By Matthew De George
Gabe Alter calls them “scrappy points.”
The Germantown Academy forward isn’t the guy that the Patriots normally create offense for, he admits. But once a shot clangs off iron or Plan B evaporates in the face of the defense, Alter kicks into overdrive.
Friday night, all that scrapping resulted in an Inter-Ac championship.
Alter scored 14 points and added seven rebounds, many of them demoralizing putbacks on the offensive glass, to lead GA to a 64-51 win over Episcopal Academy.
The win clinches GA (20-5, 8-1) at least a share of its fourth straight Inter-Ac title. Episcopal (15-6, 6-2) can still claim a piece of the crown with two wins next week against bottom feeders Springside Chestnut Hill and a loss by GA at Malvern Prep.
Friday, EA’s direct route to the title was denied one rebound at a time by GA. The Patriots outrebounded EA, 31-20. Kyle McCloskey led the way with eight boards to go with three blocks in anchoring the post defense and reducing the need for perimeter help on Nick Alikakos, mitigating the threat of EA’s inside-out game.
Alikakos was customarily productive, scored a game-high 22 points and dishing out six assists. But GA’s approach wasn’t so much in shunting Alikakos’ productivity as in shutting off EA’s complementary scorers.