Norristown was the lone SOL team to survive the opening round of the PIAA Tournament. To view photos of the Abington/St. Joe’s Prep game, please visit the Photo Gallery.
(12-3) ST JOE’S PREP 48, (1-3) ABINGTON 33
By Mike Prince, Sportswriter
WARMINSTER - For the second consecutive year, Abington made history during the regular season and district playoffs, but for the second consecutive year, the Ghosts saw their season end in the first game of the state tournament.
In what was a disappointing end to the season for Abington, which was without star senior Jordan Simmons, it was St. Joseph’s Prep that sent the Ghosts packing. The Hawks received 27 points from Stephen Vesturia en route to a 48-33 win in a PIAA Class AAAA first round playoff at William Tennent High School on Saturday afternoon.
Though Abington managed to fight and claw its way back into the game late in the third quarter, the Ghosts were unable to contain Vesturia, whose size and three-point shooting ultimately did Abington in.
“It was a team decision (to have Jordan not play),” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “Jordan would’ve helped us a lot. We missed him, and he would’ve guarded Vesturia.”
Abington junior Anthony Lee did his best to step in and fill the role from an offensive standpoint, but defensively, the Ghosts’ lack of size in one-on-one situations was too much to overcome.
“We missed Jordan a lot today,” said Lee, who added four rebounds and two steals to his team-high 13 points. “He puts in a lot of hard work, and we had to try to trap (Prep). We just weren’t getting back on defense, but we kept up our effort. We just weren’t fully there.”
Trailing 20-13 at the half, the Ghosts made a late third quarter push, pulling to within three at 30-27 at the end of the period. Early in the fourth, the Ghosts made it a one-point game, but the Hawks (22-5) would end the game on an 18-4 run – which included a 10-0 tear to end the contest – to come out with the convincing victory.
“We got it to one, but we took a couple bad shots,” Grasty said. “We gave up a couple easy looks for them, and we didn’t go very deep into our bench, so we might’ve been fatigued, but St. Joe’s Prep is very good and you have to come fully prepared against them. They forced us to take tough shots and they were able to capitalize.”
“We’re keeping our heads up and we know we just had a great two years in a row,” Lee said.
Abington, which won the Suburban One National Conference this year for the first time since 2003, finished with a record of 41-14 over the past two seasons, including two trips to the District One semifinals.
“I just told the guys in there to keep their heads up,” Grasty said. “It was a great two-year run. We told our seniors that there is nothing to hang their heads about. We just lost to a very good Prep team, and we won our league this year and we had a fun run. There is nothing to hang our heads about at all.”
In the loss, senior Anthony Durham added 10 points and three rebounds, while sophomor
e Matt Penecale recorded four points, three rebounds and a steal. Senior Jiere Morrisey chipped in with four points, three rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
Penecale will be the lone regular starter to return to next year’s team, while Lee should also be a major contributor for the Ghosts.
St. Joseph’s Prep (48) – Vesturia 7 9-10 27; Overton 1 2-4 4; Clover 1 1-3 3; Kelly 3 3-3 10; Nedball 0 0-0 0; Sherry 1 0-2 2; Thompson 1 0-0 2. Totals: 14 15-22 48.
Abington (33) – Durham 2 6-6 10; Lee 4 2-2 13; Penecale 2 0-0 4; Morrisey 1 2-5 4; Gibson 1 0-0 2; Bond 0 0-0 0; Stewart 0 0-0 0; Griffin 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 10-15 33.
Three-point goals: Vesturia 4, Kelly; Anthony 3.
St. Joseph’s Prep 9 13 8 18—48
Abington 8 5 14 6—33
(1-9) NORRISTOWN 79, (12-1) ROMAN CATHOLIC 66
Don’t be fooled by their seed.
The Eagles might be the ninth place team out of District One, but they looked the part of one of the state’s elite teams in Saturday’s win over the District 12 champion Cahillites.
“We came out ready to play,” coach Mike Evans said. “The kids executed real well tonight.”
The Eagles received a pair of stellar performances from seniors Luke Kelley and Josh Johnson. Kelly led all scorers with 28 points to go along with six assists while Johnson finished with 18 points and was a monster under the backboards, pulling down 21 rebounds. Eight of those came on the offensive end where he turned them into 10 points. He also had six blocked shots.
“Josh was phenomenal tonight,” Evans said. “He controlled the whole (paint) area.
“We always go to Luke, and he just did a great job. He played well tonight.”
The Eagles served notice that they were a force to be reckoned with in a first quarter that saw them outscore the Cahillites 28-18. By halftime, the Eagles led 43-29. The Eagles were in command the rest of the way..
“They fought hard, they played hard,” Evans said. “Everybody rebounded. They played four quarters of basketball.”
Jahbri Hargrove and Bernard Gordon both added 10 points on a night that saw the Eagles put four players in double figures. Marquis Bryant added nine points.
The Eagles (24-4) will face Coatesville in a second round game on Wednesday. Coatesville, the fifth place team from district one, edged JP McCaskey 52-51.
(3-1) HARRISBURG 87, (1-10) CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 41
For one quarter, the Titans hung with the District Three champions, trailing by just a 14-13 score at the end of one frame, but Harrisburg outscored South 57-23 over the next two quarters on its way to the big win.
Dan Giaquinto led the Titans with eight points while Kevin Raymond added seven and Chase Vonder Schmalz and Ricky Dennis, six points each.
The Titans closed out the season with an 18-11 record.
(3-4) SUSQUEHANNA 62, (1-1) UPPER MORELAND 42 (Friday, March 8)
The Golden Bears were without their undisputed leader in Friday’s state opener. Senior point guard Matt Kohn was sidelined with a wrist injury he sustained in last Saturday’s district title win.
Kohn’s absence took its toll.
The Golden Bears, despite their struggles, managed to keep it close for a while, trailing 8-5 at the end of one quarter, but their fate was all but sealed when Susquehanna went on a 23-4 second quarter tear to go into halftime with a 31-9 lead. The Golden Bears recuperated to score 33 points in the second half, but the outcome had long since been decided.
Senior Mark Williams led the Bears with 13 points while Kevin McFall and James Martin both added eight points.
The Golden Bears closed out their season with a 14-12 record.
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