Author: delcohoops

By Tom Ignudo

Abington senior guard Lucas Monroe was terrified.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Sun Valley coach Steve Maloney and his players weren’t happy when they left the court against West Chester East on Jan. 5.

After leading for long stretches, they let the game slip away in double-overtime, their third loss in four games after an 8-0 start.

But if the disappointment of that night doesn’t add any fuel to the fire of Saturday’s rematch in the District 1 Class 5A final, it’s only because the Vanguards don’t lack for motivation.

“I think it helped us,” Maloney said Friday. “We were able to see where we made mistakes before. We were up five or seven the whole game, made some mistakes on our end, both offensively and defensively, and they capitalized on it.”

The top-seeded Vikings (21-5) and No. 6 Sun Valley (18-7) square off at 2 p.m. at Temple. For both teams, reaching the Liacouras Center was among the primary season goals. Sun Valley’s path has included what fifth-year coach Maloney calls a “chip on their shoulders” stemming from his first team going 4-17.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster’s note: Delcohoops.com will audio broadcast LIVE today’s Sun Valley PIAA District One’s championship game.  Our broadcast begins at 1:45 PM.

By Matt Smith

Garnet Valley has had many excellent girls basketball teams in the last decade.

In the last six years, for instance, the Jaguars have dominated in the regular season. No other team in Delco has matched the success the Jags have had against league opponents. They’ve lost to only one Central League team since the start of the 2013-14 campaign and have captured five conference titles in six years.

Before this season, though, the Jags always have met their match somewhere in the first few rounds of the district tournament. Last season they reached the Class 6A semifinals, but couldn’t conquer mighty Souderton. The Jags have won a few games in the state tournament over the years, but haven’t advanced to the semifinal round or beyond.

This year, in a return trip to Bensalem High School for the final four of the district tournament, the Jaguars finally checked off that one box. Wednesday’s hard-fought 42-40 win over Spring-Ford opened a new door for the Jags. For the first time in program history, the team was going to play for a District 1 title.

And it was about time.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster’s note: Delcohoops.com will audio broadcast LIVE today’s Garnet Valley PIAA District One’s championship game.  Our broadcast begins at 3:45 PM.

By Ed Morlock

Pennridge had no answer for Lower Merion’s four corners offense.

The Aces spaced out the Rams defense and took advantage of matchups. The ball-handlers consistently beat their defenders and either finished at the rim, kicked to the three-point line or dropped a pass to a wide-open teammate under the basket.

Lower Merion used this approach for much of the game to help grab a 67-58 win over Pennridge in the District 1-6A third place game at Lower Merion High School’s Bryant Gymnasium.

“Their offense,” Pennridge coach Dean Behrens said, “that four corners they had they made a basket almost every time. We didn’t do a great job of handling that. That was a concern that I had.

“We had a difficult time staying in front of our man. We lunged at the ball too much. We still have that middle-school mentality that we can steal those passes — not at this level. This is new for most of our guys except for Jon Post and Sean Yoder. Everyone else this is brand new.”

(click on this link for the full story)

Bonner & Prendergast overcame an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to claim a 59-57 victory over Imhotep Charter in the District 12 Class 4A championship game Friday night.

Isaiah Wong paced the Friars with 17 points and Tariq Ingraham tossed in 11 points for the Friars (286), who were playing for the first time since falling to Neumann-Goretti in the Catholic League quarterfinals last month.

Wong’s free throw in the final seconds of regulation tied the score and forced overtime. The Friars outscored the Panthers, 5-3, in the extra session and went ahead to stay with two foul shots in the final minute.

Michael Per re t t a , Tyreese Watson and Malik Edwards all scored eight points for Bonner & Prendergast. The Friars play District 3 fifth-place finisher Littlestown in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A tournament next week.

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

By Neil Geoghegan

Growth spurts are often accompanied by some growing pains.

During his freshman year at West Chester East, Andrew Carr sprouted up seven full inches. Two years later, he’s further blossomed into a 6-foot-8 star forward for the Vikings.

“I remember really feeling the growing pains in my knees,” Carr reported.

And during the 2018-18 basketball season, much like Carr himself, West Chester East has developed rather quickly, ascending from an also-ran into a district power.

“Adversity is something you have to go through,” said silky smooth swingman Tym Richardson, who along with Carr has been a big-time reason for the program’s ascension. “This has been a great learning experience for everybody.”

