Category: Latest News

By Matt De George

Ryan Morris didn’t have to put into words what he and his Strath Haven teammates were feeling before Saturday afternoon’s tilt with Academy Park.Suffice it to say they weren’t happy, 18 hours removed from Friday’s 20-point shellacking at the hands of Avon Grove in which only one player, senior forward Cooper Driscoll, made more than one field goal. Though Morris didn’t put it into words, his actions spoke loudly enough.

Morris scored 15 points in the first quarter and 29 for the game as Strath Haven notched the first win for coach Dan Spangler in a 66-64 decision.

“I think there was a lot of nerves last night,” Morris said. “We’ve been playing together for a while, but the first game of the year, it didn’t go the way we wanted. Today, we wanted to change our energy, and it was all about energy, attitude and limiting turnovers. Those were the three pillars of our success. So we just wanted to move on from last night, (have a) fresh start and get a W.”

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

By Owen McCue

The fourth annual Fred Picket Classic took place at Chester High School on Saturday night. Grady (N.Y.) took down Simon Gratz in the first. Lower Merion took control out of the gate and held off a late Chester run to pick up a 57-52 victory in the second game.

Here are some storylines from the event: (click on this link for more game stories and scores)

 

By Matthew De George

Three hours before the basketball season was set to tip off Friday, Mike Webb got the unexpected news that he’d be playing.The long story, involving an ejection-marred fracas from the first round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament last spring, had Webb assuming he’d be on the bench for the opener at O’Hara. On a whim, though, he packed his jersey just in case, but not his sneakers.

On short notice, all Webb did was have the game of his life, pouring in 40 points for the Cougars.

Yet Webb wasn’t the story Friday night, not even among players wearing a No. 4 jersey. That distinction was pried away in the final moments by Antwuan Butler, whose first game at Cardinal O’Hara is going to be awfully hard to top.

The senior guard canned the game-winning 3-pointer falling out of bounds in overtime, part of his 30-point effort in an unbelievable 83-82 win for the Lions in the neighborhood rivalry.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Neil Geoghegan

You expect a lot of jitters in a season opener, and that’s exactly what happened on Friday between the Haverford and Unionville boys’ basketball squads. The two combined to turn the ball over 45 times.But the host Indians forced a lot more mistakes than they committed, and the end result was a convincing 61-42 non-conference triumph over the turnover-prone Fords at the Unionville Tournament.

“I’m ecstatic for our players. They deserve it,” said first-year Indians’ head coach Chris Cowles, who spent the previous two seasons at West Chester East. “Everybody says it, but they’ve really been putting in the work.”

In all, Unionville forced 27 turnovers and never trailed. For a nice chunk of the first half, Haverford had as many turnovers as points. It was close, however, until the Indians used a 14-3 third quarter rally to take command.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Steve Moore

With just above four minutes left in the fourth quarter Friday night, Downingtown East guard Malik Slay approached the free throw line in hopes of taking the lead back from Garnet Valley. The Jaguars had just taken the lead for the first time with a pretty back-door pass and layup from Austin Laughlin to Greg Vlassopoulos.As Slay received the ball from the official, he acted out his best Kevin Durant impression. Two dribbles, a deep breath, another dribble and a shoulder shake before letting the ball fly. The first shot allowed Slay to tie the game. Once the second shot came down, it gave Downingtown the confidence to close out the game.

The Cougars went on to beat Garnet Valley 61-56 in the season opener for both teams.

“We knew the run was coming,” said John Goodman. “This is a team that can score in the 80s and we held them to five points in the first quarter. I just flat out said at halftime they are going to start making threes. I think Laughlin had one point in the first half. He’s a thousand-point scorer and we knew he was going to make a couple. I think we responded well. We lost the lead, but we came down, scored and got it back.”

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew De George

Tyler Norwood picked up right where he left off last year, scoring 33 points to lead Penncrest to a 54-50 nonleague win over Academy Park Friday.

The reigning Daily Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year scored 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Lions recouped a deficit. Chris Mills added nine points.

Naseim Harley led Academy Park with 14 points, and Jalen Cassidy tossed in 13.

In other nonleague action:

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

By Matthew De George

As Keith Taylor slips on a knee brace and meets his Chester team for practice, he acknowledges how long he’s been out of the coaching saddle.A long-time assistant for the late Fred Pickett, Taylor stepped away in 2008, when his mentor retired after another state championship run and the Clippers’ head coaching job went to his fellow assistant and former teammate Larry Yarbray.

“I took a break, and I guess I started liking it,” Taylor said. “Being away from the game, doing what I wanted to do, didn’t have to worry about going to practice or anything, just spending time with my family.”

With a lineage like Taylor’s — as an All-Delco guard and a 1,000-point scorer — one can’t completely disengage. And through his work with the Chester Boys & Girls Club and the high school, Taylor stayed abreast of the program, enough to know that when the administration chose not to renew Yarbray’s contract in the spring that he wanted the chance to pilot his alma mater.

Now it’s Taylor’s show, armed with the imperative to return Chester to what many see as its destiny atop the state of Pennsylvania.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew De George

After 33 wins in two seasons in charge, Dave McFadden abruptly stepped down in September from the helm of Strath Haven, citing family reasons.

In the quest to perpetuate their recent success, the Panthers dug into the program’s roots for a new coach who tracks back decades.

Dan Spangler takes charge, his latest role in a climb that started as a ball boy and extended through his playing days and stints on the freshman and JV team coaching staffs.

Spangler inherits a solid framework, though the biggest cog from last year is absent in All-Delco forward John Harrar, now at Penn State. Cooper Driscoll, who endured an injury-plagued junior campaign, will provide the height in the post to contrast the Panthers’ passel of guards. Ryan Morris, a Monmouth lacrosse commit, differentiated himself down the stretch last year by averaging six points per game; he, Jordan Graves and Chris Rosini all hit 20 or more 3-pointers.

AJ Santisi and Jeff Conner contributed significantly last year. Luke Mutz, Justin Morris, Ibo Pio and Brady Mutz fill out the spine of the team.

(click on this link for the full story)

 

By Matthew De George

Ajiri Johnson breaks the huddle at Bonner & Prendergast practice, then quietly steers clear of the post-practice frivolity to hoist up his required free throws at a corner basket Wednesday. That huddle, in the forward’s second year at Bonner, bears plenty of contradictions.Last year, Johnson was by far physically the biggest member of a perimeter-oriented Friars team. The rangy center powered a 16-win season, getting within a victory of states and inspiring a return to relevance on the court not seen at Bonner in some years.

This season, Johnson no longer presides as the tallest (that honor goes to Salesianum transfer Tariq Ingraham, who’ll play center with Johnson sliding to the four). He’s not the one garnering the most distinguished college looks; the Rider commit is supplanted in that regard by Notre Dame (N.J.) transfer Isaiah Wong, who counts Villanova, Temple, Connecticut and Miami among 13 offering schools.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Jeff Griffith

Things started to unravel for the Haverford School in late January 2017.

The Fords had rattled off five straight wins to start conference play, including defeats of Germantown and Episcopal Academies, the first- and second-place finishers in the Inter-Academic League in each of the past three seasons.

After 52 minutes of basketball in its sixth conference game, Haverford took its first Inter-Ac loss to Germantown in a 100-98 five-overtime thriller. A blowout loss at the hands of Malvern Prep just over a week later doomed any chances of a league for the Fords.

“We went through kind of a meltdown last year near the end of the season,” senior guard Kharon Randolph said. “It’s just about us managing the game — don’t get too high, don’t get too low.”

(click on this link for the full story)