Month: February 2019

By Matthew DeGeorge

Trailing for nearly the entire 32 minutes of regulation in the PAISAA boys basketball championship final against tall and talented Westtown, Haverford School came back for a 67-62 overtime win in its final test of the season Saturday evening in front of a packed house at Jefferson University.

The win completes a 28-0 season for the Fords, their first PAISAA title to add to consecutive Inter-Ac crowns.

Westtown relied on solid rebounding and the offensive talents of Jalen Gaffney (27 points) to forge a 34-27 lead at halftime. Late in the third quarter, the Moose still enjoyed a 45-35 advantage.

But the Fords slowly came back, as La Salle University-bound Christian Ray began to take over. When Ray grabbed back-to-back offensive rebounds and scored on a putback to cut Westtown’s lead to 52-50, there were four minutes left. Jameer Nelson’s end-to-end drive and free throw made it 54-53 with 3:03 left.

Twenty one seconds later, another putback by Ray gave the Fords a 55-54 lead — their first lead since early in the first period.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Having a 6-foot-9 center on your roster is a luxury at a public high school, the product of geographic fortune. Getting the most out of such length on the court is earned, through game-planning and practice.

West Chester East center Andrew Carr showed both sides of that Saturday night. He did the tall guy stuff that added up to 18 points and 11 rebounds. But Carr’s place as the keystone in the Vikings’ zone defense spelled the difference, getting the top-seeded Vikings into the state tournament via a 57-46 win over No. 8 Penn Wood in the District 1 Class 5A quarterfinals Saturday.

East (20-5) advances to next Wednesday’s semis at Norristown High to face two-time reigning champion Penncrest, which took down No. 5 Rustin in overtime, 58-49. The Vikings also clinched their first states berth since 2002.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

On the long walk from the Chester bench to its locker room, up a flight of stairs and around two corners far from the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium, the Clippers had plenty of time to ponder Friday night.

One was the gamesmanship at Lower Merion’s fortress of a gym, long trek included. There were calls Chester felt it didn’t get, including the image of Aces coach Gregg Downer sprinting out of his coaching box and into Keith Taylor’s to call a timeout on the eighth second of a would-be backcourt in the final minute.

But after watching the Aces exult en masse on the court after a 67-59 win in the District 1 Class 6A quarterfinals, the reality had time to crystallize for the Clippers. They simply didn’t make enough shots. And Lower Merion’s Jack Forrest simply didn’t miss enough.

“It was very upsetting,” Chester senior forward Rahmaad DeJarnette said. “We usually make those types of shots, and when it comes down to that, we have a lot of clutch players that make that shot. It just didn’t fall, so it was very upsetting.”

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Webmaster’s note: The PIAA quarter-final 6A District One game between Chester and Lower Merion was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard in its entirety below or on our Archived Broadcasts link listed in the menu at the top of our page.

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By Corey Sharp

Chester went into Lower Merion on fire, having won 14 straight games.

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By Owen McCue

It won’t be too long until Jameer Nelson Jr. and Christian Ray are rivals, not teammates.

After this season, Ray is headed to La Salle, while Nelson will take a prep year before joining him in the Big 5 at St. Joe’s, where his father starred.

With an 84-58 victory over Phelps School Friday in the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association semifinals at Montgomery County Community College, in which Ray and Nelson combined for 48 points, the two friends postponed the rivalry for at least one more game.

 The Fords (27-0) will play Westtown School Saturday at Jefferson University for the PAISAA title. They lost in the final last year, and rectifying that is the final jewel in a crown that includes the last two outright Inter-Ac titles.“Jameer’s going to be my rival soon,” said Ray, who led the Fords with 28 points. “I’m always at his house. We’re always together. It’s going to be hard playing for the last time. We’re going to have one last ride together. We’re going to have fun. All the seniors included.”

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By Matthew DeGeorge

The tactics for Shad Kyem were pretty simple Thursday night, no halftime session with the dry erase board needed.

The Penn Wood guard had Academy Park’s Naseim Harley shadowing him in their District 1 Class 5A first-round contest. Harley had three points, three fouls and six missed shots in the first half. So Kyem resolved to take the game to a player already on his heels, figuring that getting the best of one of the Knights’ leaders would bring the rest of the team down with him.

Kyem did just that, scoring 12 of his 16 points in the third quarter and keying a 73-48 runaway win for the eighth-seeded Patriots.

