Abington notched an important non-league win on Wednesday.
Non-league
ABINGTON 59, PENN WOOD 41
Two down, two to go.
With four games in four days to close out the regular season, the Ghosts came into the week knowing they undoubtedly would have to win out if they entertain any thoughts of competing in the District One 6A Tournament.
So far, they’ve been taking care of their business, defeating Plymouth Whitemarsh in overtime on Tuesday and then coming back on Wednesday to knock off a Penn Wood squad that is 15th in the latest district power rankings.
“That’s all we can do,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but we have two left. We’re going to try and keep going. Hopefully, it’s not too late.
“I’m not going to try to understand the rankings. We told our guys, ‘Let’s just keep plugging away.’ We’re not going to worry about that stuff. We’re just going to play.”
The Ghosts – with Villanova star and former Abington standout Eric Dixon in attendance – took control from the outset, opening up a 15-6 lead after one quarter and upping that to 31-19 at halftime.
“They’re good,” Grasty said of Penn Wood. “They’re long, they play hard. We were able to jump out on them a little early, and once we jumped out on them, our guys just kept going.
“We got a lot of deflections. They weren’t necessarily steals, just deflections where they couldn’t get easy scoring opportunities, so I thought that helped us.”
The Ghosts never let the visiting Patriots get back in the game, rolling to the convincing win.
Derrius Lucas had an impressive double-double – his third of the season, finishing with 24 points and 10 rebounds. He also drew a charge and had a pair of blocks.
On the heels of scoring the game-winner in the Ghosts’ double overtime win over Plymouth Whitemarsh, Jeremiah Lee scored 18 points, which included four 3-pointers. He also had eight rebounds – four offensive, four steals and two blocked shots.
“Jeremiah Lee came out super aggressive,” Grasty said. “It was the most aggressive I’ve seen him come out. We were really happy to see that.”
Fhenyx Scutt also finished in double figures with 10 points. Connor Fields pulled down a career best 11 rebounds, and Jimmy Marino did not score, but he handed out seven assists and had just one turnover. He also had four rebounds.
“Jimmy ran our offense the way we like him to run it,” Grasty said. “He could have taken some shots, but you know what – he made the right pass. He set up our guys. Seven assists is at least 14 points. He could have forced or chucked a couple of shots, but he made the right pass.”
The Ghosts were 23-for-60 from the field (38.3 percent). They were 8-for-20 from beyond the arc (40 percent), and they were 5-for-12 at the foul line (41.6 percent). Abington had 40 rebounds – 15 offensive.
Abington (12-8, 9-5 SOL) will host Quakertown on Thursday. The Ghosts will close out the regular season on Friday at Hatboro-Horsham.
Penn Wood 6-13-15-7 41
Abington 15-16-16-12 59
Penn Wood (41) – Sahmir Massenburg 4 2-4 11; Evan Borward 6 4-4 16; Mekhi Shillingford 3 2-5 8; Naeem Purnell 1 0-1 2; Sadiq Fountain 1 0-0 2; Kelvin Crawford 1 0-0 2; Chris Taylor 0-1 0. TOTALS 16 8-15 41.
Abington (59) – Connor Fields 2 1-3 5; Fhenyx Scutt 4 1-1 10; Jeremiah Lee 7 0-4 18; Elijah Louis-Benjamin 0 2-2 2; Derrius Lucas 10 1-2 24; TOTALS 23 5-12 59.
3-point goals: Penn Wood – Sahmir Massenburg; Abington – Jeremiah Lee 4, Derrius Lucas 3, Fhenyx Scutt.
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