Abington makes plays down the stretch, tops Wissahickon
ABINGTON >> There’s not much separating Abington and Wissahickon this season.
The first time these Suburban One League American Conference rivals met, the Trojans won in triple overtime.
When they got together for the rematch, the teams entered with matching overall records and league records and were tied with less than two minutes remaining.
This time it was the Ghosts making the game-winning plays down the stretch and picking up an SOL American win, 44-41, at Abington Senior High School Friday night.
“Our guards and everyone just locked down on defense,” Abington’s Caleb Baker said of the final stretch. “We played really good team defense and scored when we needed to.”
Oreck Frazier hit a pair of free throws to give the Ghosts (11-9, 9-3 SOL American) the lead for good, 40-38, with 1:44 remaining. After Wiss cut its deficit to one, Baker made a layup to extend the difference to three and, with 26 seconds left, hit a pair of free throws to make it a two-possession game, 44-39.
“(Wiss was) playing that 1-3-1 doing an excellent job making it tough on us,” Abington coach Charles Grasty said. “I thought we were able to get Caleb going down in the post a little bit. We wanted to take advantage of that slide down there. We felt like Caleb could make some layups.”
The Trojans (10-10, 8-4 SOL American) got it back to a three-point game on a Carmen Ostroski bucket with 15.4 left, and got the ball back five seconds later with a chance to tie after Baker missed two free throws. Abington, however, didn’t give them that chance, fouling once the ball crossed half-court. Harrison Williams missed the front end of a one-and-one and Wiss grabbed the rebound, but an air ball on a put-back attempt was secured by Abington’s Manir Waller to close out the win, 44-41.
“Basketball is a game of making runs and making plays,” Wiss coach Kyle Wilson said. “They made a few more plays than we did and sometimes that’s the difference in the game. They’re at home. At our place, we made the plays and were able to get one there. They’re a well-coached team. Coach Grasty – I think he’s the best in the business.
“In a game like that that’s a grind-it-out chess match, sort of possession-possession, you can’t give away points. You have to be stingy with every opportunity to knock down shots. We struggled to do that tonight.”
After the game, there was more separating the two schools. Abington moved to No. 14 in District 1-6A while Wissahickon fell to No. 26. The top 24 qualify for the postseason.
The Trojans jumped out to a comfortable lead early. After falling behind 2-0, Matt Compas scored seven straight points. Ostroski and Williams each hit threes later in the first quarter to give Wiss a 15-8 lead after eight minutes.
Abington rallied in the second quarter. The hosts used a 6-0 run to get within two, 22-20, and went to the break trailing by four, 24-20.
Frazier gave Abington it’s first lead since 2-0, 27-26, with an and-one halfway through the third. The teams traded leads and ties until Baker grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back for two at the buzzer, making it 31-29 Abington.
Compas hit a three to open the fourth and put Wiss on top by one. Baker and Compas traded layups before Baker went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe to tie the game at 34 with 6:04 on the clock.
“I just want to play team basketball and win the game,” Baker said of going back-and-forth with Compas. “That’s the ultimate goal.”
William Kunzier gave Wiss its final lead of the night, 36-34, with a put-back. Waller answered with a three-point play to put Abington on top and split free throws on the next possession to go ahead by two. Wiss’ Williams drove to the basket with 2:35 left to tie the game, 38-38.
Baker led Abington with 17 points and added 13 rebounds. Waller and Joey Brusha each added seven points.
Compas led Wissahickon in scoring, matching Baker’s 17 points. Williams added six points and Ostroski had five.
Mr. 200
Prior to the game the Abington upperclassmen were honored for Senior Night. After their ceremony, Grasty was surprised by a photo commemorating his 200th win earlier this year.
“Our community comes out and shows a lot of support,” Grasty said. “We’ve got guys (here) that played in ’06 and ’10. I played with this guy in 1990. They came out and supported us. It’s just a testament to everybody in the community and guys who played for us. Two hundred wins – the old saying that just means that I’ve been around a long time – definitely happy with it. It was emotional. To go to Abington, to go away, come back, teach here, coach here, same school where my parents went, my brother, my sister. It’s very, very emotional. I just love the community.”
