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By Tyler Sandora

In Penncrest’s win over Upper Merion in the 2017 District 1 5A championship last March, then-junior Justin Heidig didn’t see a single minute on the Villanova University Pavilion court.

Heidig had been one of the go-to guys off the bench for Mike Doyle’s squad all of last year, but just didn’t get in the championship game.

All offseason that sat in the back of Heidig’s mind. Coming into his senior year, Heidig knew he would be a vital part of the rotation, which returned enough talent to make a run at the district championship for the second straight year.

“It’s the one game I didn’t play [all year],” Heidig said. “Coach knows what’s best, and he knows who to put out there.

“But this time, I think it’s my turn.”

(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:

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By Bruce Adams

Sun Valley basketball fans were treated to a double dose of long-awaited celebration Wednesday evening.
Not only did the Vanguards clinch their first PIAA state tourney berth since 1990 with a 47-41 win against West Chester Rustin, but Sun Valley junior guard Vinny DeAngelo joined the school’s 1,000 point club.Sun Valley head coach Steve Maloney said, “This team has come a long way. Last year, we were 6-16, and this season, instead of looking at a long-range goal we’ve been focusing on getting to the next quarter, then getting to the next game. But this is a great group of kids – they were in the gym for off-season workouts 15 minutes before I was.

“And we didn’t expect Vinny to reach 1,000 points this year, but his scoring just took off this season. He’s not afraid to share the ball – he’s a special person.”

Following the Vanguards’ historic win, a post-game ceremony was held for DeAngelo. One of the celebrants was his older sister Gia, a former 1,000 point scorer at Sun Valley.

“She congratulated me, gave me a hug, and said, ‘Welcome to the club,’” said DeAngelo, who scored 20 points Wednesday night and now has 1,001 career points. “Reaching the 1,000 point mark was cool, but getting to States is awesome.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Owen McCue

Before he let his team leave its locker room after Wednesday’s night‘s state play-in win against Mastery North, Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk had a question for his Patriots squad.

“I said to them, ‘this is now 10 straight years we’ve been in the state playoffs,’” Romanczuk said. “Then I said, ‘do you guys know how many years Archbishop Carroll’s been able to be in the state playoffs?’ It’s not a trick question.”

After the hint from their head coach, the Patriots nailed the correct response.

With its 67-61 overtime win against the Pumas, Carroll locked up its 10th straight PIAA appearance since the Philadelphia Catholic League schools were allowed to compete in the tournament for the first time during the 2008-09 season.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Ed Morlock

All season long the Wissahickon boys basketball team has had its eyes set on Temple University’s Liacouras Center.

The Trojans wanted to secure a top-four seed in the District 1 Class-5A playoffs so they’d have two home games before moving to the sought after neutral site.

They finished as the No. 4 seed and those two home games were wins — a 67-48 blowout over Strath Haven and 55-48 victory over Great Valley.

Now, they’re headed to Temple — and facing the school that kept them from the North Philly college last year, Penncrest, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The Lions beat Wissahickon, 60-56 in overtime, in 2017’s quarterfinals before going on to win the district championship.

The then-11th seeded Trojans had a chance to beat No. 3 Penncrest, but couldn’t score when they had the ball in a tie game with 10 seconds left in regulation. Lions guard Tyler Norwood scored four of his 30 points in overtime to send his side to Temple.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Owen McCue
John Paul Nolan wasn’t even sure if he was going to try out for the basketball team this year.

The Abington senior spent his sophomore season on JV and left the basketball program as a junior to focus on his talents on the baseball diamond, where he is the ace pitcher for the Ghosts and earned a scholarship to East Stroudsburg next season.

After watching Abington take home a District 1 Class 6A title from the student section in 2017, Nolan felt like he might want to rejoin the team. Still, he was not sure if he had the ability. It took some coaxing from coach Charles Grasty and fellow senior Robbie Heath to get him to come out.

“He was like ‘Should I try out? I don’t think I’ll make the team,’” Heath said. “I was like P, you’ve got a jump shot. We need jump shooters on this team.”

