Abington wins overtime thriller over Pennsbury in District 1-6A first round
FAIRLESS HILLS >> Abington’s playoff journey began in a frenzied, raucous atmosphere at packed Pennsbury High, and it was Damon Rawls who guided the Ghosts through it.
“It lifted me up, to be honest,” said the 5-foot-5 Rawls, who filled a huge role for Abington on Thursday night. “I like playing in an environment like this.”
With Rawls directing things at point guard and leading scorer Jeremiah Lee coming through again, the Ghosts survived the frenzy of overtime and enjoyed a 45-42 victory over the Falcons in the opening round of the District 1-6A Playoffs.
“I thought we kept our composure,” said coach Charles Grasty of his young squad. “My staff and I – we joke about it. It’s like the kids don’t know what they don’t know – they’re just out there playing basketball, trying to think our way through it.”
The win advances the No. 20 Ghosts to a second-round contest at fourth-seeded Central Bucks East on Tuesday. A fine season for No. 13 Pennsbury came to a close.
“That team is good. They make shots,” Grasty said of the Falcons, who sent the game to OT with a three-pointer by Teddy Mangan with just 10 seconds to go.
Abington outscored the Falcons 10-7 in the extra session, keyed by a Lee three pointer.
“He hit a huge three that got the guys going. He’s a big part of what we do,” Grasty said of the junior shooting guard, who scored a game-high 16 points.
“I was really excited. When Damon passed to me, I knew I was making it,” said Lee.
With the Ghosts clinging to a one-point lead, a reverse layup by Paul Glants provided some breathing room.
Ty Kocak’s three at the other end did not fall and Glants secured the rebound for the Ghosts as time expired.
“We wanted to spread them a little bit, spread the floor, made their run and jump a little bit longer than normal,” Grasty said of the offense. “Once we spread the floor a little bit, we got two feet in the paint, and we were able to dump it down or get a layup. And that’s what we wanted to do against a team like this that does a really good job of running and jumping.”
In addition to finding Lee, Rawls fed Josh Young (seven points) and Glants (seven points) and consistently spotted the open shooter. Rawls also scored 11 points himself, including a pair of threes.
“Excellent. That’s all I can say about Damon Rawls,” Grasty said. “Playing point guard is the hardest position in our program. He accepted the challenge. He is controlling our team, he runs the floor and makes big shots for us.”
The Ghosts are coming on strong.
“We were 12-10, lost a couple close ones. But we learned from it,” said Grasty, who is 10-2 in playoff openers during his 13 years at the helm. “Our guys are young and we learned. I told the guys, listen, you wanna be playing your best ball at the end of the season. And I think that’s what we did tonight.”
Teddy Mangan and Connor Taddei each scored 10 points for the Falcons, who rallied from six down in the fourth.
But Rawls got the Ghosts right back on track.
“I just stuck to what I do, got my teammates involved and when it’s open, take the shot,” the junior said. “We have great chemistry together.”
Abington 45, Pennsbury 42 (OT)
Abington 6 9 14 6 10 – 45
Pennsbury 10 6 7 12 7 – 42
Abington: 1 Damon Rawls 2 5-7 11, 5 Jeremiah Lee 5 4-7 16, 13 Josh Young 3 0-0 7, 14 Paul Glants 3 1-2 7, 15 Kamari Brasher 0 2-2 2, 23 Kellen Ingram 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 12-18 45.
Pennsbury: 2 Mike Roccograndi 1 2-4 5, 1 Teddy Mangan 4 2-3 10, 3 Danny Cohen 2 0-0 4, 5 Sam Callahan 0 1-2 1, 10 Connor Taddei 3 2-2 10, 15 Ty Kocak 3 3-4 9, 25 Ryan Zuckerman 0 3-6 3. Totals 13 13-21 42.
3-pointers: A-Rawls 2, Lee 2, Young; P-Roccograndi, Taddei 2.
