Month: December 2017

By PAPrepLIVE

Brian Randolph had 15 points, seven rebounds, six steals and three assists and Chester notched its first win of the season with a 78-56 rout of J.P. McCaskey.

Michael Smith also scored a game-high 15 points for the Clippers (1-1), who pulled away from the Red Tornado (0-1) with a 27-12 run in the third quarter.

Timothy Johnston added 13 points, eight boards, two blocks, one steal and one assist. Rahmaad Dejarnette finished with nine points and Zahmir Carroll had eight for the Clippers.

By Ed Morlock

Dana “Binky” Johnson is a name synonymous with winning when it comes to Norristown basketball.He played varsity point guard for four years for the Eagles and started three years. He won league championships in 1989 and 1990 and a District 1 title in 1990.

He tallied another win Monday night.

In Johnson’s first home game as head coach, he led Norristown to a 53-41 win over Academy Park to improve their record to 2-1 early on in his first season at the helm.

Johnson, who graduated from Norristown in 1990 before playing college ball at Canisius College, preaches hard work and the five-P philosophy to his players.

“Our core values are play hard, play smart, play together,” he said. “They’re our core court values. We base that upon the five-P philosophy — our philosophy is proper preparation prevents poor performance. What we believe in is the fact that preparation builds confidence. With confidence, the sky is the limit.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt De George

The plan Sunday afternoon was equally clear for Bonner & Prendergast and Malvern Prep.With its twin big men, Ajiri Johnson and Tariq Ingraham, presiding over the lane, Bonner’s advantage would reside in the half-court offense. Malvern’s hopes rested on tiring out those big legs by pushing the tempo and running the court.

No matter how much Malvern ran, though, they couldn’t escape the instant offense created by Bonner’s towering duo, which combined for 34 points and 19 rebounds in an 83-65 thrashing at the Performance Refinement West Chester Showcase.

By turns, the pair divvied up the domination duties. Ingraham poured in eight of his 10 points in the first half. He added nine boards and three assists with his exemplary low-post passing vision.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt De George

There was a little smirk and a lot of hedging from AJ Hoggard Sunday evening.For the Archbishop Carroll sophomore, playing against his hometown of Coatesville was just another game … but one where the layers tacked on made it not exactly just another game. The familiarity with friends and former teammates like Dapree Bryant and Jahmir Brickus (the latter of whom Hoggard carpooled home from their respective games) added something unique.

On the court, Hoggard didn’t try to do too much, and as the All-Delco point guard usually does, he discovered the right balance.

Hoggard took control early with Carroll flailing to sort out its halfcourt offense, then deferred late as others stepped up in a 70-55 win at the Performance Refinement West Chester Showcase.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Josh Verlin

Archbishop Carroll head coach Paul Romanczuk has been waiting all offseason to see who will step up in the scoring column for his Patriots alongside impressive sophomore A.J. Hoggard.

With his Patriots locked in a dead-even matchup with Coatesville at West Chester University’s Hollinger Fieldhouse on Sunday afternoon, Hoggard needed some help.

Keyon Butler, Luke House and Devon Ferrero answered the call.

Though Hoggard led the way with 19 points, it was 21 fourth-quarter points from Butler, House and Ferrero that proved to be the difference-maker in a 70-55 Carroll win.

(click on this link for the full article including the Bonner-Prendie game)

By Matt De George

Ryan Morris didn’t have to put into words what he and his Strath Haven teammates were feeling before Saturday afternoon’s tilt with Academy Park.Suffice it to say they weren’t happy, 18 hours removed from Friday’s 20-point shellacking at the hands of Avon Grove in which only one player, senior forward Cooper Driscoll, made more than one field goal. Though Morris didn’t put it into words, his actions spoke loudly enough.

Morris scored 15 points in the first quarter and 29 for the game as Strath Haven notched the first win for coach Dan Spangler in a 66-64 decision.

“I think there was a lot of nerves last night,” Morris said. “We’ve been playing together for a while, but the first game of the year, it didn’t go the way we wanted. Today, we wanted to change our energy, and it was all about energy, attitude and limiting turnovers. Those were the three pillars of our success. So we just wanted to move on from last night, (have a) fresh start and get a W.”

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

By Owen McCue

The fourth annual Fred Picket Classic took place at Chester High School on Saturday night. Grady (N.Y.) took down Simon Gratz in the first. Lower Merion took control out of the gate and held off a late Chester run to pick up a 57-52 victory in the second game.

Here are some storylines from the event: (click on this link for more game stories and scores)

 

By Matthew De George

Three hours before the basketball season was set to tip off Friday, Mike Webb got the unexpected news that he’d be playing.The long story, involving an ejection-marred fracas from the first round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament last spring, had Webb assuming he’d be on the bench for the opener at O’Hara. On a whim, though, he packed his jersey just in case, but not his sneakers.

On short notice, all Webb did was have the game of his life, pouring in 40 points for the Cougars.

Yet Webb wasn’t the story Friday night, not even among players wearing a No. 4 jersey. That distinction was pried away in the final moments by Antwuan Butler, whose first game at Cardinal O’Hara is going to be awfully hard to top.

The senior guard canned the game-winning 3-pointer falling out of bounds in overtime, part of his 30-point effort in an unbelievable 83-82 win for the Lions in the neighborhood rivalry.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Neil Geoghegan

You expect a lot of jitters in a season opener, and that’s exactly what happened on Friday between the Haverford and Unionville boys’ basketball squads. The two combined to turn the ball over 45 times.But the host Indians forced a lot more mistakes than they committed, and the end result was a convincing 61-42 non-conference triumph over the turnover-prone Fords at the Unionville Tournament.

“I’m ecstatic for our players. They deserve it,” said first-year Indians’ head coach Chris Cowles, who spent the previous two seasons at West Chester East. “Everybody says it, but they’ve really been putting in the work.”

In all, Unionville forced 27 turnovers and never trailed. For a nice chunk of the first half, Haverford had as many turnovers as points. It was close, however, until the Indians used a 14-3 third quarter rally to take command.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Steve Moore

With just above four minutes left in the fourth quarter Friday night, Downingtown East guard Malik Slay approached the free throw line in hopes of taking the lead back from Garnet Valley. The Jaguars had just taken the lead for the first time with a pretty back-door pass and layup from Austin Laughlin to Greg Vlassopoulos.As Slay received the ball from the official, he acted out his best Kevin Durant impression. Two dribbles, a deep breath, another dribble and a shoulder shake before letting the ball fly. The first shot allowed Slay to tie the game. Once the second shot came down, it gave Downingtown the confidence to close out the game.

The Cougars went on to beat Garnet Valley 61-56 in the season opener for both teams.

“We knew the run was coming,” said John Goodman. “This is a team that can score in the 80s and we held them to five points in the first quarter. I just flat out said at halftime they are going to start making threes. I think Laughlin had one point in the first half. He’s a thousand-point scorer and we knew he was going to make a couple. I think we responded well. We lost the lead, but we came down, scored and got it back.”

(click on this link for the full story)