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WC East earns first district crown behind Carr’s dominant all-around effort

By Mitchell Gladstone

Before each game, West Chester East assistant coach Rodney Duncan had a routine.

He’d pull out his silver medal from the 2019 district playoffs and throw it on the ground in the Vikings’ locker room.

It was a reminder — not just of what East had failed to accomplish last season, but also what they were chasing this year.

And 365 days later, the Vikings came full circle, turning silver into gold.

Led by another dominant all-around showing from senior Andrew Carr, West Chester East captured its first title in school history, surging past Penn Wood 67-43 at the Liacouras Center Saturday afternoon in the Class 5A final.

Carr, who scored 9 of the Vikings’ 11 second-quarter points en route to a game-high 22, established himself on the defensive end out of the locker room — the Delaware signee logged five blocks in the third quarter and added a dozen rebounds on the game.

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Methacton goes good to great, tops Cheltenham for District 1-6A title

Methacton’s Brett Eberly (3) brings the ball up the court with Cheltenham’s Salem Payne (11) close behind in the District 1-6A championship game Saturday night. (James Beaver/For MediaNews Group)

By Andrew Robinson

“Good to great.”

It’s a motto Methacton has lived by all season. It means turn a good shot into a great shot, turn a good effort defensively into a great one and a good performance into a great one. With only Cheltenham standing between them and a District 1 title, the No. 1 Warriors made good to great a creed to live by at the Liacouras Center.

With a clinical offensive showing, Methacon raced past No. 3 Cheltenham 73-48 a Temple to capture the program’s first District 1 6A championship Saturday night.

Methacton captains Erik Timko (20), Jeff Woodward (55), Owen Kropp (2) and Brett Eberly (3) pose with their newly won District 1-6A championship trophy. (James Beaver/For MediaNews Group)

“Credit everybody who was out on the court tonight,” Warriors senior center Jeff Woodward said. “Coach (Jeff Derstine) always talks about going good to great and there were countless times in this game, especially that first half where we kicked it to somebody who was wide open.”
Cheltenham didn’t have a true answer for Woodward, the 6-foot-10, 250-pound Colgate bound big man. For reference, the Panthers’ tallest player is 6-foot-6 David Pope who coach Patrick Fleury estimated at about 160 pounds and plenty of possessions saw Jaelen McGlone or Brandon Scott trying to deal with Woodward.

It would have been easy for the Warriors to try and force feed the big guy but that wouldn’t have been great, much less good. So they moved the ball around instead, with senior Brett Eberly playing conductor to an orchestral section that was totally in tune.

Erik Timko came out in form and never really lost it, hitting his first seven shots on his way to a game-high 27 points.

“I came out, played with confidence and played my game,” Timko said. “My guys had trust in me and they helped me get open to get those clean looks.”

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WC East role players step up in Vikings’ championship win

Kieran Hefferan (above) and the rest of the West Chester East role players stepped up to help deliver a district title. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

By Josh Verlin

As much as West Chester East’s offensive attack is based around seniors Andrew Carr and Tym RichardsonTom Durant implored the rest of his lineup to look out for themselves. With his Vikings clinging to a one-point lead over Penn Wood at halftime of the District 1 Class 5A championship game, Durant –– East’s fourth-year head coach –– knew it would take some buckets from those who weren’t part of the program’s unfinished run to the district championship a year ago to finally bring it all home. 

“They’re really just focusing on Andrew and Tym, so they just left us out there,” junior point guard Mike Dedda said. “Coach [Durant] said be ready to catch and shoot, so that’s what we were being ready to do out there: catch and shoot.”

And indeed, when the offensive barrage finally came for East in its 67-43 win, it wasn’t off the hands off Carr or Richardson: it was the other three starters, the three who started the season with almost no varsity experience for a program that graduated five of its top seven from a year ago.

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Johnston earning points of a different sort for Springfield

Springfield senior Carli Johnston, pictured scoring a layup in a game last season, has been a force on the defensive end for the Cougars. Photo by: Digital First Media

By Matt Smith

Never one to garner a ton of hype on a basketball court, Carli Johnston has been an underrated, blue-collar player at Springfield throughout the years.