Penn Wood (15-8) advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals, where it will visit top-seeded West Chester East with a spot in the state tournament on the line. The seventh win in Penn Wood’s last nine outings ends the season of No. 9 AP (15-8). Thursday served as the rubber match between the Del Val rivals, with Penn Wood winning by seven points at home Jan. 10 and AP taking the return meeting by eight Jan. 29.

This one didn’t remain that close for very long. Kyem set the tone.

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Webmaster’s note: The PIAA first round 5A District One game between Academy Park and Penn Wood was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard in its entirety below or on our Archived Broadcasts link listed in the menu at the top of our page.

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By Christopher Vito

Shane Cohen admits he floats comfortably between two roles for Lower Moreland, scorer and facilitator. He also might just very well float.

The senior collected a fourth-quarter pass on the baseline, took a single dribble, and double-clutched a lay-up. Cohen hung in the air long enough to convert the shot and draw a foul. The old-fashioned 3-point play helped Cohen cross the 1,000-point, career-scoring threshold, and served as the offensive highlight in a game loaded with them.

Cohen’s 26 points, six assists, and four rebounds boosted the top-seeded Lions to a 76-46 rout of fourth-seeded Glen Mills in a District 1 Class 4A semifinal. Lower Moreland (21-3) will face Pope John Paul II in Saturday’s district championship game.

“He’s the (Bicentennial Athletic League) MVP. He goes as we go, in many ways,” Lower Moreland coach Seth Baron said of Cohen, his top scorer. “That being said, we’re very talented. We have 12 seniors. We’ve been building toward this season.”

The Lions shot 29-for-52 overall, good for 56 percent. From beyond the arc, they were nearly as efficient. They made 45 percent of their 3-pointers, connecting on 10 of 22 attempts. And they didn’t miss from the foul line, knocking down all eight free throws.

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By Bruce Adams

Sun Valley’s four senior starters stood tall in the Vanguards’ 82-65 win over Phoenixville Thursday night in the opening round of the District 1 Class 5A boys basketball tournament.

Vinny DeAngelo lit up the scoreboard with 31 points, and fellow seniors Isaac Kennon and Marvin Freeman chipped in with 14 each. The trio was tough on the boards Thursday night, too.

“DeAngelo, Freeman and Kennon have been our top rebounders for the last three years, but our unsung rebounding hero is Lance Stone,” Sun Valley head coach Steve Maloney said. “He’s barely 6-foot, and he pulled down some big ones in the second half tonight.”

Sun Valley (16-7) maintained a small lead against Phoenixville (11-12) most of the night, then exploded for 31 points in the final quarter.

“We’ve scored the ball pretty well this season, but we spent the last two weeks working on defensive assignments,” Maloney said. “I thought our defense was good tonight. Dom Valente had a good defensive game, he’s taken about 20 charges for us this year.”

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By Peter Sena

Unionville has had plenty of leading men in big games this season, usually Bo Furey-Bastian or Wyatt Hockenberry.Thursday night, it was Drew Lenkaitis’ turn to lead the Indians to victory.

The Unionville senior scored 21 points on the night — including 17 in the first half — as the Indians rolled over Radnor, 60-46, in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A playoffs.

The third-seeded Indians will host a familiar foe in No. 6 Sun Valley in Saturday’s quarterfinals, after the Vanguards beat Phoenixville. A win on Saturday would secure a state tournament berth.

“We played really hard, it’s just a byproduct of how hard we’ve worked,” Lenkaitis said. “We just got to play hard and keep things going. Our coach (Chris Cowles) told the seniors today could be our last game. If there’s anything you need to do, it’s ‘no regret’ effort and just leave it all out on the court. The game was all about trusting my teammates and trusting what our coaches taught us to do.”

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By Matt Smith

Tyler Rossini doesn’t worry about scoring points in bunches. Delaware County Christian School’s senior shooting guard plays with a team-first mentality, and if he’s lucky enough to get a few open looks per game, so be it.

Rossini wants to do what’s best for all five players on the floor. It’s not about getting his shots and padding his stats.

“My teammates do a great job of setting me up,” he said. “I just want to look to get the ball inside as much as possible.”

The big man for DC is Obinna Nwobodo, who gets plenty of touches in the lane. The offense runs through junior wingman Jackson Piotrowski, who Valley Forge Military Academy zoned in on in Thursday night’s District 1 Class 2A semifinal contest without much success.

Jamal Hairston is the heady point guard who directs the offense, and power forward Jacob Bronkema is your typical grinder who fights for rebounds and plays tough defense. Rossini is the team’s marksman. He wasn’t aiming to drop in 20 points on this night, but the opportunities were too good to resist.

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