We R 1 holds off Waterview Dan Rumph
CONSHOHOCKEN >> We R 1 led by 21 points in the second half of its 86-77 win over Waterview Dan Rumph in the second round of the 57th Annual Albert C. Donofrio Classic Thursday night at the Fellowship House of Conshohocken.
Those numbers would be misleading to how the game actually played out.
Rumph rallied in the second half to get within one a couple of times — 76-75 with 3:40 left and 78-77 with 2:05 left — but could never come even.
“We got up and we got comfortable,” Abington sophomore and We R 1 starter Eric Dixon said. “Tamir Green got really hot, he brought them back into it. We settled back down and handled business.”
Green, a Constitution senior, scored 22 of his game-high 30 points in the second half. Martin Luther King’s Elijah Kiah-El also helped in the comeback — scoring 12 of his 18 points after halftime.
Dixon made a couple free throws to extend We R 1’s lead to three, 80-77.
St. John Neumann senior and University of Delaware commit Kevin Anderson scored the final six points for We R 1 to finish off the 86-77 victory and set up a date with Team Philly in the quarterfinals on April 12 at 7 p.m.
Rumph led by five late in the first half, 34-29. Then We R 1 rattled off a 31-4 run.
We R 1 scored the last six points of the first half, including a layup by Dixon to put his side ahead for good, 35-34.
Dixon got the scoring started in the second half before N’shon Hyland, a St. George’s Tech sophomore, and Anderson hit threes and the We R 1 squad was off and running.
“We got here and we weren’t that intense,” Dixon said. “I think we got big-headed a little bit, wearing the We R 1 and everything. At halftime coach told us what we were doing wrong. We came out, took our intensity up, followed the gameplan and we broke through.”
The lead peaked at 21, 59-38.
Dixon also talked about why he enjoys playing in the Donofrio Classic.
“I don’t know about anybody else but this tournament means a lot to me,” the 2017 District 1 Class-6A champion said. “Not only the history of it — all the greats that have come through here — but also the fact that all my friends are playing in it and all the guys I know from the city playing in it. Friends watching, their parents watching. You want to come here. You want to play well and put on a good show.”
Anderson led We R 1 with 22 points, Hyland added 13, Isaiah Wong (Notre Dame) 12 and Dixon 11.
The Donofrio Classic continues Monday April 10 when Hunting Park I and Just Clean It face off at 7 p.m. followed by Raw Sports vs. Positive Image I.
