Month: February 2017

The District One 6A semifinals at Temple University on Tuesday night will showcase three SOL squads – Plymouth Whitemarsh, Abington and Cheltenham. In the 6 p.m. contest, second-seeded PW will take on third-seeded Abington in a rematch of this year’s SOL title game. The Ghosts won that one 70-66.

For Abington and PW, trips to Temple for the district semis have become something close to the norm. The Colonials are making their fifth trip in as many years while the Ghosts are making their fourth trip in the past six years.

“You hope you don’t get to a point where you think it’s normal because then you’re probably in a bad place,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “You have to take a breath and say, ‘Wow, appreciate it.’

“You think about other coaches who are really terrific coaches and have never had a chance to experience it once. I have to stop and take a breath, appreciate 22 wins and another successful year for this group.”

For Cheltenham, which earned the program’s first trip to the state tournament since 2006, this is a brand new experience.

“We’re trying to find out ticket information and the details of the game,” coach John Timms said with a laugh. “It’s like no one really knows, and everyone is feeling their way.

“It’s very exciting, and it’s a good time to be a Panther.

Cheltenham is the lowest seeded team in the final four after upsetting the tournament’s number one seed, Perk Valley.

“Right now, it’s caught some by surprise,” Timms said. “It wasn’t as if it was last year’s team that was senior heavy with 10 seniors.

(click on this link for the full article)

By Ed Morlock

The Upper Merion boys basketball team has been through more ups and downs than it can count.

The Vikings won just three games in 2014-15, but responded the next year with a 13-win improvement and a district playoff berth. The season was highlighted by a double-digit win over eventual district champion and state semifinalist Plymouth Whitemarsh, but the Vikings season came to an end in the first round of districts with a two-point home loss to Academy Park.

The 2016-17 season got off to a fast start but quickly turned when their star center Matt Faw injured his foot and had to miss six weeks. The Holy Cross commit returned without missing a beat. He led the Vikings to a key win in the regular season finale and two district playoff victories. The latest was one of the biggest in school history — a three-point win at No. 1 seeded Chester to clinch the school’s first state playoff berth since 1993.

“After a few of the losses — some of the losing streaks — our heads were hanging a little bit,” senior forward Ethan Miller said. “But we knew if we made it into the playoffs that no matter what we’d have a chance. We’re good enough despite the seeding that we could make a run and do good things.”

“It’s incredible all that we’ve gone through as a group,” Upper Merion coach Jason Quenzer said. “From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs to all the in between. I think my biggest message throughout the whole season this year was when we lost games and didn’t win as many as we expected to win, I just said, ‘Guys listen. Ultimately we want to win as many possible games to put ourselves in a position where we have a home playoff game and the best possible seed, but ultimately all these experiences are going to give us something. That’s been the case since you guys have been here and wore a Vikings jersey.’ We’ve been in tight games where we’ve lost, we’ve been in tight games where we’ve won. I think we’ve kind of experienced the gamut. I don’t know how much more you can throw at these guys and say, ‘Have you experienced this yet?’ Most of the answers would be, ‘yes we have.’”

(Webmaster’s note: The Upper Merion vs Bishop Shanahan game is one of our Game-of-the-Week broadcasts this week and can be heard LIVE (and on Archive) by clicking on the link on the left hand side of the page.)

(click on this link for the full article)

By Delcohoops.com Staff

The two boy’s basketball PIAA 5A District One semi-finals are being held this Wednesday night, March 1st, at Temple’s Liacouras Center and Delcohoops.com is pleased to announce that we will be covering both games ‘LIVE’.

The Liacouras Center is a great place to watch a game but if you can’t make it you can pull up and chair and tune into Dave Burman, Mark Jordan, Mike Mayer and Pete Fulginiti as they describe all the action and give you an analysis of the game. Anyone with a an Internet connection, including most mobile devices, will be able to listen to the game. After the game is concluded it will be available in it’s entirety as an archive file.

The first game starts at 6:00 PM between Penncrest and Great Valley.  The second game is scheduled for a 7:30 PM tip-off between Upper Merion and Bishop Shanahan.  The winner of each game will face off at Villanova on Saturday, march 4th at 2:00 PM.

High school basketball never sounded so good!

By Andrew Robinson

Improbably, Wissahickon was in a position to possibly upset District 1-5A No. 3 seed Penncrest on the road.

Down six with 2:37 left, the Trojans had fought all the way back to force a tie game and had the ball with 7.5 seconds left, ready to take the last shot and possibly the win. All season, Penncrest has hung its hat on its ability to defend. Now, more than ever, that was going to be tested.

The Lions got their stop, the game went overtime and their electric junior guard Tyler Norwood did what he does best, scoring the go-ahead hoop to lead Penncrest to a 60-56 quarterfinal win Saturday night.

“It comes down to sometimes, the ball goes in or it doesn’t,” Trojans coach Kyle Wilson said. “They made a few more plays than we did and sometimes that’s the difference in the game. There were a lot of points where we could control that outcome, we had chances to win and sometimes it doesn’t come out the way you’d like it to.”

