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The Strath Haven Middle School Home and School Association sponsors a basketball game between the Wallingford Swarthmore School District Faculty Basketball Team “Haven Hoopsters” and the Harlem Wizards at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 21, at the Strath Haven High School Gym.

Ticket cost is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. VIP Courtside Plus tickets are $25 (available online only, seating is limited). Doors open at 6 p.m.

Proceeds benefit the Foundation for Wallingford-Swarthmore Schools and the Jack Hontz Memorial Fund (music).

For advance tickets, visit www.harlemwizards.com/schedule-tickets/

 

By Matthew DeGeorge

Magd Abdelwahab takes a second to wistfully run down the roster of his eighth grade team at Beverly Hills Middle School.

He was part of that undefeated team, along with fellow Upper Darby senior Nasir Greer. Also included was Bonner & Prendergast sixth-man-turned-starting-guard Yohance Garner, who was a teammate of Abdelwahab in the two years he spent at Bonner.

Rounding out the starting five is Anthony McFall, who played at Upper Darby as a sophomore, and Kwazhere Ransom, who scored 44 points in five highly productive games at the tail end of his freshman year for the Friars.

The lone enduring similarity between the five, other than a shared zip code in junior high, is that all five will be taking part in the PIAA tournament starting this weekend: Abdelwahab and Greer at Upper Darby; Garner at Bonner; Ransom and McFall at Math, Civics & Sciences.

The journey of multiple schools that four of them share is a common refrain that extends well beyond the boundaries of the Upper Darby School District.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Ed Morlock

Wissahckon opens the PIAA Class-5A state playoffs against Archbishop Carroll at 8 p.m. Friday night at Bensalem High School.

The (1-3) Trojans haven’t played the (12-3) Patriots since beating them in 2011, but head coach Kyle Wilson and his team know what they’re up against.

“They’re a tough team,” Wilson said. “It’s what we’d expect out of the (Philadelphia) Catholic League. They’ve got a solid five or six guys deep of talent. They’re disciplined, skilled. A few guys have D-1 offers. Strong caliber of play.”

Carroll has four players who averaged double figures in the always-competitve Catholic League. Senior forward Keyon Butler (second team All-Catholic) led the way with 15.8 points, sophomore guard AJ Hoggard (first team All-Catholic) had 14.8, senior guard Justin Anderson (second team All-Catholic) 13.5 and junior guard Luke House 12.3.

“You basically talk to your guys about of all games you want to come up with your best defensive game, this is going to be it,” Wilson said. “When you know you’re facing a squad that’s that deep and talented, you want a little bit of luck on your side. Maybe some of the shots aren’t falling, maybe they’re not hitting the boards. There’s somewhere we have to win some of those battles — whether it’s on the boards, whether it’s defensively, offensively. Our goal is to have them play more of our style of basketball.”

(click on this link for the full story and more playoff game previews)

By COBL Staff

The final segment of the 2017-18 Pennsylvania high school basketball season is upon us.

Six different brackets of 32 teams each get underway this weekend in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) state playoffs, the second year since the expansion from four classifications to six brought even more excitement to March in high school gyms around the Keystone state.

The CoBL staff will be going in-depth on each of the six classifications to preview the state tournament, with favorites, contenders, dark horses and players to watch.

Here’s a look at the Class 5A bracket (district-seed, record in parenthesis); all first-round games will take place Friday, March 9.

The Favorites
Bonner Prendergast (12-1, 22-4)
The Friars won the District 12 title, bringing them to their first ever PIAA state tournament appearance, a week after dropping the Catholic League title to Roman Catholic. Two junior transfers, Isaiah Wong and Tariq Ingraham, have been a huge part of the Friars’ attack, as has senior forward Ajiri Johnson, a Rider commit. Sophomore guards Tyrese Watson and Donovan Rodriguez, as well as junior Mike Perretta, also make an impact for the Friars. Bonner-Prendie has proved to be dangerous this year, beating powerhouses such as Neumann-Goretti, Roman Catholic, and Archbishop Carroll, and when they get hot they are a tough bunch to slow down.

(click on this link for all the 5A team reviews)

  

By Matt DeGeorge

The lasting image of the 2017-18 Penncrest team falls somewhere between the extremes of the players who got the first grasp of the District 1 Class 5A trophy Saturday afternoon.

On the one side was Tyler Norwood, he of the silky jumper and one of the most prolific scoring careers in Delaware County history. On the other was Chris Mills and his home-white shorts, splattered with blood — his, his teammates, his opponents, whatever.

