As Yogi Berra would say "it was deju vu all over again" as the Florence Township Memorial High School boys’ varsity basketball team defeated Glassboro (48-45) for the second straight season to take another NJSIAA South Jersey Group I title.
Minutes after the Flashes squandered a four-point lead, Florence’s Jeff Dankanich (8 points) came up with a key block to send the 41-41 contest into overtime.
By:Sean Moylan
Once in overtime, David Keeley, Dankanich and Jorron Jenkins all scored clutch points to sew up the victory.
All year long, David Keeley has been an all-star model of consistency. And it was no different on Tuesday night as Florence’s giant Center pumped in a game-high 21 points. With Keeley covering the point, no one goes inside against Florence.
With a dozen points, Jorron Jenkins had yet another great game for the Flashes. He is in the middle of a terrific run. Jeff Dankanich, as always, played great defense. The Flashes also got 4 points from Steve Ordog and Warren Miller hit a three-pointer.
Florence was up by a point (20-19) at the half, but it fell behind 33-30 after three quarters, as each team took turns making runs. Glassboro is probably starting to wonder what it has to do to beat the Flashes. Florence will now play the winner of the Highland Park-Middlesex game at Pennsauken High School on Thursday.
With the win over the Bulldogs, Florence’s Art Bobik accomplished a coach’s dream by winning back-to-back titles with two entirely different starting lineups. Of course, current Flashes, Dankanich and Miller, certainly had a hand in last season’s triumph over Glassboro.
Amazingly, Florence has a 20-3 record and it is on its way to another semifinal game. Some things never change.
FLORENCE 40, H.T. 27Ž
All season long the Florence High School boys’ basketball team has lit up the scoreboard like a Christmas tree. Yet when its playoff season got underway with a home game against Haddon Township last Thursday, Florence returned to an old friend defense.
Playing without their star forward Adam Borota, who is out with an ankle injury, the second-seeded Flashes trounced Haddon Township, 40-27.
It was a strange game where neither team scored in double figures in any quarter until the fourth. In fact, Florence led by just five points before putting the game away with a 19-11 run over the final eight minutes of play.
Florence’s center Adam Keeley was the only player on either squad to score in double figures. Keeley scored 10 points. Jeff Dankanich (9 points), Jorron Jenkins (8 points) and Warren Miller (7 points) also added important baskets. Dave Tardiff added 3 points off of the bench.
Considering the Flashes only had a little over a week to revamp their lineup after the Borota injury, a 13-point win against a solid team like Haddon Township was very impressive.
FLORENCE 63, B.C. 58Ž
By early Saturday, word had spread throughout Burlington County that all of the tickets for that night’s Florence-Burlington City boys’ basketball playoff game had sold out.
Of course, most of the tickets were gone long before then. Because this was the matchup that Florence wanted, the one that everyone was waiting for.
Burlington City was the team that had taken the Freedom Division from the Flashes last year. Burlington City was also one of the few great squads Florence did not play during its spectacular playoff run to a Group I state championship.
Saturday’s game was scheduled to be the all-important rubber game, with Florence and Burlington City having already split a pair of games this season. This was the Flashes-Blue Devils equivalent of "The Thrilla in Manilla."
The game lived up to its billing as Jorron Jenkins, a Sophomore forward, emerged from David Keeley’s and Jeff Dankanich’s long shadows to score 20 points and pull down nine rebounds to lead Florence to a 63-58 win over the Blue Devils.
The Flashes needed Jenkins’ great game because Keeley (8 points) got in early foul trouble and couldn’t do all of the things he usually does for the Flashes.
However, Jeff Dankanich (12 points) was there to lighten Jenkins’ load on both offense and defense.
Florence appeared to be well on its way to a laugher, when it pulled ahead of Burlington City 31-15 by the half. The Blue Devils, however, are not a team that can be counted out of a game until the final buzzer.
Burlington City pulled to within 4 points of the lead late in the fourth quarter. But four straight foul shots from Jenkins helped Florence hold its lead.
Warren Miller finished with 13 points, Dave Tardiff 7 points and Steve Ordog tossed in 3 more.
The game was doubly important because it not only produced a big win for Florence over Burlington City, it also put the Flashes in the South Jersey Group I championship game. This game featured a rematch between Florence and Glassboro, won last season by the Flashes, 61-53.
While Florence had a tremendous team last season, the current one may be even more remarkable. After all, this is a team that lost all five of its starters. Coach Art Bobik has, once again, done a fabulous job.
A lot of credit for Florence’s success can also be given to Jenkins, who looked on from the bench for the most part as he took part on a championship team last season. Now Jenkins has risen his game to an amazing level over the past month. And this past Saturday, Jenkins made Burlington City’s Devils "Blue." He also made a lot of Florence fans happy.
