had to get it done.
“They know,” Abington head coach Charles Grasty said of his two star players stepping up when it matters. “It’s not a secret that those guys have to step up when it’s time to step up. We talk about it in practice in that we don’t want them to be selfish, but it’s also game time. So let’s play.”
Heath, playing in his sixth game on Temple’s home court, rose to the occasion on the big stage, doing so by snapping out of a three-game shooting slump.
“I think I was 9-for-29 the last three games, and that’s not like me,” the Australia native said. “I was looking at some film and I looked a bit flat the past few games. I just looked to get some more arc on my shot, concentrate and perform. I was getting to my spots, and I got my confidence back.”
Heath relished another opportunity to play in a 10,000-seat arena, saying it was vastly different from some of the facilities he was used to as a youngster back in Australia.
“It’s a privilege, and I never experienced something like this before coming to this country,” he said. “I used to play in little gyms with 50 people watching, so coming here, it’s like a movie. It’s a bigger stage, and it feels like a college game on this court. Temple is such a historic program, and the bigger the stage, the more I want to perform. It went great, and I’m so glad we’re playing on Saturday.”
And while Heath and Dixon accounted for 46 of Abington’s 72 points, the Ghosts had crucial contributions from other players. The team showed its depth and balance, getting 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists from Lucas Monroe, six from Brandon Coffman and five from JP Nolan, including a critical trey early in the fourth quarter that stretched the lead to 12 points.
“People think it’s just me and ‘E,’” Heath said. “JP Nolan hits a huge three, Brandon and Bryan Coffman hustle and get big rebounds, Xavier Crawford creating off the dribble … we’re all brothers and we know how to play to each other’s strengths. We don’t listen much to the outside noise, because we know what we can do.”
Abington led 15-8 after one and 32-27 at halftime, and every time the Ghosts looked to put some distance 
between themselves and Lower Merion (22-5) on the scoreboard, the Aces kept on coming. Jack Forrest showed a smooth stroke from long range, connecting on five three-pointers en route to a team-high 21 points, while Steve Payne scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half.
Leading just 45-43 in the closing seconds of the third, Abington (21-5) dumped it into Dixon in the post, who scored the bucket and drew a foul. The three-point play gave Abington a five-point cushion heading into the final frame, and when the going got tough, the Ghosts responded with the game on the line.
Now, it’s on to PW. Despite the fact that the two teams have not met up this season, there is some major familiarity dating back over the last few seasons. In 2014-15, Abington defeated PW in the district title game; last season, the Ghosts knocked off PW in both the SOL Tournament title game and in the district semifinals.
Abington has had PW’s number recently, but this Colonials squad is a whole different kind of monster, meaning something will definitely have to give on Saturday night.
“They’re undefeated, and we know that,” Heath said. “At the same time, we’ve been pretty successful against them. There are great players on both sides, so it will definitely be an exciting game.”
Lower Merion 8-19-16-18 61
Abington 15-17-16-24 72
Lower Merion (61) — Jack Forrest 21, Steve Payne 17, Darryl Taylor 9, Josh Martin 6, Harrison Klevan 5, Julian Hairston 3
Abington (72) — Robbie Heath 24, Eric Dixon 22, Lucas Monroe 11, Brandon Coffman 6, JP Nolan 5, Derek Sussman 4
#1 Plymouth Whitemarsh 68, #4 Central Bucks West 46
Naheem McLeod vividly remembered his last showdown with CB West, and it was not a fond recollection.
Sure, PW won its Feb. 12 clash against the Bucks in the SOL Tournament title game by a score of 62-41, but the 7-foot-2 McLeod had just six points. Even worse, he was getting pushed around in the post by CB West forward Jake Reichwein, and with the Bucks hanging around on the scoreboard for much of the game, PW head coach Jim Donofrio opted for a smaller, quicker lineup, which was effective in closing out the 21-point win.
There would be no such frustrations for PW’s towering junior this time around, as the Colonials fed McLeod early and often in a decisive first quarter. McLeod tallied 11 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter, outscoring the entire Bucks team by six points by himself.
