Cheltenham makes statement with win at Abington

ABINGTON >> It’s a given that anytime Cheltenham and Abington meet in any sport, it’s going to be an event.
When the schools’ boys’ basketball teams met in Abington’s gym on Saturday afternoon, they did nothing to dispel that notion. It was packed, it was loud and it was a really good basketball game.
It felt like a playoff atmosphere.
Cheltenham battled through foul trouble, withstood an Abington comeback and got things back on the right foot with a thrilling 77-73 win.
“This was a great bounce-back for us to keep our momentum up with P-W on Tuesday,” Panthers senior center Justin Sutton said. “It’s a rivalry, not matter what it is. So we’re happy we won this game.”
Cheltenham came in off a Friday night loss to Upper Moreland, the Panthers’ first game after a six-day layoff. So on top of the usual rivalry stuff, they needed a good response. Their start to the game certainly qualified, led by Khalil White, Cheltenham took a 22-12 lead after a quarter, the exclamation point coming off an Admad Bickley corner 3-pointer at the buzzer.
It wasn’t all good however. The Panthers were called for foul after foul, putting the Ghosts into the bonus before the first quarter and sending Panthers post Trevonn Pitts to the bench with three fouls. Pitts had his minutes limited by the fouls, but he was a factor when he was in, scoring 12 points and coming up with four offensive boards.
Sutton was another guy who couldn’t seem to buy a defensive play in his favor, but he still managed 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Amir Lewis played capable a spotter off the bench with 14 points and six rebounds, making plays at just the right time.
While most of it has melted away off the streets, the Panthers brought plenty of ice into the gym on Saturday.
“We brought a lot of fire and a lot of energy,” Cheltenham coach John Timms said. “We have an acronym that’s called I.C.E. and it stands for Intensity, Communication and Energy and we live by that.”
Abington trailed by seven at the break, 40-33 and by eight after three, 56-48, but the Ghosts weren’t going to let the Panthers walk into their gym and walk all over them. In the lobby of Abington’s gym, dubbed the “Graveyard,” the most prominent headstone painted on the wall is the one that reads Cheltenham.
It wasn’t a clean game by any stretch for Abington, as they shot just 29-of-48 from the foul line and had some poor turnovers. But they kept grinding, with Robbie Heath and Rob Young’s endless drives into the lane setting the pace. The two Robs combined to shoot 32 of the team’s 48 freebies, with Heath scoring 22 and Young 15 points.
“We told our guys it was going to be like a playoff atmosphere but we tried to treat it like any other game,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “We wanted to get better. We did some things that we were working on that I was impressed with, we did some things where we didn’t execute well. It’s Abington-Cheltenham, it’s been like that and it’s going to be like that for a long time. We told them the feel is like a playoff atmosphere but let’s just go out and don’t worry about them, let’s try to get better as a team.”
The loss was Abington’s first since December, snapping a nine-game streak. But it wasn’t going to let that streak die and when Heath slashed into the lane and forced in a shot through contact, it gave Abington a short-lived 58-57 lead. The sophmore guard didn’t make his free throw and White capitalized by sinking a short jumper on the baseline to put the Panthers quickly back in front.
White’s shot was important because while Ghosts refused to go away, they never again went in front.
“I’m from Friends’ Central and I was telling them in there, welcome to the world I’m used to,” Timms said. “The bulls’ eye is on your back now. We have four losses and three of them, they stormed the court when they beat us. Who are we? When teams are storming the court, that means something. This is what I’m used to, but they’re not used to that, now they’re getting the best effort from everyone.”
A big moment in the game came with 3:33 left when a double foul was called and Grasty was then given a technical foul for arguing the call. Sutton hit both foul shots and the Panthers took the ball, putting them up 66-61.
“I didn’t understand the call,” Grasty said. “He called a double foul when our guard was trying to get the ball. He was being held and getting the guy off him. I’ll take that tech anytime if you’re holding our guard and our guard pushes off because he’s being held, I’ll take that, we’re not going to let people hold us and push us around, it’s not the makeup of our program.”
Grasty felt like his team forced a few too many shots and got away from pounding the ball down low. Freshman big man Eric Dixon had 16 points and eight boards, but he didn’t touch the ball consistently in the paint, something the Ghost coaches wanted to do with some many Panthers in foul trouble.
Playing through fouls is nothing new for Cheltenham this season, with Timms saying his team does foul and the refs are just calling what they see. Pitts, in just his first season playing varsity ball, has had games where his impact is limited by fouls and overall, Timms and his staff are trying to coach the Panthers to play around their fouls.
Abington kept chipping, but the Panthers had an answer every time with White, Lewis and Bickley delivering some key points late in the contest.
It’s vitally important now, because unlike a year ago when this team had to sweat out a berth in the district tournament, the Panthers will likely host at least one game. And they’re still learning, how to play with fouls and how to be a target, but Saturday’s effort was a good sign.
“I think that since we’ve been playing so well all season, we just build on that,” Sutton, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds, said. “Last year at this time we had a ,500 record and that had us keeping our heads down mentally. But we have such a good record and we’ve been doing so good, we build off that and ride that energy.”
Neither team can dwell on the result. Cheltenham has Plymouth-Whitemarsh at home Tuesday, while Abington goes for an outright SOL National title at home against CR North. It wasn’t a banner day for the Ghosts, but as their coach sees it, at least they got it out of the way.
“I’m glad it happened now and not in the playoffs where it would cost us,” Grasty said. “It’s uncharacteristic of this team, normally we’ve been a pretty decent foul shooting team. You miss 19 foul shots, you shouldn’t be in many games anyway.”