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Tahriq Marrero scored 18 points, but his biggest contribution came on the defensive end in crunch time.

The Academy Park senior made two steals in the waning moments to help the Knights claim a 54-50 non league boys basketball win over Springfield.

Derrick Northern added 17 points in the victory. Academy Park’s press led to turnovers and six straight points in the fourth quarter. The Knights also delivered at the free-throw line down the stretch.

Cole Rhodes had a stellar outing for the Cougars, leading all players with 22 points. Freshman Michael Hoey chipped in with 10 points and six assists, while Brian Ward paired 10 points with five rebounds.

In other non league action:

RIDLEY 63, CHICHESTER 60>> The host Green Raiders (5-3) overcame a 14-point deficit due in large part to the performance of senior Josh Howard, who tallied 16 of his game high 23 points in the second half. Howard dialed up five shots from long distance.

Ramir McDowell paced the Eagles with 18 points and Josh Hankins added 17.

COLLEGIUM CHARTER 62, INTERBORO 34 >>

Connor Hughes registered seven points, six rebounds and two assists for the Bucs, who were outscored 34-12 in the second half. Freshman Abu Kamara also had seven points.

In the Ches-Mont League:

SUN VALLEY 48, KENNETT 38>> A 16-0 run in the second quarter spurred the host Vanguards to victory. Nick Gianokoplous led three players in double digits with 15 points. Billy Fisher contributed 12 points and Kenny Lazer finished with 11.

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By Josh Verlin

Though high school basketball doesn’t quite have the schedule split that colleges tend to follow, with mostly non-league games before the winter holidays and conference play in the new year, there’s no doubt that the intensity ramps up in January. 

Aside from the five-team Delaware Valley League and six-team Inter-Academic League, every other conference in southeastern Pennsylvania has seen its teams play at least a couple of conference games, giving us an early glimpse at which teams are in good shape and who’s got some work to do with district playoffs only about six weeks away.

With three weeks’ worth of results already in the books, it’s not too early to look around and see which races are shaping up as expected, and which teams have totally thrown the predictions for a loop. Here are five questions I have about the next six weeks of the 2019-20 high school season, and how they’ll affect how various playoff pictures look come February:

(click on this link for the full story)

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By Josh Verlin

The 2019 edition of the Pete & Jameer Nelson Play-By-Play Classic wrapped up on Monday, Dec. 30 with a sextuplet of games at Widener University’s Schwartz Athletic Center. There were Catholic League programs, some of the top District 1 squads, and a few private schools in action in the last of three days of games; click here for standouts from Day 1. 

Here are several standouts from the final five of six games that day (sorry, St. Joe’s Prep & Penncrest fans, I wasn’t able to make that one):

Penncrest 49, St. Joe’s Prep 44
La Salle 38, Abington 35
Malvern Prep 62, Norristown 44
Bishop McDevitt 45, Germantown Academy 42
Cheltenham 63, Coatesville 56
Chester 58, Haverford School 55

Akeem Taylor (2020/Chester)
A hard-nosed, 6-4 wing forward, Taylor was a problem for the Haverford School from 15 feet and in, where he bulldozed his way to 17 points, plus five rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Though he tied with teammate Karell Watkins for the team high, I opted on giving Taylor the writeup over his almost-equally-deserving teammate as Watkins benefitted from several Fareed Burton Jr. assists for easy layups, and some right-place, right-time foul shooting situations late, while Taylor seemed to get his own production by working his way to the hoop or on put-back attempts. If he’d made his foul shots (3-of-6) he’d have gotten himself to 20.

(click on this link for the rest of Josh’s standouts)

By Rich Flanagan

Chester scored the first basket of the game and immediately dropped into a signature full-court press. Tom Durant looked on and didn’t have to call a press break. His West Chester East team knew exactly how to break it and, more importantly, score off of it.

Senior forward Andrew Carr caught the ball at the high post, turned and found point guard Mike Dedda down the sideline and finally Tym Richardson received the ball. The 6-3 senior guard pulled up and drilled a three-pointer in what would become a regular occurrence throughout the game. Carr had a double-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while Richardson scored 14 points despite dealing with foul trouble as West Chest East defeated Chester, 60-47 in the Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic at West Chester University.

