By Matthew DeGeorge
By the time the final horn sounded at West Philadelphia High Wednesday night, it felt as though more than one game had played out.
Based on the pace of play for large stretches, that was true to a certain degree. For much of the first and third quarters of the PIAA Class 6A boys basketball opener, the game was played on Garnet Valley’s terms. That changed in the second quarter when Lincoln, the District 12 champion, turned up its press. By a helter-skelter fourth, all bets were off.
When all the dizzying ebbs in play had settled, Garnet Valley found itself on the right side of a 65-56 win, the program’s first in a state tournament since 1997.
For the team that barely snuck into districts much less states, it was the perfect kind of victory to ensure midnight has not yet struck on their Cinderella run.
“The entire season has been, we started rocky, but we’ve just learned the entire season,” junior guard Max Koehler said. “It’s been a huge learning process, and look at us now.”
When next you look at Garnet Valley (18-10), it’ll be in the Round of 16 of the state tournament, the sixth seed from District 1 due to tangle Saturday with Scranton. The District 2 champion eliminated West Chester East, 84-70.