Month: January 2017

By Matthew De George

Luke Sareyka fields the question with a knowing chuckle. Yes, in his first season at The Christian Academy, he expected stories from teachers and coaches who knew his father and uncle.

But Sareyka is happy to see another of his expectations subverted. The reputation of his father, Kevin, and uncle Kyle proceeds him. Both were athletic standouts in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

This season, though, as Luke and his cousin Grant (Kyle’s son) embark on their first year at TCA, any apprehension about following in others’ footsteps has vanished.

“I thought it was going to be a lot, people were expecting a lot out of me,” Luke, a sophomore forward, said. “But as I came to know, it’s not important. They want to know who you are, not who your father is or who your uncle is.”

The Sareyka name resonates through TCA athletics even decades later. Kevin, a 1992 graduate, scored 1,143 points in his career, eighth all-time in school history. He was a second-team All-Delco pick as a senior, as was Kyle (Class of 1990) two years prior. Kyle’s pitching prowess earned him the 1990 Daily Times Baseball Player of the Year distinction.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Josh Verlin

As MaST Community Charter coach Dan Tirendi called timeout, all the moment was on Delco Christian’s side.

The Knights had cut what had been a 10-point deficit in half in a matter of seconds midway through the third quarter, with a home-friendly crowd getting behind its team in its battle for first place in the Bicentennial Athletic League’s Presidents division.

Even the Delco Christian PA announcer got in on the act, blasting the Backstreet Boys’ “We’ve Got it Goin’ On” over the soundsystem.

“We were playing out of control, we turned the ball over a couple of times, I called a timeout, I tried to settle the guys down, I think it helped,” Tirendi said. “I just told them we’re better than this.”

In previous years, Tirendi’s words wouldn’t have carried nearly as much weight, considering the program’s track record.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Michael Bullock

Here’s installment No. 7 of City of Basketball Love’s state rankings, a package that will appear on Mondays throughout the remainder of the regular season.

Appearing below are all six of our top 10s, with PIAA district and this season’s record displayed in parentheses. Only those schools competing for PIAA state championships are eligible for ranking purposes.

CLASS 5A

Tyree Pickron’s trey from the left corner with less than a second remaining capped a game-closing 7-0 run as No. 1 Archbishop Wood pocketed a come-from-behind 62-59 victory over Class 6A power Emmaus in the first of five games at Sunday’s Hoop Group showcase in suburban Allentown. Collin Gillespie, who banked 42 points in Wood’s conquest of Neumann-Goretti three days earlier, set up the game-winner. David Kachelries scored 31 points for Emmaus, which led 59-55.

No.  School                                          Rec       Pvs
1.     Archbishop Wood (12)              14-3         1
2.     Abington Heights (2)                 15-2         2
3.     Bangor (11)                               17-1         4
4.     Archbishop Carroll (12)             12-6         3
5.     Mastery Charter North (12)       21-0         5
6.     Chester (1)                                13-4         6
7.     Whitehall (11)                            15-3         8
8.     Meadville (10)                            15-1      OW
9.     Bishop Shanahan (1)                 13-5      OW
10.   Northeastern (3)                         18-2          7

Checked in: No. 8 Meadville/No. 9 Bishop Shanahan.
Checked out: No. 9 Bonner-Prendergast/No. 10 Penncrest.

(click on this link for the rankings and notes on all six classifications)

 

By Matthew De George

In mid-December, when leading scorer and two-time All-Delco forward Nick Alikakos went down with a knee injury, Jack O’Connell underwent the same self-evaluation as the rest of the Episcopal Academy teammates.

The role they entered the season expecting to fill needed to evolve to fill the scoring void. O’Connell, a spot-up 3-point specialist, would need to morph from an ancillary threat to a primary contributor.

Six weeks later, Alikakos is back. And the phenomenal surge EA is enjoying owes as much to those surrounding Alikakos as the forward’s return.

O’Connell stepped to the fore Friday in spectacular fashion, draining all five of his 3-point looks in a 15-point outing as EA downed Haverford School, 71-57, to upend the title picture in the Inter-Ac that seemed secure just a week ago.
EA’s win is retribution for a 54-51 setback at home three weeks ago. A fifth straight win moves the Churchmen (13-9, 6-1) into sole possession of the league lead. Haverford School, which rode a 13-game win streak into this week, falls to a second-place tie with Germantown Academy at 5-2. GA beat Haverford Tuesday in a five-overtime classic, 100-98.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

Jamar Sudan’s putback with two minutes to go put Chester in front stay as the Clippers edged William Penn of York in a nonleague game Saturday, 69-65.

Jordan Camper blocked two shots late to seal the win for Chester (13-4). Camper flirted with a triple-double as he scored 18 points to go with 10 blocks and eight rebounds.

Michael Smith paired a career-high six assists with a game-high 19 points. As a team, Chester registered 14 assists on 20 buckets.

