Author: delcohoops

 

By Joseph Santoliquito

Grayson Golek was mugged by teammates and friends as he walked off the court Tuesday night. More than a few told the sweaty 6-foot-5 Garnet Valley sophomore directly, “You can do this.”

Maybe next time, Golek will listen.

The first thing he admits is that he sometimes gets in his own way. He knows what he is capable of doing on a basketball court, and at times he’s shown it.

Like Tuesday night, when he dropped a career-high 30 points on Bensalem in Garnet Valley’s 72-54 second-round PIAA District 1 Class 6A playoff game.

The No. 4-seeded Jaguars (18-6) will advance to quarterfinal round to play No. 5 seed Plymouth-Whitemarsh on Friday at 7 p.m., while Bensalem (15-10) will take on Neshaminy in the playback round.

(click on this link for the full article)

Khamai Orange and Bradford Berwick scored 14 points each Tuesday night and Delco Christian rolled over Calvary Christian, 67-30, in a District 1 Class 2A boys basketball playoff.

Delco Christian will meet Christopher Dock, a 54-34 winner over Church Farm School, in the district championship game Saturday. Both DCCS and Dock have clinched spots in the PIAA Class 2A state tourney.

Beau Lyren added 11 points for the Knights (24-2 overall), who had a 37-15 halftime lead over CC.

Girls Basketball

Ninth-seeded Marple Newtown battled but came up short against top-seeded Gwynedd Mercy, falling 44-37 in the District 1 Class 5A quarterfinals.

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The Lower Merion High School boys’ basketball team began defense of its PIAA District 1 Class 6A title in convincing fashion Tuesday, posting a 70-30 win over visiting Pennsbury in front of a capacity crowd at Bryant Gymnasium.

The win clinched Lower Merion’s 15th consecutive PIAA state tournament berth and 19 in the last 21 years.

After opening the game with a 21-8 lead after one quarter, the Aces wasted no time tightening the defense, holding the visiting Falcons to just five points in the second quarter. The Lower Merion offense did the rest behind the combination of Gus Wright and Carson Kasmer, allowing LM to push the lead to 40-13 at halftime.

The Aces closed the door in the second half coming out of the locker room and playing stingy defense on their way to the victory.

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By CoBL Staff

The PIAA state playoffs are in sight.

The second round of the District 1 6A tournament is also the first way teams can extend their seasons well into March, a win on Tuesday guaranteeing at least four more games remain. The eight losers go into the playback round, where they’re all two wins away from earning one of the last couple bids into the PIAA bracket. 

Here’s a look at all eight of Tuesday’s games, which all tip off at 7:00 PM:

1) Lower Merion vs. 17) Pennsbury (7:00 PM)

The defending District 1 6A champs, Lower Merion (20-4) is starting its quest for its fourth championship in five years, one of the more impressive stretches of Gregg Downer’s legendary career. What makes it particularly notable is that each of the last two years, the Aces have replaced almost the entirety of their rotation and kept it rolling. This year, senior guard Carson Kasmer has taken his turn as Lower Merion’s star, the Gettysburg-bound left-hander leading a group that also features seniors Gus Wright, Rashyne Patterson, Lamont Grier and Sam’i Singletary in the starting lineup. There isn’t a ton of size, but Downer goes five-out and makes you guard them all.

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By CoBL Staff 

The District 1 5A girls’ bracket continues Tuesday night with the quarterfinals, four games that also serve as PIAA state qualifiers. Seven of the eight remaining teams will end up in the PIAA tournament: the four who win tomorrow night and three of the four who end up in the playback brackets, so everybody left in the field has at least three games remaining in the season.

With last year’s winner, Bishop Shanahan, out of the picture, there’s going to be a new champion this year, and it’s a field that seems wide-open going into the quarterfinals — at least, after one squad whose regular season went quite a bit better than anybody else’s.

Here’s a look at all four games:

1) Gwynedd Mercy vs. 9) Marple Newtown (6:00 PM)

The Monarchs finished the season 19-2, far and away the top team in the District 1 5A formula rankings, first-year head coach Taylor Sweeney’s group sweeping the AACA regular season. A loss to Villa Maria in the AACA championship game showed that GMA (20-3) is beatable, but aside from three games against Villa Maria, they don’t have any other regular-season games against 5A opponents.

