Lapp, Dock Mennonite handle pressure to edge Sankofa Freedom in PIAA-2A second round

BENSALEM >> Nathan Lapp admits sometimes emotions take hold of him and his Dock Mennonite Academy teammates.

Wednesday, with a riled-up crowd getting vocal at every call and a physical and athletic Sankofa Freedom team trying all it could to extend its season, Lapp and his teammates were tested. The Pioneers might be an emotional team but they’re also tough-minded and with a serious challenge coming from the Warriors, a District 12 team with a lot of postseason success, Dock kept its focus.

Lapp led the way and his teammates more than did their share as Dock topped Sankofa Freedom 60-44 at Bensalem to reach the PIAA-2A quarterfinals.

“Sometimes, it’s not just me, our team lets the emotions get the better of us when the crowd’s hype and everyone’s getting into it,” Lapp said. “In certain situations, we have to slow down, take a deep breath and make the right read.

“Tonight, that’s what we did.”

Lapp scored 28 points, making him the all-time scoring leader for the school with 1,290 career tallies, adding nine rebounds and drawing three charges in a game that sometimes played an extremely high speed, others more controlled and saw the Pioneers adjust a couple different times to stay in front. Vaughn Martin added 16 for Dock, he and Lapp combining to hit 21-of-24 free throws with 18 of those attempts coming in the fourth quarter.

While the points were nice and the late-game foul shooting pivotal, the first thing Dock coach Mike Fergus is always going to come back to is defense. Facing a Sankofa team that can fill it up from a lot of different places, the Pioneers held their own and limited the Warriors to a point total a good bit below their season averages.

“We missed some shots early, we were a little high-strung, a little tight and shot a little quick,” Fergus said. “The thing with us is our defense, our defense is always there. That team averages close to 57 a game and our defense kept them to 17 at halftime.”

Dock’s issue early, at least on the offensive end, was that it was leaning on Lapp to do almost all the work on offense. The senior guard was up for it, netting the team’s first seven points and hitting a late three for 10 first quarter markers and a 12-10 Pioneers lead.

However, one guy taking most of the shots and scoring all the points doesn’t win many games, much less those in the state playoffs. Lapp knew it to and at that first quarter break, the Pioneers rallied and looked to get others involved on offense.

After Lapp sank a left corner three with 6:50 left in the first have, putting Dock ahead 15-12, his teammates came up with a couple big shots. Vaughn Martin wove through the defense for a runner, then after Sankofa Freedom rallied for a 17-17 tie, he found Lane Bergey in the right corner for a three and a lead the Pioneers wouldn’t give back.

After a stop and with the Warriors still in a zone, Dock ran the same action on offense with AJ Washington getting into the lane and kicking out to Lapp for a three from the same spot Bergey had just connected from, giving the District I champions a 23-17 halftime lead.

“We had to be patient on offense,” Lapp said. “We knew they would come out and pressure us. We had to be patient, make good passes and take the open shot, which is exactly what we did.”

Lapp didn’t score a single point in the third quarter and all the Pioneers did as a result was open up their lead. Hoyt Bultje, who battled on the glass and in the post all game long, had five points in the frame than included a late and-one that sent Dock to the fourth leading 37-26.

Vaughn Martin also had five in the frame while Tony Martin, who Fergus cited for his defensive work on the Warriors’ talented Nasir Williams, hit a three as part of a 7-0 spurt that gave the Pioneers a 15-point lead and allowed them to withstand a quick spree of points by the Warriors in the latter half of the quarter.

“We talked about having deeper possessions, having more guys get touches,” Fergus said. “The key to me was when they went zone for those two possessions, we reversed it several times, got open threes and knocked them down. That extended our lead.

“The press bothered us in the second half a little too much.”

Zaki Alston, who led Sankofa Freedom with 17 points, scored on back to back plays in the fourth with the Warrior pressuring the ball full-court to cut the lead to 45-36. At that point, Fergus called a timeout and Lapp said the talk was simply to be simple, just settle down, don’t get sped up and use all five players on the floor.

Dock will face District 2 champion Holy Cross in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. As a freshman, Lapp saw his first trip to the quarterfinals taken away when Covid-19 caused that year’s tournament to be cancelled after two rounds.

With two years of early heartbreak in the state tournament following, Wednesday’s win was a special one for the senior. With his basketball career wrapping up when this run ends, Lapp off to play college baseball at Millersville, it’s an opportunity he’s not overlooking.

“It means a lot,” Lapp said. “Being one of the last eight teams in the state of Pennsylvania is awesome. It’s a great feeling, I can’t wait for Saturday.”

DOCK MENNONITE ACADEMY 12 11 14 23 – 60

SANKOFA FREEDOM 10 7 9 18 – 44

D: Nathan Lapp 6 12-14 28, Lane Bergy 1 1-2 4 Hoyt Bultje 3 2-3 8, Tony Martin 1 1-4 4, Vaughn Martin 3 9-10 16. Totals: 14 25-33 60

SF: Zaki Alston 5 6-8 17, Asim Hardy 2 2-2 7, Nasir Williams 4 0-0 9, Khris Coleman 1 0-1 3, Nasir Brown 2 0-0 5. Totals; 13 8-11 44

3-pointers: D – Lapp 4, V Martin, T Martin, Bergey; SF – Alston, Hardy, Williams, Brown, Coleman