Abington pulls away from Quakertown in SOL Liberty clash

ABINGTON >> Abington played Thursday night’s third quarter against Quakertown as if the Ghosts could hear the playoffs calling.

“We knew we had to come in here and take care of business,” said Abington’s Derrius Lucas. “At halftime, we were talking about putting it away.”

Abington raised the defensive intensity up a few notches right after halftime, Lucas scored in transition, and the lead soon grew to double digits. The Ghosts got it done at both ends and pulled away to a commanding 54-36 victory over Quakertown in a Suburban One League Liberty Division contest.

With the win, the Ghosts, No. 23 in the District 1-6A Playoff Rankings (24 get in), improved their postseason prospects and raised their overall record to 13-8. They also strengthened their division record to 10-5.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy,” coach Charles Grasty said of the pivotal third quarter, in which the Ghosts transformed a nine-point lead into a 19-point cushion. “(Quakertown) Coach (Tony DaCosta) does a good job of getting those guys to play hard. We knew it was their last game we knew they were gonna come out and give it everything they had.”

Jeremiah Lee hit a three, and Connor Fields and Lucas scored four points each in the third. Lucas led the way with 12 points in the contest, with Lee adding 11 and Fields 10.

The defense came through for the Ghosts, especially down low.

“They have a really good set that they like to run,” Grasty said of the Panthers. “They were throwing it into the post, getting around the basket, so we wanted to make it a little more challenging.”

Quakertown could find little room and was held to seven points in the third. 

Miles Longacre (nine points) had a nice game for Quakertown (6-16, 4-12 in the Liberty) before leaving the game with an injury. Sam Wilkin led the Panthers with 10 points.

Abington got its transition game going and the points started to flow. 

“I thought our energy came out in the third quarter and helped us get some easy ones around the rim,” Grasty said. “That helped big time.”

The Ghosts were playing their third game in a row, so it was unclear how much they’d have left. 

“We challenged them,” Grasty said. “I thought we responded pretty well.”

Abington has one regular-season game left, a road game at Hatboro-Horsham on Friday night. The Ghosts would like to nail down a spot in the postseason.

“Like coach said, let the chips fall where they may,” Lucas said. 

Abington 54, Quakertown 36
Quakertown 12 9 7 8 – 36
Abington 16 14 17 7 – 54
Quakertown: Sam Wilkin 4 2-2 10, Kyle Rosenberger 2 0-1 6, Ty Wilkin 2 0-0 4, Brenden Ruzicka 1 0-0 2, Miles Longacre 3 2-4 9, Anthony Callan 1 1-2 3, Joshua Thomas 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 5-9 36.
Abington: Damon Rawls 1 0-0 2, Connor Fields 4 2-4 10, Fhenyx Scutt 2 0-2 5, Jeremiah Lee 4 0-0 11, Eli Benjamin 2 0-0 5, Josh Young 0 1-2 1, Paul Glants 2 0-0 4, Derrius Lucas 2 8-12 12, Kellen Ingram 0 0-2 0, Kahjel Morris 1 0-0 2, Dan Moynihan 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 11-22 54.
3-pointers: Q-Rosenberger 2, Longacre; A-Scutt, Lee 3, Benjamin.