Though Nolan obliged to the request, he didn’t expect to see much time on the floor for the defending district champs, but he scored seven points in the Ghosts’ first game and has carved out a role as a knockdown shooter ever since.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

As they sat at the dais Monday night, finishing each other’s responses to reporters’ questions, the teamwork aspect came through loud and clear from Roman Catholic.So it was as the clock wound down on a Catholic League championship game at the Palestra, the Cahillites trying to run out the last 98 seconds against Bonner & Prendergast, that Hakim Hart glided out to the right corner, quietly but vigilantly. Never mind that the junior wing hadn’t scored in the fourth quarter of a tie game, or that every eye on the building would gravitate toward the ball in Lynn Greer III’s hand or the high screen set by Seth Lundy.

When Greer drove and drew a help defender, Hart was ready to do what the Roman basketball ethos commands, to be ready.

Hart’s lay-in off glass with 1.6 seconds left settled a scintillating if frenetic final, a 51-49 decision for Roman.

“I knew when I was watching Lynn up top, he’s breaking his man down,” Hart said. “So in my head, I was thinking he’s going to be by him, I’ve got to be ready to shoot.”

(click on this link for the full story)

 

By Rich Flanagan

Lynn Greer III had gone through this moment in his head numerous times before.

The clock was winding down and he was going to be facilitating the offense on his team’s final possession. He recalled practices in Roman Catholic’s historic gym on the school’s third floor where he would take the ball end-to-end with only seconds remaining. For a player who had started 23 games as a freshman and was named a finalist for the 2017 USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team, he had not yet had the ball in his hands in the closing seconds.

That all changed on the floor of the Palestra in the Philadelphia Catholic League championship game.     

With seven seconds remaining, Greer drove and found teammate Hakim Hart for the go-ahead basket to seal Roman Catholic’s 51-49 victory over Bonner-Prendergast and clinch the program’s third league title in four years. The Cahillites began their final possession with over 1:20 remaining on the clock but took as much time off the clock as possible to get off the final shot.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Aaron Carter

Sometimes reality is much sweeter than the dream.
Roman Catholic sophomore guard Lynn Greer III experienced just that Monday night at the Palestra after making the game-winning play that gave the Cahillites a 51-49 victory over Bonner-Prendergast for the Catholic League championship.
“I envisioned it,” Greer III said behind a postgame sea of purple after delighting the capacity crowd to a thriller. “It’s crazier than I imagined.”

By Rich Flanagan

Bonner-Prendergast head coach Jack Concannon and Roman Catholic headman Matt Griffin have a plethora of memories of the Palestra dating back to their respective childhoods. For each of them, it started with Big 5 basketball games.

Concannon recalls the “Saturday night [Big 5] doubleheaders. I remember our CYO teams playing before the doubleheaders at different times then afterward we would be the ball boys for the doubleheader when I was in fifth and sixth grade.”

For Griffin, he remembers consistently being in the Cathedral of College Basketball during his father’s tenure as St. Joseph’s University head basketball coach from 1990-95. He states, “Up until his last year, I was the ball boy and those games were just the greatest basketball atmosphere to be a part of. The Palestra has always been a special place to me because I grew up watching games there.”

The Big 5 brought about the inception of each head coach’s appreciation and allure for the majestic arena but the Philadelphia Catholic League was where they displayed their playing abilities on its hardwood floors. Concannon scored 21 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in leading the Friars to the 1983 PCL title, its first since 1960. That began a string of three league crowns in the 1980s for Bonner-Prendergast, the last of which occurred in 1988 behind a PCL title-game record 30 points from Brian Daly. That was the last time Bonner-Prendergast reached the title game.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Rick O’Brien

Roman Catholic has captured 30 Catholic League basketball championships, including two of the last three. Bonner-Prendergast, meanwhile, last claimed the first-place hardware 30 years ago.

The Cahillites look to add to their already crammed trophy case at Broad and Vine Streets, and the Friars seek to end a lengthy drought when the teams square off for the crown at 8:30 p.m. Monday at the Palestra.
On the girls’ side, defending champion Cardinal O’Hara takes on Neumann-Goretti for top honors at the hallowed arena at 6:30 p.m.

After an eight-year dry spell, Roman won back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016. It is making its seventh appearance in the final in the last 13 years.
In the teams’ regular-season meeting six weeks ago, the visiting Friars nipped the Cahillites, 68-66, in overtime.
Matt Griffin’s squad is paced by 6-foot-6 junior wing Seth Lundy, sophomore point guard Lynn Greer, 6-3 senior guard Allen Betrand, and 6-5 junior forward Hakim Hart.

(click on this link for the full story)