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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.

(click on this link for the rest of Josh’s standouts)

By Rich Flanagan

Chester scored the first basket of the game and immediately dropped into a signature full-court press. Tom Durant looked on and didn’t have to call a press break. His West Chester East team knew exactly how to break it and, more importantly, score off of it.

Senior forward Andrew Carr caught the ball at the high post, turned and found point guard Mike Dedda down the sideline and finally Tym Richardson received the ball. The 6-3 senior guard pulled up and drilled a three-pointer in what would become a regular occurrence throughout the game. Carr had a double-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while Richardson scored 14 points despite dealing with foul trouble as West Chest East defeated Chester, 60-47 in the Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic at West Chester University.

Carr, a 6-foot-9 Delaware commit, scored his first basket of the game during a 9-0 Vikings run, which followed the Clippers’ initial bucket. A few possessions later, Carr finished strong in the lane, then on the ensuing possession Richardson was fouled behind the arc. He hit all three free throws and the Vikings (7-1) were in command, up 14-4 with 2:29 left in the opening quarter. Carr closed out the first-quarter scoring for East with a baseline slam.

(click on this link for the full story)

Colin Chambers scored 14 points and Alex Capitano added 13 as Episcopal Academy registered a 45-41 victory over Cherokee High (N.J.) in a Jameer Nelson Classic game Saturday night.

The Churchmen outscored Cherokee, 23-19, in the second half. Chambers drilled four three-pointers, Capitano one. Gavin Gibson registered 20 point for Cherokee.

In the Garnet Valley Varsity Club Tournament: 

Garnet Valley 86, Bishop Shanahan 44 >> Carl Schaller wrapped up the tournament MVP award with a career-high 31 points in three quarters as the host Jaguars romped to the win.

Neel Beniwal had 17 points, while Valantis Apostolopoulos added 10 for the Jaguars, who led 28-9 after the first quarter.

Beniwal also earned all-tournament honors.

In the Ridley Holiday Tournament:

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

By Harry Chaykun

Ridley coach Kevin Kelly and his players know that things will get very interesting when the Central League boys basketball race resumes next week.

“The league is up for grabs,” Green Raiders senior Josh Howard said Friday afternoon after scoring 16 points to help the host team to a 61-15 victory over Interboro in the opening round of the Ridley Holiday Basketball Tournament.

Ridley (5-2) will take on Martin Luther King of Philadelphia in the championship match at 7 p.m. Saturday. MLK (7-1) defeated its Public League rival South Philadelphia High, 54-41, in the other game Friday.

“We knew we still have things to work on to get better,” said Kelly, whose opening-minutes advantage over four quarters was 27-2 Friday. “Today we wanted them to play smart, take good shots, and keep focused.”

Howard and Josh Hagan both dropped in five points in the opening period as Ridley built a 12-4 lead. In the second quarter, the Green Raiders outscored the Bucs, 17-2, taking advantage of 11 turnovers. Jack Grace, the quarterback of the football team which bowed to Interboro Thanksgiving Day, got all six of his points in the second stanza.

(click on this link for the full story)

Cardinal O’Hara’s Adrian Irving erupted for 26 points in a big win at the Jameer Nelson Classic Friday.

Irving had 16 points after halftime in the Lions’ 66-52 decision over The Haverford School on Herb Magee Court at Jefferson University.

Anthony Purnell swished six free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with 16 points. Tre Dinkins also tallied double figures with 10.

Christian Clover drilled six 3-point field goals and had 25 points to pace the Fords.

At the Governor’s Classic:

Bonner-Prendergast 82, Dulaney 75 >> The Friars won for the second day in a row in Salisbury, Md. Tyreese Watson shot an efficient 13 of 14 at the charity stripe with a game-high 22 points. Malik Edwards added 20 points and Mandon Seapoe netted 16 points in the victory.

At the Garnet Valley Varsity Club Tournament:

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

Senior guard Billy Fisher scored a gamehigh 20 points as Sun Valley rallied for a 58-56 boys basketball victory over The Christian Academy in the opening round of the Sun Valley Christmas Tournament Thursday.

The Vanguards trailed by eight points heading into the fourth quarter, when they outscored the Crusaders, 23-13.

Nick Giannakopoulos tossed in 15 points and Dom Valente added eight points.

Leading the way for TCA was Grant Sareyka, who finished with 17 points. Sam Geathers chipped in with 11 points.

The Vanguards play Academy Park in the tournament championship Friday at 7:30. TCA takes on Strawberry Mansion in the consolation game.

By Josh Verlin

Of the several dozen events that Jeremy Treatman’s Scholastic Play-By-Play organization puts on over the course of each high school season, there’s none as big as the Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic, certainly at least in terms of the number of games and overall length of the event. The Nelson Classic has grown to encompass three games of days spread over a four-day weekend, at three different locations.

Below you can find the full event schedule, as well as a brief glimpse of each of the game’s best days and players.

Monday, Dec. 30
Widener University
St. Joseph’s Prep vs. Penncrest (11:45 AM)
Abington vs. La Salle (1:30 PM)
Malvern Prep vs. Norristown (3:15 PM)
Bishop McDevitt vs. Germantown Academy (5:00 PM)
Coatesville vs. Cheltenham (6:45 PM)
Chester vs. Haverford School (8:30 PM) (Game-of-the-Week broadcast on Delcohoops.com)

(click on this link for the complete weekend Play-by-Play schedule)

By Josh Verlin

Every big shot Archbishop Ryan made on Sunday afternoon, Cardinal O’Hara had a response.

No bigger example of that than the end of the third quarter, when Ryan sophomore Luke Boyd made a running 3-pointer at the buzzer, cutting the O’Hara lead five eight to five, sending the Ryan crowd into a tizzy, anticipating the comeback. It didn’t happen. Instead, O’Hara started the fourth calm as ever, senior guard Tre Dinkins knocking down a 3-pointer to push the lead to eight.

That was how it went the rest of the fourth: every Raider punch was beat with a Lion counter, every sense of momentum built by the home team stolen back by the visitors. O’Hara got buckets when it needed to, hit foul shots when it needed to, and stayed unbeaten thanks to a 76-68 win, continuing one of the early surprise stories of the 2019-20 season.

“Last year, I think we would have folded…now I think we’re prepared for it, especially on the road, when the crowd was getting wild (after) hat bank shot to end the [third] quarter,” head coach Ryan Nemetz said. “A team could lose it and argue in the huddle, [but] our guys stuck together and continued to work and it was awesome. I was really proud of our guys.”

(click on this link for the full story)