Balance sends Abington past William Tennent in defensive duel

ABINGTON >> About midway through the first quarter of Tuesday night’s game against William Tennent, five players rose off the Abington bench and prepared to check in. Add in one more sub a few minutes later and by the time the horn sounded on the period, the Galloping Ghosts had already put 11 guys into the game.

With so many new pieces, the Ghosts are still figuring out their rotations and lineups, so coach Charles Grasty is going to play a lot of guys until they do. What may be holding things up is the fact all of them can play.

Behind a balanced effort, the Ghosts topped a resilient Panthers team 50-34 in defensive quagmire.

“We feel like all 15 of out guys can play and I know it’s cliche and all that,” Grasty said. “We have really good practices, they’re intense and sometimes we say this kid looked good today and this kid looked good yesterday, let’s give him a shot.”

Abington scored the game’s opening seven points before sharpshooting Pat McCauley cut it to 7-6 on a pair of 3-pointers. McCauley, who banged in four treys, was the main man on offense in the first half, scoring nine as the Panthers trailed 22-11 at intermission.

The fact that Tennent was down just 11 despite a 4-of-23 shooting performance in the half was a testament to the squad’s renewed vigor on defense. While the Panthers didn’t have the size that Abington does inside, John Ryan, Brendan Carter and Ryan Lucas fronted and battled with the Ghost big guys and didn’t give them any easy passes to grab.

“They have some very difficult matchups for us with a lot of length and a lot of height,” Tennent coach Robert Mulville said. “But I thought our guys did a real nice job defensively to stick to our plan, but we just hit a couple of dry spells offensively and we seemed like we were down eight, nine or 10 forever before they stretched it out there.”

Mulville said point guard Anthony Woodard played well in finding McCauley for shots and that McCauley has been doing a lot of work to become a knock-down shooter with his feet set. Ryan, Tennent’s tough senior forward, had a rough night shooting as Abington gave him the required attention.

Grasty complimented Ryan’s ability and said his staff warned the big guys to make sure they contested every shot the Tennent senior took.

Abington freshman Eric Dixon had an eight-point, eight-rebound night while reserve Joe O’Brien had a good showing with four points, six boards and four blocks, using his big body and leaping ability to full effort. After missing last season with a foot injury, O’Brien has settled in nicely to a role.

“This is Joe’s first year of varsity basketball,” Grasty said. “He’s getting his wind, getting some minutes and coming along. He’ll be a very vital part of what we do.”

Tennent’s offense caught up to its defense in the third quarter when the Panthers cut the lead down to eight or below three times, only to see Abington answer each time. After Matt Berndlmaier made it 28-20, BJ James scored under the hoop for Abington with 31.4 left, then fellow senior Brian Close stole a ball at the top of the arc, barrelled down the floor and put it in with 11 seconds left for a big spark.

Abington was buoyed through the first three quarters by freshman Lucas Monroe, who led the team with 12 points. The wing was an efficient 4-of-6 and hit a pair of threes as he continues to build continuity with guards Dion Greene and Robbie Heath.

“We’re really deep so guys don’t have to go in and worry about trying to do everything out there,” Monroe said. “We have guys coming off the bench who are really talented and who can help us.”

Monroe said once the Ghosts noticed that Tennent was looking for a lot of outside shots, he and the other perimeter defenders had to make sure they were closing hard with a hand up on shooters. The wing said he’s getting more and more comfortable with the other guys and they’re getting better at finding each other for shots, something that happened several times on Tuesday.

Heath set off the Abington surge that put the game out of hand with a four-point play with 6:19 to go. After the sophomore’s play, the Ghosts scored six more points to go up 44-21. Tennent scored eight in a row, but a couple of late hoops by Paul Decembrino made sure the guys Grasty wanted to get minutes could stay out there to do it.

After each played over the holiday, with Tennent hosting a tournament and Abington taking part in the Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic, its time for the teams to focus back on the SOL National. Grasty said Abington’s focus is making sure every game is treated as importantly as some of their premier non-league games.

For Tennent, it’s sticking with the commitment to defense and continuing to grind away on practice days,

“This team takes a lot of pride in their defense,” Mulville said. “We sat down as a team and said we have to reach our goal of holding teams to 45 or lower. These guys buy in and really try to understand that defensive end of the floor.”