Sudan posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, while Ahrod Carter checked in with 13 points for The High.

In other nonleague games:

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

By Matthew De George

Garnet Valley had a win for the ages Tuesday against Lower Merion.

Friday against Upper Darby was a different story.

Noah Walker scored 24 points, and Mamadou Toure added 14 as the Royals pulled a 68-67 upset of the host Jaguars Friday night in the Central League.

Magd Adelwehab added 12 points for the Royals (5-11, 4-8), who have won four straight games.

Austin Laughlin, Tuesday’s hero, brought his “A” game again with 33 points, including five 3-pointers. He canned a triple with four seconds left to get Garnet Valley within one, but couldn’t replicate the game-tying/game-winning double of Tuesday’s win against the Aces.

Brandon Starr added 15 points for GV (12-6, 7-5).

Elsewhere in the Central League:

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

By Matthew De George

 Down nine points at 5 minutes, 19 seconds of the third quarter, there was no moment of revelation for Penn Wood Thursday — no momentum-turning shot, no pivotal collision in the lane.

In place of the dramatic, Pernell Ghee simply looked around the timeout huddle at his fellow seniors and found looks of recognition. Mundane as it sounded to a corps playing rival Chester for the final time, the comeback would have to start one possession at a time, at the line and on defense.

“Nothing changed,” Ghee said. “Coach said, we’re in the same predicament as last game (against Chester); we’ve just got to keep our head and stick to the game plan. We went over the game plan one more time, we said we’re going to get the W if we stick to the game plan.

“We stuck to the game plan, and we got the W.”

Ghee and company roared away to a 58-55 Del Val League win, finishing with a 25-13 edge over the game’s final 13 minutes.

The damage started via a 10-spurt to put Penn Wood up, 43-42, with 2:32 left in the third, Ghee rolling to the basket for a layup off the glass.

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

By Matthew De George

Free-throw shooting hasn’t exactly been Delco Christian’s forte this season. But the Knights overcame those struggles in a big way on the road.

T.J. Tann scored a game-high 16 points as Delco Christian used a 24-for-32 shooting night at the charity stripe to claim a 51-37 Bicentennial League victory over Holy Ghost Prep.

Jordan Parks added 13 points, six rebounds and five steals. Obinna Nwobodo chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.
Tann was 9-for-10 from the line while Parks (a 56.5 percent shooter on the year) was 8-for-10 and Nwobodo went 6-for-10. Delco Christian (9-7, 7-5 BAL) entered the game at just 62.1 percent from the line this season.

In nonleague action:

Upper Darby 63, Norristown 55 >> Magd Adelwehab drained three 3-pointers en route to 17 points, and Bayir Hodges chipped in 13 as the Royals won a third straight game.

Noah Walker added 11 points for Upper Darby (4-11).

By Matthew De George

Try as you might, you may never see another game quite like the one authored by Haverford School and Germantown Academy Tuesday night.

The final, in five (yes, five) overtimes: Germantown Academy 100, Haverford School 98.

And it came with all the drama a five-OT affair should have, won by Evan-Eric Longino’s leaner in the lane with 0.1 seconds showing in that fifth overtime.

Haverford certainly contributed its share of drama to the highest-scoring game in Inter-Ac League history. Kharon Randolph, who scored 27 points, sent the game to overtime with a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation. Jameer Nelson Jr. (15 points) canned a triple at the first-OT buzzer to extend the game.

Christian Ray, who led Haverford School with 32 points, hit two free throws at the end of the third overtime, then a lay-up as time expired in the fourth overtime.

Gavin Burke added 16 points for Haverford School (16-2 overall, 5-1 Inter-Ac), which saw its 13-game winning streak snapped. It moves the Fords into a first-place tie with Episcopal Academy ahead of Friday’s rivalry rematch, with GA a game back.

Kyle McCloskey, the Villanova football commit, scored 43 points for GA.

In the Del Val League:

Penn Wood 72, Academy Park 54 >> Vincent Smalls scored 15 points, and Kairi Jones added 14 as Penn Wood (10-5, 4-1) won its seventh straight.

Nick Simmons poured in 31 points in the losing effort for AP (7-8, 2-3).

(Webmaster’s note: The Penn Wood vs Academy Park game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link on the left hand side of the page.)

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

 

By Josh Verlin

Austin Laughlin turned the corner inside Lower Merion’s Kobe Bryant Gymnasium and sprinted down the sideline, trying to outrun the mob. It was the final heroic effort he’d make on a night filled with them, though a fatally flawed one.

Because there was no escaping those chasing him.

Laughlin’s Garnet Valley teammates caught up to the junior guard at halfcourt and surrounded him, screaming, celebrating a shot that might have turned the course of their team’s entire season.

It was a double-clutched, half-court chuck from just in front of the scorer’s table which dropped shortly after the buzzer sounded, handing the Jags an emotional 68-67 overtime win.

(click on this link for the full article)