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By Matthew DeGeorge

Tyler Norwood’s answer to a question he was expecting is succinct.The last time Norwood stepped foot in the gym at Marple Newtown was the first round of last year’s PIAA Class 5A tournament, a wretched shooting night for the Penncrest guard that provided an anticlimactic ending to a Player of the Year campaign. So did he think about that at all ahead of Wednesday’s return trip?

“Every day,” he said.

His latest adventure at Marple Newtown wasn’t so excruciating, at least emotionally.

Norwood scored a game-high 20 points, exiting after three quarters with an ankle injury that permitted only a brief late cameo to stanch a Marple run, as Penncrest sprinted to a 61-41 Central League win.

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

By Tyler Sandora

Throughout the early season, defense has been Neumann-Goretti’s biggest weakness.

Although the Saints were off to a 5-3 start entering their Catholic League opener at Archbishop Carroll on Tuesday night, they’ve been held back by their defense — or lack thereof — to begin the second half of various games.

At a holiday tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina a week ago, the Saints held Asheville Christian Academy to 53 points in the first game, but then dropped two consecutive matchups to Lincoln (NY), and Providence Day, both games only losing by a combined 13 points.

“We have been stressing we were very poor defensively in parts of games in Carolina,” head coach Carl Arrigale said. “Our offense was good, but we didn’t dig in defensively.”

But in their first game back in the state and on the opening night of Catholic League play, the Saints looked just like their normal selves.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Bonner & Prendergast’s dual low-post threats took care of business in Tuesday’s Catholic League opener, with both Tariq Ingraham and Ajiri Johnson posting double-doubles in an 80-54 controlling of Conwell-Egan.

Johnson scored 18 points, Ingraham added 14 and both grabbed 10 rebounds for the Friars. Isaiah Wong led all scorers with 21 points, and Donovan Rodriguez chipped in nine for Bonner & Prendie (8-2, 1-0).

Also in the Catholic League:

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

By Michael Bullock

While we brought you our six preseason packages in those anxious days immediately preceding the start of the 2017-18 campaign, here’s a look at our third all-inclusive set of rankings for each and every classification.

So, enjoy, squawk and even ponder. There’s plenty more results to come.

Appearing below are all six of our top 10s, with PIAA district and this season’s record displayed in parentheses. Only those schools competing for PIAA state championships are eligible for ranking purposes.

CLASS 6A

Princeton recruit Drew Friberg dropped in 28 points and snagged eight rebounds on Thursday, leading No. 5 State College past Germantown Academy 68-56 in the finals of State High’s Kiwanis Holiday Tournament. Brandon Clark added 12 points for the Little Lions, two more than teammate Ryan McNulty.

(click on this link for the complete rankings)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Three times during an interview last Friday, Matt Lindeman emphasized his central thesis. “The Del Val is going to be fun this year,” the Penn Wood coach said after his team’s 48-47 win over Frankford at Interboro High School.

Part of the reason was on display for the previous 32 minutes — an inexperienced Penn Wood team learning the ropes in a league full of teams in similar positions.

But a more fitting illustration was seated about 10 feet to Lindeman’s left in the form of new Interboro coach Conrad Kirkaldy, keeping the book for the first game of five in the Big Game Hoops Showcase, a day that would end with Kirkaldy’s Bucs snapping a 53-game losing streak with a victory over Abington Friends.

The standings tell a tale of impending intrigue, but even more poignant are the myriad connections between the league’s six coaches.

Lindeman and Kirkaldy were assistants together for seven years at Penn Wood under Clyde Jones. When Jones left for Girard College in 2016, Lindeman took over the top job after 10 years as Jones’ assistant.

Jones left Girard after one season (and one trip to the PIAA Class A final) and landed at a resurgent Chichester. Among his assistant coaches is Chester All-Delco and longtime Clippers assistant Jimai Springfield.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Josh Verlin

Despite starting off its defense of the District 1 Class 5A tournament with seven wins to open the season, Penncrest still felt it had plenty to prove. After all, the Lions had replaced three starters from a year ago, and were relying on several players who previously had played few if any varsity minutes.

Mike Doyle’s squad was presented Saturday evening with an opportunity to make quite a statement, indeed: a game against one of the state’s storied programs, Chester, playing in ostensibly a home atmosphere at Widener University in an event — the 13th annual Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic — named for one of the Clippers’ all-time greats.

