Category: Latest News

Jamar Sudan’s putback with two minutes to go put Chester in front stay as the Clippers edged William Penn of York in a nonleague game Saturday, 69-65.

Jordan Camper blocked two shots late to seal the win for Chester (13-4). Camper flirted with a triple-double as he scored 18 points to go with 10 blocks and eight rebounds.

Michael Smith paired a career-high six assists with a game-high 19 points. As a team, Chester registered 14 assists on 20 buckets.

Sudan posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 boards, while Ahrod Carter checked in with 13 points for The High.

In other nonleague games:

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

By Matthew De George

Garnet Valley had a win for the ages Tuesday against Lower Merion.

Friday against Upper Darby was a different story.

Noah Walker scored 24 points, and Mamadou Toure added 14 as the Royals pulled a 68-67 upset of the host Jaguars Friday night in the Central League.

Magd Adelwehab added 12 points for the Royals (5-11, 4-8), who have won four straight games.

Austin Laughlin, Tuesday’s hero, brought his “A” game again with 33 points, including five 3-pointers. He canned a triple with four seconds left to get Garnet Valley within one, but couldn’t replicate the game-tying/game-winning double of Tuesday’s win against the Aces.

Brandon Starr added 15 points for GV (12-6, 7-5).

Elsewhere in the Central League:

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

By Matthew De George

 Down nine points at 5 minutes, 19 seconds of the third quarter, there was no moment of revelation for Penn Wood Thursday — no momentum-turning shot, no pivotal collision in the lane.

In place of the dramatic, Pernell Ghee simply looked around the timeout huddle at his fellow seniors and found looks of recognition. Mundane as it sounded to a corps playing rival Chester for the final time, the comeback would have to start one possession at a time, at the line and on defense.

“Nothing changed,” Ghee said. “Coach said, we’re in the same predicament as last game (against Chester); we’ve just got to keep our head and stick to the game plan. We went over the game plan one more time, we said we’re going to get the W if we stick to the game plan.

“We stuck to the game plan, and we got the W.”

Ghee and company roared away to a 58-55 Del Val League win, finishing with a 25-13 edge over the game’s final 13 minutes.

The damage started via a 10-spurt to put Penn Wood up, 43-42, with 2:32 left in the third, Ghee rolling to the basket for a layup off the glass.

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

By Matthew De George

Free-throw shooting hasn’t exactly been Delco Christian’s forte this season. But the Knights overcame those struggles in a big way on the road.

T.J. Tann scored a game-high 16 points as Delco Christian used a 24-for-32 shooting night at the charity stripe to claim a 51-37 Bicentennial League victory over Holy Ghost Prep.

Jordan Parks added 13 points, six rebounds and five steals. Obinna Nwobodo chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.
Tann was 9-for-10 from the line while Parks (a 56.5 percent shooter on the year) was 8-for-10 and Nwobodo went 6-for-10. Delco Christian (9-7, 7-5 BAL) entered the game at just 62.1 percent from the line this season.

In nonleague action:

Upper Darby 63, Norristown 55 >> Magd Adelwehab drained three 3-pointers en route to 17 points, and Bayir Hodges chipped in 13 as the Royals won a third straight game.

Noah Walker added 11 points for Upper Darby (4-11).

By Matthew De George

Try as you might, you may never see another game quite like the one authored by Haverford School and Germantown Academy Tuesday night.

The final, in five (yes, five) overtimes: Germantown Academy 100, Haverford School 98.

And it came with all the drama a five-OT affair should have, won by Evan-Eric Longino’s leaner in the lane with 0.1 seconds showing in that fifth overtime.

Haverford certainly contributed its share of drama to the highest-scoring game in Inter-Ac League history. Kharon Randolph, who scored 27 points, sent the game to overtime with a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation. Jameer Nelson Jr. (15 points) canned a triple at the first-OT buzzer to extend the game.

Christian Ray, who led Haverford School with 32 points, hit two free throws at the end of the third overtime, then a lay-up as time expired in the fourth overtime.

Gavin Burke added 16 points for Haverford School (16-2 overall, 5-1 Inter-Ac), which saw its 13-game winning streak snapped. It moves the Fords into a first-place tie with Episcopal Academy ahead of Friday’s rivalry rematch, with GA a game back.

Kyle McCloskey, the Villanova football commit, scored 43 points for GA.

In the Del Val League:

Penn Wood 72, Academy Park 54 >> Vincent Smalls scored 15 points, and Kairi Jones added 14 as Penn Wood (10-5, 4-1) won its seventh straight.

Nick Simmons poured in 31 points in the losing effort for AP (7-8, 2-3).

(Webmaster’s note: The Penn Wood vs Academy Park game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link on the left hand side of the page.)

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

 

By Josh Verlin

Austin Laughlin turned the corner inside Lower Merion’s Kobe Bryant Gymnasium and sprinted down the sideline, trying to outrun the mob. It was the final heroic effort he’d make on a night filled with them, though a fatally flawed one.