Johnston, a senior forward/guard who does all the tough jobs for the Cougars, has mostly stayed out of the spotlight. She doesn’t score a whole lot or grab headlines with her play, but she has helped win a lot ofgames at Springfield, even if her performances can go unnoticed.

Johnston is an exceptional defensive player and rebounding machine. She will stalk the opposing team’s best player, box out under the rim and fight for loose balls. Her game is all about toughness and grit.

Without her, Springfield (22-5) probably isn’t playing Saturday to try to win a second District 1 Class 5A championship. When the No. 1 Cougars tip-off with third-seeded Great Valley of the Ches-Mont League at Temple’s Liacouras Center at 1 o’clock, Johnston will be in the starting lineup. Webmaster’s note: The District One – 5A Girl’s Basketball Championships on February 29th will be audio broadcast LIVE right here on Delcohoops.com!

“All of my hard work on the defensive end is finally paying off,” Johnston said following the Cougars’ victory over Mount St. Joseph in the semifinal round Tuesday. “And to help on the other side of the floor, that was great, too. But winning this game, that’s what was most important because we have been working so hard all season long to get here. We wanted to go to the finals.”

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From self-outcast to leader, Baynes is what Penn Wood needs

Penn Wood’s Shamir Baynes completes a layup in the second half against Penncrest in the District 1 Class 5A semifinals at Norristown Area High School Wednesday evening. Photo by: Digital First Media

By Matthew DeGeorge

It was mid-January last year when Shamir Baynes decided varsity basketball wasn’t working for him.

The Penn Wood junior guard was part of the Patriots’ bench rotation. He’d played in 12 games, averaged 5.3 points per contest on a team that would end up winning 15 games and go to districts.

But something about the situation didn’t feel right, so Baynes abruptly quit the team.

“I wasn’t feeling it anymore, so I just stopped playing,” Baynes said Wednesday night.

The decision perplexed Penn Wood coach Matt Lindeman at the time. Baynes was never lacking in passion on the court. But in other aspects of how Penn Wood wanted to play, their team concept and his maturity to accept a role within that, Baynes wasn’t quite there yet.

“He just wanted to not keep playing with that team at that time,” Lindeman said. “No hard feelings, he’s a good kid, he’s always been great to us. He just made a choice after one game that he didn’t like how his season was going. He just wasn’t ready last year.”

Eleven months on, that decision feels distant. Baynes is the leading scorer for Penn Wood, its vocal leader on and off the court. Saturday, he hopes that’ll be enough to lead them to a District 1 Class 5A championships when the seventh-seeded Patriots (16-8) take on No. 1 West Chester East at Temple University’s Liacouras Center in a 3 o’clock start. Webmaster’s note: The District One – 5A Boy’s Basketball Championships on February 29th will be audio broadcast LIVE right here on Delcohoops.com!

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District 1 Class 5A & 6A: Championship Preview

W.C. East’s Andrew Carr being interviewed after a game with Pete Fulginiti. Photo by: Delcohoops.com/Mike Mayer

By Josh Verlin

The only team with championship game experience is the 5A top seed West Chester East (25-2), which lost to Sun Valley in last year’s 5A title game. The Vikings have largely a new rotation, save for two key pieces: seniors Andrew Carr and Tym Richardson, who carry a large percentage of the offensive load.

Carr, a 6-9 senior bound for Delaware next year, is the focal point for East, and a serious problem for No. 7 seed Penn Wood (16-7). But Matt Lindeman’s team is playing its best ball at the right time, riding an eight-game win streak into its first district title game since the Patriots competed in the 6A bracket in 2010.

“We haven’t seen that 6-9 all year, so it’s going to be a little different,” the fourth-year head coach and ‘98 Penn Wood grad said. “But the best thing about our kids is they just play, and it doesn’t matter who they play, they just like having fun and they play as hard as they can, so I expect we’ll do that again on Saturday.”

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Webmaster’s note: The District One – 5A Boy’s (3 PM) and Girl’s (1 PM) Basketball Championships on February 29th will be audio broadcast LIVE right here on Delcohoops.com!

Uduma’s big shots deliver district title for Bonner

Oscar Uduma (above) has been a key starter for Bonner this year after almost not playing hoops. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

By Josh Verlin

 Oscar Uduma didn’t plan on playing basketball this season. The rest of the Bonner-Prendergast hoops squad is sure glad he changed his mind.

