Author: delcohoops

By Mitchell Gladstone

Garnet Valley had gone more than three years without a win against Lower Merion. Six games, six losses, including a 13-point defeat on the Aces’ home floor more than a month ago.

But with a Central League regular-season title for the taking, the Jaguars put that streak to bed and did so with a performance that will undoubtedly grab the attention of everyone in District 1.

Garnet Valley smashed Lower Merion 77-32 Thursday at home, starting out the night on fire and never cooling off in winnings its first-ever Central League regular-season crown. The Jags led by 16 at the end of the first quarter and extended their lead to 51-10 by halftime, knocking down nine of their 17 3-point attempts before intermission.

Four different Garnet Valley players put up double-figure points, led by senior Chris Coyne’s game-high 18, and although the Jaguars knew the crown was theirs almost from the get-go, there was still plenty to celebrate afterward.

Webmaster’s note: The Central League Boy’s and Girl’s Basketball Championships on February 11th will be audio broadcast LIVE right here on Delcohoops.com! 

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By Mitchell Gladstone

Matt Shuler often gets a relatively straightforward task from coach Chris Conlan: shut down the other team’s best offensive player. 

It’s something that Shuler does well. As a cornerback for Strath Haven, he’s used to going up against a wideout 1-on-1, with the sole objective of ensuring his man can’t make a play.

But according to Conlan, Shuler’s offensive game on the hardwood is still a work in progress.

You just wouldn’t have known that by watching Tuesday night.

With a pair of offensive outbursts in the second and fourth quarters, Shuler racked up 16 of his 19 points to lead the Panthers to a vital 55-46 win against Marple Newtown. Strath Haven, which entered the night looking to at least stay in a tie for one of the final Central League playoff spots, closed things out by shooting 12-for-17 from the charity stripe in the final eight minutes. 

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By Matthew DeGeorge

The Chester locker room wasn’t the happiest of places at halftime Tuesday evening. But any displeasure carried a substantial caveat.

Yes, Chester had shot barely north of 30 percent in the first half. Yes, it had frittered away 11 turnovers against an Academy Park team that hadn’t even thrown its best full-court pressure the Clippers’ way. And yes, the Clippers’ three starting guards had as many points as fouls (six) in allowing the Knights to grab a four-point intermission edge.

But the Clippers have proven to themselves this season that they are capable of more than they showed in the first 16 minutes Tuesday. And in the second half, particularly one scorching stretch of it, they proved it to AP as well.

Chester unleashed a hellacious run after the break, scoring 48 points in 10 minutes, 34 seconds to turn a deficit that was as large as seven into an 82-56 victory to clinch the Del Val League title.

Chester (14-3) has won all six of its Del Val contests. With AP (12-6, 4-3) and Penn Wood carrying three losses each in the league, Chester can’t be passed, since the five-team conference plays only eight games in its first season without Glen Mills.

Webmaster’s note: Tomorrow, January 30th, Chichester visits Chester for our Game-of-the-Week broadcast. Our broadcast begins at 7:15 PM.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

A 10-point deficit after one quarter left Sun Valley undaunted Tuesday.

Billy Fisher hit a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left as the Vanguards came from behind to top Kennett, 41-40.

Fisher (12 points) and Dom Valente (14 points) hit three 3-pointers each. Nick Giannakopoulos added eight points for Sun Valley.

In the Central League:

Haverford 38, Conestoga 36 >> Sean Reynolds’ only points of the game were a tip-in at the buzzer as the Fords (10-8, 6-7) scored a thrilling win on the road.

John Seidman led the way with 11 points. Nick Colucci scored a season-high 10, and Hunter Krazia added eight.

Strath Haven 55, Marple Newtown 46 >> Matt Shuler scored 19 points, and Luke Edwards added six of his 11 in the fourth quarter as the Panthers (12-6, 7-6) won for a third straight outing.

Eric McKee led Marple Newtown with 16 points. Mike Tansey added 12 and Ben Davis chipped in 10 for the Tigers, who hit nine 3-pointers.

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

By Matthew DeGeorge

For the first 80 percent of the fourth quarter and the first half of overtime Monday night, it would’ve been easy to confuse which team held which pedigree at Cardinal O’Hara High School.

The team that went nearly seven minutes without a field goal in the fourth quarter, that bricked three of four free throws to start overtime – surely that had to be the nine-win team last year. And the team that made clutch shots, leading by six with 1:28 to play in regulation and by four in overtime, wasn’t that the team that made a state final last year?

The roles were temporarily reversed Monday. And if not for a couple of veteran moments provided by Malik Edwards and Connor Eagan, it might have finished that way.

Instead, Edwards, the Bonner-Prendergast junior guard, scored seven points in the final 70 seconds of regulation, then Eagan provided both a knockdown 3-pointer to put Bonner up for good and a block to keep them up in a thrilling, 66-64 overtime win before a raucous, packed house at O’Hara.

Edwards stepped to the fore first. Bonner (13-4, 8-2 Catholic League) had led by as many as 15 points in the first half, including a 16-2 margin after one quarter. But it found itself down six points with less than two minutes to play in regulation, thanks to going 6:51 without a field goal to start the final quarter, leading to a 17-4 O’Hara run.

