Author: delcohoops

By Josh Verlin

Four teams are in contention for the District 1 5A title.

Four others are playing for their seasons.

The 5A boys semifinals and playbacks take place this Saturday, the four semifinalists already qualified for the PIAA 5A bracket while the two playback winners will also lock up a spot. Last year’s runner-ups, Unionville, are still in the mix, while defending champ Radnor is in the playbacks. The Suburban One League and Pioneer Athletic Conference champs are still alive in the mix in one of the most competitive years yet in the relatively-new 5A classification.

Here’s a look at all four games; games are at higher seeds, times in parenthesis:

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By CoBL Staff

Last year’s champion and runner-up are both alive on opposite sides of the District 1 5A bracket. West Chester Rustin and Villa Maria are back in the semifinals, looking to book back-to-back title game trips on Friday, while Bishop Shanahan and West Chester East try to get in their way. 

The winners will play in the district championship game on Wednesday at West Chester University.

There’s plenty more at stake in the District 1 5A field this weekend as the four quarterfinal losers will play for the final two spots in states. Third-seed Radnor gets seventh-seed Phoenixville on Friday, while top seed Gwynedd Mercy will face fifth-seed Lower Moreland with both of their seasons on the line on Saturday.

Here’s a look at all four games:

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By Matt Smith

Rian Dotsey’s excellent first quarter was exactly what No. 4 Haverford needed in Wednesday’s District 1 Class 6A second-round game.

Dotsey scored 15 points in an amazing opening stanza. The junior forward finished with a career-high 27 points as the Fords cruised to a 54-30 win over 13th-seeded Abington.

“It felt good to start off strong,” said Dotsey, who shot 6-for-8 from the field in the first quarter, including 3-for-3 from 3-point distance. “That carried me throughout the game, so that was good. I felt like I was able to be versatile and play on the outside as well as inside the paint. And hopefully open things up for my teammates.”

Haverford clinched a berth in next month’s PIAA tournament. It’s the third year in a row the Fords have qualified for the state playoffs. They host No. 5 North Penn in the district quarterfinals Saturday at 2:30.

Dotsey had help from senior forward Natalie Wright, who provided six points in Haverford’s 21-10 run in the first quarter.

Haverford had a substantial height advantage over the Galloping Ghosts (19-7). Wright ended 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Dotsey added 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. The Fords’ bigs imposed their will.

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By Matthew DeGeorge 

Follow along for the full list of things and people that touched the basketball on the decisive possession of Wednesday’s District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal:

Sun Valley forward Blaize Eldridge, receiving the inbound pass.

Guard Noah Griffin on the dribble handoff.

Radnor’s Henry Pierce with a deflection.

Roman Rivera of Radnor, briefly, on an attempt to tie up Eldridge.

Then, off the dribble-drive from Eldridge, the side rim, the backboard, front rim, back rim and finally … bottom.

That last part is all that registered for the ecstatic Sun Valley bench with 1.9 seconds left. It brought about a beautiful result from a game that was anything but, seeing the Vanguards to the district semifinals and their first state tournament since 2019 with a 35-34 upset of Radnor.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Seeds are just numbers, most coaches will tell their players come playoff time. Such a mantra has become truth in some places, however, nowhere truer than Garnet Valley.

There was no shock Tuesday night when Garnet Valley, as a 14 seed, booked its third straight states berth with a 63-49 win over No. 3 Spring-Ford. Just as there may not have been much surprise for 24th-seeded Springfield when it pulled its second straight upset, downing No. 8 Bensalem, 47-42.

Those upsets make three Delaware County boys teams headed to states in Class 6A, with fourth-seeded Chester taking the more conventional favorite’s path, booking its place via a 59-54 win over reigning district champ Plymouth Whitemarsh. That two of the trio defied the pre-tourney seeding process shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, given the volatility of District 1 hoops.

“The seed only means something to everybody outside of Garnet Valley,” Jaguars guard Jack Krautzel said after scoring 20 points against Spring-Ford. “We know how good we are, so we don’t care about the seed. It just shows how well-coached we are every single year, because I don’t know how many teams can say they’ve made it to the district quarterfinals four years in a row.”

In a bit of kismet coincidence, Springfield is following the path last blazed by Garnet Valley.

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By Andrew Robinson

In the span of about 85 feet, Ryan Mulroy felt all of it.