The Colonials led 19-5 after one quarter and soon increased that to 24-5 early in the second. CB West never got closer than 12 the rest of the game.
“Honestly, I wanted them to know my name,” McLeod said. “Last time I had six points. I was frustrated and didn’t play much. They kept beating me to the back door, and I wasn’t contributing to my team. In that game, they used their strength to push me out, and I just wasn’t ready for it mentally or physically. Today, I just woke up and had my moment.”
McLeod has had himself lots of moments this season, and his emergence as a more polished big man has only added to PW’s senior-laden arsenal. It’s a big reason why the Colonials will head into Saturday’s district title game against Abington with an unblemished 27-0 record.
After watching his big man struggle against the Bucks two weeks ago, Donofrio was ecstatic to see McLeod rise to the occasion to be the dominant player everybody knows he can be.
“Two weeks ago, you could see it in his face,” Donofrio said. “Reichwein is a big, strong football player, and Na just missed his first couple shots and we ended up going with a small lineup. Tonight was a big challenge for him; it’s a big stage, and he likes big stages. With Na, there’s two choices: he has to raise his game and be the 7-foot-3, seriously talented, major Division-I prospect … or, we’re going small.”
There was no such need on Tuesday, as McLeod also plucked seven rebounds and made sure the Bucks were unable to have any success penetrating into the lane.
Like Abington’s Robbie Heath in the first game of the doubleheader, McLeod embraced the opportunity to make a difference playing on the floor of a major D-I college program, something he will get accustomed to doing with much more regularity following his senior season in 2018-19.
“I love playing at Temple,” he said. “The games are packed, everyone is screaming … even the CB West kids were screaming my name. It’s just wonderful. I’m loving the moment, and I’m going to keep embracing it until it’s over.”
Of course, McLeod had plenty of help. When you’re as good a team as PW is, there are numerous players who can slice and dice a team to death, and that was on full display on Tuesday.
McLeod was one of four Colonials to reach double digits in scoring — he was followed by Ahmad Williams’ 16, and Ish Horn and Alan Glover, who each had 10 apiece. The Bucks placed so much emphasis on trying to disrupt McLeod’s rhythm that it took the focus away from PW’s numerous other offensive weapons.
“When you have a guy like McLeod who commands so much attention, you lose your other defensive responsibilities,” West head coach Adam Sherman said. “Turnovers were a problem, we had some trouble communicating and they did a great job keeping us off balance and making things difficult for us. They threw our time and rhythm off.
“I thought we settled in eventually, but we dug ourselves too big of a hole. We’re not a team that’s going to go on huge runs, and we’re not able to turn a team like this over. The kind of team we have, we have to chip our way back into games. We were hoping to get it into single digits in the fourth and claw closer, but the hole we dug was too deep to recover from.”
The Bucks (21-6) will turn their focus to Friday’s third-place game against Lower Merion, and then after that, it will be on to the state tournament. Although Sherman’s group fell short in their first-ever district semifinals appearance, there’s still at least two games left to be played for his veteran, senior-heavy squad.
“We’ve been on the doorstep a few times,” Sherman said. “Two years ago, we lost in the quarters on a buzzer beater at PW, and two years prior to that we lost to Wissahickon on a buzzer beater in double overtime, also in the quarterfinals. We’ve had a lot of kids get close. It’s a great district for basketball, so this is a difficult loss.
“But we’re excited to play Lower Merion on Friday and try to get a ‘W,’ and we’re excited to go to states. It’s another chance for our seniors to play, and it’s always exciting to be playing basketball in March.”
And while Donofrio is certainly enjoying the ride, preparing for such a talented Abington team will be giving him nightmares all week, especially when considering PW’s recent slide against the Ghosts.
“We’re going to rest our legs a bit, get well-prepared and put everything we have into it,” he said. “We’ve played each other the last three years, and they’ve been successful in every one of them. I give them the advantage until we figure them out. Every year, the teams are subtly different. Last year, Ahmin was hurt, and Naheem had a lot of growing up to do between then and now, and he’s done that.
