Author: delcohoops

By Joseph Santoliquito

This may not have happened a month ago. It might have devolved into a chaotic mishmash of forced shots, errant passes under a breakneck pace with a little touch of finger-pointing and in the end, all translating into another Bonner-Prendie Philadelphia Catholic League loss.

That was the Friars a month ago.

This could be the Friars moving forward: A comeback, fourth-quarter 55-50 victory over feisty Devon Prep on Friday night to clinch a berth in the Catholic League playoffs in Billy Cassidy Jr.’s inaugural season as head coach of the Friars.

Bonner-Prendie was led by the junior pair of 6-4 guard Kevin Rucker Jr., who scored a team-high 22 points, and 6-8 center Nelson Lamizana, who dropped in 13 to offset Devon Prep’s Army-bound Jacen Holloway’s game-high 24 and Lucas Orchard’s 11.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Josh Verlin

The Central League semifinals take place on Saturday, staggered at home courts, making it possible to see three of the four, for those interested in a solid day of Delaware County public school hoops, and Lower Merion. Happiest about the staggered times are certainly the Springfield (Delco.) parents, who get to see their girls and boys play on the road three hours apart, though the girls have a less difficult (though still difficult) hill to climb than the boys. 

A look at all four games taking place Saturday:

Central League First-Round Results
Boys: 3) Upper Darby def. 6) Harriton, 83-61
Boys: 5) Springfield (Delco.) def. 4) Garnet Valley, 48-29

Girls: 3) Springfield (Delco.) def. 6) Penncrest, 47-35
Girls: 5) Radnor def. 4) Garnet Valley, 50-32

Webmaster’s note:  Delcohoops.com will be video streaming both the boy’s and girl’s Central League Championship games on Monday, February 13th! Tune in at 5:50 for the girl’s game and 7:20 for the boy’s game for our LIVE video broadcast!

(click on this link for of all this Satuday’s semifinal games)

By Owen McCue

After running the table through its first seven Philadelphia Catholic League games, Lansdale Catholic had a gauntlet waiting for it to conclude its PCL slate.

Cardinal O’Hara, Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll awaited; all programs the Crusaders hadn’t taken down in a long, long time. (MaxPreps had LC a combined 0-for-50 against those three PCL powers dating back to 2006).

LC dropped the first one of those tests against Cardinal O’Hara and came into this week with matchups against perennial powers Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Carroll still looking to prove itself among the league’s elite.

After locking down Wood on Tuesday and holding on for a 42–39 victory over Carroll on Thursday, the Crusaders put themselves among the league heavyweights and locked up a share of the PCL regular-season title and likely the top seed in the league tournament beginning Feb. 16.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Niymire Brown saw the right side of the basketball court open up before him in the fourth quarter Thursday evening, a lane that might as well have been lined with runway lights.

Throughout their Central League playoff opening-round game, Harriton had struggled to keep the Upper Darby forward earthbound. And the last installment of a 28-point, eight-rebound, three-block evening was by far the most emphatic.

Brown slammed home for two points in the open court, then got a curtain call on the way to the bench, his work done in a 83-61 win for the third-seeded Royals. It sends Upper Darby (17-6) to Saturday’s semifinal at No. 2 Lower Merion.

“Once the lane opens,” Brown said, “I like to fly.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Sean Barnard

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a catalyst as “an event or person that causes great change.” 

The Radnor girls basketball team defines it as Mary Sareen. 

“She’s sort of like our catalyst,” head coach Rob Baxter said of Sareen. “We go as far as she goes. She can play the whole game, she doesn’t get tired, she plays good defense, she makes foul shots, she does a little bit of everything for us.”

In Radnor’s opening playoff matchup, Sareen was all over the court and making her impact felt. She led the team in scoring with 16 points and was the driving force of the 50-32 victory as fifth-seeded Randor upset fourth-seeded Garnet Valley. 

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Its district fate still unresolved, Springfield could’ve been playing its final game Thursday night in the opening round of the Central League playoffs. Without need of intervention from the district math, though, the Cougars possessed a certain power to make sure the encounter with Garnet Valley wasn’t the end of the road.

“Our message for the past couple of weeks has been to control what you can control, win every game you can,” senior guard Michael O’Donnell said. “We’ve just been treating every game like a playoff game. That’s what we did tonight; not thinking about districts, we just had our eyes on winning this game.”

