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By Matthew De George

Academy Park’s DeAndray Covert, left, is ready to assume the challenge of the PIAA Tournament when the Knights tangle with Roman Catholic Saturday. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)

It’s been 17 years since Academy Park last qualified for the PIAA Tournament, long enough that a significant portion of its roster wasn’t yet born.

But anyone expecting jitters from the Knights when they take on District 12 champion Roman Catholic in Saturday’s states opener (5:30 p.m., St. Joseph’s Prep) will be sorely disappointed.

The ninth seed from District One faces a daunting challenge against the reigning Class AAAA champs, fresh off a Catholic League title. But what else is new for Academy Park (20-7)?

Consider their road through districts: A two-point first-round victory at Upper Merion; a four-point loss to No. 2 seed and eventual champ Plymouth Whitemarsh; a win at No. 10 Phoenixville in playbacks; a win at No. 3 Downingtown West, a team many had tabbed as a title contender, to get to states; a two-point win over Hatboro-Horsham in a seeding game that propagates the wave of momentum through three straight wins.

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Archbishop Carroll’s Josh Sharkey has averaged 14.5 points per game and is a main reason the Patriots have found their way back to the PIAA tournament. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)

By Matthew De George

Josh Sharkey and his fellow seniors heard the whispers as soon as the school year started.

They knew who was gone from last year’s run to the state championship game. They knew the external observer might think the cupboard comparatively bare.

You may wonder what it takes for a program that has played in two state finals in three years to feel underestimated and disrespected. The departure of three Division I players from Archbishop Carroll, engendering chatter that a plummet in Catholic League standing was imminent, did the trick.

Yet after passing test upon test, the Patriots find themselves in what seems their ordained place: Preparing for the PIAA Tournament.

The Patriots, District 12’s third seed, opens the PIAA Class AAA tourney Friday night against District One champion Holy Ghost Prep. Tipoff at Cheltenham High School is at 7:30.

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Chester’s Jamar Sudan (above) is part of a physical and imposing Clipper frontcourt. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

By CoBL Staff

The most exciting high school state tournament out of the four PIAA classes is without a doubt that of its biggest classification. The AAAA bracket has the heavyweight names that have won state title after state title: Lower Merion, Chester, Reading, Plymouth Whitemarsh and more.

This year they’re joined by several upstarts, including one tough Pittsburgh squad with an underdog mentality, a savvy veteran squad from Allentown that’s no stranger to postseason play.

The Favorites
Parkland (25-3): The four-time District 11 champions are in “win-now” mode, with a talented senior class looking for one last deep run before heading off to their respective colleges. Senior guard Devante Cross (8.8 ppg, 4.2 apg) will be playing quarterback at Virginia, forward Kenny Yeboah (10.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg) will be playing tight end at Temple and small forward Kyle Stout (17.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg) will be taking his sharpshooting talents to nearby Lafayette, the only one of the trio to continue his hoops career in college. Then there’s junior forward Sam Iorio, a talented 6-6 wing and D-I recruit in his own right, who leads the team with 18.4 ppg and trails only Yeboah with 6.8 rpg. The last three years, the Trojans have won their first-round matchup only to lose to a District 1 team in the second round. To break that streak this year, they’ll need to first get past Conestoga and then likely another Central League team, Ridley, to reach the quarterfinals.

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Ryan Daly (above) and Archbishop Carroll are on a mission after falling just short in the Catholic League semifinals. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

  

By CoBL Staff

A trio of Philadelphia-area squads lead the field in the PIAA Class AAA tournament, with defending champion Neumann-Goretti challenged by one Catholic League foe and one Public League opponent that proved last week it’s up for the challenge. But there’s plenty of competition from the central and western parts of the state too, plus a talented team from up north who all hope to have their say in things.

Here’s a look at the Class AAA field, with all games taking place Friday night at various gyms across the state:

The Favorites
Archbishop Carroll (22-3): Despite a not-insignificant turnover from a year ago, Paul Romanczuk’s Patriots are playing perhaps their best basketball since a PIAA championship run in 2009. D-I bound seniors Josh Sharkey (Samford) and Ryan Daly (Hartford) lead the way for a roster that gets production from its top 10. They’ve got good size inside in the form of 6-8 Latvian big man Miks Antoms, while 6-4 senior wing John Rigsby has enjoyed a very strong year as well; 6-3 junior sharpshooter Colin Daly, Ryan’s younger brother, rounds out the starting lineup. Beyond them, Romanczuk has a number of players he can call upon off the bench: 6-6 junior Jesse McPhearson, 6-3 junior Khari Williams, 6-6 senior Alex House, 6-5 sophomore Devin Ferrero and others are all capable of coming in to contribute a bucket or two, grab some rebounds and play tough D.

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By Delcohoops.net Staff

There are six Delaware County high school boy’s basketball teams vying for the PIAA basketball championships in three rounds.  The following are the match-ups with sites and times.

Class AAAA

March 5th, Saturday

*Lower Merion vs. Simon Gratz @ Harriton HS 3:00 PM

Ridley vs. Wilson West Lawn @ Strath Haven HS 3:00 PM

Roman Catholic vs. Academy Park @ St. Joseph’s Prep HS 5:00 PM

Chester vs. Hempfield @ Interboro HS 3:00 PM

Class AAA

March 4th, Friday

Holy Ghost Prep vs. Archbishop Carroll @ Cheltenham HS 7:30 PM

Class A

March 4th, Friday

Greenwood vs. Delco Christian @ CD East HS 7:30 PM

*Lower Merion is technically not in Delaware County but we consider them part of the mix for our area.

