City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@RichFlanagan33)
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Abington head coach Charles Grasty constantly preaches patience with his team. He wants them to be patient on offense and look for a quality shot. He wants them to run and get out on the break but only if they play solid defense.

Patience was not something Grasty’s team displayed in their first matchup with Pennsbury on December 10, a six-point road loss.

In his team’s second matchup of the season with Pennsbury, the Abington coach’s message seemed to break through. Behind a second half in which they outscored the Falcons by 14 points, Abington cruised to a 55-35 win over Pennsbury to claim first place in the Suburban One League's National Conference.

Grasty was pleased with the patience and poise his team showed compared to their first meeting with Pennsbury, which ended 42-36 in favor of the Falcons.

“We were still trying to find our identity, see what we were good at and see what we needed to work on,” Grasty said. “We were able to watch that first game and worked on the little things. I thought our effort wasn’t there the first time. We weren’t patient. We were trying to take a lot of quick shots. [Our team is] bonding and they trust each other. With that trust, we’re getting better.”

Leading by only six at halftime, Abington had been patient enough and broke out with a 15-6 run in the third quarter behind sophomore point guard Robbie Heath and freshman big man Eric Dixon.

With his team up 27-14, Heath grabbed a defensive rebound, got out on the break and found teammate Dion Greene for an and1 that electrified the crowd. Heath finished the game with a team-leading 16 points, two assists and four steals.

Heath’s only mistake was being called for a technical foul for showing too much emotion after hitting a floater in the lane that put his team up by 19 points.

Dixon had dominant game at both ends of the floor. In the third quarter, he blocked Pennsbury big men Isaiah Carpenter and Mark Flagg. He also hit a huge 3-pointer late in the quarter that seemed to ultimately sap a lot of energy out of Pennsbury. Dixon stifled the opposing big men, particularly Carpenter who fouled in that same quarter.

The tandem of Carpenter and Flagg had a combined 14 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks but also had four turrnovers.

Dixon, who finished with 11 points and three rebounds, said his team rebounded well from their first loss to the Falcons and showed what they’re capable of.

“Last game when we played them, I played terrible and lazy,” Dixon said. “My mindset here was just to outwork them, play as hard as I could and be tougher to win the game. I did whatever I could to win this game. We wanted to frustrate them by fronting the post and closing out well. We played good fundamental defense and it worked out.”

Abington (11-3, 7-1) has now won ten of the last eleven against Pennsbury (9-5, 6-2) and this win was made in large part to their defense which limited the Falcons to only six made field goals. What started as a defensive struggle for both teams in the first half turned into a route for Abington.

Grasty was happy to get the win but still feels his team can improve by focusing on the little things. Once again, he is preaching patience with this group.

“That [was] just one game,” Grasty said. “We have to keep teams off of the glass. We have to get the 50-50 balls. We have to be patient on offense. Some of the shots that we took were quick shots that we feel we can get in our offense anytime. Just preaching to the guys to keep being patient, keep trusting each other, keep working hard and letting them know it starts defensively…We have a lot more to play [but] I think that we’re getting better and that’s what you want to see.”