Month: January 2020

By Mitchell Gladstone

It’s been three weeks since Garnet Valley’s lone loss this season.

And while the Jaguars have been plenty successful in the meantime — ripping off six straight victories by an average margin of more than 20 points —  that 69-56 loss at Lower Merion still eats at them.

“We didn’t have a good night,” Garnet Valley coach Mike Brown said of that Dec. 17 matchup. “To be honest, we haven’t talked about it much. … In this league, you play a game every two days.”

For all the progress the Jaguars have made, going from 8-14 five years ago to double-digit victories each of the past four seasons, Garnet Valley is still looking to get over that Central League hump and win a title for the first time since joining the league in 2008.

To do that, it almost certainly means getting past the Aces, who have captured five of the past seven Central League crowns and beaten the Jags in the six games since guard Carl Schaller arrived at Garnet Valley.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Carter Fillman 

Archbishop Wood isn’t a stranger to close games.

Early in the season, it was a hard-fought PCL opener against Bishop McDevitt and coming away with a three-point win at home. It was just a short three weeks ago when they took national power Paul VI into a seven overtime thriller, but fell short in a game where both teams soared into triple digits. Just last week, they took New Jersey power Wildwood Catholic down to the wire and came away with a two-point win in enemy territory.

And their most recent game against upstart and undefeated Cardinal O’Hara? Well, the Vikings can just add it to their rolodex of nail biters after pulling out a 67-63 win in Delaware County on Wednesday night.

“We play a tough schedule,” said Wood coach John Mosco, specifically referencing the Paul VI game. “We also have practiced situations everyday and we try to have them prepared for [anything].”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt DeGeorge

Grant Sareyka hit 1,000 career points Wednesday, but Chester Charter Scholars Academy spoiled the party.

Breon Showell scored a career-high 17 points, and Tyler Howard dominated in the paint as the Sabers pulled out a 62-56 road win.

Howard scored 14 points to go with 17 rebounds, eight blocks and three steals. Showell added four steals and five assists for CCSA (8-2), which has won five straight.

Sareyka led the Crusaders with 18 points. He’s the 13th player in school history to hit the milestone, a group that includes his uncle, Kevin Sareyka.

Isaiah Mitchell added 13 points, and Jordan Greene had 10 for TCA (9-3).

Webmaster’s note: Our Game-of-the-Week next week, January 13th, features W.C. East vs Chester Charter Scholars Academy.

By Carter Fillman & Josh Verlin

This offseason, the preseason buzz around the Philadelphia Catholic League centered around three teams: Roman Catholic, Neumann-Goretti, and Archbishop Wood, each loaded with promise and high-major Division I talent. Early in the season, Cardinal O’Hara entered the fray as a top team, still unbeaten on the season. 

And now, Bonner-Prendergast has left a message loud and clear: don’t forget about the Friars.

With the loss of two time Catholic League MVP Isaiah Wong (Miami), Tariq Ingraham (Wake Forest) and fellow starters Mike Peretta and Chris Haynes, it would not have been crazy for the average follower to forget about Bonner. 

But there was depth on that team last year, and now seniors Tyreese Watson, Donovan Rodriguez, Connor Eagan, and Oscar Uduma have stepped into the starting lineup and have paced Bonner-Prendie to a 10-1 (4-0) start to the season after knocking off fellow unbeaten Roman Catholic on the road, 81-75 in overtime on Tuesday afternoon.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Mike Mayer, Delcohoops.com

In a game of two halves the Conestoga Pioneers dominated a quick Strath Haven Panther team by winning the first and fourth quarters in Wallingford, PA last night.

It was a full court press in the middle of the fourth quarter where Conestoga, trailing by 10 points, turned the table on the Panthers by forcing repeated turnovers in the back court and capitalizing by converting the turnovers into points and taking the lead late in the fourth quarter.

With seconds to go the Pioneer’s #5 Austin Fontaine dropped a soaring 3-point shot, sealing the Conestoga victory for their first Central League win.

Fontaine and Jeremiah Miller led Conestoga with 14 points and 12 points respectively while Mike Walz led with 4 rebounds and 3 turnovers.

The Haven effort was led by Luke Edwards and Ibo Pio with 12 points each while Edwards also had 5 rebounds.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Six basketballs were produced for Garnet Valley’s warmup Tuesday evening at Radnor. As the clock ticked down to less than 90 seconds before introductions and the anthem, all six basketballs found their way to shooters on the perimeter and, within a second or so, splashed into the net, with nary a glance off the rim.

Another round of shots, another sequence of swishes, one after the other, save for one rim out, from all over the court.

The shooting display wasn’t just for the early arrivers, since Garnet Valley started the Central League contest by sinking four 3-pointers on six trips down the court, via four different Jaguars, a blitz that staked them to an early 10-point lead that wouldn’t be surrendered.

The Jaguars came back to earth with just 10 3-pointers on the game, but even shorthanded they controlled matters from start to finish in a 66-51 decision over the Raiders.

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

Christian Clover had 10 of his 13 points in the second half Tuesday but Haverford School fell to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 56-50, handing the Fords their first Inter-Ac League loss in nearly three years.

Zach Genther was the only other scorer in double figures with 10 points and Bernie Rogers had nine for the Fords (5-8, 0-1), who went down in an Inter-Ac game for the first time since Feb. 3, 2017.

Also in the Inter-Ac Tuesday:

Germantown Academy 59, Episcopal Academy 49 >> Alex Capitano led the way with 20 points, including two of the Churchmen’s seven three-pointers, but it wasn’t enough against GA. Colin Chambers and Sam Malloy had seven points apiece for EA (6-10, 0-1), while Adam Archambault had six on two triples.

In the Bicentennial Athletic League:

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

By Matthew DeGeorge

Based on games reported to the Daily Times through Jan. 5 (list of missing games at bottom). For questions or corrections, email mdegeorge@21st-centurymedia.com.

Scoring Average
(Minimum half of team games played)

Grant Sareyka, Christian Academy 21.0
Josh Hankins, Chichester 20.1
Carl Schaller, Garnet Valley 19.8
Tyreese Watson, Bonner & Prendergast 19.5
John Seidman, Haverford 19.1
Jack D’Entremont, Radnor 18.2
Tre Dinkins, Cardinal O’Hara 18.2
Christian Clover, Haverford School 18.1
Shamir Baunes, Penn Wood 18.0
Billy Fisher, Sun Valley 18.0
Jackson Piotrowski, Delco Christian 18.0
Alex Capitano, Episcopal Academy 17.9
John Camden, Archbishop Carroll 17.8
Luke Edwards, Strath Haven 17.0
Karell Watkins, Chester 16.8

(click on this link for the complete list of all the stat leaders)

By Matt Smith

It’s too early for Cardinal O’Hara to book a trip to the Palestra, but the Lions are serious contenders for the Catholic League title.

They keep proving they’re for real this season.

Anthony Purnell made the tying and go-ahead free throws with 40 seconds to play as O’Hara extended its season-opening win streak to 11 games with a 45-42 triumph over Bishop McDevitt Monday night.

Trailing by four points with a minute to play, Kevin Reese drilled a 3-point field goal to trim O’Hara’s deficit to a point. Moments later, Purnell gave O’Hara a slim advantage, then Adrian Irving capped the scoring with a pair of freebies with 20.8 seconds to go.

Tre Dinkins poured in a team-high 19 points and Purnell finished with 12.

The Lions (11-0, 4-0) are tied atop the Catholic League standings with Archbishop Wood and Neumann-Goretti. Wood visits O’Hara Wednesday night.

In nonleague action:

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