“I was thinking about my brothers who I started [school] with,” Uduma said. “I didn’t want to leave them hanging.”

Uduma had been part of the Friars’ hoops program each of his first three years at the Drexel Hill Catholic school, but hadn’t been any more than a situational reserve on the varsity level, a role he only started filling the latter part of his junior year. Meanwhile, he started playing football as a junior and had quickly become a standout for the Friars, attracting scholarship offers for his work as a two-way athlete on the gridiron; he’ll play at West Chester next fall.

With it clear that his athletic career would continue in college as a football student-athlete, Uduma wasn’t sure he’d have time to get back to basketball shape, to get in one more season of the sport he’d been playing in an organized fashion since middle school.

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Flynn helps spark another surprise from youthful Penn Wood

Penn Wood

Penn Wood’s Abdullah Dublin, left, drives to the net as Penncrest’s Marquis Tomlin defends in the second half Wednesday night in a District 1 Class 5A semi-final game at Norristown Area High. The Patriots upset the Lions, 56-51. PETE BANNAN – MEDIANEWS GROUP

By Matthew DeGeorge

Jerry Flynn admitted that his shoulders slumped for the briefest of moments. His Penn Wood Patriots trailed Penncrest by six points, the largest lead for either side in a back-and-forth District 1 Class 5A semifinal at Norristown High School Wednesday night.

In the moment, the six points felt like much more than two possessions.

In the end, they turned out to be much less.

“I felt like I started to give up, which I shouldn’t do,” the junior forward said. “But I was like, there’s a lot of time to get back in the game, win this. Coach was giving up great plays, and we executed it.”

Flynn answered immediately with a three-point play, part of a 21-point night, as No. 7 seed Penn Wood scored 16 of the game’s final 21 points for a 56-51 upset win.

Penn Wood (16-8) advances to Saturday’s district final at Temple University at 3. The Patriots will take on top-seeded West Chester East, last year’s runner-up that defeated Rustin 50-36. It’s Penn Wood’s first district final since 2010.

Third-seeded Penncrest (21-7) falls into the District 1 third-place game for the second straight year against Rustin. Both teams are guaranteed spots in the PIAA tournament.

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In another Delco basketball classic, a bond grows even stronger

By Jack McCaffery

Rap Curry was a college freshman when first he met Mike Doyle, then a graduate assistant basketball coach at Saint Joseph’s University. The relationship was bound to endure. The great Philadelphia basketball bonds always do.

That’s why Curry, the athletic director at Penn Wood, knew what he had to do Wednesday night, before his Patriots would play Penncrest, coached by Doyle, for a spot in the District 1 Class 5A final.

“I told him I loved him,” Curry said. “And it’s great seeing him do his thing.”

Doyle did his thing, keeping Penncrest close, calling plays, working the officials, taking a great Delaware County basketball game into the final minutes before Penn Wood would win, 56-51. Soon, the Lions, who have been to at least the semifinals every season since 2017, will be in the state tournament for the sixth time in seven years. Doyle’s program is solid. So is Matt Linedman’s at Penn Wood. Delco basketball is always deep. That never changes.

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Jerry Flynn ignites late Penn Wood outburst to claim spot in finals

Despite not playing for the Patriots' varsity team last year, Jerry Flynn has become a consistent double-figure scorer in his junior campaign (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Despite not playing for the Patriots’ varsity team last year, Jerry Flynn has become a consistent double-figure scorer in his junior campaign (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

By Mitchell Gladstone

 If there’s one thing Jerry Flynn doesn’t lack, it’s confidence.

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Had you not watched the junior play Wednesday night you’d have still figured it out from the grin Flynn flashed outside the Penn Wood locker room.

Four days after taking out No. 2 seed Holy Ghost Prep, the Patriots had just upset third-seeded Penncrest, and their leading scorer knew exactly what that meant.

“It’s a great feeling,” Flynn said of earning a spot in Saturday’s District 1 Class 5A final at Temple. “We almost gave up, but then we were like, ‘Yo, we really want this.’”

This, as Flynn referred to it, was an eventual 56-51 victory at Norristown High School in a game that seemed like it was going to get away from No. 7 seed Penn Wood. Leading 46-40 with less than four minutes to play, Penncrest had all the momentum.

Until it didn’t.

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