City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Though Pennsbury’s height carried the Falcons early against Cheltenham, it was some of the team’s undersized players that made sure they got it done late.

After standout forward Mark Flagg fouled out midway through the fourth, seniors Addison Howard and Joey Monaghan stepped up, leading Pennsbury to a 62-53 win.

“We stayed together, we didn’t lose hope,” Monaghan said. “We obviously packed it in, made sure to get their shooters and stop them. I think it was a good team win.”

It was a matchup between two favorites in their respective Suburban One League divisions — Pennsbury plays in the National, Cheltenham in the American — at Widener University, part of the two-day Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic.

Without Flagg, Pennsbury needed several role players to step up and help their team hang on after nearly blowing what had been a double-digit advantage.

Howard earned team MVP honors for the Falcons (5-2) thanks to a 17-point performance, including four foul shots in the final few minutes. But he wasn’t the only one who chipped in: Monaghan added nine points and five rebounds, sophomore Gary Francis had a big steal-and-layup late to finish with five points and four rebounds, and senior Vaughn Ward came in to provide some much-needed hustle and defense.

“It feels great, knowing that other people can step up, no one’s in the moment, everyone just plays hard, we all go out and work hard,” Howard said. “It’s a good feeling knowing that our whole team is ready to play at all times.”

The first three quarters were all in favor of Pennsbury, which led 12-7 after one, 27-18 after two and 46-32 after three. That was in large thanks to 15 points from Flagg, a 6-7 forward with shooting ability and several D-II offers, though Howard had also broken double-figures by that point thanks to a pair of second-quarter 3s.

Then Cheltenham (5-2) went on its run, powered by Trevonn Pitts. The team’s leading returning scorer from a year ago almost single-handedly willed his team back from that 14-point deficit heading into the fourth.

A 6-3 wing, Pitts’ attacking style got Pennsbury into foul trouble, with Flagg picking up his fifth and final infraction just before the 4-minute mark of the concluding period. By that point, Cheltenham had cut the deficit down to just four.

Pitts finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds, grabbing seven on the offensive glass.

“He’s a bulldog, man,” Coleman said. “I told them what you’re going to get with him, and you have to match his effort. We did that for a while and then somehow we stopped playing and let them in the game, that’s when he took off.”

Monaghan helped Pennsbury re-establish a 10-point advantage at 56-46 lead, scoring two inside buckets off feeds from fellow seniors Ward and Billy Warren.

“I don’t know what the heck happened, we missed like seven layups in a row at one point,” Coleman said. “For (Monaghan) to settle us down and make them was good.”

While Flagg (6-7) and Warren (6-6) tend to dominate the interior for Pennsbury, Monaghan (6-4) is there to clear up the scraps. And it’s a job he does well.

“Joey’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen, not just in basketball, in life,” Howard said. “It’s great to see him finish layups, getting rebounds, working hard, making free-throws, it’s awesome to see Joey doing well.”

Even those who didn’t add much to the scoring column were valuable pieces down the stretch. Ward, a 6-0 guard, only had three points but his ball-handling and defensive effort were invaluable in the closing minutes.

And that’s all his head coach asks for.

“We’re looking for our combination of guys that will fight for 32 minutes, and battle, and give us effort for 32 minutes,” Coleman said. “And Vaughn is one of those kids who won’t take no for an answer, and he’s willing to fight for his playing time and do anything we ask. So for him to come up, this is the second game in a row he changed the tempo of the game just with his effort defensively.

“So any time a bench guy comes in and he contributes like he does, he doesn’t have to give us points, give us efforts, small plays, the plus-minus stuff that we track, it’s huge.”