Category: Latest News

Bonner stakes claim in PCL by knocking off Roman

Tyreese Watson (above, in 2018) and Bonner-Prendergast are again in the mix in the Catholic League. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

By Carter Fillman & Josh Verlin

This offseason, the preseason buzz around the Philadelphia Catholic League centered around three teams: Roman Catholic, Neumann-Goretti, and Archbishop Wood, each loaded with promise and high-major Division I talent. Early in the season, Cardinal O’Hara entered the fray as a top team, still unbeaten on the season. 

And now, Bonner-Prendergast has left a message loud and clear: don’t forget about the Friars.

With the loss of two time Catholic League MVP Isaiah Wong (Miami), Tariq Ingraham (Wake Forest) and fellow starters Mike Peretta and Chris Haynes, it would not have been crazy for the average follower to forget about Bonner. 

But there was depth on that team last year, and now seniors Tyreese WatsonDonovan RodriguezConnor Eagan, and Oscar Uduma have stepped into the starting lineup and have paced Bonner-Prendie to a 10-1 (4-0) start to the season after knocking off fellow unbeaten Roman Catholic on the road, 81-75 in overtime on Tuesday afternoon.

(click on this link for the full story)

Conestoga’s full press dooms Strath Haven in 58-56 loss

Haven’s Robbie Guilday looks to drive to the outside. Photo by Nick Falsone 

By Mike Mayer, Delcohoops.com

In a game of two halves the Conestoga Pioneers dominated a quick Strath Haven Panther team by winning the first and fourth quarters in Wallingford, PA last night.

It was a full court press in the middle of the fourth quarter where Conestoga, trailing by 10 points, turned the table on the Panthers by forcing repeated turnovers in the back court and capitalizing by converting the turnovers into points and taking the lead late in the fourth quarter.

Andrew Kauffman interviews Conestoga’s Austin Fontaine after his 3-point shot sealed the Pioneer’s first Central League win.

With seconds to go the Pioneer’s #5 Austin Fontaine dropped a soaring 3-point shot, sealing the Conestoga victory for their first Central League win.

Fontaine and Jeremiah Miller led Conestoga with 14 points and 12 points respectively while Mike Walz led with 4 rebounds and 3 turnovers.

The Haven effort was led by Luke Edwards and Ibo Pio with 12 points each while Edwards also had 5 rebounds.

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Schaller, Garnet Valley hot from the start in win over Radnor

By Matthew DeGeorge

Six basketballs were produced for Garnet Valley’s warmup Tuesday evening at Radnor. As the clock ticked down to less than 90 seconds before introductions and the anthem, all six basketballs found their way to shooters on the perimeter and, within a second or so, splashed into the net, with nary a glance off the rim.

Another round of shots, another sequence of swishes, one after the other, save for one rim out, from all over the court.

The shooting display wasn’t just for the early arrivers, since Garnet Valley started the Central League contest by sinking four 3-pointers on six trips down the court, via four different Jaguars, a blitz that staked them to an early 10-point lead that wouldn’t be surrendered.

The Jaguars came back to earth with just 10 3-pointers on the game, but even shorthanded they controlled matters from start to finish in a 66-51 decision over the Raiders.

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

Clover can’t prevent rare Haverford School loss in Inter-Ac

Christian Clover had 10 of his 13 points in the second half Tuesday but Haverford School fell to Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, 56-50, handing the Fords their first Inter-Ac League loss in nearly three years.

Zach Genther was the only other scorer in double figures with 10 points and Bernie Rogers had nine for the Fords (5-8, 0-1), who went down in an Inter-Ac game for the first time since Feb. 3, 2017.

Also in the Inter-Ac Tuesday:

Germantown Academy 59, Episcopal Academy 49 >> Alex Capitano led the way with 20 points, including two of the Churchmen’s seven three-pointers, but it wasn’t enough against GA. Colin Chambers and Sam Malloy had seven points apiece for EA (6-10, 0-1), while Adam Archambault had six on two triples.

In the Bicentennial Athletic League:

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

Delco boys basketball stat leaders, Jan. 6

By Matthew DeGeorge

Based on games reported to the Daily Times through Jan. 5 (list of missing games at bottom). For questions or corrections, email mdegeorge@21st-centurymedia.com.

Scoring Average
(Minimum half of team games played)

Grant Sareyka, Christian Academy 21.0
Josh Hankins, Chichester 20.1
Carl Schaller, Garnet Valley 19.8
Tyreese Watson, Bonner & Prendergast 19.5
John Seidman, Haverford 19.1
Jack D’Entremont, Radnor 18.2
Tre Dinkins, Cardinal O’Hara 18.2
Christian Clover, Haverford School 18.1
Shamir Baunes, Penn Wood 18.0
Billy Fisher, Sun Valley 18.0
Jackson Piotrowski, Delco Christian 18.0
Alex Capitano, Episcopal Academy 17.9
John Camden, Archbishop Carroll 17.8
Luke Edwards, Strath Haven 17.0
Karell Watkins, Chester 16.8

(click on this link for the complete list of all the stat leaders)

O’Hara boys take down McDevitt to stay unbeaten

By Matt Smith

It’s too early for Cardinal O’Hara to book a trip to the Palestra, but the Lions are serious contenders for the Catholic League title.

