Lapp scores 1,000th point, Dock Mennonite rolls past Owen J. Roberts

TOWAMENCIN >> Nathan Lapp came into Tuesday night 21 points shy of 1,000 for his career and after quarter against Owen J. Roberts the Dock Mennonite senior had pulled just three points closer.

Lapp, however, was not feeling any pressure.

“I just trusted my teammates to find me,” he said. “And I just trusted the game to come to me and that’s what happened.”

The ball started going in for Lapp in the second quarter, scoring eight points as the host Pioneers boys basketball team went into halftime up 15 on the Wildcats. Lapp then got rolling in the third, eclipsing the four-digit milestone with a turnaround jumper as he poured in 13 points in the quarter that finished with Dock up 61-24.

“It’s been a goal of mine ever since I was like five, six years old,” Lapp said. “I’ve always had in the back of my mind to score a 1,000 points and I’m just relieved that it came true.”

Lapp posted a game-high 24 points as the Pioneers picked up their sixth straight victory, cruising past Owen J. Roberts 65-41 in the Tim Ehst Holiday Tournament.

“He’s a warrior,” said Dock Mennonite coach Mike Fergus of Lapp. “I love him to death, I wish I had five players like him. I have had very few players in my coaching career – I’ve had a few – but I’ve had very few that play as hard and are as competitive as him. He’s just a bulldog out there.”

Vaughn Martin hit a trio of 3-pointers in adding 11 points while Tony Martin and Ethan Parr each chipped in eight points for the Pioneers (8-1, 4-0 BAL Presidents), who capped the first half with an 8-1 run to lead 35-20. Dock then overwhelmed OJR in the third, outscoring the Wildcats 26-4 after collecting the quarter’s final 14 points, eight of those by Lapp.

“We play hard like that every quarter so it doesn’t have to be the third quarter, it doesn’t have to be the fourth quarter,” Lapp said. “We just play hard all the time and that’s why we’re a pretty good team.”

Dock advances to play Souderton – a 70-43 winner over Dobbins in the tournament’s first game Tuesday – in the final 8 p.m. Wednesday. Owen J. Roberts faces Dobbins in the consolation game at 6 p.m.

“Our coach always says you want to get better throughout the season and I feel like with this team that’s what we’re doing so far,” Lapp said. We just got to keep getting better each day in practice and the sky’s the limit.”

Luke Fryer and Tyler Rossi both scored a team-high 10 points while Jack Cashman had nine points for the Wildcats (4-4, 1-1 PAC, 0-1 PAC Liberty), who had their two game-win streak snapped.

Lapp, who is Dock’s first 1,000-point scorer since Jackson Scialanca reached the mark during the 2019-2020 season, is committed to play baseball at Millersville University but the senior wants to accomplish a few more goals before the end of his time on the hardwood.

“One of ‘em is to win a district championship, we fell short of that last year in the final to Executive Ed,” Lapp said. “I want to win the BAL playoffs this year and I want to make a deep run in states this year to finish out my career for basketball. So it’s a lot to look forward to and I’m excited.”

In the third, a Vaughn Martin 3-pointer made it 40-20 Dock while Lapp followed with a three-point play at 6:13. Tony Martin scored the next four – his fast-break slam extending the advantage to 47-20.

“Each year you got to adapt to your team,” Lapp said. “And last year I had to score 20, 21 a game for us to win. This year, I feel like I don’t have to do that cause we have so many scorers on the team and we have such a well-rounded team that we’re just unstoppable at this point.”

Rossi’s three cut the Pioneers’ advantage to 47-24 but those were OJR’s last points of the period. Lapp hit two free throws at 4:11 then scored on a putback to have him three away from 1,000.

“The ref was talking to me over before I inbounded the ball in the third quarter, he’s like “I’m not going to make it easy on you man,’ I’m like ‘Yeah I know,” Lapp said. “So I just went out there and played hard, played like I always do and I got it.”

After a Vaughn Martin breakaway layup off his steal, Lapp looked set to reach the milestone with a three-point play but the foul was ruled to have been on the floor and the senior connected on both ends of a 1-and-1 at 2:15 to move a point away.

Lapp registered career points 1,000 and 1,001 by receiving a pass from Tony Martin just outside the lane on the right side then turning around to knock down a jumper for a 57-24 Dock lead.

“I usually never take a shot like that,” he said. “And I just felt the guy on my high side and I spun and I got an open shot and I made it.”

A Hoyt Bultje basket then a Lapp steal and layup made it 61-24 heading to the fourth.

“Our defense created points,” Fergus said. “I bet we had 20 fast-break points tonight easy. Our guys are really good at playing ahead, unselfishly throwing to a teammate. And the press, the trap got that, we got, I don’t know, six points, eight points in that second quarter off the trap and we turned them into baskets. And after that, I mean that kind of swung the game.”

A pair of Vaughn Martin 3-pointers helped Dock jump out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter. Lapp started his scoring with a three-point play at 4:58 that made it 11-3.

“I was 21 away, we’re eight games into the season, we have hopefully at least 20 more so I knew the game was just going to come to me,” Lapp said. “So I just let it come to me and I scored.”

AJ Washington scored on a drive to put the Pioneers ahead 15-6 before OJR collected the next four points. However, baskets from Tony Martin and Bultje had Dock’s lead back up to nine at 19-10 at the end of the quarter.

After a Cashman three had the Wildcats within 21-15, Lapp collected four points during a 6-0 burst that increased the Pioneers’ advantage to 12.

“Just pushing the ball up the court,” said Lapp of finding his offense in the second quarter. “When I was getting a rebound, taking my lanes, seeing the defense. If I see a lane, I’m just going to go and take it in if no one’s going to stop me. So I was just taking what the defense was giving me.”

A Rossi trey cut the margin to 27-19 but Dock scored the next eight points – baskets by Parr bookending the run – to go ahead 35-19 before a Danny Cashman free throw with 54 seconds made it 35-20 at the break.

Souderton 70, Dobbins 43 >> Nate Hemsing was locked-in from long range, connecting on eight 3-pointers – four in the third quarter – in scoring a game-high 26 points as Souderton rolled past Dobbins in the Tim Ehst Holiday Tournament opener.

James Blair finished with 17 points while Chanse Salone had 13 points for the Indians (3-5, 2-3 SOL Colonial), who hit a total of 14 3-pointers in winning their second straight.

Zachary Campbell paced Dobbins with 11 points.

Souderton outscored the Mustangs 19-9 in the second quarter to lead 36-22 at halftime. Hemsing’s four triples in the third helped extend the Indians’ advantage to 52-34 heading to the fourth.

Dock Mennonite 65, Owen J. Roberts 41

Owen J. Roberts 10 10 4 17 — 41

Dock Mennonite 19 16 26 4 — 65

Owen J. Roberts: Luke Fryer 4 0-0 10; Tyler Rossi 3 1-3 10; Jack Cashman 3 1-2 9; Elijah Cline 1 2-4 4; Joe Yellowtail 1 1-2 4; Danny Cashman 0 2-4 2; Nate Iyoob 1 0-0 2; Totals 13 7-15 41.

Dock Mennonite: Nathan Lapp 9 6-6 24; Vaughn Martin 4 0-0 11; Ethan Parr 4 0-0 8; Tony Martin 3 2-2 8; Hoyt Bultje 3 0-0 6; AJ Washington 3 0-2 6; Lane Bergey 1 0-0 2 Tyler Derstein 0 0-1 0; Totals 27 8-11 65.

3-pointers: OJR-Rossi 3, Fryer 2,, J. Cashman 2, Yellowtail; D-V. Martin 3.