Souderton drives past Upper Dublin for Jim Church Classic title
FRANCONIA >> Aleks Smith did a little bit of everything for Souderton Saturday night, and that added up to one big trophy.
“I do everything I can on the floor,” Smith said of his role. “If there’s a rebound, I’m on it. Any loose ball, I try to get on it. And I can score the ball too.”
Smith, selected the Jim Church Classic Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scored 15 points and used his 6-foot-6 presence in many positive ways to lead Big Red to a 58-55 victory over rival Upper Dublin in the championship game.
Said Smith of the win: “It means a lot. We put in a lot of work and it really showed out there on the court.”
Souderton, trailing by seven early in the fourth quarter, battled back and got it done in the final minutes.
“Going into the fourth, we looked at the scoreboard, and we wanted it bad. It really showed,” Smith said.
“It was a grind, and we knew it was gonna be a grind,” Big Red coach Okoteh Sackitey said. “(Upper Dublin’s) an extremely talented team. We scrimmaged them and they won by three. So we knew it was gonna be tough. We knew it was gonna come down to the fourth quarter. But we stuck together, trusted each other, never gave up, and we were fortunate to come away with the win.”
Big Red drew closer on baskets by Smith and Carson Grant (11 points), then went ahead 53-51 on another basket by Smith.
Jay Bonnet, an All-Tournament selection along with Smith, scored to make it 55-53 Big Red in the final minutes. Bonnet had a game-high 18 points for Big Red.
Smith hit a free throw to extend the lead to 56-53 with under a minute to play. A key defensive stop by Big Red led to two free throws by Chris Towsen, and he sank them both to ice the game, making it 58-53 with just seven seconds left.
“I think we started playing more freely,” Sackitey said of crunch time. “I trusted the kids to make decisions with the basketball, and I kind of took a step back and let them play.”
“It gives us confidence,” Sackitey said of the win. “The goal remains the same, to get better each day. But it definitely gives us confidence.”
Colin O’Sullivan (11 pts) and D.J. Cerisier (five pts) earned all-tournament nods for Upper Dublin (1-1). Seaton Kukla had 16 points and Ryan Mulroy added 12 for the Cards.
Souderton (2-0) drew together in the fourth, with Smith leading the way.
“He’s a force. He’s someone that you need to give attention to,” Sackitey said. “And he had a great tournament. We expect good things from him. I’m excited to see what the rest of the season has in store for him and for our team.”
“This is great,” Smith said of the trophy-producing start to the season. “Hopefully this gives us momentum for a big season to come. And there will be more.”