Norwood scored 30 points, including the 1,000th of his career, using his entire skillset to do so. The quick handle, the long 3-point shots, the drives, the ability to draw contact and even the gift of gab helped the undersized but deadly scorer go to work.

The first half was up-and-down basketball. Wiss jumped out to a 9-2 lead but Penncrest led 13-12 after one thanks to one of Norwood’s deep treys. The score at half was a 25-25 deadlock with Norwood scoring 14 and Wissahickon’s Zach Reiner having put in 13.

Reiner had a team-high 18 for Wissahickon and shot 6-of-12 from the floor but just 6-of-13 from the foul line. Still, he was able to get baskets and to the line against a physical Penncrest defense that guarded the Trojans very well as a unit.

“They’re a high-powered offense,” Penncrest coach Mike Doyle said. “They play in one of the toughest divisions around and their record doesn’t reflect how good they were. We made it a point the last two days of really working on their dribble drive offense, getting through screens, opening up and time and time again, we came up with big stops.”

(Webmaster’s note: The Wissahickon vs. Penncrest PIAA District One 5A playoff 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 the full article)

 

By Harry Chaykun

Tyler Norwood wanted to talk about his teammates after he scored 30 points to help Penncrest to a 60-56 overtime PIAA District One Class 5A quarterfinal victory over Wissahickon at the Lions’ Kaufman Gymnasium Saturday night.
“It was about getting Justin (Ross) and the other seniors to Temple,” said Norwood, a junior who scored the 1,000th point of his varsity career with 1 minute, 55 seconds to play in the extra period.
Norwood, Ross and the third-seeded Lions qualified for the PIAA Class 5A tournament and will play in the district semifinal round against second-seeded Great Valley at Temple University Wednesday night.
Penncrest had to survive a wild fourth period in which it did not make a field goal (0-for-5), getting all seven of its points on five Norwood free throws and two by senior Chris Mills. Four of Norwood’s foul shots came with 4:44 left in the quarter when he was fouled and Wissahickon’s Shane Ford (12 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots) was charged with a technical foul in a scrum that followed the personal foul.
When Norwood was finished making those foul shots, his team had a 51-44 lead. Two minutes later, he was 1-for-2 at the line, ending a streak in which he hit a dozen in a row. Max Rapoport countered with a 3-point shot for the 11th-seeded Trojans, and Donovan Oliphant made two steals and tied the score at 52 with 1:44 to play.
Ross missed two foul shots with 1:32 on the clock, but Norwood forced Zach Gelman into a turnover with 5.7 seconds to play. Ross then couldn’t hit a long try at the buzzer.
“This game was won at the defensive end,” Penncrest coach Mike Doyle said. “That team has a high-powered offense, but we got stops when we had to.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Bruce Adams

After scoring 25 points in Westtown’s 64-49 victory against Episcopal Academy in the Pa. Independent Schools Athletic Association boys’ basketball championship game Saturday evening at Malvern Prep, Moose senior Brandon Randolph reflected on his team’s second consecutive PAISAA title as well as the final game of his illustrious high school career.

“When the [final] buzzer sounded, it was crazy,” said Randolph. “I was thinking how we made history, we won it again, and it was great to see how much all of [our teammates] had grown during my time here.”

Senior teammate Anthony Ochefu added, “This championship meant so much, winning it back-to-back with this group of seniors, and seeing how far we have come [in the last few years].”

Episcopal Academy (18-11) proved a tough foe for Westtown 32-2) in the final, and the Churchmen took a 32-30 lead with 3:42 left in the third quarter.

“I wasn’t surprised [that EA was leading],” said Westtown head coach Seth Berger. “We couldn’t run [at that point] — EA’s transition game was awesome and they were very patient on offense. EA is a talented and well-coached team. But then our talent took over, and [our players] turned it on.”

The talented Westtown squad responded with a 23-4 run that gave the Moose a 53-36 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Westtown, with a roster stacked with talented Division I level players, has been drawing large crowds as of late, and Saturday evening at Malvern Prep was no exception. Once the gym was filled to capacity, would-be attendees had to be turned away.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Steve Moore

As the throng of Great Valley students poured from the stands at the final buzzer and surrounded their victorious schoolmates, one final, simple chant engulfed the circle of jumping, happy teenagers.

“Temple, Temple.”

It signified the obvious, that the Patriots will head into Philadelphia for the District 1 Class 5A boys basketball semifinals Wednesday night.

Second-seeded Great Valley snapped a tie with under two minutes to go, while scoring four of the game’s last points, to outlast No. 10 Springfield (Delco), 41-38. The Patriots head to the Liacouras Center to face No. 3 Penncrest in the first semifinal on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Springfield falls into the consolation round with a chance to make the PIAA tournament still in the offing.

“It feels great to be going to Temple knowing that we played most of our season without Alex Capitano (who missed significant time due to a broken hand),” said Nate Graeff. “We came together as a team. Team ball pays off.”