The doubt, the statements that Upper Dublin boys basketball was still at best a year away, the emotions of back-to-back first-round playoff losses — all of it and more raced through his head as he poked the ball free for a steal and made like a rocket down the floor. What’s been a special year for the Cardinals needed a special moment, so Mulroy delivered it Wednesday night by soaring high and throwing down a thunderous dunk to seal a state playoff bid.

Mulroy might’ve stayed on the court all night — the fans certainly wanted him to — but he and UD had a celebration to get to as the No. 2 Cardinals earned their way past No. 10 Penncrest 44-30 in the District 1 Class 5A quarterfinals.

“That was probably one of the first dunks I’ve had all year,” Mulroy said. “Last year I had more dunks, but to have that one going downhill at the end of the game to win a district playoff game here, with our crowd, it was just so cool.

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By Andrew Robinson

For Bridget DiMartile, the message was essentially to just wait.

The Upper Dublin girls’ basketball coaching staff knew the freshman was going to contribute in some way this winter, they just needed some time. As the first player off the bench all year, DiMartile would flash some of what her coaches saw until, suddenly, there was no more time to wait.

DiMartile had quite the impactful performance Wednesday as No. 3 Upper Dublin downed No. 19 Penncrest 60-34 in the second round of the District 1 6A tournament.

“I’m just trying to help out my team as much as I can,” DiMartile said. “I’m not really worried about what I’m doing personally, it’s more what’s best for the team.”

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By Jared Leveson

For the past two years, Colin Treude and Springfield (Delco.) have knocked on the District 1 6A tournament door.

The Cougars fell short of a top-24 finish in 2022 and 2023, with a final District ranking of 28 and 27, respectively.

Treude and his squad snuck into the tournament this year despite missing the Central League tournament. They finished the regular season ranked No. 24 in the district, claiming the District tournament’s last spot.

Now, Springfield is taking advantage of their opportunity. The Cougars upset No. 9 Abington last Friday with nothing to lose and continued their Cinderella run on Tuesday night, pulling together for a gritty, closely-contested, 46-42 win over No. 8 Bensalem in the District 1 6A second round. 

With the win, Springfield (Delco.) qualified for its first PIAA state tournament since 2017, when they made the 5A field; members of the 2017 team were at the game Tuesday night.

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By Ed Morrone

The seeding numbers will call it an upset, but good luck convincing Jack Krautzel and Jake Sniras that their Garnet Valley basketball team is an underdog against any team in District 1 or the state of Pennsylvania.

While the Jaguars entered Tuesday night’s second-round district playoff game at Spring-Ford as the tournament’s 14th seed, the duo combined for 39 of Garnet Valley’s 63 points and Garnet Valley left bound for the quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season after outscoring the third-seeded Rams by a dozen in the second half en route to an impressive 63-49 win.

Garnet Valley has made it this far the last four seasons as a 14-seed, an 8-seed, a 4-seed and even once as the 24th and final seed, so they care very little about the number next to their name in the bracket.

“The seed only means something to everybody outside of Garnet Valley,” Krautzel said after pouring in a team-high 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting. “We know how good we are, so we don’t care about the seed. It just shows how well-coached we are every single year, because I don’t know how many teams can say they’ve made it to the district quarterfinals four years in a row.”

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By Matt Smith

No lead is safe when Archbishop Carroll and Cardinal O’Hara go head to head.

Carroll almost learned that the hard way. Brooke Wilson made sure the Patriots survived a furious O’Hara comeback bid Tuesday evening at Saint Joseph’s University City campus.

Leading by 20 points at intermission, the Patriots were well on their way – or so they thought – to The Palestra next Monday to play for the Philadelphia Catholic League championship. O’Hara had other intentions.

Wilson drove to the basket and scored twice on successive possessions in the fourth quarter, shortly after Molly Rullo had made a bucket to pull O’Hara within three points. Wilson, a senior guard/forward and Army commit, pushed her team across the finish line. Despite being outscored by 13 points in the second half, Carroll defeated rival O’Hara, 45-38.

Carroll will meet Archbishop Wood in the Catholic League final.

“I’ve played so many years of Carroll basketball, so many games. I’m finally starting to learn to take a deep breath and slow down,” said Wilson, who scored five of her eight points in the final quarter. She added five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

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