“I’m thrilled for the kids, because you never know when you’re going to get there. Many teams falter. I tell the kids that I’m like Chicken Little: for me, the sky is always falling as a coach. It’s a miserable way to live your existence, but that’s my job to take it off of them. We’re going to take a breath and reset a little. There’s something different about us this year — a certain purpose, a confidence, a toughness. It’s going to be a fun one on Saturday night.”
You don’t have to tell that to McLeod. He was already smiling ear-to-ear when the prospect of a battle with Abington junior big man Eric Dixon was brought up.
“Dixon, that’s going to be a crazy battle,” McLeod said. “We knew we were going to be playing each other in this game. It was just known. Number one versus number two … it’s going to be crazy.”
Central Bucks West 5-12-13-16 46
Plymouth Whitemarsh 19-10-14-25 68
CB West (46) — Jake Reichwein 10, Mika Munari 9, Collin MacAdams 8, Jack Mulhearn 6, Jack Neri 6, Stephen Delash 4, Connor Briece 3
PW (68) — Naheem McLeod 21, Ahmad Williams 16, Ish Horn 10, Alan Glover 10, Ahmin Williams 3, Anthony Straface 3, Caelin Peters 2, Danny Cooper 2, Kyree Pendleton 1
District One 6A Playback (5-8)
#6 Pennridge 61, #7 Norristown 51
The Rams took care of business early in Tuesday’s playback game, exploding for 20 first-quarter points and opening up a 20-4 lead. They took a 29-15 lead into halftime and upped that advantage to 47-28 heading into the final quarter when – with the outcome already decided – the Eagles closed it out with a 23-14 run.
Jon Post and Sean Yoder led the Rams with 18 points each. Yoder was 9-for-12 from the foul line on a night that saw the Rams take 31 trips to the charity stripe and connect on 19. Norristown, meanwhile, was just 3-for-6 from the foul line.
Also for the Rams, Tyrese Lewis scored 12 points, and Jake Pestrak added 10.
Pennridge (19-7, 9-3 SOL) will travel to fifth-seeded Coatesville on Friday night.
Norristown 4-11-13-23 51
Pennridge 20-9-18-14 61
Norristown (51) – Tubbs 5 1-1 13; Sanford 4 2-2 12; Dorman 1 0-0 2; Hopewell 1 0-0 2; Allen 10 0-3 20; Tate 1 0-0 2; Totals 21 3-6 51.
Pennridge (61) – Ryan Warner 1 1-2 3; Sean Yoder 4 9-12 18; Jake Pestrak 4 1-3 10; Tyrese Lewis 4 4-6 12; Jon Post 7 4-8 18; Totals 20 19-31 61.
3-point goals: Norristown – Tubbs 2, Sanford 2; Pennridge – Sean Yoder, Jake Pestrak.
District One Playback (9-10)
#1-16 Bensalem 55, #1-12 Downingtown East 47 (OT)
Ward Roberts scored nine of his game-high 22 points in overtime, propelling the Owls to a dramatic road win that gave the team a coveted berth in the state tournament. It is the program’s first trip to states since 2011.
“We said it coming in – we’re trying to build a program and do it right,” said coach Mike McCabe, who is in his third year at the helm. “Our kids have responded, there’s no doubt.”
Tuesday’s win came on the heels of a win over Downingtown West in Friday’s playback contest.
“Here we go again – it doesn’t get easier every time you get a new team,” McCabe said. “To beat both of them and East out there, I said to our kids in the locker room – I’m just so proud of them.
“We had a seven-point lead going down the stretch, and we blew that. They tied the game up, and we held them for the last 17 seconds to put it in overtime. We actually got the ball back with 1.7 seconds, but we couldn’t really do anything.”
The Owls scored the first basket in overtime, and they were off and running, outscoring their hosts 10-2 in OT.
“We scored the first two and then we got a defensive stop, held the ball, got some easy baskets and then went to the foul line,” McCabe said. “We’ve been through this over and over, and it just seems we gut it out.
