Author: delcohoops

By Matthew DeGeorge

Kevin Miller is quick to offer a qualifier.

Yes, the first quarter from Chester Charter Scholars Academy in Tuesday night’s PIAA Class A second-round game with Northumberland Christian was pretty bad. One point and 0-for-12 shooting is kind of hard to argue against. But then again …

“Defensively,” the senior point guard said, “we played pretty good.”

Good enough that they could weather nine minutes without a bucket and end up in control by the third quarter. Good enough to create 18 turnovers and hold their opponents to 2-for-18 from 3-point range.

And good enough to be back where they were three years ago when the COVID-19 pandemic brought an end to the state tournament – the PIAA quarterfinals, via a 56-38 win at Hamburg Area High School.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt Smith

Fans of Philadelphia college men’s basketball were disappointed to learn that no City 6 school is going dancing this year. Drexel, La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Temple and Villanova are going fishing instead. Well, at least ‘Nova is in the NIT Tournament. That’s better than nothing.

According to research done by the Philadelphia Inquirer, this year marks the first time since 1977 that none of those programs qualified for the NCAA Tournament. That’s both sad and embarrassing.

On the women’s side, Villanova certainly has earned its place in the spotlight. Maddy Siegrist and Co. are the No. 4 seed in the Greenville 2 regional bracket. The Wildcats (28-6) will host No. 13 Cleveland State on Saturday.

If you’re really itching for March Madness, Delco’s best high school teams have you covered. The PIAA tournaments are in full swing and the county is well-represented.

If last weekend’s opening round was any indication, the underdogs are having their moment in the sun.

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By Terry Toohey

Every basketball player fantasizes about hitting a shot at the buzzer to win a game, especially if it’s a playoff or championship contest.

Some players get to live that dream. Few get to do it twice.

Garnet Valley’s Jake Sniras is among the lucky few.

The 6-4 sophomore forward hit a 3-pointer as time expired Saturday to give the Jaguars a stunning, 46-45 victory over Cumberland Valley in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs Saturday afternoon.

It was Sniras’ second game-winning buzzer-beater of the season. He hit a 3-pointer to give the Jaguars a 65-63 win over Coatesville in double overtime in the Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic at Widener in December.

“This wasn’t even like a shot,” Sniras said later to the Daily Times. “I threw it over my head almost.”

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By Matt Smith

The Christian Academy’s entire offensive strategy revolves around its G-foot-3 senior center.

Head coach Jason Wilt doesn’t try to make it a secret. For the Crusaders to have success, Amber Bullard has to touch the ball as often as possible in the low post. Teams such as High Point Baptist Academy can try to dou- blc-and triple-team her until the cows come home, but that approach fails when the players doing the defending are significantly smaller than Bullard.

And that’s when you get games like Saturday.

Bullard dominated with 30 points, 24 rebounds and four blocked shots to lead District 1 champion TCA to a 55-33 win in the first round of the 1*1 A A Class A tournament. It is TCA’s first victory in the PIAA playoffs since 2018.

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By Terry Toohey

Yassir Joyner did not hesitate.

The 6-3 senior guard saw the ball bounce right to him with time dwindling down in the second overtime Saturday, with Upper Darby deadlocked with Bethlehem Liberty in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A playoffs.

Joyner grabbed the ball and put a soft shot off the glass with his left hand. The ball bounced on the rim a few times before finally falling through the hoop just before the horn went off to give the Royals a stunning 66-64 victory over the District 11 runnerup Hurricanes.

“I just took advantage of it,” Joyner said later by phone. “I saw an opening; nobody was there, so I laid it up.”

Joyner’s bucket capped a wild back-and-forth battle between the Royals and Hurricanes and sends Upper Darby (19-8), the sixth seed out of District 1, into Wednesday’s second round against District 3 champion Reading at a site and time to be determined. The Red Knights (28-1) rolled over Haverford, 74-43.

