City of Basketball Love

By Dan Arkans (@dan arkans)
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FRANCONIA – With star players like Jacob Nguyen and Tommy Kelly getting most of the headlines for Spring-Ford, senior Jordan Marsilio tends to get lost in the shuffle from time to time.

Marsilio, a wide receiver on the football team, doesn’t mind that one bit. His toughness and football mentality helped 10th-seeded Spring-Ford hold off seventh-seeded Souderton 51-42 on Friday night in the second round of the District 1 6A Tournament. The win advances the Rams to the district quarterfinals with a date against No. 2 Coatesville and also punches a ticket to the PIAA playoffs.

“I am mainly a football player,” Marsilio said. “I come out and pride myself in getting boards and doing the dirty work. Every team needs a guy like that and I don’t mind doing it.”

The way the game started it didn’t seem like Marsilio would ever have to get his hands on an offensive rebound. Spring-Ford was ready for Souderton’s vaunted zone, hitting their first four 3-pointers of the night. 

In fact, the Rams (19-7) didn’t miss a shot in the first quarter with Nguyen (14 points) going 3-for-3 from long range. The only problem: Souderton was matching them as Nate Rusike, Trey Bui and Chanse Salone all hit 3-pointers as well. Spring-Ford despite not missing a shot was only up 16-13 after one quarter.

“The first quarter was pretty fun,” Kelly said. “Jacob was hot early, Sy (Barnes) hit one. They were coming right back, they have a lot of good shooters on that team. They were going shot for shot with us that first quarter. It was fun.” 

“Their coach is a good coach,” said Spring-Ford head coach Joe Dempsey of Souderton’s Okoteh Sakitey. “They play a lot of zones. It didn’t hurt that we made three or four 3s in the first quarter and it made the basket look pretty wide. Thankfully we did some good things after that. I told the guys after the first quarter, ‘Don’t be confused, we are shooting the heck out of it but we are going to have to do some different things here, mainly defend.’”

The Indians got out of their zone, mostly focusing all their attention on Nguyen through a series of switching defenses. This led to a more deliberate offense on both sides of the court with each possession becoming magnified. Point guard Syaire Barnes picked up the slack by scoring five of nine points in the second quarter offensively. Defensively the Rams were content to sit in a zone, defend and hold Souderton to one possession. 

“I have some dogs behind me,” Kelly said. “I got Jordan Marsilio, football, guy gets everything. Blake (Turner), football guy, gets everything. You can see they play wide receiver, they will just go up, high point it and come down with it.”

Marsilio did start going to work, picking up six of his game-high nine rebounds in the second quarter, including two offensive boards on the same possession. When the dust settled and Turner hit a bucket at the buzzer, Spring-Ford was still up 25-20 at the break.

“When we were playing without Jordan you could tell the toughness went down a notch,” Kelly said. “Having him around on the court is so valuable, there are things you can’t even see and all of us feel it. We all start diving on the floor, we all start going for loose balls, getting rebounds." 

The game continued to slow down in the third quarter with the Rams content to sit in their zone and also struggling to get open looks for Nguyen. Instead, the paint opened up as Kelly (14 points, six rebounds) and Barnes (13 points, five assists) were responsible for the first seven points of the quarter. Spring-Ford led 33-27 after three quarters.

“I am mainly a football player,” Marsilio said. “They had two tall guys, but me and Tommy didn’t back down. We are both very strong. We practice going inside every day and we love it.” 

Souderton hung around and eventually cut the deficit to 37-33 with six minutes left off a 3-pointer from Rusike (14 points). Nguyen finally got some breathing room for a basket, but Salone (13 points, 3 assists, 3 steals) answered with an acrobatic scoop of his own.

“I don’t want to toot my own horn, but me and Jacob have played in a lot of these types of games,” Kelly said. “The classes that came before us, they led us, they showed us the way. We are trying to do the same for these underclassmen.”

Kelly kept on coming, scoring off a bucket from Marsilio and a 41-35 lead. Marsilio then scored six consecutive points, including a layup, as the Rams held on for the 51-42 victory.

“The guys found me, my guys found me,” Marsilio said. “I was standing there wide open and they got me the ball, I had to finish it. “

Marsilio’s stat line of six points and nine rebounds might not still get the attention of opposing teams. Still his play has Spring-Ford headed to states for the third consecutive season.

“If we play like we did tonight we can make it all the way,” Marsilio said. “We have made deep runs the last three years. I think we can do that again with this squad.”

Before states though comes a big step up in competition with a date on the road against No. 2 Coatesville. You get the feeling Nguyen, Kelly and Marsilio will be ready.

“When you get to be my age you want something for other people,” Dempsey said. “Getting to the state tournament is a thrill for any coach, but you want it for these kids. To go three years in a row and have had the success that we have is a credit to them. Coatesvillle is going to be an absolute monster challenge for us. That’s OK. We are going to show up and see where it takes us. I just want to keep extending the season for these guys.”

By Quarter
Spring-Ford 16-9-8-18-51
Souderton 13-7-7-15-42

Shooting
Spring-Ford: 19-of-36 FG; 8-10 FT
Souderton: 14-of-37 FG; 7-9 FT

Scoring
Spring-Ford (51): Nguyen 14; Barnes 13; Kelly 14; Turner 4; Marsilio 6.

Souderton (42): Rusike 14; Salone 13; Bui 3; Watkins 10; Kovach 2.

~~~

Boys District 1 6A Second Round (Feb. 18)
1) Lower Merion def. 17) Pennsbury, 70-30
8) Central Bucks East def. 9) Phoenixville, 81-80
4) Garnet Valley def. 13) Bensalem, 72-54
5) Plymouth Whitemarsh def. 21) Neshaminy, 78-39
2) Coatesville def. 18) Downingtown West, 68-37
10) Spring-Ford def. 7) Souderton, 51-42
3) Conestoga def. 14) Methacton, 56-54
6) Central Bucks South vs. 11) Cheltenham (Feb. 19, 7:00 PM)

Boys District 1 6A Quarterfinals (Feb. 21)
1) Lower Merion vs. 8) Central Bucks East (7:00 PM)
4) Garnet Valley vs. 5) Plymouth Whitemarsh
2) Coatesville vs. 10) Spring-Ford (7:00 PM)
3) Conestoga vs. TBD

Boys’ District 1 6A Playbacks
9) Phoenixville vs. 17) Pennsbury
12) Neshaminy vs. 13) Bensalem
7) Souderton vs. 18) Downingtown West
TBD vs. 14) Methacton