Stover heats up for Upper Dublin in win over Faith Christian

UPPER DUBLIN >> Drew Stover dominated the game and then put it to bed, his two-handed slam with two minutes to play emphatically rocking this one into the win column for Upper Dublin.

The 6-foot-5 sophomore scored 17 first-half points, a game-high 26 in all.

Said Stover with a grin: “It’s a good feeling being the biggest kid on the court.”

Stover’s size — and moves around the hoop — were the driving force for the Cardinals in their 49-45 victory over Faith Christian in the non-league regular-season finale Friday night.

“We were just looking to pound the ball in,” Stover said. “We had a big size advantage so I think we did that well. I think we lacked on the defense a little bit so we’ll have to fix that in practice, get ready for the next game.”

The Cardinals’ next game will be in the District 1-6A Playoffs — Upper Dublin (14-8, 7-7 SOL American) was seeded 17th going into Friday night’s game and may have improved their place. Faith (13-9, 10-4 BAL Constitution), led by Josh Forker’s 22-point effort, was seeded second in Class A going into Friday.

Upper Dublin took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter but Forker’s back-to-back baskets brought the Lions within 42-37 just inside of three minutes.

Corby Watkins’ quick pass set up Stover for another two, and the lead was at 44-37. Moments later, Stover’s dunk followed by his block at the other end had Upper Dublin well in control.

“(Faith) wasn’t really doing anything about me in the first half and then they came out in the second half, did a little bit more but we kept feeding it in, made some outside shots, and we had a few struggles in the end but we held it together,” Stover said.

Baskets by Stover, Bazel Brady and Watkins had Upper Dublin out to an 8-0 lead early.

Faith got going, a three by Forker bringing the Lions to within 8-7.

Stover began to dominate down low, scoring with five seconds left to give the Cardinals a 12-10 edge at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter provided more Stover. In fact, he scored Upper Dublin’s first seven points of the period and nine overall.

The sophomore completed a three-point play and kept getting to rebounds, putting them up and through. His bucket with two minutes left widened the gap to 23-16 at the half.

“He was in the right spots a lot of times and I think we did a good job finding him,” Cardinals coach Chris Monahan said. “And he did a good job finishing.”