Abington and Pennridge were both winners in Saturday's opening round of the PIAA 6A State Tournament. Abington/Cumberland Valley photos provided courtesy of Geanine Jamison. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1-1 Abington 69, #3-6 Cumberland Valley 44
Lucas Monroe's best skill is that he has a lot of skills.
In the third quarter of Saturday’s PIAA 6A opener at Council Rock South, the 6-foot-6 wing elevated into the air, snaring a rebound mid-air before pushing the ball up the floor. With players running up the floor around him, Monroe scanned his surroundings quickly, spotted a lane and attacked.
The end result was Monroe rising up at the other basket and slamming home a dunk as part of a game-breaking 15-1 Ghosts run.
"Look how athletic he is, he’s 6-7, he’s long and he can get those boards,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. "I felt we could hurt them with our size and our length, so we had to put him in the high post. We let Eric (Dixon) work the low post and (Lucas) was picking his spots."
Dixon and Monroe each scored 24 points, and both seniors posted double-digit rebounds as part of a high-low post wrecking crew. Monroe had a career-high 16 rebounds, eight on the offensive end while Dixon cleaned up 12 misses, seven offensive, while surpassing the 1,000 rebound mark for his career.
Cumberland Valley came out shooting and hitting most of its shots as it swung hard and high trying to get the District I champions staggering. With a proficiency not seen in preparation on Abington's end, the Eagles almost put the Ghosts on the ropes in the first half.
Almost.
“It’s kind of funny because coming into the game we thought one of their weaknesses was their shooting, so we thought we could try to play it closer and force them to shoot threes, and it obviously wasn’t working,” Monroe said. “In the second half, we strapped down a lot better. We kind of threw out the game plan and decided to get out on their shooters. Eric did a great job of helping and guys were stepping in.”
The Eagles, who came in as the sixth seed out of District 3, re-wrote the scouting report with a shooting performance so prolific it actually broke the net in pregame warm-ups. Once a replacement net went up, CV shot 7-of-12 from 3-point territory in the first half.
Consecutive threes by Dylan Bazulka to open the second quarter put the Eagles up 23-20, and if the fans packing the Abington side of bleachers were worried, the guys on the floor weren't. Even with Dixon again biding his time in a zone with the threat of a double-team coming every time he touched the ball and the Ghosts' outside shots not falling, Abington didn't get rattled.
“They were on fire, they made shots and came out with a lot of energy,” Ghosts coach Charles Grasty said. “I thought our rotations were bad. We tried to double and speed them up a little bit, our rotations were slow and they hit the open man and knocked down shots.”
Abington went right back in front when Monroe completed a traditional three-point play, giving the Ghosts a 26-23 lead they held the rest of the way.
While the Ghosts took a seven-point edge into the break, they knew their defense was going to have to be sharper in the second half. It was a pride thing for Abington.
“We take pride in our man-to-man defense,” Monroe said. “We take pride in being able to play defense and strap guys up, so I think we went back to that. We’ve done it all year, and it worked in the second half.”
After the Eagles got a putback to start the second half, Dixon converted another three-point play to start the 15-1 run.
Monroe, Maurice Henry, Manir Waller and Darious Brown got busy keeping their marks in front of them with Dixon providing backup with just his presence. CV's looks dried up, and the Eagles only made one 3-pointer in seven second-half attempts.
"When we're playing like that – everyone moving in one motion and getting our rotations right, we feel like we're hard to beat," Dixon said.
The dunk by Monroe was the exclamation point and the senior's slam off a Dixon feed in the fourth quarter kicked off a 9-0 spurt that officially put the game on ice.
“We complement each other well,” Dixon said. “Him being a 6-7 guard, he’s hard to stop on his own. You put me on the block, or both of us at the same time, I feel like it’s a difficult task for a defense.”
The Ghosts will face Pennridge in Wednesday's second round. It will be the fourth meeting between the two SOL squads this season.
EXTRA SHOTS: Dixon is just the second player in program history to surpass the 1,000-rebound mark. Only Robert “Piper” Harvey has more with 1,101…Monroe also had four assists and now has 416 for his career, which is second all-time in program history. He trails only Matt Penecale (2015), who has 453. Both Monroe (112) and Maurice Henry (114) have surpassed the 100-assist mark for the season…Brown, who had a pair of threes, now has 40 made 3-pointers on the season, a noteworthy number since he only had seven after 11 games…Waller added six rebounds for the Ghosts.
