Germantown Knocks Off All Hallows

LEWES, DELAWARE -- In a strange game, Germantown Academy of Fort Washington, PA, survived a pair of comebacks to dispatch All Hallows, 56-52, on Friday night and advance to the championship game of the Slam Dunk to the Beach tournament.

The Patriots of Germantown got off to double digits leads in both the first and second halves, only to see the Gaels use late second and late fourth quarter comebacks to make it a little uneasy for Germantown Academy.

Germantown led 19-9 in the second quarter only to see All Hallows slice the lead to 25-23 at the half. Idential script followed in the second half as Germantown opened a 48-38 lead with less than six minutes to play. Lee Melchionni and Matt Walsh were instrumental in the run but despite an off-shooting night by Ricky Soliver, All Hallows had one more run in the tank.

Over the next five minutes, the Gaels strung together an impressive 14-5 run to pull within a point at 53-52 on a mid-range jumper from sophomore Ronald Ramon with 43 seconds left. With nine seconds left to play, the streaky Soliver missed a deep, right-corner three-pointer that could have tied the game at 55.

Germantown's Jeff Curtin hit one of two free throws with 7.4 seconds left to play to give Germantown the insurance point it needed. Longtime head coach Jim Fenerty was given his 300th victory at Germantown.

It was fitting in many ways that a pair of senior leaders -- Melchionni and Walsh -- were the reasons why the Patriots won the 300th game for Fenerty. Duke bound Melchionni led all scorers with 27 points. Florida signee Walsh pumped in 22 points despite a costly second-half technical foul that aided the All Hallows comeback.

Iona signee Kiril Wachsmann, a beefy 6-8 forward, finished with 16 points. After being held scoreless in the first half, the impressive Ramon pumped in 15 points in the second half.

Had Soliver hit just one or two three-pointers in the game, All Hallows might have stolen the victory. However, the lefty slinger shot just four of 22 from the floor and did not connect on any of his nine three-point attempts. He finished with 12 points in defeat.