Delcohoops.com

By Matthew DeGeorge

Elijah Smith was busy making noise on the offensive end in the first quarter Wednesday night, busy outscoring Archbishop Ryan by his lonesome over the first eight minutes of a first round Catholic League encounter.But the Cardinal O’Hara guard knew that if the Lions were going to meet their objectives on the day, they would have to bring the energy on the other end of the court. One textbook close-out, and one clang off the Ryan rims at a time, Smith and his teammates delivered.

O’Hara blanketed Ryan into a putrid shooting night, the No. 9 seed stealing away from the Northeast with a 58-47 upset over the eight-seeded Raiders, O’Hara’s first Catholic League playoff win since 2011-12.

The win earns O’Hara (11-11) a neighborhood showdown with top-seeded Bonner & Prendergast Friday. The Friars edged O’Hara, 67-63, just four days ago.

The defensive end is where O’Hara made its money. Their dogged defensive effort, which started with a stifling 2-3 zone, held Ryan to a woeful 2-for-21 from 3-point line. Ryan was just 19-for-59 (32.2 percent) from the field. And the 7-for-14 effort at the line — including 1-for-7 to start the fourth — was the accumulation of frustration that would boil over closer to the game’s conclusion.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

 In a back hallway at Harriton High School Tuesday night, two players met and embraced, one wet from a celebratory dousing of ice water, the other’s face stained with tears.In a tit-for-tat fourth quarter, those two players seemed intent on deciding a Central League championship by whomever had his hands on the ball last.

Steve Payne did.

The Lower Merion guard hit a runner high off the glass with 2.6 seconds left, one possession after Penncrest’s Tyler Norwood had tied the game in similarly spectacular fashion, as the Aces earned a 48-46 win for their second consecutive Central League championship.

The battle for a crown ultimately came down to the two stars, who led the way offensively. Norwood paced all scorers with 19 points, Payne with 18. Of the 20 points scored in the fourth quarter Tuesday, 15 were provided by the duo. From the time Harrison Klevan hit a 3-pointer to put Lower Merion up 43-39 with 4:39 left, the rest was up to Norwood and Payne’s personal game of one-on-one.

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Webmaster’s note: The Lower Merion vs Penncrest 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 Matt Smith

Garnet Valley has walked around with a target on its back for a long time. The team to beat in the Central League had won four consecutive league titles and had lost only one game to a conference foe since the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign.

Springfield was tired of seeing Garnet Valley win and wanted to do something about it. The Cougars believed it was their time.

It’s not a coincidence that a Ky McNichol-led Springfield team was the last to defeat Garnet Valley. You have to go back to Dec. 22, 2015, when McNichol was in her second year coaching the Cougars. In her rookie season she won six games. The next season, within its first month, McNichol was the coach responsible for ending Garnet Valley’s then-38-game winning streak in the Central League.

Could the Cougars do it again Tuesday night at Harriton, with the Central League title at stake? You bet.

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Webmaster’s note: The Garnet Valley vs Springfield 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

When Lower Merion won the Central League championship a year ago, there was no need for any heroics, as the Aces took home a 22-point victory over Strath Haven in a game which was basically over midway through the third quarter.

Defending the title was not nearly so easy.

The league’s regular-season champion, Penncrest gave Lower Merion all it could handle on Tuesday night, in a game that was tied at the end of the second and third quarters, and tied with 30 seconds left after the Lions’ star senior Tyler Norwood finished a tough bucket in the lane.

But Lower Merion was not to be denied.

Junior guard Steve Payne’s drive to the hoop with under three seconds left proved to be the difference-maker, as the Aces came away with a 48-46 victory.

It’s the fifth Central League championship in the last seven years for Lower Merion (20-4), which has won 14 titles in 28 seasons under Gregg Downer.

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Webmaster’s note: The Lower Merion vs Penncrest 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

In the minds of many around the Penncrest boys basketball program, the number 1,551 loomed large this season.For Tyler Norwood, the only one who ultimately had the power to vault that historic standard, it would be more of a byproduct than a long-term goal, merely something that might happen one day if Norwood accomplished many more granular goals.

“Every night, I just went out and played basketball,” Norwood said Sunday. “I didn’t really worry about if I was breaking a record or not. All I worry about is winning championships. It just so happened that I was close and able to do that.”

Sunday, Norwood was able to do both.

The Penncrest senior guard and reigning Daily Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year scored a game-high 22 points to get past Upper Darby, 52-39, in the Central League semifinals at Marple Newtown and set the Penncrest all-time scoring mark.

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Webmaster note:  Delcohoops.com will broadcast LIVE the Central League Basketball Championship game between Penncrest and Lower Merion. Our broadcast will begin at 7:45 PM. 

By Matt Smith

In the days and weeks ahead, Springfield freshman Alexa Abbonizio and her family will tell stories and share memories about her late grandfather.Robert J. Abbonizio, affectionately known as “Big Bob,” passed away Feb. 6. He was 80.

Alexa is one of Mr. Abbonizio’s nine grandchildren. And he was a big fan of his granddaughter, the basketball player.

Abbonizio was in the starting lineup for Springfield in its regular-season finale Friday. She had the best game of her young high school career when she scored 29 points to lead the Cougars to victory over Radnor. She dedicated that game to her grandfather.

Sunday at Marple Newtown, mere hours before she would attend her grandfather’s viewing service, Abbonizio helped Springfield defeat Haverford, 37-27, in the semifinals of the Central League playoffs.

The Cougars will play reigning league champion Garnet Valley in the final Tuesday night at Harriton.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster note:  Delcohoops.com will broadcast LIVE the Central League Basketball Championship game between Garnet Valley and Springfield. Our broadcast will begin at 5:45 PM.