Wyatt Harkins (30) looks to get Delco Christian’s fastbreak going. The senior guard scored 13 points, but was held well below his season average by Phil-Mont Christian’s smothering defense in Saturday’s District One Class A final.

By Matthew De George

All season, Delco Christian has been a study in perseverance — through injuries, suspensions and myriad suboptimal predicaments.

Try as they might, against Class A juggernaut Phil-Mont Christian Saturday, those absences were too glaring to conceal.

The Falcons intensified their defense after halftime, muzzling the Knights’ limited options and restraining DC to 15 points after the break in a 58-41 triumph in the District One final at Council Rock South High School.

No. 6 seed Delco Christian (14-12) trailed by just one at the half and surged ahead, 33-32, with 2:25 to play in the third quarter. But top-seeded Phil-Mont (28-1) scored 26 of the game’s final 34 points to run away with the title.

Phil-Mont’s dogged deterrence on the defensive end finally tipped the scales. The Falcons’ length closed out shooters on the perimeter and accounted for seven blocked shots — three each for rangy 6-foot-2 guard Noah Baldez and sturdy 6-foot-4 forward David Giuliani — and many more altered drives to the rim.

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Davon Burrell, 2nd from left, and Mike Lotito #35, of Plymouth Whitemarsh celebrate after a made basket in the 4th quarter of their 68-57 vistory over Chester in the 1st half of a District 1 AAAA Final on Feb. 26, 2016, at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. CHARLES FOX/Staff

 

By Rick O’Brien

Ahmin Williams (shooting) was one of five P-W reserves who scored as the Colonials took home the District 1 AAAA championship. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

By Jeff Griffith

Long before Plymouth-Whitemarsh started its road to becoming 2016 District 1 AAAA champions, it was clear the Colonials had several talented individuals on their team.

Even since summer workouts, some of the Colonials’ senior leaders like Rider commit Xzavier Malone and versatile big man Mike Lotito noticed there were multiple unheralded players that showed potential to be key to any success Plymouth-Whitemarsh hoped to have.

Naturally, almost every single one of the players that came to the floor for P-W had their shining moment in the biggest game of their careers to this point, as 10 different Colonials made their way onto the scoresheet in their 68-57 championship victory over the Chester Clippers.

“I can’t say enough about how great of a job my teammates did,” said Lotito, who fouled out with 4:11 left in the fourth quarter. “This is the ultimate high. We’ve worked so hard since November 17 officially and unofficially months before that, and for this all to come together is just so special, I can’t believe it.”

The most notable role-player to make a key statement was junior guard Matt Walker, who didn’t play a single minute of his sophomore season and saw little playing time during the current campaign.

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By Matthew De George

For the better part of a month, Marquis Collins has watched, waited and hoped.
His left arm in a sling, the senior Chester guard has ridden a conflicted ride alongside his fellow Clippers. He landed awkwardly Jan. 28 against Glen Mills, exiting as the leading scorer on a 12-6 Chester team just starting to put the pieces together, building for what they hoped to be a lengthy postseason run.
He returned eight games — eight Chester wins — later as another weapon of uncertain potency for a team that had evolved so much, without him and because of him.
“There was days watching practice, watching games, where I almost shed a tear, watching my team going out in the wars and not being able to help them,” Collins said Friday night.
Then the conversation took a turn that even the most cocksure of players couldn’t avoid: Chester committed 28 turnovers in watching Plymouth Whitemarsh run away with a 68-57 win and the District One Class AAAA title. Chester Friday resembled, in coach Larry Yarbray’s estimation, the 2-5 team that started the season and has been elevated to a teaching aid in so many huddles since.
Collins was there in December. He wasn’t for most of the 12-game winning streak, an overlooked fact in considering Chester’s postseason brilliance. Then he reappeared Friday.
So was it him, he wondered?
“I feel like as a team, we were kind of off,” Collins said. “I only practiced twice before I came back today, so our chemistry wasn’t like when I was out when they had great momentum.
“I don’t want to blame it on me, but they kind of look for me to score and take over, and that messed up the chemistry.”
The answer to Collins’ self-aware question is a resounding, no. The 6-foot-7 Delaware State commit scored 12 points, including eight in the second quarter as the Clippers (21-7) threatened to pull away. He made his only shot attempt in the third quarter and sat to start the fourth as Yarbray opted for a defense-first lineup that failed to slow high-flying Xzavier Malone (29 points) and exacerbated the turnover predicament.

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Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Xzavier Malone, right, tries to outrun Chester’s Stanley Davis to the basket in the District 1-AAAA championship at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. (Robert Gurecki/Digital First Media)

By Ed Morlock

The Plymouth Whitemarsh boys basketball team never blinked. They trailed district power Chester by six points in the third quarter and four at the beginning of the fourth and stood their ground.

The second-seeded Colonials dominated the fourth quarter – outscoring the ninth-seeded Clippers by 15 points – and won the District One Class AAAA championship, 68-57, Friday night at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

“You can’t change what you are,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said of his team playing a fast-paced game with Chester. “We know how to defend. You never blink. You’re going to go in and do what you’re supposed to do. They are Chester. They are proud and they are talented and they are tough-minded and they are the best in the state in history. You want that challenge.”

Junior Matt Walker hit a three in the first 30 seconds of the fourth to bring the Colonials within one and a minute later senior Oakley Spencer hit two free throws to give the Colonials a 50-49 lead that they would never relinquish.

It was senior Xzavier Malone, however, who put the game away. The Rider commit scored 13 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, including three dunks.

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