They keep proving they’re for real this season.

Anthony Purnell made the tying and go-ahead free throws with 40 seconds to play as O’Hara extended its season-opening win streak to 11 games with a 45-42 triumph over Bishop McDevitt Monday night.

Trailing by four points with a minute to play, Kevin Reese drilled a 3-point field goal to trim O’Hara’s deficit to a point. Moments later, Purnell gave O’Hara a slim advantage, then Adrian Irving capped the scoring with a pair of freebies with 20.8 seconds to go.

Tre Dinkins poured in a team-high 19 points and Purnell finished with 12.

The Lions (11-0, 4-0) are tied atop the Catholic League standings with Archbishop Wood and Neumann-Goretti. Wood visits O’Hara Wednesday night.

In nonleague action:

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

UD defense clamps down on Conestoga

By Matthew DeGeorge

When Upper Darby’s defense put the clamps on Saturday, Conestoga’s offense went dormant.

The Royals allowed just seven points and one made field goal in the middle two quarters to run away from the Pioneers in a 51-33 win.

Conestoga’s only points of the second quarter came on a Jack Liedtka 3-pointer with 4:31 left. Upper Darby scored the final 11 points of the frame to take a 28-14 lead into the break. The run extended to 25-1 across the intermission as the Pioneers didn’t hit a basket in the third.

“I think defense is a strong part of our team,” point guard CJ Dabbs said. “We strive on defense, we work on it a lot in practice. Our offense in the half-court is not that good, so when we get steals and deflections on defense, we get to push and go up-tempo. We’re an up-tempo team.”

Upper Darby’s defense caused 16 turnovers. It only allowed the Pioneers 13 attempts from the field in the middle two quarters.

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

Negative reaction moves Upper Darby to relax limits on fans at games

By Matthew DeGeorge

 By tip-off time Saturday afternoon, 26 people, many of them adults, including two uniformed security guards, did their best to populate the stands adorned with banners for “Upper Darby students.”

Behind the Conestoga bench sat a contingent of parents and the remnants of the JV team. Members of Upper Darby’s family and friends occupied a section behind the Royals’ bench. All told, a little more than 100 fans were in the Upper Darby gym for the Central League contest.

It was, by all appearances, an ordinary boys basketball game, even if it followed a very unusual Friday.

The first event hosted under Upper Darby School District’s new game attendance policy – which was announced Friday as making Upper Darby games “no longer open to the general public,” then substantially clarified late Saturday in light of a flood of media attention – didn’t seem much different from many others in the past.

It certainly underwhelmed compared to the controversy stirred up a day earlier, and most importantly, it was markedly different from the Royals’ last home game, a Dec. 17 visit from Haverford marred by a melee that interrupted the game, injured security personnel, led to arrests and inspired the new policy in the first place.

(click on this link for the full story)

Upper Darby shuts sports doors to general public

By Terry Toohey

There’s a new attendance policy in place for home athletic events at Upper Darby High School for the winter season.

Events will no longer be open to the general public, according to a release on the athletics page on the school district’s website, which was posted Friday.

“Only Upper Darby School District students with school-issued IDs and who are eligible to attend school events will be allowed to purchase a ticket at the event,” according to the release. “All Upper Darby students must sit in the identified student section.”

The release goes on to say that Upper Darby’s teams and visiting teams would have to submit “a list of invited parents and family members who will then be able to buy a ticket at the gate. Students from the visiting team must show photo ID in order to buy a ticket.”

In addition, an administrator from the visiting team is required to approve the entry of each person and crosscheck it with the list of invited. Students or adults who are not affiliated with either school will not be permitted to attend any of the sports events during the winter.

(click on this link for the full story)

Arch Carroll stays undfeated in win over Lansdale Catholic

John Camden, Dean Coleman-Newsome, Caleb Carter and Anquan Hill made sure Archbishop Carroll remained undefeated in the Catholic League with a 62-43 triumph over Lansdale Catholic.

Camden hit five 3-pointers and poured in a game-high 26 points. Coleman-Newtown chipped in with 11 points, Carter nine and Hill eight.

In the Bicentennial League:

Christian Academy 67, Calvary Christian 66 >> Grant Sareyka, Sam Beathers and Isaiah Mitchell showed the way for the Crusaders.

Sareyka made three triples and finished with a game-high 20 points. Geathers tallied 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds, and Mitchell produced 11 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and six steals.