Author: delcohoops

Rossini’s outside touch boosts Delco Christian

By Matt Smith

Tyler Rossini doesn’t worry about scoring points in bunches. Delaware County Christian School’s senior shooting guard plays with a team-first mentality, and if he’s lucky enough to get a few open looks per game, so be it.

Rossini wants to do what’s best for all five players on the floor. It’s not about getting his shots and padding his stats.

“My teammates do a great job of setting me up,” he said. “I just want to look to get the ball inside as much as possible.”

The big man for DC is Obinna Nwobodo, who gets plenty of touches in the lane. The offense runs through junior wingman Jackson Piotrowski, who Valley Forge Military Academy zoned in on in Thursday night’s District 1 Class 2A semifinal contest without much success.

Jamal Hairston is the heady point guard who directs the offense, and power forward Jacob Bronkema is your typical grinder who fights for rebounds and plays tough defense. Rossini is the team’s marksman. He wasn’t aiming to drop in 20 points on this night, but the opportunities were too good to resist.

(click on this link for the full story)

Penncrest’s 3-peat ambitions don’t get lost in opener

Malcolm Williams’ 26-point effort propelled Penncrest to a 67-36 shellacking of Pottstown in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs Thursday. Photo by: Digital First Media

By Bob Grotz

Critics could say that Penncrest cruised to a 67-36 win over Pottstown Thursday in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs largely because the Trojans didn’t walk into Kaufman Gymnasium until 11 minutes before the scheduled tipoff.Certainly, it didn’t help the visitors. A couple of wrong turns in the height of rush hour traffic when you’ve committed to Route 202 in King of Prussia can ruin anybody’s evening.

Just don’t try selling the theory to Lions senior Malcolm Williams, who said the difference between the fourth-seeded Lions and their 13th-seeded opponent was hanging in the rafters.

Williams nodded toward the 2017 and 2018 District 1 basketball championship banners won by the Lions, after he had scored 26 points Thursday, two more than the Trojans managed through three quarters. There never was a doubt in his mind that the Lions would live to play another day.

(click on this link for the full story)

Defense the key as Chester catches up to Plymouth Whitemarsh

Chester’s Akeem Taylor goes to the basket past Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Naheem McLeod in the third quarter Tuesday. (Digital First Media/Pete Bannan)


By Matthew DeGeorge

You had the Division I signee on one side, a player who someday soon will likely be paid to play basketball. You had raucous fans filling the gym and the colors of two of Pennsylvania’s most storied basketball programs lining the benches.Everything Tuesday night, except for the comically early juncture of the playoffs at which the game transpired, about Plymouth Whitemarsh’s voyage to Chester screamed district final.

And in harkening back to a clash of PIAA titans for the 17th time in postseason play, it was the truest and most reliable facet of the rivalry that ultimately won the day: A little signature Chester defense.

The Clippers forced 24 turnovers, including four in a frenetic stretch in the fourth quarter that led to eight unanswered points and the decisive momentum swing in a 77-73 classic of a District 1 Class 6A second round victory.

The win is the 14th straight for the sixth-seeded Clippers (18-4), who advance to the quarterfinal to take on No. 3 Lower Merion. The win also books Chester’s 26th states berth in the last 27 seasons.

(click on this link for the full story)

Lower Merion downs Conestoga to wrap up 9th consecutive state berth

By Bruce Adams

Lower Merion clinched its ninth consecutive PIAA 6A state berth – the longest current streak in District 1 6A boys’ basketball – with a 65-56 win against visiting Conestoga Tuesday evening in the second round of the District 1 6A tournament, and it was a hard-earned victory, thanks to a persistent Pioneer squad.

While Lower Merion led for nearly the entire game, the Pioneers hung tough with some potent three-point shooting, and the visitors trailed by only three points (57-54) with two minutes left.

Lower Merion senior guard Jack Forrest, who scored 22 points, said, “We know Conestoga is going to hit shots, they’re big-time players. We just had to get some stops; and down the stretch we got some needed buckets and sunk our free throws, which was really important. Conestoga is a great team, this is the third time we’ve played them this year [all LM wins], and every game has been close, every game has been a battle, and we’re just lucky we got this one.”

Aces head coach Gregg Downer was asked what his first reaction was when the final buzzer sounded at the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium.

(click on this link for more game stories and scores)

 

Delco Boys Basketball Stat Leaders, Feb. 18

From left, Episcopal Academy’s Matt Dade, Haverford School’s Christian Ray and teammate Tyler Seward figure, here chasing a loose ball in a game last Friday, figure prominently among Delco’s stat leaders. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)


By Matthew DeGeorge

Based on games reported to the Daily Times through Feb. 17; Minimum half team games played.

Points

Christian Ray, Haverford School 23.3
Isaiah Wong, Bonner & Prendergast 23.0
Vinny DeAngelo, Sun Valley 22.3
Matt Dade, Episcopal Academy 20.4
Karell Watkins, Chester 20.2
Malcolm Williams, Penncrest 17.5
Aaron Thompson, Glen Mills 17.4
Enoch Clark, Ridley 17.3
Tommy Gardler, Marple Newtown 17.2
Alex Capitano, Episcopal Academy 16.4

(click on this link for the full stat listing)

Schaller shows promise, but Garnet Valley ousted by Downingtown East

Garnet Valley’s Carl Schaller, right, puts a shot up in the third quarter against Downingtown East Friday. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)

By Bob Grotz

The snapshot Garnet Valley can hold onto until next year is of point guard Carl Schaller.

