City of Basketball Love

Thomas Primosch (@ThomasPrimosch)
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Every year when Michael Buckmire sees Abington Friends on the schedule, he gets a little bit more amped up then he would for a normal game.

The Germantown Friends junior attended AFS until eighth grade when he transferred to GFS. And each time his Tigers play against the Kangaroos, he is determined to put on a show.

"It's just a really fun game," Buckmire said. "I get to joke around with them before and after the game but during the game we wanna take each other's heads off. I would say it's a deeply rooted rivalry between us.

Buckmire got the last laugh as his team notched a 54-35 victory on Wednesday afternoon. It was the third consecutive year the Tigers have beaten AFS.

The first quarter was sluggish but the Tigers ended the quarter on a quick 7-0 run in the last two minutes and they went into the second quarter holding a 16-9 lead.

The two teams traded buckets for most of the second quarter and the Kangaroos stayed in the game thanks to some timely 3-point shooting from junior Jake Stark, who finished the game with team high 12 points.

The Tigers went into the break on a bad note after they waited out the clock to hold for the final shot of the half, but they were unable to get one off.

However, GFS came out firing in the second half and they finished the third quarter with a 35-26 lead. Senior Charlie Dolgenos the a key catalyst for the Tigers as they stretched their lead out to close the quarter. He scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half.

Dolgenos was returning to the lineup after missing two games due to a fractured finger. He played with a splint on his finger but it didn't seem to affect him as he shot 4-for-9 from the field including 3-for-5 from three.

The Tigers lead grew to 44-28 with 3:56 left and it was clear that they were in control for the rest of the way. They shot well from the foul line down the stretch, nailing 8-11 free throws to keep the game out of reach.

Buckmire finished with 16 points for the Tigers, who held the Kangaroos to just 13-for-36 (36 percent) from the field for the game.

It was an important win for coach Shawn Werdt's team which had been reeling of late after losing three different starters to injuries.

"Our typical starting five have not played together this entire month," Werdt said. "We've been missing at least one since our last game in December. It's been the toughest portion of our schedule as far as toughest league opponents., playing Friends Central, ANC, Westtown, and Shipley, and we had to do it without really key contributors and key players so it was tough."

Despite losing four of their last five league games, the Tigers are still in decent position to nab a playoff spot which Werdt said was his goal coming into the season.

The Tigers will need to win against Moorestown Friends and Friends Select but if they are able to sneak into the playoffs and get everyone back healthy, they could cause some problems for the team they end up against.