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PIAA 6A: Heath's big day spurs Abington past Prep

03/15/2018, 12:30am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Robbie Heath (above) is putting his playoff experience to good use as Abington moves deeper in the state tournament. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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There aren’t many high schoolers around who’ve played in as many high school playoff basketball games as Abington’s Robbie Heath.

A four-year starter for the Galloping Ghosts, Heath was present for a trio of District 1 championship runs (2015, ‘17, ‘18), plus now three trips to the state tournament and four appearances in the Suburban One League playoffs.

That’s 25 playoff games for Heath, according to Abington statistician Sam Szymanek, and counting. “It’s a lot,” Heath said. “And I’m glad, my record’s been pretty good.”

In his last opportunity to continue improving upon that playoff resume, Heath is leading Abington on the only run he hasn’t experienced yet -- through the state tournament. The Ghosts followed up their two previous district titles with first-round state exits, to J.P. McCaskey in the old AAAA bracket in 2015 and then to Central Dauphin East in the 6A tournament a year ago.

This year, so far, has been a breakthrough.

With Heath providing the offensive punch, Abington made it multiple wins in the state bracket for the first time since a semifinal run in 2014, outlasting St. Joseph’s Prep 66-61 in the second round on Wednesday night at Archbishop Ryan.

“Senior year, I can’t end on a loss,” the Australian-born son of former Abington star Robert “Tiger” Heath said afterwards. “I think it’s really important for me to perform in big games for my team to go far.

“It’s just what you dream about, state finals, now we’re going to the Elite 8, it’s fantastic.”

Heath complemented his team-high 27-point effort with seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block, hitting 12 of his 20 shots.

With star junior big man Eric Dixon (16 points/7 rebounds) staying productive despite having a rough night from the floor (5-of-19), Heath scored 16 of his points in the second half, hitting several of his patented pull-up, something of a hybrid between a jumper and a floater that’s been his bread and butter for a few seasons.

“We were able to feed the big man, Robbie played off of Eric, and we were able to get Robbie out in space,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “And when we get Robbie out in space, he’s dangerous.”

Junior Darius Brown also hit double-figures for Abington, knocking down four 3-pointers en route to 12 points.

A 6-foot-3, 170-pound guard, Heath is also playing to increase his stock in front of college coaches. Hartford head coach John Gallagher and assistant John Linehan were on hand for Heath’s outing, as was Drexel assistant Rob O’Driscoll. Grasty said those two and UC Santa-Barbara had been showing late interest in Heath, who also has several Division II programs interested.

“Ge’s playing with a chip on his shoulder, for whatever reason he’s getting overlooked by coaches in this area, and he feels he’s just as good as these guys that they’re recruiting,” Grasty said. “He’s playing the right way, he’s making the right plays, and he’s proving that he’s a good talent. Some of these coaches that are passing up on him, they’re missing out on a heck of a player.”

La Salle’s John Giannini and Columbia assistant Jared Czech were also in attendance, though Heath was far from the only college prospect on the floor.

St. Joe’s Prep senior Darius Kinnel is in the same position as Heath, chasing down a Division I scholarship of his own. He impressed in his final high school game, finishing with a game-high 28 points on 12-of-19 shooting, doing pretty much whatever he wanted against an Abington defense that otherwise held the Prep in check.

“He’s definitely a Division I player, hopefully he gets something,” Prep coach Speedy Morris said. “He averaged 16-17 points a game, steady all year, great defender. He deserves it, he had a great year.”

Sophomore guard Trevor Wall was the only other member of the Hawks (19-9) to get into double figures, finishing with 10 points as Prep concluded its first trip to the state tournament since 2013.

Ed Croswell, another Prep senior and one of four La Salle commitments for the 2018 class, finished with nine points and seven rebounds, though he was held to just one point after halftime. Kyle Thompson, the Hawks’ third senior member of the starting lineup, had an off night from the field, finishing with four points and four rebounds.

“I just thanked them, after a loss at the end of the season, no need to tell them what they did wrong,” Morris said. “We didn’t play well and we didn’t win, we didn’t stop them when we had to. I thanked them for everything they did.”

Coming up next for Abington is District 2 champ Hazleton Area (25-1), which dispatched Pocono Mt. West in their second-round matchup. The Cougars, coached by Michael Joseph, feature size across the board, with 6-8 West Chester commit Joshua Samec plus 6-5 senior Bobby Planutis, 6-5 junior Da’mir Faison and 6-4 senior Joe Grula all in the starting lineup.

If Abington can beat the Cougars, it’ll equal the run made by Matt Penecale, Amir Hinton and Co. when they made it to the state semifinals in 2014 before losing to La Salle College HS.

Either way, they’re well over the first-round hump, and now only three wins from a state championship.

“Well, what we tell our guys is, yesterday’s gone. It’s over,” Grasty said. “This is a new team, new makeup. Yeah we hear about losing and all that kind of stuff, but that’s in the past.”

Clearly.


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