City of Basketball Love

Dan Arkans (@danarkans)
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QUAKERTOWN — Missing two varsity players, including starter Robert Sukaly, was not how the Dock Mennonite boys basketball team wanted to go into its biggest Bicentennial League test of the season.

Not only was Sukaly out due to an eye infection, but key bench player Josh Mascio was also missing.

That threw Justin Panaia into the starting lineup, and Marques Brown got the call up from the JV squad.

More than anything, though, it may have caused the Pioneers to be a little timid in the first half.

But Tony Martin and the Dock defense were anything but timid in a dominating second half as the Pioneers rolled to a 51-33 victory over Faith Christian on Friday night.

“We knew they were a good team going in,” Martin said. “They shoot a lot of 3s, they make a lot of 3s. Second half we had to cut that off, take the 3s away. They had 25 points at the half. We had to make sure to keep them under that 40 line.”

Dock (12-4, 9-0) looked to be on the ropes in the first half, trailing 25-21 after it was outscored 21-12 over the final 12 minutes. The Pioneers seemingly had no answer for sophomore Landon Heller (15 points), who got free for 10 points in the second quarter for the Lions (10-3, 6-2).

“We were a little tight in the first half, shooting too quickly, missing layups, a little out of sync offensively,” Dock head coach Mike Fergus said. “Defensively, we were a little slow. We talked at halftime, settling down, slowing the tempo down on offense and getting a better shot. The whole game flipped. They scored eight points in the second half. We went to our press. They had a hard time handling our pressure. That got us some runouts, but we also executed our offense.”

Martin was a big reason for the turnaround, beginning the second half with a putback and a 3-pointer as the Pioneers quickly took a 26-25 lead just one minute in.

Faith freshman Jagger Verbit answered with a bucket at 6:20, but it was the last Lions’ lead of the night and one of only two baskets in the entire second half for Faith Christian.

After a Martin free throw, Brown scored on a key drive with 4:25 left in the frame to give Dock a 29-27 lead. The Pioneers never trailed again.

“I felt like this would be a good time for him,” Fergus said of Brown. “He’s athletic and plays hard. He got some steals, made a layup. He stuck his nose in for a rebound, tipped a ball to a teammate. He really helped turn the game around for us.”

Point guard Anthony Washington Jr. (12 points) added a couple of buckets as Dock took a 35-29 lead into the final quarter.

The rest of the night was the Tony Martin Show, as he began the fourth quarter with an acrobatic drive to the hoop. After a dish to Vaughn Martin, a free throw and another bucket, the Dock rout was on.

“We just have to make sure we stay level headed,” Tony Martin said. “We just have to keep our heads straight. We have a couple more league games before we go undefeated and start celebrating. We want to make sure we finish undefeated before we start celebrating. It feels amazing now.”

While there may have been some timidness in the first half, the Pioneers looked more like themselves in the second half with a different level of aggressiveness on defense and the boards. Martin finished with 10 rebounds to go with his 22 points.

“Being down two players I was worried about the game being called tight, I didn’t want to get into foul trouble,” Fergus said. “We played a little passive on D. We weren’t scoring. It’s hard to get in the press. Second half I said, ‘We are going to go to the press.’ And we did. That’s usually how we play. We just saved it for the third quarter.”

The atmosphere was electric at Faith Christian’s new gymnasium. Martin was heckled a time or two, but appreciated a rivalry that just seems to be getting going.

“The atmosphere was amazing,” Martin said. “I knew there was going to be a lot because it’s a rivalry. There were a lot of fans, a lot of Faith fans to be honest. I was just trying to keep my head straight, block it out and just keep going. I heard it all. I am used to it.”

The win was Dock’s 39th consecutive win in the BAL. Martin, a junior, and the Pioneers are not taking anything for granted. 

“It’s hard, there’s like 15 league games,” Martin said. “It’s part of the high school experience. You gotta enjoy it while it lasts. You only have four years of it, you gotta enjoy every moment.”

By Quarter

Dock Mennonite: 10 | 11 | 14 | 16 || 51

Faith Christian: 11 | 14 | 4 | 4 || 33

Scoring

Dock Mennonite: Parr 6; Washington Jr. 12; Tony Martin 22; Vaughn Martin 4; Dorneman 3; John 2; Brown 2

Faith Christian: Heller 15; Verbit 6; Hughes 3; Leisner 3; Paul 1; Labs 1; Forscht 4