Springfield Montco holds off Christopher Dock
TOWAMENCIN >> Springfield Montco was patient with its offense, big underneath with 6-foot-4 Quentin Johnson clutching several key rebounds, and plenty deserving of the Christopher Dock Holiday Tournament Championship, as the Spartans fended off the host Pioneers for a 44-30 victory Wednesday night.
Larry Clark, who led the Spartans’ balanced attack along with Ryan Daley with 10 points each, battled under the basket for a pivotal three-point play, extending the Springfield lead to 38-30 with 2 minutes and 28 seconds to go.
The Spartans shut the Pioneers out the rest of the way, claiming their second Dock Holiday Tourney title and first since 2012.
“We were really composed,” Springfield coach Gary Nolan said. “We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity as far as injuries and other situations, and it’s kind of taken a long time to jell and play as a group.
“We’re finally starting to get it. This tournament, we played together for two nights.”
Johnson, the backbone of Springfield’s defense down the stretch, finished off a fast break with a dunk that capped the scoring with seconds to go.
The Pioneers, playing without leading scorer Jared Exler (illness) for much of the contest, got hot in the third quarter, with Justin Burkholder and Jackson Scialanca hitting back-to-back threes, but Daley, doing a good job handling the ball and also exploding to the basket, scored key baskets in the third to keep the Spartans in front.
“We tried to work the offense and tried to go to our strengths,” Nolan said. “I knew Dock was gonna hit some threes – they scored eight points in the first half and I knew that wasn’t gonna stay there. They’re too good offensively for that to happen.
“We held on and we were smart.”
Scialanca hit four threes in the contest, with he and Burkholder scoring 12 each to lead Dock (2-7), and a three by Scialanca brought the Pioneers within 33-29 midway through the fourth. Dock would get no closer, but the Pioneers did get solid play out of Scialanca, a freshman, and Burkholder, a junior.
“In the first half, we missed some easy shots, and in the second half, we started playing basketball,” Dock coach Mike Fergus said. “I think, overall, the tournament for us was a plus. I was happy. We’re a young team and I thought we got better.”
Things got off to a nice start for Dock when Scialanca sank a three pointer in the opening minutes, but that shot would produce the Pioneers’ only points of the first quarter.
Baskets by Mike Goodson, Justin Hill and Johnson gave the Spartans a 6-3 lead at the end of the first.
Forcing turnovers and scoring in transition, Springfield stretched its lead to 11-3 when Daley finished off a fast break, and the margin would soon grow to 12-3 on 1-of-2 free throws by Justin Hill.
The Pioneers started to get going when a layup by Misrahim Nyagwegwe tightened the margin and a three by Scialanca sliced the deficit to 13-8.
But the Spartans (3-7) closed out the first half with a 6-0 run, with Clark scoring five points in the quarter to bring the Springfield lead to 19-8 at the break.
In the Consolation Game, Sankofa Freedom prevailed 71-63 over Roxborough.
