Dock Mennonite finds shot in 2nd half, pulls away from Roxborough

TOWAMENCIN >> There was one key factor in Tuesday night’s game featuring Dock Mennonite and Roxborough. Rebounding.

The Pioneers used a decided edge in rebounding to pull away from the Indians in the second half 52-29.

“In the first half they probably shot between 10 to 20 percent from the floor but we were giving them three or four opportunities,” Roxborough coach Jeff McKenna said.

Dock is usually a good shooting team but struggled to find its stroke for much of the night. Fortunately for the Pioneers they got plenty of possessions that included more than one shot, many times several.

Leading the rebounding efforts for the Pioneers was guard Misrahim Nyagwegwe who reeled in 13 boards — eight offensive — while Nick Schnable hauled in 12 rebounds.

“Surprisingly. I didn’t know we’d rebound that well because that team is athletic,” Dock coach Mike Fergus said. “We did really well on the glass and that was huge.”

Eventually, the normally reliable Dock shooting showed up. Jackson Scialanca finished with a game-high 19 points for the Pioneers thanks in part to his five second half threes.

“He’s a good shooter,” Fergus said of Scialanca. “If you give him 10 open looks on threes, he’s going to make four or five. Sooner or later they just had to drop.”

After Dock opened up 10-point lead midway through the third quarter, it never looked back from there as the Pioneers stepped on the gas and pulled away from Roxborough in the final 12 minutes.

“A key play was when Nolan Bolton drove to the bucket and made a three-point play,” Fergus said of the play, which took place at the 5:18 mark in the third quarter. “That put us five and from that point, we didn’t look back. We spurted, they called timeout and we just kept adding to it.”

Likely the common factor between Dock winning the rebound margin and being able to close out the game was being the more physical team, which it established early.

“I thought we were physical,” Fergus said. “I thought we were the more physical team tonight. And I challenged them before the game to be the team that takes charge.”