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By Nate Oxman
After the first quarter of Friday’s District One Class AAAA playoff opener, it was clear who was going to carry the load offensively for both Neshaminy and Abington.
Rising sophomore guard Ryan Arcidiacono doused the Ghosts’ zone defense right from the jump, burying three three-point buckets en route to all 15 of his team’s first-quarter points.
For the Ghosts, senior forward Jaymes Miller was doing all he could to keep pace, contributing six of his team’s 11 points in the period.
The key question was: who else was going to step up and ease the burden off the backs of Arcidiacono and Miller?
The answer for the Redskins was sophomore guard Tyler Katz, who scored the first six Redskins’ points in the second period and poured in 15 for the game.
“That kid just lit us up,” said Miller of Arcidiacono. “It was really hard to play any kind of defense when he was pulling up from like 25 feet. That was crazy.
“Then we tried to switch up our defense, but that didn’t work. We tried to go back [to zone]. It was really tough because he can do so many things, and when we started focusing more on him, the other guys stepped up.”
For the first nine minutes, it appeared the answer for the Ghosts would be senior forward Jeff Rowley, who tallied the first five Ghosts’ points in the game, and eight of their first 14 overall.
But Rowley remained scoreless thereafter, and the other three starters combined to score just two points as the seventh-seeded host Redskins cruised to a 59-41 win over the 26th-seeded Ghosts.
“How about Arc [Arcidiacono] coming out and scoring the first 15?” said Abington coach Tony Hall. “He was the best player on the floor and he’s the best player in our league, hands down.
“Great players come out in these games and they show their merit and he did that tonight. I thought defensively he put us in the position where we had to switch a lot and try some different stuff, but their guard play was just way better than our guard play, and as you know at this level, as with any level, guard play wins.”
It was the third meeting of the season for these two Suburban One National Conference foes and the third win for the Redskins, who also won 51-31 at Abington back on Dec. 18 and 53-47 at home on Jan. 22.
The Ghosts were doomed by 17 turnovers on the night, which the Redskins turned into 21 points.
Three of those turnovers came in the opening quarter and helped Arcidiacono settle into a nice rhythm. The first led to a 15-foot pull-up jumper, the second he converted into a pretty one-handed scoop after splitting the two defenders at the top of the Ghosts’ zone, and the third he turned into a deep three from the wing that put the Redskins ahead 15-11 after the first.
“Our strength on our team is our guards,” said Arcidiacono. “We like to pressure. We like to play full court. Our defense leads to our offense. We tried to pressure them and get easy buckets when we can in transition because that’s when we’re at our best.”
The Redskins stretched their lead to 24-14 with five minutes, 59 seconds to play in the first half after another Ghosts’ turnover turned into a three from senior guard Steve Warhola—the team’s fifth made three in its first seven attempts.
The lead was 26-14 before Miller ended the half with five straight points to trim the margin to seven at 26-19.
The Ghosts’ turnover woes continued in the third as they began the quarter with five consecutive gaffs, resulting in a 10-0 Redskins’ run in the first two minutes that gave them their largest lead of the game at 36-19.
Despite the inspired play from the 6-foot-6 Miller, the Ghosts were never able to recover. He put on an impressive show in the final quarter of his final high school game, finishing beautifully with his left hand on a fast break, stepping outside and coolly canning two three’s, and converting a tough baseline drive for two.
Miller finished with a game-high 27 points.
“Coach Hall told me before the game that this is the playoffs and I have to take over the game,” said Miller. “I heard people on the sidelines saying, ‘Jaymes, take over right now. Let’s go.’ So I did. It just wasn’t enough.”
The Ghosts never drew closer than 11 as Arcidiacono, who was held to just two points in the second and third quarters combined, and the Redskins were able to break the Ghosts’ full-court pressure and finish with easy baskets.
Arcidiacono added nine points in the final frame to finish with 26 as the Redskins (16-7, 10-4 SOL National) advanced to a second-round home game on Tuesday vs. 10th-seeded Wissahickon (18-5), a 47-44 winner on Friday over 23rd-seeded Central Bucks West.
Abington ended its season at 11-12, 8-6 in SOL National play.
NESHAMINY 59, ABINGTON 41
Abington (41)—Piunti 0 0-0 0; Rines 1 0-0 2; Tranquillo 0 0-0 0; Rowley 3 0-0 8; Miller 11 3-5 27; Ellison 0 0-0 0; Monroe 2 0-0 4; Peoples 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 3-5 41.
Neshaminy (59)—Warhola 1 2-2 5; Arcidiacono 9 5-7 26; Katz 6 2-4 15; Williams 1 4-4 6; McGarry 3 1-2 7; Marterella 0 0-0 0; Baron; Schafer 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 14-19 59.
Three-point goals: Fowler 2, Miller 2; Arcidiacono 3, Katz 2, Warhola
Abington 11 8 8 14—41
Neshaminy 15 11 12 21—59
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