Griffin scores 1,000th point, Phil-Mont Christian cruises in District 1-A opener
SPRINGFIELD TWP. — One advantage of being a top seed in the district playoff is drawing the lowest seed, which most of the time creates a favorable matchup.
Phil-Mont Christian took advantage of its No. 1 seed in the District 1-A tournament Friday night as it easily took care of No. 8 Friends Select 66-28.
Phil-Mont got off to the races right away, jumping out to an 11-0 lead before claiming a 22-10 advantage after the first quarter. Seventeen of Phil-Mont’s points in the quarter came from forward Sean Griffin, who had some personal business to take care of in addition to helping his team advance.
Griffin came into the contest just 16 points shy of 1,000 of his career. By looking at Griffin, standing at 6-foot-7 with freakish athleticism one might figure it was never much of a doubt whether he would reach a the milestone. But after breaking his leg in 8th grade and then breaking his wrist that sidelined him most of freshman year, Griffin had to overcome quite a bit of adversity to accomplish the feat.
“That’s what I tried to do tonight, I just tried to get in my flow,’ the junior said. “Coach told me to get it over with. I had some jitters but once I hit my first jump hook I was good to go.’
The Falcons did a great job all night of turning defense into offense. Many times as soon as Friends Select crossed half court, the long Phil-Mont defenders anticipated and filled passing lanes leading to fast-break opportunity after fast-break opportunity.
“We have strengths in the that area,’ sadi Phil-Mont coach Glenn Dolton of his team getting in the passing lanes. “I thought we did a nice job of that throughout the game of being able to read the plays and jump the lanes a little bit.’
Dolton was critical of a lull that his team hit defensively in the second quarter that allowed Friends Select to score its most amount of points in any quarter with 12. The Falcons responded with a near perfect third quarter in which it held Friends Select scoreless.
“There were some sloppy stages there in the second quarter,’ Dolton said. “I was pleased with the way we came out in the third. We played with a lot more energy and passion and focus defensively.’
In the next round, waiting for the Falcons, an all too familiar opponent in Jenkintown, the Falcons swept the regular-season series, but there will be no secrets and no love lost when these teams link up Tuesday night
