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Abington survives comeback to down Chester, 53-50

12/29/2016, 11:00pm EST
By Jeff Griffith

Jeff Griffith (@Jeff_Griffith21)
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Abington seemed as though it had everything in control.

The Ghosts opened up a hot start in the first quarter, and by the middle of the second frame, they were at a 24-9 advantage.

For the next 15 minutes or so, that’s basically how the score looked; Abington by double digits, coasting to a victory.

Then suddenly, with just under 30 seconds to play, the numbers on the scoreboard were separated by one, moments after Chester’s Ahrod Carter drilled a wing three.

Although the comeback that had just ensued may have taken them by surprise – just as it likely did everyone in attendance – Abington didn't appear phased

“Good teams make runs, and that’s what I told our guys, that they were going ot make a run, we knew they were going to make a run,” Abington head coach Charles Grasty said. “We just wanted to try to sustain it, we didn’t want it to be as big as it was, but we knew they would make a run.”

The Galloping Ghosts, despite blowing a firm double-digit lead, navigated their way through an explosive Chester come back in the Clippers’ home-away-from-home at Widener University to notch at 53-50 win Thursday night.  

“It was ugly at the end, but to their credit, Coach Yarbray does an excellent job with those guys, he gets everything that he can out of them, they play hard, and we knew that they weren’t going to ever let up, so in that fourth quarter we just wanted to keep fighting and our guys kept fighting and we were able to come out on top.”

For the Clippers, the crowd was generally in favor of the orange and black, as Chester High School is just a mile away from the Widener campus.

As they began to mount their comeback, the crowd noise and intensity levels grew, but Grasty felt like his team was able to do just enough to withstand the heat and spoil Chester’s home event.

“We did tell our guys that, we let them know the landmark and the history,” he said. “We let them know that Widener was in their backyard and they have a good following and it would be loud, and let’s see if we could handle it. And our guys didn’t let that get to them. Made some bad decisions late but I thought overall we stayed within ourselves.”

One of the many key contributors for the Galloping Ghosts was 6-foot-6 sophomore Eric Dixon. The big-bodied forward made his presence felt down low with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and a couple of emphatic blocks.

On the wings of a St. Joseph’s offer – his first – which he received just 24 hours before the win over Chester while on a campus visit, Dixon made key plays early on to help Abington open up a 20-9 lead through one. His free throw, which followed a Rob Young triple, gave the Ghosts their biggest lead, 31-14, midway through the second frame.

Dixon struggled to find offense in the game’s last quarter or so, but had an overall solid performance with the man who had just offered him a scholarship, St. Joe’s head coach Phil Martelli, in attendance.

“Obviously I’m feeling pretty good, it kind of caught me off guard yesterday, I wasn’t expecting it, first time down there,” Dixon said. “I’m happy for it, I’m really excited to even have to offer, though it’s too soon to make a decision or anything like that. To come in here and win with coach Phil here, it’s big, it felt really good to get the rebounds and play well.”

Dixon wasn’t the only Ghost with a major contribution. Five different players scored at least five points, with junior guard Robbie Heath leading the way with 17 points and six boards. Sophomore Lucas Monroe added nine points, Senior big man Joe O’Brien had seven, and

“It’s huge, especially in a game like this," Grasty said. "Our guys, we try to get our guys in and out, we feel like we can go 1 to 15. Our guys that didn’t play a lot tonight, hopefully they’ll be ready to get a chance and we can get them in tomorrow. Our guys, they like each other, they share the ball and they trust each other and they want to go to battle with each other and that’s the result of it, trusting the guys.”

The Clippers' leading scorer, senior forward Jamar Sudan, had 15 points, which included a few key buckets down the stretch as part of the comeback. Jordan Camper, also a senior, added 10 points and four boards, and had a rim-rattling dunk in the final 30 seconds that set up Carter’s clutch triple.

At the end of the day, though, their efforts were just not enough, as Abington’s hot start ended up being the difference in their three-point win against a tough team with a tough, loyal fan base.

The only problem for the Ghosts, they have one of the state’s all-time best programs up next in the event’s finale, as Quade Green and Neumann-Goretti make their return to Pennsylvania after a few games against the nation’s elite.

But at least for the next few hours, Grasty and his team can take a breath and enjoy a character win against a local powerhouse.

“Relieved, happy,” Grasty said. “We just beat a good team, Chester’s very good and they’re a potential state champion. I told our guys in there to enjoy it, because, embrace it, but we have another one tomorrow. We beat a very good team tonight." 

~~~

Archbishop Ryan stays unbeaten with come-from-behind win 
After 29 minutes against St. Thomas More (Del.), it appeared that Archbishop Ryan’s undefeated start was in jeopardy.

Though the Raiders were down just a couple points, they had trailed almost the entire game and it felt like they never had control for even a second.

However, senior guard Izaiah Brockington decided he wouldn't let his team’s win streak come to an end, leading his team to a hard fought 52-50 win Thursday.

“Guys started snapping at each other and I had to tell them, we’ve been in this position before,” he said. “I knew the game was gonna be close in the end and I had to show up when my number was called. I had to be there as a leader and as a main option for my team.

The NJIT commit finished with a team high 22 points.

Brockington’s night was highlighted by a sequence late in the fourth quarter that flipped the game towards Ryan. His long jumper and subsequent steal on the inbound for a layup with 2:51 left cut what was a seven point lead down to just three.

Forward Matiss Kulackovics added 17 points, including hitting the go-ahead free throw with 13.6 left, to put Ryan up 51-50.

St. Thomas More was led by senior Elias Revelle (28 points), who carved up Ryan’s defense for three quarters.

Ryan head coach Joe Zeglinski was not happy with his team's defensive execution.

“If we start playing great defense from the start, we have a chance to win any game” he said.

But Ryan did tighten up late, aided by two emphatic swats from big man Fred Taylor.

“We’re just taking things one game at a time,” Zeglinski said. “We’d obviously love to go through a tough Catholic League without a loss.” --Varun Kumar


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