Delcohoops.com

By Josh Verlin

In a deeper, more talented Inter-Ac, Malvern Prep knows it has to be deeper, too.

The Friars entered the season with two proven scorers in senior Andrew Phillips and junior Ryan Williams, but without Tyler Lauder and Joey Vandergeest, two stalwarts from last year’s Inter-Ac co-championship squad. To compete for the title once again with co-champs Penn Charter, entirely back from a year ago, and the rest of the league adding talent —including some impressive youngsters — across the board, Malvern Prep needed more than its two established stars.

“A lot of people, I’m sure coming into this season were thinking ‘they lost two of their best players, Joey and Tyler,’ who provided a lot of points and a lot of great senior leadership for us,” senior forward Charlie Oschell said, “but I think in terms of scoring the basketball, we’re a lot deeper this year and we can score in all sorts of ways.”

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By Joseph Santoliquito

The scuffed-up dry erase whiteboard that hangs in the visiting locker room in the bowels of Chester High School read a date etched in a black box on Thursday night: 2010. That’s how long it’s been since a Del-Val League team won at Chester. It’s a span that ran 58-straight games, covering almost 12 years.

Nasir Washington, Penn Wood’s 6-foot-3 senior guard, was five the last time a Del-Val team beat Chester at Chester. It was before he even had a basketball in his hands. He wanted to be Tom Brady long before he wanted to be LeBron James.

Washington certainly knew what to do with the basketball in his hands Thursday night, dropping a game-high 33 points in leading Penn Wood to a historic 64-54 victory over the traditional powerhouse Clippers.   

The Patriots (6-2 overall, 1-0 Del-Val) became the first Del-Val team to beat Chester at Chester, since, ironically, Penn Wood beat the Clippers 57-40 on February 4, 2010. It snapped Chester’s 58-game, 12-year home winning streak against league opponents.

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By Matt Smith

Some of Radnor’s biggest wins in the first month of the 2022-23 season were punctuated by good foul shooting.

“It’s been our saving grace all season,” coach Rob Baxter said following his team’s 56-50 victory at Ridley Thursday night. “We do make our foul shots. We don’t make many during practice, but we do tend to make them down the stretch when we need to. … We have won at least two or three games because of our good foul shooting ”

Radnor rallied from a nine-point deficit in the second half thanks in large part to its clutch shooting from the charity stripe Thursday. The Raptors were 19 of 25 overall and made 11 freebies during a 25-point surge in the fourth quarter.

“They didn’t panic,” Baxter said, “and I think that’s the biggest thing. They were calm and did what they needed to do to get the win.”

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Penn Wood used a fast start to pull out a 64-54 victory over Chester in the Del Val League boys basketball opener for both teams.

The Patriots led 14-6 after one quarter and 32-17 at the half. Nasir Washington, a 6-3 senior, topped Penn Wood with a game-high 33 points. Mekhi Shillingford chipped in with 10 points.

Brielynd White tallied a career-high 20 points for the Clippers. Terrence Cobb added 16 points.

In the Central League:

Strath Haven 46, Haverford 44 >> Jack Edwards, Jah Curtis and Jaden Jauregui teamed up for 32 points to help the Panthers hold off the Fords.

Edwards and Curtis led the way with 11 points each. Jauregui pitched in with 10 points. The Panthers outscored the Fords, 31-19, in the second and third quarters to take a 40-32 lead into the final period.

(click on this link for more game stories and scores for both girls and boys games)

Boys Basketball
Chris Kwaidah’s 24-point performance powered Sun Valley to a 56-34 win over Delco Christian.
Noah Griffin added 11 points and Bucky Grayston had eight for the Vanguards, who outscored the Knights, 34-18, in the second half.
Caleb Jameson scored 16 points, including four 3-point field goals, for Delco Christian.

Girls Basketball
Keara McCaffery tallied 16 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks to help Sacred Heart Academy beat Lower Moreland, 39-24. Megan Donohue had seven points and Maddie Campbell recorded six points off the bench for the Lions.

By Matthew DeGeorge

The play that Upper Darby dialed up to start the second quarter Tuesday afternoon served a dual purpose.

On the one hand, senior guard Nadir Myers stood on 998 career points. The sooner he reached 1,000 points, the better for the Royals’ collective focus, coach Bob Miller knew. But after spotting Ridley the first 10 points of a Central League matchup and going the first 3:50 of play without scoring, the hosts would’ve greatly appreciated any easy offense at that point.

The elemental inbounds play – a down screen to free Myers for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the right corner – accomplished what so much of Myers’ voluminous offense does: It advanced not just his personal tallies but translated into wining basketball for the Royals.

Myers scored 30 points in an exemplary personal showing that included his 1,000th career point, helping Upper Darby shake its early struggles and rout Ridley, 82-60.

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