Abington’s energy, fast start spark District 1-6A 2nd round win over Plymouth Whitemarsh

WHITEMARSH >> Abington took something from its District 1-6A first-round playoff game against Kennett last weekend. In the three-point win, the Ghosts had to deal with the Blue Demons sideline getting loud and impacting the game. Head coach Charles Grasty asked his team why they can’t do the same thing.

The Ghosts bench took that challenge to heart in their second-round matchup Tuesday night. The reserves were on their feet from the opening tip until the final whistle, encouraging the defense and celebrating baskets on offense.

Their infectious energy spread to the court as No. 14 Abington jumped out to an early lead and never let No. 3 Plymouth Whitemarsh get close in a 66-48 win at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

“We came out we made some shots,” Grasty said. “We had a lot of energy. In high school that’s what it comes down to – start off making shots, get energy and everybody gets involved.”

The Ghosts, who lost two regular season games against PW this year, scored the first eight points of the game. Oreck Frazier had nine points in the opening quarter, Caleb Baker six and Rob Bell four as the visitors built a 23-8 lead after eight minutes.

“It starts in practice,” Baker said. “We just hammered in defense, getting boards because (PW’s Zuri Jerman) is a good player so we had to box him out, get boards and play defense. It started from there.”

That momentum carried into the second quarter, when Abington opened the frame on a 9-2 run to open a 32-10 advantage. PW closed the half strong, putting together a 7-2 run over the final two minutes to make it 34-17 at halftime.

“You could see it coming after the Abington win here,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said of his team struggling down the stretch after starting 12-0 and winning the Suburban One League Liberty Division championship. “There was a change in the aggressive attitude that’s required – the hunger. You have two freshmen on the team and a sophomore and four, five juniors and once they tasted success early, it settled into a comfort there that didn’t make sense to me.

“I don’t care how hard the team is capable of playing defensively; you can’t go 3-for-22 from the three-line or whatever it was. It’s too exhausting to defend hard. Your defense cannot maintain precision if you’re scoring 10 points with two minutes to go in the half.”

The margin never dropped below 17 points in the second half. Bell scored six points, including an emphatic and-one to make it 42-19 halfway through the quarter, in the third and Baker also scored six to make it 48-30 with eight minutes to play.

Baker, who got the start because Karim Boyd was dealing with an injury, scored seven of his game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter. He was 9-for-12 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. The West Chester football commit also grabbed seven rebounds.

“I came in ready to play defense,” Baker said. “That’s all I wanted to do, then my teammates were great passing me the ball and getting me open looks and I just took advantage of the looks they gave me.”

Bell added 18 points, five rebounds and six assists while Frazier had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Jerman led Plymouth Whitemarsh with 13 points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter. Qudire Bennett added seven and Luke DiCianno and David Harris each had five.

Abington will face No. 6 West Chester East, a winner over No. 11 Neshaminy, in the quarterfinals Friday.

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s season is over. The SOL Liberty champs finished the year 14-4.

“In the world of big goals you have to be disappointed,” Donofrio said. “In the world of big picture, in a pandemic getting almost 20 games in and winning a league title – down the road you’ll say, ‘OK, glad you had a successful year and had a lot of young guys get 18, 19 games under their belt.’ What’s your perspective? My perspective tends to be glad you got a lot of games in and disappointing that we aren’t moving on.”

Abington 66, Plymouth Whitemarsh 48

14 Abington 23 11 14 18 – 66

3 Plymouth Whitemarsh 8 9 13 18 – 48

A: Marino 0 0-0 0, Ellis 3 0-0 7, McFarlane 0 0-0 0, Frazier 5 0-0 11, Bell 7 4-5 18, Willis 0 0-0 0, Fields 1 2-2 4, Morris 1 0-0 2, Lucas 1 0-0 2, Scutt 0 0-0 0, Boyd 0 0-0 0, Boyles 1 0-0 2, Baker 9 4-4 22. Total 27 10-11 66.

PW: Z Hubbard 0 4-4 4, Colzie 1 2-2 4, West 1 0-0 3, T Hubbard 0 2-2 2, Jones 1 0-0 3, Harris 2 0-0 5, Rinck 0 0-0 0, Benson 0 0-0 0, DiCianno 1 3-3 5, Forchielli 0 0-0 0, Bennett 2 2-2 7, Harris 1 0-0 2, Flynn 0 0-0 0, Jerman 6 1-1 13. Total 15 14-14 48.

Three-point goals: A: Ellis, Frazier. PW: West, Harris, Bennett, Jones.