Carr, a 6-foot-9 Delaware commit, scored his first basket of the game during a 9-0 Vikings run, which followed the Clippers’ initial bucket. A few possessions later, Carr finished strong in the lane, then on the ensuing possession Richardson was fouled behind the arc. He hit all three free throws and the Vikings (7-1) were in command, up 14-4 with 2:29 left in the opening quarter. Carr closed out the first-quarter scoring for East with a baseline slam.

(click on this link for the full story)

Colin Chambers scored 14 points and Alex Capitano added 13 as Episcopal Academy registered a 45-41 victory over Cherokee High (N.J.) in a Jameer Nelson Classic game Saturday night.

The Churchmen outscored Cherokee, 23-19, in the second half. Chambers drilled four three-pointers, Capitano one. Gavin Gibson registered 20 point for Cherokee.

In the Garnet Valley Varsity Club Tournament: 

Garnet Valley 86, Bishop Shanahan 44 >> Carl Schaller wrapped up the tournament MVP award with a career-high 31 points in three quarters as the host Jaguars romped to the win.

Neel Beniwal had 17 points, while Valantis Apostolopoulos added 10 for the Jaguars, who led 28-9 after the first quarter.

Beniwal also earned all-tournament honors.

In the Ridley Holiday Tournament:

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

By Harry Chaykun

Ridley coach Kevin Kelly and his players know that things will get very interesting when the Central League boys basketball race resumes next week.

“The league is up for grabs,” Green Raiders senior Josh Howard said Friday afternoon after scoring 16 points to help the host team to a 61-15 victory over Interboro in the opening round of the Ridley Holiday Basketball Tournament.

Ridley (5-2) will take on Martin Luther King of Philadelphia in the championship match at 7 p.m. Saturday. MLK (7-1) defeated its Public League rival South Philadelphia High, 54-41, in the other game Friday.

“We knew we still have things to work on to get better,” said Kelly, whose opening-minutes advantage over four quarters was 27-2 Friday. “Today we wanted them to play smart, take good shots, and keep focused.”

Howard and Josh Hagan both dropped in five points in the opening period as Ridley built a 12-4 lead. In the second quarter, the Green Raiders outscored the Bucs, 17-2, taking advantage of 11 turnovers. Jack Grace, the quarterback of the football team which bowed to Interboro Thanksgiving Day, got all six of his points in the second stanza.

(click on this link for the full story)

Cardinal O’Hara’s Adrian Irving erupted for 26 points in a big win at the Jameer Nelson Classic Friday.

Irving had 16 points after halftime in the Lions’ 66-52 decision over The Haverford School on Herb Magee Court at Jefferson University.

Anthony Purnell swished six free throws in the fourth quarter and finished with 16 points. Tre Dinkins also tallied double figures with 10.

Christian Clover drilled six 3-point field goals and had 25 points to pace the Fords.

At the Governor’s Classic:

Bonner-Prendergast 82, Dulaney 75 >> The Friars won for the second day in a row in Salisbury, Md. Tyreese Watson shot an efficient 13 of 14 at the charity stripe with a game-high 22 points. Malik Edwards added 20 points and Mandon Seapoe netted 16 points in the victory.

At the Garnet Valley Varsity Club Tournament:

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

Senior guard Billy Fisher scored a gamehigh 20 points as Sun Valley rallied for a 58-56 boys basketball victory over The Christian Academy in the opening round of the Sun Valley Christmas Tournament Thursday.

The Vanguards trailed by eight points heading into the fourth quarter, when they outscored the Crusaders, 23-13.

Nick Giannakopoulos tossed in 15 points and Dom Valente added eight points.

Leading the way for TCA was Grant Sareyka, who finished with 17 points. Sam Geathers chipped in with 11 points.

The Vanguards play Academy Park in the tournament championship Friday at 7:30. TCA takes on Strawberry Mansion in the consolation game.