Great Valley (18-6) came up with some key defensive stops in the fourth quarter, holding the Cougars (14-11) without a field goal for the final four minutes, 57 seconds of the game. They took lead for good on a perfectly executed backdoor layup by Capitano with 1:42 left.

The Patriots held a tenuous 28-27 lead after three quarters, which they quickly extended to three on a Capitano basket. They held the advantage at 35-31 with 5:07 left following a 3-point basket by Gavin Frankenheimer. Jordan McKenzie quickly silenced the home crowd by rebounding a missed shot for the bucket and the foul. The resultant free throw made it 35-34 with under five minutes to play. What nobody in the gym would know at the time would be that was the last basket for Springfield.

“We played it right,” Graeff said in amazement when told about the feat. “They’re a well-rounded team with a lot of guys eho can score, so to hold them without a basket for that long is incredible.”

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Tyler Sandora

You will never find Great Valley’s best attribute on the stat sheet.

They have shooters, rebounders, and passers, but there is one piece missing from the engine that powers the Patriots game.

Intensity.

They definitely brought that intensity on Saturday night as they defeated Springfield (Delco.), 41-38.

With the win, Great Valley punched its ticket to Temple University for the 5A district Final Four, where it will meet the No. 3 seed Penncrest Lions. The Patriots also qualified for a spot in the PIAA 5A state playoffs.

The main catalyst of the intense game play was junior forward Nate Graeff. At 6-foot-2, Graeff needed to play shut-down defense to make up for his lack of height.

Whether it was diving on the floor after loose balls, boxing out Springfield’s big man Great Orjih, or making shots just as the score was getting closer, Graeff was seemingly everywhere on the court

“Nate Graeff played the game of his life,” coach Paul Girone said. “I thought he defended their big men well. He is three or four inches shorter but he took him right out of the game. He did exactly what we needed.”

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Matt Smith

Six weeks.

That’s how long Upper Merion senior Matt Faw spent inactive and deprived of basketball action. The two months off was precisely what his doctors ordered after Faw suffered a bone injury in his foot following an awkward landing in a Dec. 20 meeting with Upper Perkiomen.

He returned just in time for the playoffs. And the Vikings sure are happy to have their 6-8 superstar back in the fold.

When No. 8 Upper Merion walked into Chester High’s Clip Joint for Saturday’s District 1 Class 5A quarterfinal, not many folks were expecting an upset. The Clippers were the top seed and a perennial contender for a PIAA championship.

Faw and the Vikings didn’t care.

“I believed as soon as I got in here, that we were going to win this game,” Faw said.

He was right.

Faw was perfect at the free-throw line down the stretch, going 8-for-8 in the fourth quarter to lead the Vikings to a thrilling 53-50 victory. UM (15-9) advances to the semifinal round Wednesday to face No. 4 Bishop Shanahan at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.

Faw poured in a game-high 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Clippers (18-6) will have to kick the bitter taste of a stunning defeat and battle for a berth in the PIAA tournament out of the losers bracket. The Clippers will prepare to tackle fifth-seeded West Chester Rustin Wednesday.

With 29.1 seconds to play, and Chester clinging to a one-point lead, Clippers point guard Michael Smith missed a 1-and-1 and Faw came down with the rebound. He was fouled, inadvertently, and strolled to the foul line where he made two to put the Vikings in front, 51-50.

Chester fumbled an opportunity to take the win in dramatic fashion. A loose ball led to a mad scrum underneath the basket. A jump ball was called, with the possession arrow in Upper Merion’s favor with 2.1 seconds to go.

Faw received the ensuing inbound pass and was hacked with 0.8 seconds. He calmly swished both freebies to make it 53-50.

While Upper Merion was effective from the charity stripe  (18-for-22), Chester struggled mightily in far fewer opportunities (2-for-9).

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Matthew De George

Over 24 games, finding qualitative differences between Archbishop Carroll and Bonner & Prendergast posed a distinct challenge. Mathematically, the Philadelphia Catholic League’s points system couldn’t either, hence an impromptu meeting Friday night at Cardinal O’Hara.

But in the course of two head-to-head meetings in as many weeks, two glaring disparities emerged: The superior depth possessed by Carroll, and its propensity for devastating stretches of explosive offense.

Both were on clinical display Friday in a 66-48 win that vaults Carroll into the District 12 Class 5A third-place game with Mastery Charter North next Wednesday for the district’s final PIAA tournament bid.

Bonner & Prendergast’s resurgent season concludes with a 16-9 record.

Though numerically it fell short of the 73-50 pasting Carroll hung on its Delco rivals on home court two Fridays ago, this win-or-go-home affair showed the best of what Carroll can do, starting with freshman point guard A.J. Hoggard.

Hoggard was the best player on the court, amassing the stat line to prove it — 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. He orchestrated a heady but composed attack that staggered Bonner & Prendergast with a 14-0 second-quarter run, then knocked them to the canvas with a 16-2 opening to the third.

(click on this link for the full article)