City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It was the game Phil-Mont Christian had been waiting a year to play.

After losing in the District 1 Class A semifinal a year ago to Bicentennial Athletic League rival Jenkintown, falling just shy of qualifying for the state tournament, the Falcons were yet again on the doorstep of the state bracket. Only the Cougars of Collegium Charter stood in their way.

A few minutes into Monday night’s semifinal at Cheltenham High School, Phil-Mont coach Glenn Dolton was not thrilled with what he saw out of his top-seeded Falcons, trailing by two to a team it had beaten by 23 earlier in the year.

He reminded his team: stick with what you’re good at. And Phil-Mont did just that, turning to its frontcourt to overwhelm four-seed Collegium Charter in the second quarter and run away to a 67-34 win.

The win guarantees Phil-Mont will make the state tournament for the first time since doing so in 2014.

“I think we’re playing the best basketball we’ve played in a long time,” senior forward Sean Griffin said. “After our loss to Jenkintown last year, it was our motivation all year, just to get back to this point and get to states.”

Junior forward David Giuliani led all scorers with 19 points. Griffin--who at 6-foot-8 had a good six inches on every Collegium Charter starter--and fellow senior forward Osaze Thornton each finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, helping Phil-Mont grab 14 offensive boards against an undersized Cougars squad.

The team's other usual double-figure scorer, senior guard Noah Baldez, was able to take a backseat in the scoring column as he fed his big men all night long.

"If they stay back, he’s going to make the pull-up jump shots, if they come out he’s going to find the bigs," Dolton said. "Tonight was his night to be the assist guy.”

Giuliani, who also had five rebounds, continued a string of strong games since he missed one game in the Bicentennial Athletic League tournament a few weeks back with fluid around his heart. The 6-foot-3 forward has played like a man possessed ever since.

“He’s been really focused lately, he’s had several nice games in a row,” Dolton said. “He likes to play around the basket but our last game, he was pounding it inside, next thing you know he’s out and he hit two 3s. So he’s capable of doing that, he helps to stretch us out a little bit. I’ve been pleased with his play and his intensity and his focus.”

Griffin sat out most of the first quarter following an early foul, and Phil-Mont’s lead was only 11-9 after the opening eight minutes. He returned for the second and quickly the tide turned the Falcons’ favor; Giuliani made all four of his field-goal attempts in the quarter while Griffin had eight of his own in the period, which ended 40-19 in Phil-Mont’s favor.

The third quarter didn’t go any better for Collegium Charter, as Griffin tacked on seven more before hitting the bench early in the fourth with his team up 30.

"(We) started to flat-line, I felt like, after I came out but then they picked it up," he said. "And then when I got back in I was like ‘alright I just need to keep it together, make sure I can contribute.’”

A Division II recruit with offers from East Stroudsburg and Kutztown plus interest from Chestnut Hill College and others, Griffin said he plans on playing the April live periods with the Hoopdreamz AAU period just to see if he can pick up any Division I looks, but he has a school he’s leaning towards if that doesn’t happen.

“East Stroudsburg is definitely my favorite so far,” he said. “I’m headed towards that, I think.”

An Abington native--his father, Charles Griffin, was a guard for Abington HS in his playing days--Sean Griffin has been attending Phil-Mont Christian since first grade.

That’s given him plenty of time to develop a bond with Baldez, and work some other pieces in along the way.

“Noah and I have played together for the past 12 years so we know each other like the back of our hands,” he said. “David coming in last year and playing with us in the summer, it gave us a big help and we’ve gelled together really nicely.”

In Saturday’s final (noon, Council Rock South), Phil-Mont gets another Bicentennial squad, Delco Christian; the Knights took out Faith Christian 63-54 in the first half of the doubleheader.

The last time the two teams met, in January, a track meet of a first half turned into a 79-70 win for the Falcons.

“I think it’s going to be a fun game, I think it’s going to be good competition,” Giuliani said, “and I think if we execute our game plan, we should win.”