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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)

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:

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

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)

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)

By Matthew DeGeorge

 By tip-off time Saturday afternoon, 26 people, many of them adults, including two uniformed security guards, did their best to populate the stands adorned with banners for “Upper Darby students.”

Behind the Conestoga bench sat a contingent of parents and the remnants of the JV team. Members of Upper Darby’s family and friends occupied a section behind the Royals’ bench. All told, a little more than 100 fans were in the Upper Darby gym for the Central League contest.

It was, by all appearances, an ordinary boys basketball game, even if it followed a very unusual Friday.

The first event hosted under Upper Darby School District’s new game attendance policy – which was announced Friday as making Upper Darby games “no longer open to the general public,” then substantially clarified late Saturday in light of a flood of media attention – didn’t seem much different from many others in the past.

It certainly underwhelmed compared to the controversy stirred up a day earlier, and most importantly, it was markedly different from the Royals’ last home game, a Dec. 17 visit from Haverford marred by a melee that interrupted the game, injured security personnel, led to arrests and inspired the new policy in the first place.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Terry Toohey

There’s a new attendance policy in place for home athletic events at Upper Darby High School for the winter season.

Events will no longer be open to the general public, according to a release on the athletics page on the school district’s website, which was posted Friday.

“Only Upper Darby School District students with school-issued IDs and who are eligible to attend school events will be allowed to purchase a ticket at the event,” according to the release. “All Upper Darby students must sit in the identified student section.”

John Camden, Dean Coleman-Newsome, Caleb Carter and Anquan Hill made sure Archbishop Carroll remained undefeated in the Catholic League with a 62-43 triumph over Lansdale Catholic.

Camden hit five 3-pointers and poured in a game-high 26 points. Coleman-Newtown chipped in with 11 points, Carter nine and Hill eight.

In the Bicentennial League:

Christian Academy 67, Calvary Christian 66 >> Grant Sareyka, Sam Beathers and Isaiah Mitchell showed the way for the Crusaders.

Sareyka made three triples and finished with a game-high 20 points. Geathers tallied 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds, and Mitchell produced 11 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and six steals.

Tahriq Marrero scored 18 points, but his biggest contribution came on the defensive end in crunch time.

The Academy Park senior made two steals in the waning moments to help the Knights claim a 54-50 non league boys basketball win over Springfield.

Derrick Northern added 17 points in the victory. Academy Park’s press led to turnovers and six straight points in the fourth quarter. The Knights also delivered at the free-throw line down the stretch.

Cole Rhodes had a stellar outing for the Cougars, leading all players with 22 points. Freshman Michael Hoey chipped in with 10 points and six assists, while Brian Ward paired 10 points with five rebounds.

In other non league action:

RIDLEY 63, CHICHESTER 60>> The host Green Raiders (5-3) overcame a 14-point deficit due in large part to the performance of senior Josh Howard, who tallied 16 of his game high 23 points in the second half. Howard dialed up five shots from long distance.

Ramir McDowell paced the Eagles with 18 points and Josh Hankins added 17.

COLLEGIUM CHARTER 62, INTERBORO 34 >>

Connor Hughes registered seven points, six rebounds and two assists for the Bucs, who were outscored 34-12 in the second half. Freshman Abu Kamara also had seven points.

In the Ches-Mont League:

SUN VALLEY 48, KENNETT 38>> A 16-0 run in the second quarter spurred the host Vanguards to victory. Nick Gianokoplous led three players in double digits with 15 points. Billy Fisher contributed 12 points and Kenny Lazer finished with 11.

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By Josh Verlin

Though high school basketball doesn’t quite have the schedule split that colleges tend to follow, with mostly non-league games before the winter holidays and conference play in the new year, there’s no doubt that the intensity ramps up in January. 

Aside from the five-team Delaware Valley League and six-team Inter-Academic League, every other conference in southeastern Pennsylvania has seen its teams play at least a couple of conference games, giving us an early glimpse at which teams are in good shape and who’s got some work to do with district playoffs only about six weeks away.

With three weeks’ worth of results already in the books, it’s not too early to look around and see which races are shaping up as expected, and which teams have totally thrown the predictions for a loop. Here are five questions I have about the next six weeks of the 2019-20 high school season, and how they’ll affect how various playoff pictures look come February:

(click on this link for the full story)