Dock Mennonite holds off Church Farm School to win Bicentennal Athletic League Tournament title

MORRISVILLE >> Dock Mennonite’s 10-point lead earlier in the fourth had been whittle down to just one by Church Farm School. So when Nathan Lapp saw a path to the basket down the right side of the court there was no hesitation from the Pioneer senior.

“I just got the ball and I got by the defense and I saw a lane and I knew 22 (Mason Jarvis) wasn’t going to try and block my shot, he was going to take a charge,” Lapp said. “So when I drove in I knew I either had to Euro around him or step around him and I was able to do that and finish.”

Lapp converted on the drive to put Dock up 46-43 then added a pair of free throws after grabbing a defensive rebound to make it a five-point advantage with 53.7 seconds remaining in the Bicentennial Athletic League tournament final Saturday afternoon at Morrisville.

A few turnovers by the Pioneers made a final seconds a bit more stressful but top-seeded Dock held on to secure the title with a 49-45 victory over No. 2 Griffins

“It’s our fourth championship this year so that’s awesome,” Lapp said “And it’s a blessing cause not many teams get a chance to win a championship. So it’s always good to win a championship and always get a medal at the end of the day. So we’re going to take this game, learn from it and go forward to the next week.”

Hoyt Bultje battled inside on both ends and finished with a team-high 15 points as the Pioneers (23-2) earned its first BAL tournament crown since 2018.

“We knew if we were able to get shots in the paint it’ll be a higher percentage that we’d get extra looks, second-chance points, get fouled and go to the line which obviously we got a lot of free throws up today,” Bultje said “Got a lot of offensive rebounds, Lane got a lot of good offensive rebounds. We were just going to the glass hard.”

Lapp scored seven of his 10 points in the fourth while Zach Neff and Tony Martin each chipped in eight points for Dock, which has won its last 11 games since a Jan. 14 loss to North Penn.

“Definitely means a lot cause last year we were 14-0 as well, came into the tournament kind of feeling ourselves and then we ended up getting knocked out by Faith Christian in the first round (Dock played),” Bultje said. “And the year before that had a heartbreaker to Holy Ghost so we knew we needed to come out and get the win.”

Gavriel Henriquez-Peralta scored 15 points to lead Church Farm (20-5) while Cooper Shivers hit a trio of 3-pointers in collecting 11 points. The loss was the Griffins’ second this season against Dock, falling 47-40 on the road Dec. 10.

Both the Pioneers and Church Farm begin the District 1-2A tournament Tuesday hosting semifinals matchups – top-seeded Dock takes on No 4 Calvary Christian at 7 p.m. with the Griffins facing No. 3 Delco Christian at 6:30 p.m. Both semifinal winners qualify for the PIAA Tournament.

A Shivers triple gave Church Farm a 14-12 lead in the second quarter but Dock Mennonite finished the first half on a 12-2 run to go into the break ahead 24-16 after Bultje’s 3-point play with 37.4 seconds left.

“We were able to push the ball up the court more and get a lot of fast-break points,” Lapp said. “That’s really what blew it open for us.”

Back-to-back threes from Shivers pulled Church Farm level at 27 in the third but the Pioneers responded with seven straight points. Bultje broke the tie with two free throws at 2:32 while a Martin transition basket then a Neff triple made it 34-27 Dock.

Henriquez-Peralta hit two at the line with 5.8 seconds remaining in the third to have the Griffins down five. However, Neff opened the fourth’s scoring with a three with a Bultje bucket extending the Pioneers’ advantage to 39-29.

A 7-2 run by the Griffins cut the margin to 41-36 after a Shivers jumper. Lapp knocked down a 3-pointer to put Dock up nine but Andre Anyimah’s trey had Church Farm back within five at 44-39.

Church Farm’s Larry Paul was foul scoring inside with 3:16 left – he could not convert the and-one – while a Neiman Smith’s basket had the Griffins down just a point at 44-43. But Lapp darted to the hoop and scored to give Dock a 46-43 edge,

“It’s all about confidence – confidence is the key, man,” Lapp said. “If you see a lane, go and drive. If you’re driving and someone stops (you) then you kick it out for a three. I don’t know how many times I kicked it out to Neff and he hit two or three threes in big situations and I did what the defense gave me so at the end of the day we won the game.”

The Griffins earned two at the line with 1:37 but a miss then a lane violation had Dock still up three. The Pioneers tossed a pass out of bounds but Church Farm was off target on a two, Lapp collected the rebound and proceeded to make two free throws at 53.7 seconds.

Church Farm missed on a three but Dock sent another pass out of play to give possession back to the Griffins. Paul scored inside and was fouled at 14.6 seconds. The and-one free throw was no good but Dock’s attempted outlet pass was intercepted. CFS got off a tying three but the effort was off the mark. Lane Bergey grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 7.7 seconds left.

Bergey missed his first free throw but connected on his second to give Dock a four-point lead which ended up the final margin of victory.

“As a team we just stayed together,” Lapp said. “At the end of the day we made free throws when we had to, it was a little scary there when Lane missed the first one but he made the second one, which put us up fourth which was huge.”

Dock Mennonite led 8-7 after the first eight minutes but Henriquez-Peralta scored the first four points of the second quarter.

Neff scored on a baseline drive while two Martin free throws made it 12-11 Dock at 6:12. A Shivers corner three gave Church Farm its last lead at 14-12 before the Pioneers went on a 9-0 run capped by a Vaughn Martin jumper put Dock ahead 21-14.

Anyimah’s basket had the Griffins with five but Bultje’s 3-point play off a feed from Bergey in the final minute made it 24-16 at halftime.

Dock Mennonite 49, Church Farm School 45
Church Farm School 7 9 13 16 – 45
Dock Mennonite 8 16 10 15 – 49
Church Farm School: Gavriel Henriquez-Peralta 6 2-3 15; Cooper Shivers 4 0-1 11; Neiman Smitth 3 0-0 7; Andre Anyimah 2 0-0 5; Larry Paul 2 1-5 5; Mohamed Sow 0 2-2 Totals 17 5-11 45.
Dock Mennonite: Hoyt Bultje 5 5-10 15; Nathan Lapp 3 2-2 10; Tony Marti 1 6-6 8; Zach Neff 3 0-0 8; Lane Bergey 1 4-6 6; Vaughn Martin 1 0-0 2; Totals 14 17-24 49.
3-pointers: CFS-Henriquez-Shivers 3, Anyimah, Peralta, Smith; D-Lapp 2, Neff 2.