Down swinging
NORTHAMPTON — Victory was there for the taking. A trip to the PIAA Class 2A boys basketball quarterfinals was oh so close.
But those oh-so-close shots doomed Danville from being one of the last eight teams standing in the state. Instead, the Ironmen, who erased a 13-point first-half deficit, had to accept defeat at the hands of Carver School of Engineering and Science, 45-38.
The Ironmen, who haven't advanced to the quarterfinals since 1989, finish 21-8.
With a rally that stretched from midway in the second quarter into the mid-third quarter, Danville showed that it can quickly adapt to the Engineers' speed and size. With Ethan Morrison, Luke Huron and Carter Heath playing great defense, the Ironmen's offense woke up with a 9-2 run going into halftime to close their deficit to 22-18. Morrison finished with three steals and seven rebounds.
Danville — with an energized bench and fan section — carried that momentum into the third with a 7-0 run to grab a 25-22 lead. Heath, who finished with eight points, and Huron accounted for the first five points and the Ironmen's only lead, thanks to the go-ahead 3-pointer by Huron.
"Credit to our guys, they fought all the way back," Danville coach Gary Grozier said. "We didn't do everything right in the first eight minutes, but in the second eight minutes, we played better. But we had those middle quarters where we were really good. But we had the ending and the beginning and that's not what we wanted where we missed some layups that were big. In these one-possession games, you got to make them and we just missed way too many of those layups."
During that span, the Ironmen were helped significantly by the Engineers getting called for several fouls, including starter Fareed Brown getting called for a pair in the first two minutes of the third quarter. Brown was removed from the game with his fourth penalty and remained out until four minutes into the fourth quarter. Still, Danville stuck to the long-range shots, even though it showed it could get to the hoop with Brown playing.
That game plan was on display during a 29-27 two-minute stalemate in the third quarter despite the Ironmen having shown they could get to the hoop, they opted to take a string of 3-pointers that don't fall. That led to Grozier feeling he could never fully get control of the game's tempo.
"We have a lot of trust in them, and if that goes in, I'm a genius. But it didn't, so I look bad, right?," Grozier said. "But the problem is in one-possession games is ... we didn't stop them on the other end."
The Ironmen, having missed many layups and even airballed a close-range shot, made it a one-possession game late into the fourth. They were helped greatly by Daniel Walker's five points in the final frame. He finished with a team-high nine points to go with five rebounds.
The Engineers had seven players score a basket, with Samier Robert-Mouzon leading the game with 13 and Aaron Williams finishing with 11. Tali Simpkins was seemingly always near the ball, coming down with nine rebounds and three deflections.
That helped the Engineers, who used close-range shots to their advantage, jump out to a quick 10-0 lead, building that up to as high as 20-7 early in the second quarter before Danville got its footing.
The problem was that even as Danville finally started getting shots to drop, they weren't coming from under the hoop — including on an inbound steal layup attempt in the final minute, helping the Engineers ice the game.
"I thought their pressure sped us up early and you can't get sped up in a game like this," Grozier said. "We play against Loyalsock, Williamsport, we play teams like this for a reason — you can't get sped up like this. We just couldn't get into our offense, and they had a lot to with that, they're really good."
Danville had all six players score at least three points.
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