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By Matt Smith

Neither Semaji Young nor Emani Banks overstated the importance of Thursday’s 46-43 victory at Penn Wood. After all, it’s only one game in a long season.

But it was hard for Academy Park’s star players not to be thrilled with the result.

“It was an exciting game, it was fun,” said Young, AP’s senior point guard. “It was a real battle. We had a good game, moving the ball and taking good shots.”

“And it went back and forth, it wasn’t a blowout or anything like that,” said Banks, the Knights’ talented 5-10 forward. “It was … wow.”

The Knights and Patriots put on an instant classic at the Shoebox. In the end, it was Banks’ 12th rebound of the night, off a Xenia Gillis miss, that sealed AP’s victory. The Knights (7-7) improved to 4-0 in the Del Val League and are favored to defend their championship.

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

By Andrew Robinson

A year ago, Conestoga went into a game against Springfield (Delco) looking to prove itself.

The young Pioneers had gotten off to a good start, but starting a gauntlet of Central League games against a perennial power Cougars team would show ‘Stoga just where it stood. They lost that game, then the next one then three more – all close games, but still losses – and ultimately ended their season in the first round of the district playoffs.

A year ago, ‘Stoga didn’t have Ryann Jennings.

The fearless freshman made the difference this time around, her four-point play in the fourth quarter kicking off a strong finish by the Pioneers, leading to a 39-35 win over the visiting Cougars on Thursday.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

The high school basketball season is so comparatively brief that sometimes the luck of the injury draw plays an outsized role.

So it is this season at Marple Newtown. The Tigers’ route to an 8-6 record tracks nicely with who has and has not been available to play.

A 1-4 start came without two key figures in guard PJ Esposito and forward Ryan Keating due to injury. Esposito and sophomore Matt Gardler are the only two varsity holdovers from the team that made the PIAA Class 5A tournament last year.

Once those guys returned and got back into the flow, Marple Newtown rattled off five straight wins, including Central League crossover victories over 6A teams Conestoga and Haverford.

“It’s huge,” Marple Newtown coach Sean Spratt said. “From Keating, it’s just the physicality standpoint. He gives us something that we don’t really have in terms of height and weight without him and length, covering space, but also the athleticism he brings.

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By Matt Smith
Shyne Hall heard the calls from her Chester coaches all night.

“I didn’t know what was going on with her for a minute,” coach Marvin Dukes said. “I just said to her, ‘Keep shooting, keep playing.”’

If the Clippers wanted to leave Interboro with a victory Tuesday evening, they needed their junior shooting guard to do what she does best. Dukes’ positive reinforcement only underscored what Hall already knew.
It was her time … to Shyne.

“In the locker room at halftime, I said that in this half I’m going to go off,” Hall said. “I knew I had to make my shots and I knew we had to play better.”

Hall hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter to spark a big second-half run by the Clippers. Hall led all players with 20 points as Chester won its first Del Val League game of the season, 53-40 over Interboro.

Hall scored 13 points after halftime and junior forward Ja’Mya Muhammad tallied 11 of her 16 points during that span. Meanwhile, Chester’s defense pressed the Bucs the majority of the half, causing 14 turnovers in the final 16 minutes of regulation. Chester outscored Interboro after halftime, 33-17.

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

By Matthew DeGeorge

In his time at Strath Haven, Jack Edwards has gotten used to feeling out the space that Jaden Jauregui creates around him.

When Jauregui gets going like he did in the fourth quarter Tuesday night against Chester Charter Scholars Academy, defenders naturally gravitate toward the Strath Haven guard. But when they overcompensate or get too preoccupied, Edwards and his teammates are ready to step up.

Jauregui scored 10 of his game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter. But two plays that didn’t directly involve him – a 3-pointer by Chase Nangle and a baseline blow-by from Edwards – ultimately sealed a quality, 61-58, nonleague win for the Panthers.

“Jaden obviously is great off the ball, on the ball, hitting shots,” Edwards said. “So when he drives to the hole and hits a jump stop, obviously other guys on the team can shoot. We did that perfectly tonight: Chase Nangle had some 3s, and Chase hit me for some 3s.”

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Of the many roles that Eyan Thomas fills on the Chichester basketball team, the one he found himself occupying in the third quarter Monday afternoon is among his favorites.

Operating out of the high post, through which a surprising amount of the Eagles’ offense flows, the forward often has to merely prowl high-traffic areas, spy the guy guarding point guard Maz Sayed, set his screen and let Sayed go to work.

“It’s very easy (for me),” Thomas said. “All I’ve got to do is set the screen, he does what he has to do. If he misses it, I get the rebound, or he kicks it to our other teammates and they get it done.”

Sayed got it done Monday with nine points in the third quarter, a crucial individual effort to tip the Eagles toward a 53-46 nonleague win over Springfield.

(click on this link for the full story)