Charles Grasty grew up an avid fan of Abington basketball
“I remember coming to the games and sitting in the front row when I was in elementary school,” the Abington coach said. “Instead of concentrating on school, I’m thinking about going to the Abington basketball game.”
The Ghosts’ first-year coach is hoping to bring that passion back for community youngsters.
“We want to reach out to the younger kids,” Grasty said. “We want to get the elementary schools involved, and we want to get the community involved.
“We want our kids to go out in the community and show their faces – do positive things. That’s a start as far as changing the atmosphere.”
Not that the atmosphere has been bad at Abington. It hasn’t. Last year, the Ghosts closed out the season a respectable 11-11 and earned a berth in districts, but Grasty wants more than that. He wants to return to the days when Abington was a Suburban One power.
The rookie head coach – an assistant the last five years - played basketball at Abington under legendary coach Jim Wilkinson and was part of teams that advanced to states in both his sophomore and senior years.
“To come back to your old school to teach and coach and then to be offered the head coaching job – coming back and being able to coach in the same building is like a dream come true,” Grasty said. “The first goal obviously is to change the whole atmosphere.
“The last five years haven’t been too successful. We don’t feel like we’re in a rebuilding year, but we want to have some success. We want to turn it around, get back to Abington style basketball.”
Grasty has eager students.
“It’s actually been exciting because it’s a new thing and a new atmosphere,” said sophomore Jordan Simmons. “It fits our team, it fits the players. I like the atmosphere.
“Getting the young kids involved is very important because a year or two from now the young kids are going to be coming up. They’re going to have to run the offense with us, and they might as well learn it now. Our coach has done a good job of helping our team get used to it and not getting on us much when we make mistakes.”
Mistakes, according to Grasty, have plagued the Ghosts in the early going.
“Turnovers have been killing us,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with the style of play we’re choosing to play. We’re up and down the court – you’re going to have turnovers, but we have to limit them.”
The Ghosts are 4-6 with five of their losses coming to teams that have a combined 32-5 record.
“We’re playing tough teams, and yes, we made some mistakes and probably could have won at least one of the games, but it shows what we need to work on,” senior captain Vince Tranquillo said. “At points, we have been able to compete with them. We just need to keep working hard and limiting our mental mistakes.”
“We’re getting experience, and it’s going to help us down the line,” Grasty added. “I’m honest with the players. This is a really tough league. We have Neshaminy and Rock North who are the top two teams maybe in the district.
“I feel like in this league anybody can win on any given night. Rock North and Neshaminy are playing the best basketball right now, but that doesn’t say they can’t be beat.”
For now, the Ghosts are taking small steps with the hopes that the glory days of the past are not too far down the road.
“He’s reminding us of the past and how Abington used to be a winning team, and he wants to bring that back,” senior Julian Keys said. “When I was growing up, Abington hasn’t really been winning, but I heard in the past they had always been a winning team.
“It’s important to get the young kids involved because some kids leave the program in junior high to go to private school. They should get the little kids involved in Abington basketball.”
Tranquillo echoed that sentiment.
“I think it’s a good thing to get the young kids involved because then they have something to look forward to,” the senior captain said. “When I was younger, I went to basketball camps at Abington. I had always been a basketball fan, and I have always been excited to get to high school and be on the team.
“I went to games and thought how much fun it would be to be out there starting and playing.”
On Friday night, the Ghosts will face a Council Rock South squad that also has struggled. Both teams say it is pretty close to a must-win.
“This is very big,” Simmons said. “All the games we played but one – the teams were beatable. Us saying, ‘These teams that are beating us are good’ is not cutting it any more. We have to start tonight.
“We have to cut down the mental mistakes. Physically, we’ve a very good team, and we have spurts where we look like a very good team, but mentally – that’s where we struggle. It’s either now or never for us to get started.”
“This game is very important,” Keys added. “This game could be the spark to have a winning season, or it could be the downfall of our season. We need to win to get us rolling in our conference.
“We need to capitalize, play smart and we can’t turn the ball over. The chemistry is getting there. There’s room for improvement, but from the beginning of the season to now, we became a family.”
“We have a good team,” Tranquillo said. “If we can just keep working on the team aspect and if we can work together, I think we’ll have a chance to beat some of the teams we face.”
Come what may, the players – according to Grasty – have made his job easy.
“They’re fun,” the rookie coach said. “It’s easy to go to the gym. I look forward to it. I know we’re struggling right now, but it’s fun.”
D.J. McFadden – who leads the Ghosts with a 12.3 PPG average – is hobbled with an injury and is not expected to start. Wesley Rines is coming off an all-tournament performance over the holiday break and averages 11.8 PPG. Tranquillo is not far behind at 9.1 points a game.