“These kids are really resilient, and it just goes to show – they were so determined to make the playoffs and so determined to get into states. I said, ‘Look, you know Downingtown East has never been there, so they’re shooting for the stars. They have the home game,’ but really, I didn’t feel there was pressure on us. We played well down the stretch, possessed it for a good amount of time. They fouled us, we got to the line and made a lot of foul shots down the stretch.”
The Owls, who trailed by one after one quarter, took a 21-19 lead into halftime but found themselves deadlocked with the Cougars heading into the final quarter. Both teams scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for overtime.
James Lieble added 15 points for the Owls, and Taco Douglas had 10.
Not to be ignored was the defensive effort of the Owls, who held a Cougar squad that scored 86 in Saturday’s win over Central Bucks East to under 50 points.
Bensalem (17-9, 7-5 SOL) will host Neshaminy in an All-SOL National contest on Friday.
“We’re looking forward to playing Neshaminy again at home,” McCabe said. “It will be fun. For both programs, we’re coming out of the National Conference, and we’re representing the league well.”
Bensalem 10-11-12-12-10 55
Downingtown East 11-8-14-12-2 47
Bensalem (55) – Taco Douglas 10, Ward Roberts 22, Keith Parrish 5, James Leible 15, Nick Fossile 3.
Downingtown East (47) – Malik Slay 16, Corey Hernandez 4, Nate Robertson 9, Andrew Mujica 4, Tariq Kalim 7, Andrew King 7.
#1-18 Neshaminy 59, #1-14 Conestoga 55
There’s nothing quite like a fast start to silence the home crowd. The Redskins silenced the Conestoga fans by putting on a clinic from long range in the opening quarter. Chris Arcidiacono buried four shots from beyond the arc and Anthony Papeo sank a pair as the visiting Redskins raced to a 20-7 lead after one quarter.
“We jumped out on them real quick,” coach Mark Tingle said. “We were hot really early.”
By halftime, Arcidiacono had 22 of his game-high 33 points, and the Redskins had connected on eight three-pointers. They led 38-25 at the intermission – it would have been 16, but the Pioneers hit a three at the buzzer.
The Pioneers outscored their visitors 13-6 to make it a 44-38 game heading into the final frame.
“We went cold in the third quarter,” Tingle said. “They threw two guys at Chris. We were taking bad shots, rushed shots, and we weren’t making anything.
“But then we came back alive in the fourth quarter – made free throws, made some timely layups when they were jumping us.”
The win vaulted the Redskins into the state tournament for the first time since the Ryan Arcidiacono era that saw the team advance to states in back-to-back years (2010 and 2011). It is only the fifth time in school history the program has advanced to states.
“This means a lot,” Tingle said. “We have seven seniors so it means a ton for them. A lot of work ws put in the last two years while I’ve been there and just in general.”
Papeo finished with 12 points – eight in the first half. He also had four rebounds and three assists.
“Anthony had to handle the ball a lot, and I thought he played a really, really good game,” Tingle said.
Arcidiacono also had seven rebounds and four assists. Danny Bodine added eight points, five rebounds and three assists.
“He stepped up, altering shots,” Tingle said of the 6-8 Bodine.
Neshaminy (16-9, 7-5 SOL) will travel to Bensalem on Friday night for a playback game.
“We play Bensalem, and hopefully, we can get a win there for the nine seed, and we’ll see where we’re at,” Tingle said.
Neshaminy 20-18-6-15 59
Conestoga 7-18-13-17 55
Neshaminy (59) – Chris Arcidiacono 9 10-11 33; Anthony Papeo 4 1-3 12; Danny Bodine 1 6-8 8; Greg Deluca 2 0-0 4; Charles Dominick 1 0-0 2; Totals 17 17-22 59.
Conestoga (55) – S.Scott 4 0-0 9; Lezanic 4 5-6 15; Robinson 1 0-0 2; Mcillin 3 0-0 6 Medley 2 2-2 6; Martin 1 0-0 2; Schappell 4 1-1 9; Erickson 3 0-0 6; Totals 22 8-9 55.
3-point goals: Neshaminy – Chris Arcidiacono 5, Anthony Papeo 3; Coonestoga – Lezanic 2, S.Scott.
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