DiBona helps Marple Newtown snap slide

NEWTOWN SQUARE – In so many words, Justin DiBona and his Marple Newtown teammates understood the trends at play Thursday night.

The Tigers had won six of eight to start the season, then lost three straight, all with the 5A school tangling with the Central League’s 6A powers. To start the second half of a 22-game season the same way as the first, DiBona knew the Tigers would need to buck the losing trend against Upper Darby.

With DiBona leading the way, they were ready.

The senior guard supplied 11 of his 17 points in the first half, staking the Tigers to an early lead on the way to a 62-52 win.

For Marple (7-5, 4-4 Central), the win ends a three-game skid. For Upper Darby (3-7, 3-5) a three-game winning streak halts. Such is the Central League crossover conundrum.

“We knew this is the halfway moment of the season and we knew that we were 6-5 going into it,” DiBona said. “This was a big game to come into and play as hard as we did. … We knew this was a big test, and we were ready for it.”

The final margin for the Tigers was banked in that first quarter. Marple led 17-9 after eight minutes, then the two teams were even the rest of the way, including identical tallies in the second and fourth quarters.

DiBona hit all three of his 3-point attempts in the first half and was 5-for-7 from the field overall. He added six points in the fourth quarter, including 4-for-4 from the line. Jordan Bochanski had eight points and five boards in the first eight minutes. He had 14 at the break, on the way to a 16-point night.

Making Marple’s 35-27 halftime lead all the more impressive is that it came with just a solitary point and two shot attempts from leading scorer Eric McKee, who endured early foul trouble.

“We know other guys on our team can step up at any point,” forward Johnny Small said. “Everyone on the floor can step up and score at any point that they want to. It’s not a one-man game. All five of us play together as a unit and can dominate together as long as we keep playing like that.”

The aptly named Small took center stage in the third quarter, when he had six points. He was 7-for-8 at the line for 11 points plus seven rebounds overall. He and Matt Cantwell (10 points, five rebounds) aren’t the biggest forwards, and they faced a noted height disadvantage against the Royals. But they ground out a 33-20 advantage on the boards.

“We’re expected to be the smaller team, usually every game we go into,” Small said. “At practice, we fight. Every practice, we’re battling, getting rebounds over each other, boxing each other out. It’s a whole mentality thing. Whoever has more motivation will get the ball.”

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