“People know D.J. McFadden’s name, they know Wesley Rines’ name,” Grasty said. “But they don’t understand how hard Julian Keys works at practice. Vince Tranquillo is a captain and he leads by example – he’s always first in suicides.
“Our seniors know they’re a major part of how well we do.”
***
On the opposite side of the court is a Council Rock South team also looking for a win after a 4-5 start.
“Every game is an important game, but for us this game is important because we’re on a little bit of a slide,” said coach John Easterly. “We lost two games in our Christmas Tournament and lost to Neshaminy, so it’s very important we come out strong against them.”
Justin Miller has been a workhorse for the Golden Hawks. The senior forward is averaging 12 points and seven rebounds a game. Pat Silverthorn averages nine points while Christian Crane is averaging seven points and P.J. Gallo, six points and seven rebounds.
“Justin has been very consistent for us this year,” Easterly said. “It’s hard to ask more of him. Every game he’s almost getting a double-double with rebounds and points.
“We need to be most consistent from the outside. We’re struggling from the outside, and we need to improve on our shooting. That’s something we’ve been working on in practice. My hope is the boys start knocking down some of their shots. They’ve been working hard, and they’ll start falling.”
While the Golden Hawks have struggled offensively, they have been throwing some serious defense at opponents. Their opponents are scoring an average of 48 points a game while shooting a tepid 31 percent from the field. They’re also out-rebounding their opponents 33-27.
Unfortunately, the Hawks have also averaged just 48 points a game and are shooting just 40 percent from the field.
“Our defense and rebounding have been consistent,” said Easterly. “We can build on that, but it’s hard to keep asking your defense to bail you out. At some point, you have to put the ball in the basket to win games.
“A perfect example is defensively against Neshaminy in the first quarter we held them to seven points. The problem was we only scored two. The key for us right now is we have to continue to do what we do well and improve on those things that we need to improve on.”
Game time is 7 p.m. at Abington. Stay tuned.
Just the Facts
Last year’s record: Abington 11-11, Council Rock South 7-14
This year’s record: Abington 1-2 SOL (4-6 overall), Council Rock South 1-2 SOL (4-5 overall)
Last meeting: Feb. 2, 2010 – Abington 61, Council Rock South 51
Last game: Pennsbury 67, Abington 59 (Wesley Rines – 20 points, Vince Tranquillo – 14 points)
Neshaminy 54, Council Rock South 33 (Justin Thomas – 14 points)
Abington
Projected starters and season averages
#5 – Wesley Rines (6-2, Sr., Guard) 11.8 PPG, 4.4 rebounds
#22 – Vincent Tranquillo (6-2, Sr., Guard/Forward) 9.1 PPG, 3.1 rebounds
#23 – Jordan Simmons (6-2, Soph., Guard) 6.4 PPG, 1.1 rebounds
#30 – Mike Travor (6-3, Jr., Forward/Center 2.2 PPG, 3.2 rebounds
#32 - Julian Keys (6-5, Sr., Center) 5.5 PPG, 6.5 rebounds
The rest of the Ghosts:
#2 – Joshua Lee (5-9, Jr., Guard/Forward)
#3 – Darian McFadden (6-2, Sr., Guard/Forward) 12.3 PPG, 5.5 rebounds
#4 – Jiere Morrisey (6-1, Soph., Guard) 5.5 PPG, 3.1 rebounds
#10 – Harrell Haneef (6-0, Jr., Guard) 2.1 PPG
#11 – Jordan Monroe (6-0, Sr., Guard) 5.2 PPG, 2.2 rebounds
#12 – Anthony Lee (5-8, Fr., Guard)
#24 – Dillon Tranquillo (5-9, Soph., Guard)
#33 – Tom Kennedy (5-9, Jr., Guard)
#34 – Nate Dixon (6-0, Jr., Forward)
#41 – Chris Ruhl (6-3, Jr., Forward/Center) 1.5 PPG, 2.2 rebounds
Council Rock South
Projected starters and season averages
#4 – Mike Dipaolo (5-11, Sr., Guard)
#5 – Christian Crane (5-10, Soph., Guard) 7 PPG
#15 – Pat Silverthorn (6-0, Sr., Guard) 9 PPG
#23 – Justin Thomas (6-3, Sr., Forward) 12 PPG, 7 rebounds
#25 – P.J. Gallo (6-3, Jr., Forward) 6 PPG, 7 rebounds
The rest of the Golden Hawks:
#3 – Zach Fitzgerald (5-10, Jr., Guard)
#11 – Mike Brightcliffe (6-5, Jr., Forward)
#21 – Nick Cocco (5-10, Jr., Guard)
#32 – Jason Tannenbaum (6-3, Sr., Forward)
#44 – Andrew Cohen (6-3, Jr., Forward)
#45 – Jim Ivers (6-6, Sr., Forward)
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