Webmaster’s note: Missed the game? Listen to the entire game on our archive file listed below. Go to our Broadcast Archives page for all game archives. Matthew DeGeorge was our halftime guest (59:10) and #3 Malik Edwards was our post game interview (2:12:40).

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By Josh Verlin

Connor Eagan grew up a huge fan of Monsignor Bonner basketball.

The son of former Bonner hooper Tom Eagan remembers watching Friars’ games from the time he was “five or six” years old, going to the Palestra to serve as water boy during Bonner’s 2008 Catholic League semifinals appearance. Ever since then, he’d dreamed of one day donning the Friars uniform, to follow in his dad’s footsteps and play for the school he’d been cheering for from his early years. 

A dozen years later, Eagan’s finally getting his chance. 

Now a senior at the school now called Bonner-Prendergast, Eagan has finally gotten his time on the varsity squad. And there’s no bigger regular-season game on the Friars’ schedule than their annual Delco date with Cardinal O’Hara, whose latest iteration came by Monday night.

“I’ve been watching this game since I was five years old,” Eagan said, “always rooting for Bonner.”

Webmaster’s note: Missed the game? Listen to the entire game on our archive file listed below. Go to our Broadcast Archives page for all game archives. Matthew DeGeorge was our halftime guest (59:10) and #3 Malik Edwards was our post game interview (2:12:40).

(click on this link for the full story)

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Darryl Reynolds couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.

Not when his agent texted him with what he hoped was a hoax. Not when the Villanova basketball team, for which Reynolds won a national title in 2016 and is the director of basketball operations, went their separate ways on an off day Sunday. Not as he and his family descended with dozens of mourners on Lower Merion High School to pay their respects to the player for whom the gymnasium is named.

“It’s the last thing we thought that we would be here for today,” Reynolds said. “… It doesn’t feel real.”

Though Reynolds was closer than most to the epicenter of the legend of Kobe Bryant, he felt the same shock as was reverberating throughout the sports world Sunday at news of the basketball player’s death, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash in Southern California.

Bryant was in many ways a colossal figure, his one-named moniker often invoked far from its flesh-and-blood context. The last tweet he sent Saturday night congratulating LeBron James for passing him for third on the all-time NBA scoring list, in Philadelphia no less with James wearing “Mamba 4 Life” on his sneakers, spoke to the idea of Kobe, the 17-time All-Star and five-time NBA champion.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Josh Verlin

There was some bad juju in La Salle College HS’s gym for Francis Bowe and Archbishop Carroll, even if they didn’t want to talk about it.

It was at the Explorers’ den last February that the Patriots gave up a 19-point lead after three quarters, watching their dreams of a Palestra appearance die in the Catholic League quarterfinals, after coming oh-so-close.

“It was our falter, but I tried to make sure to tell the guys, we don’t think about that,” Bowe said. “It’s a new year, and we’ve got to worry about this year’s Palestra.”

Sunday afternoon’s matchup wasn’t quite as high-stakes, though with both teams fighting for positioning in the PCL, there was certainly plenty on the line. And with La Salle sporting almost an entirely new lineup against a Carroll side that also had undergone some change since a year ago, there wasn’t a lot of personal revenge on the line, either.

“I think, philosophically, that’s just what I go with,” Bowe said. “That inspiration thing, no…new team, new day, let’s just take care of business.”

(click on this link for the full story)

Jalen Cassidy drilled a buzzer-beating, 3-point field goal from the corner in overtime to lift the Academy Park boys basketball team to a 55-54 non-league victory Saturday at Central Bucks West.

The Knights (12-6) trailed by two points with five seconds left. Derrick Northern dribbled the length of the floor and dished the ball to Cassidy, who connected to give AP a nice rebound win after a disappointing loss to Chichester earlier in the week.

Northern led all players with 25 points and Cassidy finished with 11.

Ki Henson gave the Knights big minutes off the bench. Ending with eight points, Henson hit a 3-pointer in OT to give the Knights a brief lead and played well on the defensive side.

In other non-league action:

Sun Valley 52, Marple Newtown 50 >> The Vanguards trailed by three points entering the final quarter but quickly regained the lead and held off the host Tigers.

Billy Fisher dumped in 20 points to carry the Vanguards.

Ben Davis had six rebounds to go with his team-high 19 points for the Tigers (8-10), who received a 12-point effort by Mike Tansey.

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

By Matthew DeGeorge

Strath Haven was staring down the barrel of a third straight loss, until Ibo Pio had his say.

Pio scored seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter, including game-tying, game-winning and game-icing points in the final minute of a 51-47 win over Harriton Friday night.

Pio tied the game at 47 with a minute left. He then hit a layup to take the lead with 15 seconds left and converted two free throws at the line to finish a 20-12 edge in the fourth quarter.

Luke Edwards (16 points) and Justin Morris (13 points) combined to hit seven 3-pointers. Each scored five points in the fourth for Haven (10-6, 6-6 Central).

Also in the Central League:

Garnet Valley 60, Conestoga 53 >> For a second straight game, the Jaguars found themselves in overtime. For a second straight game, Max Jackowsky was the OT savior.

Jackowsky scored all eight of his points in the extra frame as GV had six players score at least six points each.

Carl Schaller scored 14 points, Gannon McKee added 12 on four made 3-pointers and Neel Beniwal added 10 for the Jaguars (16-1, 11-1 Central) in their 13th straight win.

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