Dixon breaks out in second half as Abington tops Pennsbury
ABINGTON >> It’s the last go-round in the SOL National for Abington’s boys basketball team and the Ghosts want to make a statement on their way out.
Winners of five straight conference titles, Abington is on course to do it again but that won’t be enough this season. The Ghosts won’t settle for anything less than an unblemished conference record but found themselves in a fight Tuesday night against Pennsbury.
Abington also has Eric Dixon and nobody else does. Dixon powered the Ghosts with 27 points as the Ghosts downed the Falcons 51-45 on Tuesday.
“We want to leave with a bang and we don’t want to lose any games,” Dixon said. “I think we were motivated to push a little bit more, play a little bit harder and play the game we needed to.”
Dixon has been on a tear for the Ghosts and shook off a sluggish first half on Tuesday to post 20 of his 27 after halftime. Teams have tried pretty much everything to keep the 6-foot-8 forward in check and it hasn’t been working.
“I feel like I say it every week and I’ll continue to say it, we have a special player here in our community and we’re happy to have him,” Grasty said. “When the games get tough, we get a chance to send it down to one of the best players, we feel, in the country.”
Pennsbury has been the biggest roadblock on Abington’s path to the SOL National title the past five seasons, so it made sense that the Falcons were going to put up one last battle. Ghosts coach Charles Grasty knew the Falcons were coming in hot as well, with Pennsbury finding run of good play after a slow start to the season.
Grasty also has to remind himself occasionally that he is coaching high schoolers and their focus isn’t always as tight as his. After beating backyard rival Cheltenham on Saturday and with a trip to Flordia to participate in a tournament hosted by national power Montverde Academy, Abington wasn’t at its sharpest on Tuesday.
“You keep trying to focus on tonight, but these kids are 15, 16, 17 years old, they’re looking forward to it and I understand,” Grasty said. “Of course I’m yelling and screaming but I understand. We’re going to see some high level basketball, not that this wasn’t, but they’ve put in the effort, done their school work and caught up on their midterms, they want to go have some fun.”
Defensively, Pennsbury tried to pack it in on the back end and the strategy worked as Dixon went stretches without getting touches and the other Ghosts taking some less-than-great shots. After Dixon scored the game’s opening basket, Pennsbury’s Raylil Winton buried a 3-pointer for a 3-2 lead.
Darious Brown, one of several Abington role players to provide crucial contributions, retorted with a trey of his own with 6:48 left in the opening frame and the Ghosts wouldn’t trail again. They also would never really put Pennsbury away, and the Falcons several times cut the lead down to one in the second and third quarters.
“Coach calls these trap games where you’re still thinking about the past one and starting to think about the next one,” Dixon said. “We had to lock in and try to play this game the right way.”
Brown hit a pair of threes, Hassan Whitby hit a key trey in the third quarter and Xavier Crawford provided his usual feisty defense with a couple of assists. Under Grasty, the Ghosts form a strong core of role guys each season and the coach said this group is starting to find its confidence in their roles.
Dixon had seven points at the break but was just 3-of-6 with a couple of forced 3-pointers. During the break, the coaches told the forward to go back to his forte in the post.
“We kept telling him he had to work a little harder,” Grasty said. “He was settling a lot in the first half, he wasn’t really working the paint. We thought he started working it a little more and we really focused on getting him the ball because our shots weren’t falling, we were like 3-of-13 from three in the first half. We started dumping it down into him and he was working.”
Dixon set up shop on the low blocks and quickly got Pennsbury forward Chad Weldon into foul trouble, forcing him to the bench and putting the small Josh Arruda on Dixon. With about a six-inch height difference and a big size gap, Dixon started to establish himself over and over again as Abington’s guards kept getting him the ball. Heath ended the game with seven assists, most going to Dixon.
The junior scored 11 points in the third, shooting 4-of-4 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the line. Dixon finished the game 11-of-16 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line, also adding 13 rebounds and four blocked shots.
“(Arruda) is tough, but I felt like I could get a good seal in and the guards could lob it up easily and not over-think the passes,” Dixon said. “It changes from ref to ref, but you have to feel it out. You can get away with more with some guys or against certain players. Others, you have to meet their energy, they come out with a lot of hype and confidence and I have to try and shut that down early.”
Pennsbury kept itself in the game with a barrage of 3-point shots. Winton and Collin Connor each buried three while Gary Francis sank two in the third quarter to briefly cut the Ghosts’ lead to a single point.
Dixon added nine more points in the fourth quarter, his only two misses turning into offensive boards and put-backs as the Ghosts finally closed out the win.
Abington will be thoroughly tested over the weekend in the Sunshine State, starting off with nationally-ranked Findlay Prep on Thursday. Grasty said the Ghosts are going down to compete and expecting to win, but also looking to learn from the experience which will include playing with a shot clock.
“We’re looking forward to the competition,” Dixon said. “I’ve played against some of these guys before over the summer. I feel like it’s an out of sight, out of mind thing as far as (recruiting) rankings but I want to go out there and remind them that I am a good player.”
ABINGTON 51, PENNSBURY 45
PENNSBURY 7 14 12 12 – 45
ABINGTON 13 12 15 11 – 51
Abington: Eric Dixon 11 5-6 27, Robbie Heath 3 1-3 7, Darious Brown 2 0-0 6, Lucas Monroe 2 2-3 6, Xavier Crawford 1 0-0 2, Hassan Whitby 1 0-0 3. Nonscoring: Brandon Coffman, Bryan Coffman, Dante Knox, JP Nolan. Totals: 20 8-12 51.
Pennsbury: Raylil Winton 6 0-1 15, Josh Arruda 3 0-0 6, Chad Weldon 1 1-2 3, Gary Francis 4 0-0 10, Collin Connor 3 0-0 9, Cooper Arnold 1 0-0 2. Nonscoring: Jake Martell. Totals: 18 1-3 45.
3-pointers: A – Brown 2, Whitby; P – Winton 3, Connor 3, Francis 2.