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By Andrew Robinson

Quickly, Alexis Eberz thought of the photo.

It’s a bit of an extended family picture at Finneran Pavilion on one of the first trips to Villanova she can vividly remember all the details of.

“It’s us with the former coach at Villanova, Harry (Peretta), we were little, like really little,” Eberz said. “I think I was in second grade. That’s the first one I really remember.”

She certainly won’t forget the details of her latest trip, Alexis and her sister Kayla turning back the clock and putting in another vintage Eberz performance on the Finn’s hardwood Monday night.

Alexis scored 30 points, 26 of them after halftime, and Kayla added 16 as No. 3 Archbishop Carroll stopped No. 2 Archbishop Wood’s dreams of a Philadelphia Catholic League repeat with a 57-45 win over the Vikings in the PCL semifinals.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Olivia Valania

“Get revenge,” said freshman Archbishop Carroll guard Kayla Eberz. 

A year ago, Eberz sat in the stands of the Palestra and watched her sister Alexis Eberz and the Carroll team suffer a tough loss in the double-overtime stunner 2024 PCL Championship game against Archbishop Wood. 

Monday night, with Eberz now joining her older sister on the court, it was Carroll who came out on top in a 57-45 victory over Archbishop Wood in the 2025 PCL Semifinals at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion. 

This punched the Patriots a ticket to yet another Catholic League final. However, they do not want a repeat of last year. They know that full “revenge” cannot come until they walk out of the historic Palestra crowned as champions.

“Our goal is to win at the Palestra,” said Eberz. “Watching last year’s game, seeing how it ended. We want to win this and get it back.”

(click on this link for the full article)

By Josh Verlin

The Catholic League semifinals are set. 

The PCL quarterfinals on both the boys and girls’ sides went almost all chalk, with the only upset coming as girls’ No. 5 Cardinal O’Hara pulled out an overtime win at No. 4 Lansdale Catholic on Thursday evening. That sets up four fantastic matchups next week: the girls’ semifinals on Monday at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion and the boy’s semifinals on Wednesday at the Palestra. 

The PCL championships will be that following Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Palestra. 

Here’s a look at all four PCL semifinals: 

Girls’ Semifinals: Mon., Feb. 17, Villanova University
1) Neumann-Goretti vs. 5) Cardinal O’Hara (6:00 PM)

It’s been a decade since Neumann-Goretti’s last hoisted the Catholic League championship trophy, the Saints winning back-to-back years in 2014-15 for the program’s first title since the 1970s. But Andrea Peterson’s squad finds itself the favorites entering the semifinals after going unbeaten in the regular season. That includes a 51-50 win over O’Hara back in December, which saw Neumann-Goretti overcome a three-point deficit in the final minute to pull off the win on its home court. 

(click on this link for the full preview)

By Matt Smith

Chester High senior Ja’Mya Muhammad is well aware of her team’s tendency to start games at a slower pace.

“We tend to start off slow instead of already being fast from the jump,” Muhammad said. “After we see what we are working with, we just play. We do what we do best.”

What the Del Val League champion Clippers do best is push the tempo, using their speed and relentless energy to wear down opponents. That’s exactly what 12th-seeded Chester executed in Friday’s District 1 Class 6A first-round matchup against No. 21 Methacton. After a sluggish opening quarter, the Clippers shifted into high gear, turning up the pace and surging to a 57-47 victory.

Chester (19-4) will travel to fifth-seeded Downingtown East for a second-round game Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Friday’s win was the Chester girls basketball program’s first district playoff victory since the 2008-09 season.

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By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

Neither Springfield (Delco.) nor Unionville are strangers to low-scoring, grind-it-out type games. 

The two opponents in Friday’s District 1 5A first-round game could have been looking in the mirror: not the most laden with talent in the district but determined to out-tough and out-work anybody they come against. Even if it doesn’t look pretty. 

“It felt like we were playing ourselves, kind of,” Springfield sophomore TJ Valletti said.

The result wasn’t pretty: it was low-scoring and grind-it-out indeed, possessions long and buckets few and far between.

It ultimately came down to which team made winning plays — and on this particular night, it was Springfield (Delco.). With Valletti and his Cougar teammates controlling the boards and locking down defensively, Springfield survived Unionville, 37-28 to keep its season going. 

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