Carr and Richardson led the way on Tuesday as the top-seeded Vikings shook off a truly challenging first half and eventually topped Penncrest, 40-32, to advance to Saturday’s District 1 5A Title Game. That means an all Ches-Mont final, with East taking on Sun Valley at 2 p.m. at Temple’s Liacouras Center.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster’s note: Delcohoops.com will audio broadcast LIVE today’s West Chester East PIAA District One’s championship game.  Our broadcast begins at 1:45 PM.

By Matthew DeGeorge

There are myriad ways to qualify how impressive the 1,000-point club at Chester High School is. Michael Smith’s preferred method highlighted the last person to enter the pantheon before Thursday night.

With 21 points, Smith joined that elite brotherhood, despite the Clippers falling in the District 1 Class 5A fifth-place game, 67-60 at Norristown.

“It’s a real big accomplishment because there’s a lot of people that made it, but there hasn’t been a lot of people that made it since Rondae,” Smith said. “So it’s a big accomplishment for me because I’m that next one.”

Point of fact: Smith is the first Clipper to score 1,000 points since Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, a 2013 grad, two-time Daily Times Player of the Year and a current Brooklyn Net. Both Mahir Johnson and Tyrell Sturdivant in 2014 scored their 1,000th points with Chester, but most of their scoring came at high schools in Delaware. Smith is the next one after an all-everything legend to do it, which makes him the answer to a trivia question in living rooms all over Chester for decades.

The point guard, an All-Delco last year, stalled slightly as he neared the mark. He scored eight points in the first nine minutes but struggled to hit shots as the milestone neared. The Clippers derailed with him.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Delcohoops.com Staff

Delcohoops.com is pleased to announce that they will be audio broadcasting three PIAA District One Championship game this coming Saturday, March 2nd from the Liacouras Center at Temple University!

The Boy’s 5A Final at 2 PM; the Girl’s 6A Final at 4 PM and the Boy’s 6A Final at 6 PM.  All broadcasts will begin approximately 15 minutes before tip-off and all will be broadcast LIVE on our Game-of-the-Week Internet broadcasting system.  All three games will be available on archive within 24 hours of the LIVE broadcast.

Our Voice of Delaware County High School Basketball, Dave Burman, will be doing the play-by-play with Radnor Girl’s Basketball Coach, Mark Jordan doing the color along with Pete Fulginiti, Andrew Kaufman and Mike Mayer.

“While we always encourage family and fans to come down and watch the game in person, we are proud that we are able to bring these three games to family, friends and fans.” stated Mike Mayer, web master. “Our sponsors cover all our costs so we are able to bring you these terrific finals to anyone who has an Internet connection for no charge!”

By Matthew DeGeorge

Marvin Freeman doesn’t bat an eyelid when presented the latest insane stat line produced by Vinny DeAngelo.

Wednesday evening at Norristown Area High School, the Sun Valley guard went 12-for-12 from the field. DeAngelo’s return of 27 points actually hurts his postseason scoring average, and, Freeman points out with a wry smile, DeAngelo did miss a free throw in the fourth quarter.

But on the whole, none of it surprises his long-time teammate.

“I call him our mid-range assassin,” Freeman said. “He kills from the inside knocking down shots. It opens up more from everyone else because when he goes to take that shot, it opens up lanes where he can kick it out to the shooters.”

DeAngelo was simply perfect, and he had plenty of help as sixth-seeded Sun Valley throttled No. 10 Pottsgrove, 68-49, in the District 1 Class 5A semifinal.

The win sends Sun Valley (18-7) to Saturday’s district final at Temple against Ches-Mont foe West Chester East, after the top-seeded Vikings knocked off Penncrest, 40-32, in the nightcap. Tip-off is at 2.

(click on this link for the full story)

Webmaster’s note: Delcohoops.com will be LIVE audio Internet broadcasting this Saturday’s PIAA District One 5A final boy’s basketball game.  Our broadcast will begin at 1:45.

By Matthew DeGeorge

The locker room of a team that scored just eight points in the first half of a boys high school basketball game isn’t going to rival Disney World as the happiest place on earth.

But for West Chester East Wednesday evening at Norristown Area High School, it also wasn’t the bleakest of places.

“At halftime, my coach was just like, ‘take it one possession at a time. Don’t rush,’” East guard Tym Richardson said. “Because in the beginning, we were rushing, we weren’t playing our game. We started playing as a team, started attacking and that’s what got us the lead.”

No one was as well-positioned as Richardson to enact change once the Vikings left the locker room. In a game where offense was in desperately short supply (see as evidence 33 combined turnovers against 25 made field goals), Richardson knew that a little would go a long way.

(click on this link for the full story)