Conestoga’s full press dooms Strath Haven in 58-56 loss

Haven’s Robbie Guilday looks to drive to the outside. Photo by Nick Falsone 

By Mike Mayer, Delcohoops.com

In a game of two halves the Conestoga Pioneers dominated a quick Strath Haven Panther team by winning the first and fourth quarters in Wallingford, PA last night.

It was a full court press in the middle of the fourth quarter where Conestoga, trailing by 10 points, turned the table on the Panthers by forcing repeated turnovers in the back court and capitalizing by converting the turnovers into points and taking the lead late in the fourth quarter.

Andrew Kauffman interviews Conestoga’s Austin Fontaine after his 3-point shot sealed the Pioneer’s first Central League win.

With seconds to go the Pioneer’s #5 Austin Fontaine dropped a soaring 3-point shot, sealing the Conestoga victory for their first Central League win.

Fontaine and Jeremiah Miller led Conestoga with 14 points and 12 points respectively while Mike Walz led with 4 rebounds and 3 turnovers.

The Haven effort was led by Luke Edwards and Ibo Pio with 12 points each while Edwards also had 5 rebounds.

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Schaller, Garnet Valley hot from the start in win over Radnor

By Matthew DeGeorge

Six basketballs were produced for Garnet Valley’s warmup Tuesday evening at Radnor. As the clock ticked down to less than 90 seconds before introductions and the anthem, all six basketballs found their way to shooters on the perimeter and, within a second or so, splashed into the net, with nary a glance off the rim.

Another round of shots, another sequence of swishes, one after the other, save for one rim out, from all over the court.

The shooting display wasn’t just for the early arrivers, since Garnet Valley started the Central League contest by sinking four 3-pointers on six trips down the court, via four different Jaguars, a blitz that staked them to an early 10-point lead that wouldn’t be surrendered.

The Jaguars came back to earth with just 10 3-pointers on the game, but even shorthanded they controlled matters from start to finish in a 66-51 decision over the Raiders.

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

Clover can’t prevent rare Haverford School loss in Inter-Ac

Christian Clover had 10 of his 13 points in the second half Tuesday but Haverford School fell to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 56-50, handing the Fords their first Inter-Ac League loss in nearly three years.

Zach Genther was the only other scorer in double figures with 10 points and Bernie Rogers had nine for the Fords (5-8, 0-1), who went down in an Inter-Ac game for the first time since Feb. 3, 2017.

Also in the Inter-Ac Tuesday:

Germantown Academy 59, Episcopal Academy 49 >> Alex Capitano led the way with 20 points, including two of the Churchmen’s seven three-pointers, but it wasn’t enough against GA. Colin Chambers and Sam Malloy had seven points apiece for EA (6-10, 0-1), while Adam Archambault had six on two triples.

In the Bicentennial Athletic League:

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Delco boys basketball stat leaders, Jan. 6

By Matthew DeGeorge

Based on games reported to the Daily Times through Jan. 5 (list of missing games at bottom). For questions or corrections, email mdegeorge@21st-centurymedia.com.

Scoring Average
(Minimum half of team games played)

Grant Sareyka, Christian Academy 21.0
Josh Hankins, Chichester 20.1
Carl Schaller, Garnet Valley 19.8
Tyreese Watson, Bonner & Prendergast 19.5
John Seidman, Haverford 19.1
Jack D’Entremont, Radnor 18.2
Tre Dinkins, Cardinal O’Hara 18.2
Christian Clover, Haverford School 18.1
Shamir Baunes, Penn Wood 18.0
Billy Fisher, Sun Valley 18.0
Jackson Piotrowski, Delco Christian 18.0
Alex Capitano, Episcopal Academy 17.9
John Camden, Archbishop Carroll 17.8
Luke Edwards, Strath Haven 17.0
Karell Watkins, Chester 16.8

(click on this link for the complete list of all the stat leaders)

O’Hara boys take down McDevitt to stay unbeaten

By Matt Smith

It’s too early for Cardinal O’Hara to book a trip to the Palestra, but the Lions are serious contenders for the Catholic League title.

They keep proving they’re for real this season.

Anthony Purnell made the tying and go-ahead free throws with 40 seconds to play as O’Hara extended its season-opening win streak to 11 games with a 45-42 triumph over Bishop McDevitt Monday night.

Trailing by four points with a minute to play, Kevin Reese drilled a 3-point field goal to trim O’Hara’s deficit to a point. Moments later, Purnell gave O’Hara a slim advantage, then Adrian Irving capped the scoring with a pair of freebies with 20.8 seconds to go.

Tre Dinkins poured in a team-high 19 points and Purnell finished with 12.

The Lions (11-0, 4-0) are tied atop the Catholic League standings with Archbishop Wood and Neumann-Goretti. Wood visits O’Hara Wednesday night.

In nonleague action:

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

UD defense clamps down on Conestoga

By Matthew DeGeorge

When Upper Darby’s defense put the clamps on Saturday, Conestoga’s offense went dormant.

The Royals allowed just seven points and one made field goal in the middle two quarters to run away from the Pioneers in a 51-33 win.

Conestoga’s only points of the second quarter came on a Jack Liedtka 3-pointer with 4:31 left. Upper Darby scored the final 11 points of the frame to take a 28-14 lead into the break. The run extended to 25-1 across the intermission as the Pioneers didn’t hit a basket in the third.

“I think defense is a strong part of our team,” point guard CJ Dabbs said. “We strive on defense, we work on it a lot in practice. Our offense in the half-court is not that good, so when we get steals and deflections on defense, we get to push and go up-tempo. We’re an up-tempo team.”

Upper Darby’s defense caused 16 turnovers. It only allowed the Pioneers 13 attempts from the field in the middle two quarters.

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