He scored a game-high 22 points Friday night while wearing a mask protecting the nose he cracked a few weeks ago playing defense, not taking the ball to the rack or slamming on the brakes before knocking down pull-up jumpers. The 5-foot-7 penetrator is a big part of the team’s future.

Entertaining as it was, it still wasn’t nearly enough for the 14th seeded Jaguars, who were outmuscled 61-48 by a Downingtown East squad that also will have a height advantage over second-seeded Coatesville when they meet in the second round of the District 1 Class 6A tournament.

What would be interesting, if we may play devil’s advocate, is a guy with Schaller’s skills getting the ball to Downingtown East bigs Andrew King (6-6), Dylan Rowe (6-5) and Tariq Kalim (6-4) say, next Tuesday at Coatesville.

(click on this link for the full story)

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s starting 5 aces 1st test, routs Haverford in District 1-6A 1st round

Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Caelin Peters works to steal the ball away from a fallen Haverford’s Dan Roe February 15, 2019. (Gene Walsh/MediaNews Group)

By Ed Morlock

Plymouth Whitemarsh had its full compliment of starters on the court for the first time this season in Friday night’s playoff opener.The Colonials looked like they’ve been playing together for years.

Each member of the starting five made a meaningful impact in a 62-37 win over Haverford in the first round of the District 1-6A playoffs at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School’s Gym West.

Senior guard Anthony Straface was the missing piece for most of the season, dealing with a Grade 3 high ankle sprain. He knocked down his first three-pointer of the game and hit three total from beyond the arc, posting 13 points in his first action in a few weeks.

“I had all the confidence in the world,” Straface, who returned for four games a month ago before needing to sit out again, said. “I work on my game all the time.”

“Injuries can obviously alter things,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “A season is a season — take what it gives you — but in many ways the younger guys have benefitted from all the opportunities, but you can see when a guy who’s a pretty good high school basketball player can put the ball in the basket. There’s a lot of kids who can play the game, work hard at the game, play well but there’s only so many guys that can actually put the ball in the basket consistently. When you lose that kind of guy on a team that was in a rebuild anyway — it’s been that much more of a challenge to try to figure out pieces.”

(click on this link for the full story)

For Bonner & Prendie, carrot chase won’t play out at Palestra

By Jack McCaffery

For almost a year, Kevin Funston had a fear. By Friday night, it would become real.

The first-year basketball coach at Bonner & Prendie, Funston was an assistant last year to Jack Concannon. So that was him on the bench at the Palestra last February, watching a last-half-second opportunity fail, watching Roman Catholic celebrate a two-point victory in the Catholic League championship game, and watching the looks on the younger Friars’ faces.

He knew they were kids.

They would be back. Soon.

“Yeah,” Funston half-sighed, almost a year later. “And I think it kind of hurt us this year. I think our guys forgot how hard the journey was.”

There will be no journey back to the Palestra this year. That was decided in the Friars’ 73-62 playoff loss Friday at Neumann-Goretti. There will be opportunities in the District 12 playoffs, and then in the PIAA state tournament. But, at Bonner, at any Catholic League school, there is only one real goal: Get to 33rd Street and scissor those nets. In that order.

(click on this link for the full story)

Neumann-Goretti defense leaves Bonner & Prendergast short of Palestra goal

Bonner & Prendergast’s Donovan Rodriguez, seen in last year’s Catholic League semifinal, scored 19 points against Neumann-Goretti Friday, but the Friars fell in the PCL quarters. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)

By Rich Flanagan

The looks on the faces of Isaiah Wong and his Bonner & Prendergast teammates were unfazed but aware.

Still fresh in their minds was the loss to Roman Catholic in the closing seconds of the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game last season. With a core group back aside from Ajiri Johnson (Rider), the Friars had all the pieces in place for another run at a league title.

By the end of the night Friday, the focused looks turned to disappointed glares.

Isaiah Wong had 23 points, seven rebounds and three steals and Donovan Rodriguez chipped in a career-high 19, but it was not enough as Neumann-Goretti’s swarming zone defense limited the Friars offensive attack in the second half on its way to a 73-62 victory in the Catholic League quarterfinals.

Wong scored 14 of the Friars’ 28 points in the opening half, including a basket off an inbounds play to give his team a 28-27 advantage with under 20 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Ja’Cor Smith (17 points) dropped in one of his three 3-pointers to end the half, and the Saints led by two going into the break.

(click on this link for the full story)

Haverford School eases past ANC to get to PAISAA semifinals


By PAPrepLIVE

The Haverford School drew closer to completing a perfect season Saturday.

Christian Ray poured in a team-high 20 points in leading the No. 1 Fords to the semifinal round of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament with a 67-59 decision over eighth-seeded Academy of the New Church.

Haverford School (26-0) clinged to a one-point lead through two quarters, but caught fire in the third period and outscored ANC by nine points, 22-13. In the quarter, Ray tallied six of his points and Jameer Nelson netted seven of his 14. Jameel Brown also helped the cause with six of his 16 points coming in the third stanza.

(click on this link for the full story)