Thursday, control meant O’Donnell taking over, with a game-high 22 points to lead Springfield to a 48-29 victory. It gives the fifth-seeded Cougars (12-11) five wins in a row and at least one more game, Saturday against top-seeded and unbeaten Radnor in the semis.

The Cougars’ postseason fate in the District 1 Class 6A playoffs won’t be decided by then, potentially depending on the result of Chester’s game with Chester Charter Scholars Academy that day.

(click on this link for the full story)

Lexi Aaron powered third-seeded Springfield to a 47-36 victory over Penncrest in a Central League quarterfinal game Thursday.

Aaron scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Cougars (19-4) to their second win over the Lions in three days. Springfield pinned a 44-27 loss on Penncrest Tuesday night. The win sends the Cougars into Saturday’s semifinals against second-seeded Conestoga. The Pioneers won the only meeting between the teams in the regular season.

Senior forward Anabel Kreydt produced eight points and 12 rebounds. Taylor Hunyet chipped in with seven points for the Cougars.

Emily Harrison paced the Lions (14-9) with 14 points. Bailey Garrison added eight points, while Cora Fattori and Kaitlyn Kearney had six apiece.

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

By Matthew DeGeorge

The leaders on the Springfield boys basketball team understood the deal once they had traversed the first 13 mostly unlucky games.

The Cougars, 4-9 to that point, began the season slowly while their core of football players got into form. They had gone winless in six games decided by seven points or fewer, and had been handed a daunting schedule to start the new year, resulting in a five-game skid. So right about the second week of January, the Cougars came to grasp the dire consequences each additional loss would have for their postseason hopes.

The team’s response has been stellar. The results, as yet, remain unclear.

Springfield is the fifth seed in the Central League playoffs, traveling to Garnet Valley Thursday for an opening-round game. It may be the last game of the season, depending on what the District 1 Class 6A spreadsheets say. As of Wednesday afternoon, Springfield is the precarious occupant of the 24th and final districts spot. But that could change before the seeds become official Sunday.

Webmaster’s note:  Delcohoops.com will be video streaming both the boy’s and girl’s Central League Championship games on Monday, February 13th! Tune in at 5:50 for the girl’s game and 7:20 for the boy’s game for our LIVE video broadcast!

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt Smith

Penncrest’s Kyra Curci remembers what it was like to win one game her sophomore season.

Not fun at all.

Believe Curci when she tells you this isn’t the same down-on-its-luck Penncrest team that struggled to stay out of the Central League basement for years and years. Observing the Lions last winter, one may have thought they were on the right track. Rebuilding, but they had a ways to go.

Larry Johnson, the longtime women’s coach at PSU-Brandywine, was brought in last year to change the culture. He has won four PSUAC championships at Brandywine where he still serves as head coach. He splits his time between Brandywine and Penncrest.

After winning 10 games a season ago, nine more than the year prior, the Penncrest Lions started to think that maybe they could compete with the Central League’s top programs.

Webmaster’s note:  Delcohoops.com will be video streaming both the boy’s and girl’s Central League Championship games on Monday, February 13th! Tune in at 5:50 for the girl’s game and 7:20 for the boy’s game for our LIVE video broadcast!

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Chichester’s boys basketball team arrived at the Fred Pickett Memorial Gymnasium Tuesday evening with its share of the Del Val Championship secure, and with its postseason fate secure, no matter what transpired over the next 32 minutes. Both were statements that their hosts couldn’t make.

But the Eagles also knew a few more facts – the 30-plus years since they’d last beaten Chester, the 70-some consecutive losses, the big 0 in the win column at Chester all-time in a series (can you really call it a rivalry?) dating back more than a half-century. Finishing the regular season that way – with an outright title, with a bit of history, and maybe with an unthinkable finger in the eye to Chester’s playoff hopes – was the only way a special senior class could envision it ending.

Akhir Keys’ corner 3-pointer with 12.7 seconds left and some dogged defense to repel three Chester chances to win it earned Chichester a 55-54 win and the outright title.

It’s the first time Chichester (18-3, 6-1) has won the Del Val since 1993 and just its sixth crown overall. The Eagles beat Chester for the first time since 1986-87, ending a string of 73 consecutive losses. In the process, they may have dealt a fatal blow to Chester’s chances of making the District 1 Class 6A playoffs.

(click on this link for the full story)