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By Andrew Heller

Playing in his final game for Reading High at the Geigle, senior Myles Grey made sure to go out with a bang.

The 5-11 All-Berks guard was electric as he tied his career high with 30 points and made eight 3-pointers to lead the Red Knights to a 74-43 win over Haverford in a PIAA Gass 6Aboys basketball first- round game Saturday afternoon.

“It feels great,” Grey said, “especially with this being my last game here, to pack it up on a performance like that, I can look back and be proud. It’s definitely something that Pm proud of.”

With the win, Reading High earns another 32 minutes of basketball and will take on Upper Darby, winch defeated Bethlehem Liberty 66-64, in the second round on Wednesday, time and site to be announced.

For Red Knights (28-1) coach Rick Perez, Grey’s lights-out performance is the culmination of an unrivaled work ethic.

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Sophomore guard Talasi Henderson and senior Aamir Murray each scored 14 points and Kyree Latimer and Tymir Brown-Smalls added 11 points each as Constitution High of Philadelphia held off Delco Christian, 63-53, in a PIAA Class 2A state playoff opener on Saturday at Bensalem High.

Cole Pruessner led all scorers with 16 points while junior shooting guard Josiah Gaines had 14 for the Knights.

Delco Christian (14-13) trailed by only two at the half, 31-29. But the Generals (18-8) stretched the lead to nine after three quarters via some solid shooting from the line, and held serve the rest of the way.

Constitution, the District 12 top seed for Class 2A, moves on to play the winner of District 11 champ Mahonoy Area and District 4’s Northwest.

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

By Rob Parent

To learn how to be a successful girls basketball team on the big stages takes time and lessons learned.

Friday night was one of those lessons.

Cardinal O’Hara took advantage of a third-quarter lapse by Conestoga to build a lead and the Lions held on to post a 50-42 victory in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament at Archbishop Carroll.

The Lions (21-5), the District 12 champions, advance to the second round where they will face Spring-Ford at a time and place to be determined on Tuesday. The Pioneers, the 11th seed out of District 1, ended their season at 21-7.

“I thought we grinded it out,” O’Hara coach Chrissie Doogan said. “We knew Conestoga was much improved. They have a couple of real good players. We wanted to use our transition to get us going. I feel we came out of halftime real strong.”

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By Dennis Weller

After allowing 17 points in the first quarter, the Cardinal O’Hara Lions knew they had to do better than that the rest of the way Friday night at Fleetwood. They increased their defensive intensity in the second quarter, forcing seven Tiger turnovers, and went on an extended run at the end of the half that proved to be decisive in a 62-50 win in the opening round of the PIAA Class 6A Tournament.

Izaiah Pasha scored 23 and Pearse McGuinn 17 for O’Hara (18-8), which will face the winner of Saturday’s game between Allentown Central Catholic and E&S Carver in the second round on Tuesday. Aiden Soumas scored 20 and Jake Karnish 19 for the Tigers (22-5), who were making their first state appearance since 1990.

“We came out really flat defensively,” said Pasha. “We gave up 17 points. We picked up our defense after the first quarter. We wanted to keep them under 10.”

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By Harry Chaykun

It was a game a coach might have thought she only could dream about.

If someone would have told Renie Shields that her host Archbishop Carroll squad would not commit a turnover in the first half of its PIAA Class 6A opener against Neshaminy Friday night, then would hold the Redskins without a field goal in the fourth period, the veteran coach probably would have brushed such a suggestion off as nothing more than an exaggeration.

“That’s what we would like it to be about,” Shields said after the Patriots (13-13), District 12’s third seed, had no turnovers in the first 16 minutes of play and held Neshaminy (21-8) without a basket in the last eight minutes in claiming a 50-37 decision and advancing to the tournament’s second round.

The teams met in the first round of the state tournament for the second consecutive year. With its Friday night success, Carroll, which also won the 2022 contest against Neshaminy, will be matched with District 1 champion Perkiomen Valley in the Class 6A round of 16 Tuesday night.

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