City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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WEST YORK — Whether they came from Spring-Ford or they made the brief 10-minute drive from nearby Spring Grove, someone was going to be heading for home with a memorable victory tucked away somewhere on the bus.

Memorable?

For a pair of schools that bounced into West York High School on Saturday night with little or no experience in the PIAA Class AAAA basketball tournament, winning at the state level for the first time certainly has to be memorable.

And it was Spring-Ford — the Rams reached state play two seasons back, but did not emerge victorious — that was doing the celebrating after carding a decisive 74-43 triumph over Spring Grove in the opening round of the state playoffs.

Collecting 47 points from its three-headed backcourt monster — Nigel Cooke banked 20, Charles Drummond rang up 15 and Matt Gnias finished with 12 — Spring-Ford (23-7) was extremely efficient offensively throughout the 32-minute exercise while grounding James Brooks’ explosive Rockets (25-4).

Big man Cameron Reid chipped in 12 points and grabbed seven boards as Chris Talley’s Rams earned a second-round shot at perennial state hammer Chester when the Class AAAA playoffs reconvene on Wednesday night.

Cooke also grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists — Spring-Ford totaled 19 assists on its 25 field goals — for a Rams club that shot 55.6 percent (25-for-45) from the floor and 50 percent (9-for-18) from deep.

“That’s the good thing about our team,” Talley said. “We have five or six options and we have confidence in all of them. And they all want to take the big shot, which is a great trait to have. We trust the ball in all of their hands really.”

Eli Brooks and Darin Gordon split 26 points for a Spring Grove program that was experiencing state tournament play for the first time. Although Brooks also collected seven rebounds, he was plagued by foul troubles all game long.

Brooks, in fact, was assessed his third personal with just 3:31 gone by the Mid-Penn Conference officiating crew. When the remarkably talented 6-1 junior took a seat on the bench, his club was trailing by just a deuce at 6-4.

“It was difficult,” James Brooks admitted. “First three fouls of the game and all of them are on the same person. That’s difficult to come back from and it kind of made our team be a little bit different at the start of the game.

“When you don’t have a good start to a game,” James Brooks continued, “it can turn like that and you can get down.”

When Brooks returned to the floor with just over four minutes to go in the opening half — and with teammate Grant Wierman at the free-throw line — James Brooks’ bunch was trailing by 15 (32-17) and struggling to remain afloat.

Even with Eli Brooks on the floor in the second half — he fouled out midway through the fourth quarter with Spring-Ford up 60-38 — the Rockets watched their deficit climb to as many as 24 points (50-26) late in the third.

Spring-Ford’s secret was more than just outstanding shooting or its ability to penetrate to the tin and finish or kick, but Talley’s Rams were able to put some vise-like traps on the Spring Grove players that weren’t serious offensive threats.

“That was the game plan,” Talley admitted. “Any time those guys got it, we wanted to make them make a quick decision and force them into quick shots. We had two really good practices and it showed tonight. Couldn’t be prouder.”

As a result, Spring-Ford made it difficult for the Rockets to get into anything comfortable offensively. And when the Rams were able to turn the ball over and crank up their transition game, some easy looks at the rim generally followed.

“It really helps when you have the best player in the area not on the floor,” James Brooks said of his son’s foul difficulties. “We had no good ball movement. Our competitive edge was a little bit off after that. They really disrupted everything.

“What everybody tried all year worked for them tonight.”

Helps explain their 11-2 run to start the third, one enhanced greatly by three consecutive Drummond layups in transition. Drummond had a terrific third, banking 11 of his 15 points during that stretch as the Spring-Ford lead grew and grew.

Cooke performed much of his offensive surgery before the break, scoring 14 of his 20 points. Perhaps the and-one he polished off just nine seconds into the game was a harbinger of doom for the western York Countians.

“They were hard to defend for us and they moved the ball well,” James Brooks said of the Drummond-Cooke duo. “They play really well together and they share the ball. They’re tough. … If they handle the ball well and they shoot the ball like they did tonight, they’ll have a good shot [against Chester].”

And while Spring-Ford’s shooting was terrific throughout the 32-minute experience, it was particularly good before the break. Especially since the Rams shot 60 percent (12-for-20) from the floor and 54.5 percent from the arc (6-for-11).

“We knew we were coming into their backyard and we felt the pressure was on them,” Talley said. “We were the fifth seed and they were a third seed.

“We just told the guys to relax, let it fly and don’t change anything that we’ve done throughout the year.”

And they did.

That’s why the Rams were the ones full of pep when this opening-round encounter finally came to a close. Getting that first state-level win will have that effect.

“Two years ago we made it to the tournament and didn’t get a win,” Talley remembered, referencing the Rams’ first state trip.

“This year we were excited that we were here, but we wanted to take that next step by getting a win and we did that tonight,” Talley added.

“They were focused on coming out of here with a win.”

Spring Grove, meanwhile, will focus on everything leading up to Saturday night’s season-ending setback — not the finale.

“We had four losses all year, we had an excellent year,” James Brooks said. “It’s a hard way to end the year, but a lot of people are going to end [the year] and not be able to win it. We got 25 wins, county champs, we got to states.

“There’s a lot of bads that happened tonight, but this season, aside from tonight, has been great,” James Brooks added. “I can’t see anything bad.”

~~~

Saturday's Results
CLASS AAAA
FIRST ROUND
Saturday, March 5
Plymouth-Whitemarsh 81, Lebanon 41
Bangor 57, Central Bucks East 37
Simon Gratz 63, Lower Merion 61 (OT)
J.P. McCaskey 50, Abington Heights 46
Parkland 71, Conestoga 49
Ridley 50, Wilson West Lawn 34
Central Bucks West 60, Central York 55
Roman Catholic 73, Academy Park 58
Reading 61, Hatboro-Horsham 44
Emmaus 74, Martin Luther King 63
Chester 55, Hempfield 46
Spring-Ford 74, Spring Grove 43
Carlisle 64, State College 54
North Hills 70, Latrobe 60
Pine-Richland 81, Bethel Park 57
Taylor Allderdice 66, Penn Hills 50

SECOND ROUND
Wednesday, March 9 (sites/times, TBA)
Plymouth-Whitemarsh (1-1, 26-2) vs. Bangor (11-2, 26-2)
Simon Gratz (12-3, 15-10) vs. J.P. McCaskey (3-7, 22-7)
Parkland (11-1, 26-3) vs. Ridley (1-3, 27-2)
Central Bucks West (1-6, 24-6) vs. Roman Catholic (12-1, 23-4)
Reading (3-1, 26-3) vs. Emmaus (11-3, 20-8)
Chester (1-2, 21-7) vs. Spring-Ford (1-5, 23-7)
Carlisle (3-5, 20-6) vs. North Hills (7-2, 17-9)
Pine-Richland (7-1, 21-6) vs. Taylor Allderdice (8-1, 25-1)

QUARTERFINALS
Saturday, March 12

SEMIFINALS
Tuesday, March 15

CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, March 19
At Giant Center, Hershey, 8 p.m.