Abington 20-16-17-16 69
Cumberland Valley 17-12-8-7 44
Abington (69) – Eric Dixon 10 4-4 24, Lucas Monroe 10 4-6 24, Darious Brown 3 2-2 10, Manir Waller 2 1-2 5, Maurice Henry 0 1-2 1, Howie Burrell 0 2-2 2, Jason Scott 1 0-0 3, Nick Zappone 0 0-1 0. Totals: 26 14-19 69
Cumberland Valley (44) – Harris Vorwald 6 0-1 15, Dylan Bazulka 4 1-2 12, Ethan Levis 4 0-0 10, Ty Banach 1 0-0 2, Ben Drury 1 0-0 2, Chris Wickens 1 0-0 2, Max Kreusky 0 1-2 1. Totals: 17 2-5 44
3-pointers: A – Brown 2; CV – Bazulka 3, Vorwald 3, Levis 2.
#1-4 Pennridge 49, #12-3 Abraham Lincoln 45
A state win is reason for any team to celebrate. A state win over the defending state runner-up in its own backyard – that’s even better.
“We won a state game – that’s huge,” coach Dean Behrens said. “And we won – which I thought was impressive – in the city, in a different environment than we’re used to playing in against a very athletic, long Abraham Lincoln team that has a couple guys left over from last year’s big run.
“Three of their kids were from that team, so they have experience. Their guard play with (Eimeuel) Charleston and (Shaquill) Bender – they were a pretty good combo.”
The Rams fell behind 14-10 after one quarter and trailed 20-17 at the intermission.
“We zoned them to start – they hit four threes, and I’m like – you’ve got to be kidding,” Behrens said. “Then we went to man, and we did a real good job and held them to six points in the second quarter, but we struggled scoring too.
“So we were down 20-17 at the half, and I said, ‘Fellows, they hit four threes and only scored 20 – this is great.’”
The Rams came out of halftime and outscored the Railsplitters 13-5 in the third quarter to go on top 30-25, but closing out the game was anything but easy.
“In the third quarter, we really played well, we moved the ball well,” Behrens said. “I thought Trent Fisher gave us a real good run in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter.
“We went up seven early in the fourth quarter but then we started turning the ball over at some crucial times. Give Abraham Lincoln credit – they hit foul shots. Charleston just really got to the basket and did some damage, and they went up three.
“With about two minutes left, Luke Yoder hit a three in the corner to tie it up. We got a backcourt violation on them, Sean Yoder gets fouled and hits two foul shots. Jack Gillepie iced the game with about a second-and-a-half left when he hit two foul shots.”
The Rams were 8-of-12 from the foul line in the fourth quarter. Sean Yoder scored seven points in the frame, including 5-of-6 at the charity stripe. Gillespie converted 3-of-4 at the line.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Behrens said. “I thought both teams played with their hearts out. It was a physical game.
“For us to beat Lincoln in the city, I thought it was a big win. I know they’re only 10-17, but they’re not a 10-17 team. They play a brutal schedule. They started the game out – they went 6-9, 6-7, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0. They can just roll big guys off the bench. They’re huge, and they can pound the glass.
“I thought Sean (Yoder), Jon Post and Luke Yoder did a real good job rebounding the ball, and Trent Fisher played very well tonight. He got a lot of rebounds. The way Trent played tonight was a big lift for us. He struggled the past couple of games.”
Sean Yoder led a balanced Ram attack with 15 points, which included a 7-for-9 effort at the foul line. John Dominic added nine points, and Luke Yoder had seven. Jack Gillespie chipped in six points.
The Rams capped a memorable day with a stop at Pat’s Steaks after the game.
“We really enjoyed that,” Behrens said. “Our bus driver did an amazing job of getting us down the tight streets of Philly.”
Saturday’s state win was the first for all the members of this year’s squad. The Rams first and only other state win came in 2015 when they defeated Reading.
Pennridge (24-5, 11-1 SOL) will face Abington for the fourth time this season in Wednesday’s second round.
Pennridge 10-7-13-19 49
Abraham Lincoln 14-6-5-20 45
Pennridge (49) – Luke Yoder 2 1-4 7; John Dominic 4 0-0 9; Sean Yoder 4 7-9 15; Trent Fisher 4 0-0 8, Jack Gillespie 1 3-4 6; Jon Post 1 2-2 4; TOTALS 16 13-19 49.
Abraham Lincoln (45) – Eimeuel Charleston 8 4-6 22; Shaquil Bender 3 1-2 9; Sahmir Williamson 0 1-2 1; Naji Reid 1 0-0 3; Aseem Lucky 3 2-2 8; Patrick Obogo 1 0-0 2; TOTALS 16 8-12 45.
3-pointers: Pennridge – Luke Yoder 2, John Dominic, Jack Gillespie, Lincoln – Eimeuel Charleston 2, Shaquil Bender 2, Naji Reid.
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