Delcohoops.com

By Matthew DeGeorge

Through the Mike Brown era of Garnet Valley basketball, the blueprint has been simple.

Usually, and fortunately, there has been a standout guard. Always, they have been surrounded by players willing to do the dirty work, to screen at will, and ever ready to shoot from behind the 3-point line when the ball finds them.

New year, new masks, same old Garnet Valley.

uesday, Justin Langan put on display his offseason growth, scoring 14 points to go with 13 rebounds in a 54-44 win over Haverford in a meeting of PIAA Class 6A qualifiers last year.

Langan was a little used bench piece last season for the Central League regular-season champion, averaging 3.8 points per game and hitting 19 3-pointers. As players have moved on, through graduation or second-leading scorer Neel Beniwal’s transfer to Phelps School, others have assumed larger roles, as the older players did a year ago, and the generation before, and so on.

Langan showed he isn’t just able to fill Chris Coyne’s void in the lane in doing the dirty work on the boards. He can also create off the dribble, as in a blow-by at the first-half buzzer, and a catch and shoot off a slip-screen from Carl Schaller to end the third.

(click on this link for the full story and other game results)

By Bruce Adams

While the perennially powerful Lower Merion boys’ basketball squad posted a 20-8 record last winter and earned its 10th consecutive trip to the PIAA state tournament – the longest current streak in PIAA 6A boys basketball – the past year has been a challenging one for the Aces.

First was the sudden passing of Kobe Bryant on Jan. 26, 2020, then in mid-March the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the remainder of the PIAA state tournament after the Aces had advanced to the second round.
“This has been a challenging year on a number of levels for the Aces family,” said Lower Merion boys’ basketball head coach Gregg Downer. “We’re excited to be back in the gym and focused on cherishing every moment we have together. We also realize there are no guarantees with the schedule. If we get a chance to play some games, compete and stay healthy, that’s a win.”

Because the COVID-19 pandemic remains ongoing, fans are not allowed in the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium for Lower Merion’s home games (as of Jan. 19), but the school is streaming the Aces’ home games at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3R4CED874UZ7gIwid0KGSA.
As of Jan. 19, the Aces are scheduled to play an 11-game schedule against Central League opponents. Lower Merion’s season opener is scheduled for Jan. 23 at 11 a.m. against Radnor.

(click on this link for the complete story and other team previews)

Carl Schaller poured in 19 points to lead Garnet Valley to a 52-43 win over Marple Newtown. The All-Delco netted eight points in the fourth quarter for the host Jags.

Justin Langan was 6-for-6 at the foul line and finished with 14 points. Gannon McKee added 10 points in the winning effort.

Eric McKee tallied a team-high 15 points for the Tigers.

Carl Shaller got his season off to a good start.

Shaller poured in 28 points to pace Garnet Valley to a 46-41 Central League victory over Penncrest in the season opener for both teams.

The game came more than a month after the season was supposed to start and 10 days after the state lifted restrictions on indoor activities due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Shaller scored 20 of his points in the second half as the Jaguars outscored the Lions, 27-21, to erase a 20-19 deficit.

Justin Langan added six points for GV.

Ben Stanton paced Penncrest with 14 points.

Saahir Lee added 11 points and six assists.

By Matthew DeGeorge

For most of the sports world, the final normal day of 2020 before the onset of COVID-19 closures was March 13, the second Friday of that month.

The curtain fell a week earlier at Penn Wood. The last organized varsity sports event in the district, Penn Wood boys basketball’s loss to Archbishop Ryan in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament, is now more than 10 months in the past. It preceded the near-global cancellation of the spring sports season throughout Pennsylvania and the Del Val League’s unique decision to push its fall competition to the spring.

That massive hiatus has created a profound challenge for winter coaches like Matt Lindeman, the Patriots’ boys basketball coach, just to get everyone on the same page and back in the gym for a season.

“It’s a huge challenge,” Lindeman said this week. “This season, it’s going to all be about giving the kids an outlet to get their mind off everything they’ve gone through. Results are going to be secondary. It’s going to be about giving our kids a chance to play.”

(click on this link for the full story)