And whether they were proving something to themselves or to the rest of the local hoops community, the message was clear: Penncrest is for real.

(click on this link for the full story)

(Webmaster’s note: The Penncrest vs Chester 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 Matthew DeGeorge

Penncrest didn’t hit a 3-pointer Saturday night. Leading scorer Tyler Norwood was held relatively in check, by his lofty standards.

And yet the Lions still eased past Chester, 57-48, in a battle of District 1 Class 5A teams in the final game of the Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic at Widener University.

Norwood scored 18 points, but he was one of four Lions with nine or more points as they extended their perfect start to the season to 8-0. Matt Arbogast tallied 15 points, and Gee Antonelli and Chris Mills chipped in nine each for the Lions.

Michael Smith led Chester with 13 points. Isaiah Schmidt hit four 3-pointers to score 13 points as the Clippers hit a season-high nine bucket from beyond the arc but still fell to 1-5 on the season.

Also at the Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic:

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

 

By Josh Verlin

Coatesville sophomore DaPree Bryant’s steal-and-score just before the buzzer sealed a 60-55 win over Lower Merion in the penultimate game of four at Widener on Saturday afternoon and evening.

The Red Raiders held a 32-19 lead over the Aces at halftime, but Lower Merion mounted a third-quarter comeback to even take a brief 40-39 lead before a Jhamir Brickus 3-pointer put Coatesville back up two points going into the fourth.

Brickus (18 points) added seven more points in the fourth quarter as Coatesville (6-3) never again gave up the lead, though Lower Merion (6-2) didn’t make it easy. Though the Aces went nearly three minutes without scoring in the game’s closing stretch, a 3-pointer by Jack Forrest (14 points) cut it to 56-55 with 45.9 seconds to play.

Lower Merion had one final possession with 13.5 seconds left after two Brickus foul shots, but Bryant made sure the Aces didn’t even get a final look, snatching the ball and racing up the sideline to deposit the ball through the hoop just a split-second ahead of the buzzer for the last of his seven points.

Steve Payne led Lower Merion with 15 points. Brickus was joined in double figures on Coatesville by Chuck Smith’s 14 points.

(Webmaster’s note: The Coastesville vs Lower Merion 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 Josh Verlin

The 13th Annual Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic opened on Friday, with seven games taking place at the Gallagher Athletic Center’s Jefferson University (formerly Philly U).

Here are recaps of each of the seven games, updated throughout the day:

Game Five: Coatesville vs. Chester

For the past three or four games, Coatesville head coach Chuck Moore has used his sophomore guard Jhamir Brickus a little differently.

Brickus, a 5-foot-9 guard, is a special talent, and Moore knows it. He said the Red Raiders have started to run their offense through him, somewhat like how the Houston Rockets use James Harden or the Oklahoma City Thunder use Russell Westbrook.

In Friday’s game against Chester, Brickus poured in 27 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, to help deliver Coatesville a 68-46 win.

Game Six: Abington vs Archbishop Carroll

Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk knew he was going to have a tough time trying to contain Abington’s junior forward Eric Dixon.

The 6-foot-7 Dixon, who holds offers from 11 D-I schools, most notably Villanova, finished the game scoring 23 points, but it wasn’t enough as Abington lost by a final score of 70-56.

“I thought he (Dixon) had 30-35, the way he was scoring.” Romanczuk said.  “Our gameplan was is that if we could keep the ball out of his hands, which is a lot easier said than done, possession by possession, that’s how we would win.

(click on this link for more game stories and the complete recap)

Webmaster’s note:  The Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic continues today at Widener University. Delcohoops.com will broadcast two games tonight LIVE from Widener.  Check the Game-of-the-Week box for times!

By Andrew Robinson

Jefferson University’s gym has not been kind to the Abington boys basketball team this month.For the second time in less than a week, the Galloping Ghosts struggled to make their shots at Jefferson, this time from the perimeter. That, coupled with an Archbishop Carroll team focused on attacking the rim in the second half added up to a frustrating outcome for Abington.

Carroll’s guard play set the tone in leading the Patriots to a 70-56 win over Abington as part of the Pete and Jameer Nelson Classic on Friday.

“That’s something I think early in the game we didn’t do well, we settled for jumpers early,” Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk said. “We were kind of out of sorts early, then we were able to get some buckets in transition, get some easy hoops. At halftime, I said we have to stop settling, we need to attack them inside and make them defend us inside.”

(click on this link for the full story)