By Josh Verlin
The 2019 edition of the Pete & Jameer Nelson Play-By-Play Classic wrapped up on Monday, Dec. 30 with a sextuplet of games at Widener University’s Schwartz Athletic Center. There were Catholic League programs, some of the top District 1 squads, and a few private schools in action in the last of three days of games; click here for standouts from Day 1.
Here are several standouts from the final five of six games that day (sorry, St. Joe’s Prep & Penncrest fans, I wasn’t able to make that one):
Penncrest 49, St. Joe’s Prep 44
La Salle 38, Abington 35
Malvern Prep 62, Norristown 44
Bishop McDevitt 45, Germantown Academy 42
Cheltenham 63, Coatesville 56
Chester 58, Haverford School 55
Akeem Taylor (2020/Chester)
A hard-nosed, 6-4 wing forward, Taylor was a problem for the Haverford School from 15 feet and in, where he bulldozed his way to 17 points, plus five rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Though he tied with teammate Karell Watkins for the team high, I opted on giving Taylor the writeup over his almost-equally-deserving teammate as Watkins benefitted from several Fareed Burton Jr. assists for easy layups, and some right-place, right-time foul shooting situations late, while Taylor seemed to get his own production by working his way to the hoop or on put-back attempts. If he’d made his foul shots (3-of-6) he’d have gotten himself to 20.