City of Basketball Love

Michael Zingrone (@mjzingrone) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Eric Dougherty kept glancing.

Starting in warm-ups, the Abington senior kept taking quick looks over at opposing Archbishop Wood’s bench. Five minutes into the game, the wing hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key and once again snuck a quick peek at the Vikings’ portion of the sideline.

But he wasn’t trying to intimidate his opponent, or to pump himself up. Instead, he was looking – briefly – for his father, Joe, a Wood assistant.

Joe Dougherty didn’t seem to meet his son’s gaze, at least not at that moment.

But several minutes later, as Eric stood on the sideline in front of the Wood bench, ready to inbound the ball, it was the elder Dougherty who couldn’t help but glance.

“Inside, I was smiling, no question,” he admitted. “Every time he shot the ball I wanted it to go in. As a coach, you want your team to win -- but of course he comes first and I want him to play well.”

While Archbishop Wood did indeed end up with the win, taking it 71-46, the elder Dougherty still saw his son produce. Eric made two threes in the first half, right in front of the Vikings bench so his dad had a clear view of his points.

“It’s tough because it’s a win-win situation in one way and it’s a lose-lose situation (in another), so it’s tough,” Joe Dougherty said. “But it was neat for his senior year to get to play against them.”

Now standing at 6-foot-6, an inch or two taller than his pops, Eric mentioned how his dad is his biggest fan and the reason he is playing basketball. And this isn't his final year of hoops, either: Gwynedd-Mercy, Cabrini, Albright, Arcadia and Scranton are among a host of D-III programs interested in his size and shooting ability on the wing.

But the family dinner table conversations had gotten particularly engaging ever since Eric found out this summer from his dad that the two powerhouse programs would be meeting in a regular-season showcase game at Arcadia University.

“We were talking back and forth...about who’s going to win and talking a little smack leading up to it,” Eric said. “It was fun, I liked the competitiveness between us, it was cool.” 

Joe Dougherty hadn’t been involved in basketball much outside of his son’s development until the summer of 2013, when his PECO co-worker John Mosco asked if he’d like to get back into the game. Mosco, previously a longtime assistant at Neumann-Goretti, had taken the head coaching job at Wood, and offered Dougherty a spot on the bench, which he promptly accepted.

For his freshman year, Eric attended Wood after going to public school in Abington growing up, wanting to follow his dad to a new setting. But it wasn’t the right fit, and for his sophomore year Dougherty was back on the Ghost roster.

“He wasn’t happy with the school, he’s never gone to Catholic school in his life, all his friends were at Abington,” Joe Dougherty said. “I said ‘don’t do this for me, be happy,’ and that’s why he went back to Abington.

“I didn’t want him to come to Wood just for me, that’s for sure.”

While wearing his Archbishop Wood gear on the sideline coaching his team to a win, Joe Dougherty still found room to root for his son by wearing an Abington shirt underneath his jacket.

Unorthodox? Certainly -- Dougherty was teased by the Vikings staff and players, but they all understood.

“It was a tough game for him, he wants to see his son do well but he wanted us to get the ‘W,’” Mosco said.

For the rest of the season, they’ll all be able to root for one another. As a member of the District 12 and 5A classification Wood is in an entirely different district and state class from Abington, widely considered one of the best teams in District 1’s 6A bracket.

Wood’s Collin Gillespie was strong for the Vikings on Wednesday night, contributing a game-high 25 points. Wood junior Tyree Pickron also stood out with 18 points and seven rebounds.

Abington kept it close over the first two quarters only trailing 26-18. The Vikings then took control in the second half, outscoring Abington 46-28 the rest of the way.

Pickron, a 6-3 wing, made the biggest contributions down the stretch. With five minutes left in the fourth, Pickron was able to hit two threes in back-to-back possessions to help stretch the lead to 20.

Gillespie, a 6-1 guard, also was able to add 12 points in the second half to secure the victory for Wood.

“He’s a senior point guard, he’s been through a lot of wars in the Catholic League, and he controlled the game,” Mosco said. “He’s really coming of age, maturing, taking over the game and creating the pace he wants with the ball and getting his teammates involved.”

When it was all said and done, the two Doughertys stood together outside the Wood locker room,

Relieved that it’s over? Yeah, right.

“I wish I could play it again,” Eric said.

“Same thing,” Joe agreed. “It was fun.”