Central Bucks East slows down Abington in District 1-6A 2nd round, clinches PIAA spot
BUCKINGHAM >> Central Bucks East’s goal from the start, Jake Cummiskey said, was to “pack the paint.”
“Abington’s a strong team but not as strong in the shooting area,” said Cummiskey, East’s 6-foot-3 junior point guard. “Coach (Erik Henrysen) was preaching all week to pack that lane and crash the boards.
“All year long, we’ve been a second-half team. We tend to come out firing in the second half. But the goal tonight was to come out with energy and rebounds. We knew Abington is a big, long, strong team so that was the goal tonight.”
Fourth-seeded East held the Ghosts to five points in the first quarter and led by eight at halftime. The Pats then broke it open in the third and went humming along to a 59-46 win in the District 1-6A Second Round.
The victory clinches a spot in states for the Patriots and sends them to a home quarterfinal matchup on Friday against No. 5 Downingtown West. The No. 20 Ghosts, led by Jeremiah Lee’s game-high 22 points, now enter playbacks and will look to grab one of the four remaining states spots.
The Patriots got 16 points from Cummiskey, 12 from Dhruv Mukund and another 10 each from Kyle Barndt and Joey Giordano in a balanced effort on Tuesday night.
“It’s just a great feeling,” Giordano said of locking up the spot in states. “That was one of our main goals coming into the season. But it’s not our only goal. We still have a lot of other ones that we’re chasing.”
Defense provided that early push for the Pats, and buckets by Cummiskey and Giordano helped key an 11-5 lead.
Cummiskey and Barndt each hit threes in the second quarter, as the capacity crowd watched the Patriots tighten their collective grip on the contest.
The Patriots sank a trio of three-pointers in a pivotal third quarter, as East opened up a 15-point advantage.
“Once we went up double digits, we felt really good,” Barndt said. “We knew as long as we kept our foot on the gas, we could get a ‘W.'”
East was in control the rest of the way.
“All year, we’ve been winning close one after close one. To seal this one against a tough Abington team means a lot,” Cummiskey said. “The outcome is what we wanted.”
Paul Glants added 13 points for the Ghosts. Abington’s offense got into more of a flow in the second half but East’s defensive dominance early – and hot shooting in the third – provided the difference.
Central Bucks East 59, Abington 46
Abington 5 12 10 19 — 46
Central Bucks East 11 14 17 17 — 59
Abington: Damon Rawls 1 1-2 3, Jeremiah Lee 9 4-7 22, Josh Young 1 1-2 3, Paul Glants 5 2-2 13, Kellen Ingram 1 1-2 3, Lathan Miller 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 9-15 46.
Central Bucks East: Jake Cummiskey 5 3-4 16, Kyle Barndt 3 2-4 10, Joey Giordano 3 4-8 10, Tyler Dandrea 3 3-3 9, Dhruv Mukund 3 4-4 12, Caleb Lyzinski 1 0-0 2. Totals 18 16-23 59.
3-pointers: A-Glants; C-Cummiskey 3, Barndt 2, Mukund 2.