The dichotomy reveals how deadly effective the Lions were Saturday in destroying second-seeded Bishop Shanahan, 50-28, to repeat as district champions. The final margin didn’t quite encapsulate it all — the way Norwood wouldn’t be denied on one end, and the way that the Lions’ defense blanketed and battered the Eagles into submission and an early surrender.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster’s note: The Penncrest vs Bishop Shanahan D1 5A Championship game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link by clicking on the player below:

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By Christopher Vito

Don’t take this the wrong way. But if we’re being honest, there isn’t generally a plethora of elite high school hoops talent in Chester County. A bunch of good, solid players, but Rip Hamiltons and Tina Nicholsons are a once in a lifetime revelations in these parts.

And yet on Saturday at Temple’s Liacouras Center, three of the four Class 5A finalists in the girls and boys District 1 Championship hail from Chesco. How can that be?

Well, all three of the local teams have something in common: a gritty toughness that just isn’t commonplace, and a dedication to teamwork that is fast becoming nearly instinct at the upper echelons of the sport. The West Chester Henderson and Villa Maria girls, and Bishop Shanahan boys, have rosters populated with fundamentally sound players who meld into a five-piece unit on the court working as one.

“We’re not fortunate to walk around with Division I players in our schools, so we have to make the most with what we have,” said Shanahan coach Ken Doyle, after his team took it on the chin, 50-28, to a Penncrest squad that played terrific and has a star in guard Tyler Norwood.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt Smith

There was a time this season when Delco Christian would have struggled to overcome a nine-point deficit.

“We’re not the best at coming back,” said Obinna Nwobodo, the Knights’ sophomore big man. “Especially against Dock (Mennonite), the No. 1 team in the district.”

But this was the big stage, for the District 1 Class 2A title. The Knights believed they could bounce back from an anemic first eight minutes and go toe-to-toe with the top-seeded Pioneers. After all, the Knights defeated the Pioneers in the regular season.

Why not twice?

“After the first quarter, we all said, ‘Remember last year.’ We didn’t want this to be a repeat,” Nwobodo said, referring to last year’s loss against Dock in the district semifinal round. “That’s what got us going again.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By PAPreplive

Isaiah Wong and Tariq Ingraham combined for 47 points to help Bonner & Prendergast outlast Martin Luther King in overtime, 64-59, to win the District 12 Class 5A boys basketball championship Saturday.

Wong poured in 31 points and Ingraham added 16. Bonner & Prendergast outscored King, 16-11, in the overtime to win the district title.

In the District 1 Class 5A third-place game:

Wissahickon 54, Chester 51 >> Anthony Lawrence scored five of his 10 points in the third quarter to help the Trojans rally past the Clippers. Max Rappaport tallied 12 of his team-high 14 points in the first half.

Brian Randolph III had 10 of his 18 points in the third period as Chester turned an eight-point halftime deficit into a five-point lead going into the fourth quarter, but the Clippers went cold in the final frame. Chester only scored five points in the fourth quarter to finish fourth.

Rahmaad DeJarnette and Timothy Johnston pitched in with 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Clippers.

By Matt DeGeorge

Gee Antonelli got to the Liacouras Center Wednesday night, looked in his gym bag, and found everything he needed for Penncrest’s District 1 Class 5A semifinal … except his sneakers.

So as he slinked over to Tyler Norwood’s locker to ask for a loaner pair, they came with a caveat.

“I gave them to him, and he said, ‘I feel like Tyler Norwood,’” Norwood said. “I said, ‘then play like Tyler Norwood.’ He went out and gave it his all.”
For the middle two quarters, the borrowed footwear did the trick, as Antonelli provided a spark off the bench, part of the top-to-bottom contributions that have epitomized Penncrest’s second straight run to a District final, this one furnished by a 45-40 win over No. 4 seed Wissahickon.

The win sends top-seeded Penncrest (24-3) into Saturday’s district final back at Temple against No. 2 Bishop Shanahan, which dispatched Chester, 61-47, the first semifinal.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster’s note: The Penncrest vs Wissahickon playoff game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link by clicking on the player below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

By Christopher A. Vito

At one end of the floor, Bishop Shanahan coach Ken Doyle stared toward the scoreboard. He took one nervous glance, then another. Then one more for good measure.

Doyle watched and waited, and no doubt hoped the clock would tick just a bit more quickly with each of his looks skyward.

At the other end, Chester coach Keith Taylor shouted for one of his players to take a foul and, just maybe, breathe new life into his fading Clippers.

The dichotomy was obvious: One coach hoping the clock would speed up, and the other hoping more numbers would magically appear on the digital read-out.

Taylor did not get his wish as the third-seeded Clippers bowed to the second-seeded Eagles, 61-47, in the first game of a District 1 Class 5A semifinal doubleheader Wednesday night at Temple’s Liacouras Center.

“It got away from us,” Taylor said.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster’s note: The Chester vs Bishop Shanahan playoff game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link by clicking on the player below:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS