City of Basketball Love

Ty Daubert (@TyDaubert)
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PLYMOUTH MEETING — As the 2021-2022 season begins to enter its home stretch, Abington is building confidence.

Known for their ability to turn things up a notch late in the year, Charles Grasty’s Ghosts feel ready to compete for the top spot in a crowded Suburban One-Liberty. And following a key 72-67 win against division opponent Plymouth Whitemarsh on the road on Thursday night, Abington is certainly right in the mix.

“I feel like if we take the confidence we played with today, we can compete with any team,” senior guard Fhenyx Scutt said.

Scutt brought that exact kind of conviction to the court on Thursday. After struggling earlier in the season, the 5-foot-8 guard has found his groove. He led all scorers with 23 points and hit a pivotal third-quarter 3-pointer that swung the game in Abington’s direction

Trailing by seven at half, the Ghosts started the second half with urgency. After trading baskets with the Colonials to open the third, Abington’s offense exploded. 

Kahjel Morris buried back-to-back triples before the Ghosts got another stop. They pushed in transition, and the ball found Scutt in the left corner. He let it fly from beyond the arc and buried it as a Plymouth Whitemarsh defender contested late and fouled him. Scutt then hit the free throw to put Abington ahead 38-35. 

“Coming up the court, I just ran straight to the corner,” Scutt said. “My guy left me, and I was saying to myself, ‘If the ball touches my hand, no matter who’s closing out, I’m shooting it.’ Then I shot it, got fouled and the rest is the rest.”

That 10-0 run gave the Ghosts the lead for good with 5:32 left in the third quarter as they fended off several pushes from the Colonials. 

“A lot of it right now is confidence,” Grasty said. “(Scutt) is getting that confidence, and he’s knocking it down. … That’s what we expect from him. He’s a senior and a very good shooter. I thought we definitely got the momentum when we hit a couple 3s.”

Prior to that stretch, Abington did not look incredibly smooth. After the Ghosts went up 16-13 after the first quarter, the Colonials turned a handful of Abington turnovers into breakaway layups on their way to a 33-26 halftime lead.

Abington took control quickly in the second half and never really looked back. Scutt continued his strong shooting performance as he made six 3-pointers, becoming the first Abington player since 2003-2004 to reach that mark.

With Scutt’s shooting opening things up,  wing Derrius Lucas had a big fourth quarter in a 21-point night, finishing a lot around the rim and sinking a trey. With Morris also adding 17 points, the high-charged Abington scoring attack kept the game just out of reach for the Colonials, who entered the game on a seven-game win streak.

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Jaden Colzie made a 3-pointer with 16.9 seconds left, to cut the deficit to three, but a pair of Ghosts free throws in two trips to the line iced the game to give Abington the win.

Abington (9-6) and Plymouth Whitemarsh (11-6) are now locked with a league record of 8-3. They trail only Upper Dublin, which is 8-2, in the Liberty Division. Wissahickon follows at 6-3.

With the Ghosts’ win, the race for the division title is still very much up for grabs among multiple teams. The winner of each division will move on to the eight-team Suburban One Challenge along with four runners-up.

The matchup between Abington and Plymouth Whitemarsh also had implications in the PIAA District I Class 6A rankings. With 24 teams making the district playoffs, the Colonials now sit at No. 21 and the Ghosts remain on the outside looking in at No. 25.

Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Jim Donofrio said this game needs to be a turning point for his team. He wants to see an “extra 5%” from his players — more intensity, effort, focus — for the rest of the season, starting with Friday at Quakertown.

“I think they can get there if time doesn’t run out,” he said. “This has to be a catalyst for that. This has to hurt a lot. When we’re rolling, we can be as good as anybody around. I just don’t know if we have enough time to win and stay intense enough to keep improving.”

The Ghosts will focus on taking care of each individual game moving forward as they attempt to climb the rankings in the SOL and District 1.

“They’re all important,” Grasty said. “We know where we stand. Our guys look at the rankings. They look at who’s ahead of us. Right now, we’re going game-by-game. It’s a new season, the past is in the past. We’ll treat every game like it’s super, super important because it is, and we’ll see where the chips fall.”

Facing Upper Dublin on Friday, Abington plans to bring Thursday’s confidence along with it.

“I just hope we take this one and translate it for the rest of the year,” Scutt said, “all the way through playoffs and past, if we make it.”

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By Quarter
Abington:                          16  |  10  |  23  |  23  ||  72
Plymouth Whitemarsh:     13  |  20  |  12  |  22  ||  67

Scorers
Abington: Fhenyx Scutt 23, Derrius Lucas 21, Kahjel Morris 17, Connor Fields 6, Jeremiah Lee 2, Liam Rardin 2, Jimmy Marino 1

Plymouth Whitemarsh: Jaden Colzie 16, Zende Hubbard 14, Qudire Bennett 14, Marshall Baker 12, Taji Hubbard 10, Trey Jones 1