City of Basketball Love

By Evan Hartenstein
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When Neshaminy fell behind by 11 to start the game, they could have accepted that Council Rock South simply outmatched them.

But Logan Gale and Marlon Yon thought otherwise.

The two starters struggled early in the game, combining for just a single digit of the team’s six first-quarter points, but took control late and led Neshaminy to a 70-62, double overtime victory.

Gale, who is now in his third season with the program, is known for filling up the score sheet, but his difficulties to shoot and finish in the first half were noteworthy. He took ill-advised shots and couldn’t seem to get anything going offensively.

However, the second half was a different story. Gale picked things up and began playing through his teammates, which allowed him and his team to start scoring at will. The junior finished with 19 points, despite his slow start.

“I felt like I was just missing in the first two quarters,” Gale said. “I started moving the ball, getting Marlon some buckets, and it just started to ramp it up.”

Coach Mark Tingle recognized that while Gale usually receives all the praise due to his scoring, it’s the teams’ ball movement that gets the offense going.

“[Gale] gets all the headlines because of the amount of points he scores, but we preach sharing the ball, we preach moving the ball up the court fast,” Tingle said. “Towards the end we got layups because we shared the ball. If Logan’s not on then someone has to step up. Marlon stepped up big.”

Yon, unlike Gale, didn’t have expectations to overwhelm teams in the scoring column. Tuesday night’s thriller was just the sophomore’s fourth game playing varsity basketball, but that didn’t stop him from getting hot after the first quarter. 

The lanky forward utilized his size and length to clean up the glass with ease, grabbing double-digit boards. He began to finish through contact and hit tough close-range middies, shooting over defenders and pushing through contact. The sophomore finished with a game-high 22 points.

Crawling back from that early deficit, Neshaminy exploded in the third period for 21 points after scoring just 20 in the first half alone. Gale and Yon made the most impact offensively, but Jason Leiva was huge on the defensive side of the ball disrupting many of Council Rock South’s attempts to get their offense moving. Yon was also big defensively, snatching two steals while scoring all his points.

Neshaminy’s third quarter completely changed the narrative of the game. From being down double digits early to pushing for a lead going into the fourth quarter, Nesh had all the momentum. But the Golden Hawks of Council Rock South weren’t ready to give in.

While the team was beginning to lose grasp of the game, Lucian Mirc took over. In the period prior, Mirc had scored 7 points in his last three shot attempts. In the fourth, Mirc continued showcasing his impressive mid-range shot making ability and dropped 9 of South’s 11 points in the quarter. 

But Mirc wasn’t able to continue his dominance into the overtime periods. 

Neshaminy was all over him when he was in the game and didn’t allow a single shot attempt. It likewise contained Ryan Delp, who — while he is undoubtedly one of the most dangerous scoring threats in the SOL Patriot — couldn’t get on the board at all in OT. Delp was held to just 8 points on the night.

An evenly matched first overtime period led to a second period, but the same can’t be said about that one. Neshaminy jumped out ahead early, listening to Tingle’s advice of sharing the ball, which led to multiple fastbreak layup opportunities. 

Nesh went into the final 90 seconds with a four-point lead, but it came down to Yon to seal the deal. Yon got two chances at the free-throw line to extend the lead out of reach and he did just that. The sophomore hit all 4 of his free throws in the period and closed out the game.

Tingle highlighted that it’s the team’s experience and grit that allowed them to go the distance and win a game like this.

“We have four guys that started every game or at least half the season last year, so experience wise, they’ve been in these situations,” Tingle said. “Effort, attitude, and toughness is our mantra – Effort has to be there first, your attitude has to be great, and [you have to be] mentally tough and physically tough.”

While this game means a lot to Gale, he’s ready to move on to the next.

“It feels great,” Gale said when asked what a win like this means to him. “We can celebrate now, but we have to get ready for our game against Pennridge tomorrow.”

By Quarter

NSH     6   |  14  |  21  |   8   |  8  |  13   ||  70
CRS    15  |   9   |  14  |  11  |   8  |   5   ||  62

Shooting

Neshaminy: 27-55 FG (3-8 3PT), 13-17 FT
Council Rock South: 23-55 (7-21 3PT), 11-12 FT 

Scoring:

Neshaminy: Marlon Yon 22, Logan Gale 19, Jason Leiva 10, Eriq Gold 10, Cadenn Amati 6, Luke Amrehein 3

Council Rock South: Lucian Mirc 20, Brendon Balmer 16, Ryan Delp 8, Raymond Haglund 7, Marley Emerson 6, Owen McLean 3, Joe Madara 2