Because there was no escaping those chasing him.

Laughlin’s Garnet Valley teammates caught up to the junior guard at halfcourt and surrounded him, screaming, celebrating a shot that might have turned the course of their team’s entire season.

It was a double-clutched, half-court chuck from just in front of the scorer’s table which dropped shortly after the buzzer sounded, handing the Jags an emotional 68-67 overtime win.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Matthew De George

Kyle Long surveyed the options before Tuesday night’s game with Marple Newtown and understood what his Springfield team could draw on.

If the game called for it, the Cougars were ready to speed Marple up. Or they could drag out possessions and screen for jump shots. Or they could dump the ball inside and use Great Orjih’s height advantage.

At the controls of those options is Long.

Where the Tigers were overly reliant on one mode of attack, Springfield’s improvisation allowed it to coast to a 62-49 Central League victory.

“I think we have guys that can play fast, and then we go four corners and play slow,” Long said. “We pick and choose when we can do that. The third quarter, we started running, we got up. The fourth quarter — we had too many turnovers and I think if we can clean that up — we went a little slower, four corners and if we make our foul shots, we’re a tough team to come back against.”

Strath Haven 46, Penncrest 38 >> Cooper Driscoll, who was injured in pregame warmups before a 24-point shellacking by the Lions in December, scored seven of his 10 points in the third quarter as Strath Haven scored a measure of retribution.

John Harrar scored 13 points to go with 14 rebounds and four assists for Haven (11-5, 8-3). Chris Rosini was the catalyst with two first-quarter 3-pointers to set the tone. He finished with 11 points.

The Panthers did the job defensively on Tyler Norwood, who made just one basket over the first three quarters on a rough shooting night. He finished with 17 points. Justin Ross added eight for Penncrest (13-4, 9-2).

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

By Will Slover

Bonner-Prendergast held just a nine-point lead over the host West Catholic with 3:45 to go in the third quarter and it looked like the Friars might fall victim to upset in front of a heavy Burrs’ crowd on Monday night.

That is, until a technical foul called on West Catholic bench sparked a quick run for the Friars to close the quarter, and Bonner-Prendie never looked back.

B-P used the run to spark a late push and the Friars went on to beat West Catholic by a score of 64-45 and maintain their spot as one of the top four teams in the Catholic League.

Highlighting the late Bonner-Prendie (13-3, 5-2 PCL) push was the effort of junior forward Ajiri Johnson, as the 6-foot-8 big man scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. The Putnam Science (Conn.) transfer also grabbed a game-high of 11 rebounds in the double-double performance.

After moving to America from his native Nigeria at age 15 and transferring to Bonner-Prendie this offseason, the big man has seen his game grow leaps and bounds in his short time as a Friar.

“He had a great game. He’s very athletic,” Bonner-Prendie head coach Jack Concannon said. “He’s getting better every day, he’s still a work in progress but he’s got a bright future.”

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Rick O’Brien

Penncrest, with an undersize but gritty lineup, is bidding to make its ninth consecutive appearance in the PIAA District 1 boys’ basketball playoffs.

Odds are that the Lions will achieve that goal as they were 12-2 overall and 8-0 in the Central League entering Wednesday night’s contest against Marple Newtown.

Mike Doyle’s squad was riding a 12-game winning streak entering its contest against the Tigers. It opened the season with taut nonleague losses against Phoenixville and Academy Park.

“The kids have done a nice job of buying into our offensive style,” Doyle said. “We do a lot of off-the-ball screening to get good looks at the basket.”

Junior point guard Tyler Norwood is shooting 53 percent from the field while averaging 24.5 points per game.

“He has an unbelievable shooting stroke. He keeps the ball on a string, and he’s a great finisher,” Doyle said.

(click on this link for the full article)

Webmaster’s note:  Next week’s Game-of-the-Week features Penncrest and Lower Merion!

 

By Matthew De George

 Kharon Randolph looks over his shoulder and offers a sheepish apology for the answer he is about to give.

For two years, the junior guard has grown close to Jameer Nelson Jr. as a teammate and a friend at The Haverford School. They’ve developed a connection on and off the court as basketball-loving teens, irrespective of one possessing a famous basketball moniker.

When it comes to appraising Nelson on the basketball court, though, Randolph can’t help but fall back on a ready-made explanation.

“It sounds cliché,” Randolph starts hesitantly, “but he plays like his dad.”

There’s no avoiding the prestige that the name Jameer Nelson connotes on basketball courts around Philadelphia. But make no mistake: Jameer Nelson Jr. isn’t the second coming of his father, the Daily Times Player of the Year from Chester, the Wooden Award winner at Saint Joseph’s and the 13-year NBA veteran. He’s charting his own course, and he has no more vocal supporter than his namesake.

(click on this link for the full article)