Delcohoops.com

By Josh Verlin

The only team with championship game experience is the 5A top seed West Chester East (25-2), which lost to Sun Valley in last year’s 5A title game. The Vikings have largely a new rotation, save for two key pieces: seniors Andrew Carr and Tym Richardson, who carry a large percentage of the offensive load.

Carr, a 6-9 senior bound for Delaware next year, is the focal point for East, and a serious problem for No. 7 seed Penn Wood (16-7). But Matt Lindeman’s team is playing its best ball at the right time, riding an eight-game win streak into its first district title game since the Patriots competed in the 6A bracket in 2010.

“We haven’t seen that 6-9 all year, so it’s going to be a little different,” the fourth-year head coach and ‘98 Penn Wood grad said. “But the best thing about our kids is they just play, and it doesn’t matter who they play, they just like having fun and they play as hard as they can, so I expect we’ll do that again on Saturday.”

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Webmaster’s note: The District One – 5A Boy’s (3 PM) and Girl’s (1 PM) Basketball Championships on February 29th will be audio broadcast LIVE right here on Delcohoops.com!

By Josh Verlin

 Oscar Uduma didn’t plan on playing basketball this season. The rest of the Bonner-Prendergast hoops squad is sure glad he changed his mind.

“I was thinking about my brothers who I started [school] with,” Uduma said. “I didn’t want to leave them hanging.”

Uduma had been part of the Friars’ hoops program each of his first three years at the Drexel Hill Catholic school, but hadn’t been any more than a situational reserve on the varsity level, a role he only started filling the latter part of his junior year. Meanwhile, he started playing football as a junior and had quickly become a standout for the Friars, attracting scholarship offers for his work as a two-way athlete on the gridiron; he’ll play at West Chester next fall.

With it clear that his athletic career would continue in college as a football student-athlete, Uduma wasn’t sure he’d have time to get back to basketball shape, to get in one more season of the sport he’d been playing in an organized fashion since middle school.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Jerry Flynn admitted that his shoulders slumped for the briefest of moments. His Penn Wood Patriots trailed Penncrest by six points, the largest lead for either side in a back-and-forth District 1 Class 5A semifinal at Norristown High School Wednesday night.

In the moment, the six points felt like much more than two possessions.

In the end, they turned out to be much less.

“I felt like I started to give up, which I shouldn’t do,” the junior forward said. “But I was like, there’s a lot of time to get back in the game, win this. Coach was giving up great plays, and we executed it.”

Flynn answered immediately with a three-point play, part of a 21-point night, as No. 7 seed Penn Wood scored 16 of the game’s final 21 points for a 56-51 upset win.

Penn Wood (16-8) advances to Saturday’s district final at Temple University at 3. The Patriots will take on top-seeded West Chester East, last year’s runner-up that defeated Rustin 50-36. It’s Penn Wood’s first district final since 2010.

Third-seeded Penncrest (21-7) falls into the District 1 third-place game for the second straight year against Rustin. Both teams are guaranteed spots in the PIAA tournament.

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Webmaster’s note: Missed the game? Listen to the entire game on our archive file listed below. Go to our Broadcast Archives page for all game

archives. This Saturday, February 29th, Delcohoops.com will broadcast the 5A boy’s District One Championship game between Penn Wood vs. W.C. East. Our broadcast begins at 2:45 PM.

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By Jack McCaffery

Rap Curry was a college freshman when first he met Mike Doyle, then a graduate assistant basketball coach at Saint Joseph’s University. The relationship was bound to endure. The great Philadelphia basketball bonds always do.

That’s why Curry, the athletic director at Penn Wood, knew what he had to do Wednesday night, before his Patriots would play Penncrest, coached by Doyle, for a spot in the District 1 Class 5A final.

“I told him I loved him,” Curry said. “And it’s great seeing him do his thing.”

Doyle did his thing, keeping Penncrest close, calling plays, working the officials, taking a great Delaware County basketball game into the final minutes before Penn Wood would win, 56-51. Soon, the Lions, who have been to at least the semifinals every season since 2017, will be in the state tournament for the sixth time in seven years. Doyle’s program is solid. So is Matt Linedman’s at Penn Wood. Delco basketball is always deep. That never changes.

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By Mitchell Gladstone

 If there’s one thing Jerry Flynn doesn’t lack, it’s confidence.

Had you not watched the junior play Wednesday night you’d have still figured it out from the grin Flynn flashed outside the Penn Wood locker room.

Four days after taking out No. 2 seed Holy Ghost Prep, the Patriots had just upset third-seeded Penncrest, and their leading scorer knew exactly what that meant.

“It’s a great feeling,” Flynn said of earning a spot in Saturday’s District 1 Class 5A final at Temple. “We almost gave up, but then we were like, ‘Yo, we really want this.’”

This, as Flynn referred to it, was an eventual 56-51 victory at Norristown High School in a game that seemed like it was going to get away from No. 7 seed Penn Wood. Leading 46-40 with less than four minutes to play, Penncrest had all the momentum.

Until it didn’t.

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Webmaster’s note: Missed the game? Go to our Broadcast Archives page for all game archives.

By Josh Verlin

Last February, Jack Kushner sat in the stands at Temple University’s Liacouras Center, watching West Chester East play in the program’s first-ever district championship appearance. An eighth grader at Sts. Peter & Paul, Kushner was there to watch his older brother M.J. Kushner, then a senior and reserve forward on the Vikings’ squad, but he couldn’t help thinking one thing.

“I was like, ‘this is my last year to watch all these games,” he recalled. “This is the last game I can come to before I’m going to be on that court.’”

Lofty thoughts for a middle schooler. Especially lofty considering the Vikings had high hopes after their playoff run, which ultimately fell short in that District 1 5A title game (to Sun Valley) and then lost to Archbishop Ryan in the opening round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament. They returned 6-foot-9 wing Andrew Carr, a Division I recruit now signed to Delaware, talented combo guard Tym Richardson, and point guard Mike Dedda, all seniors. 

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Webmaster’s note: This Saturday, February 29th, Delcohoops.com will broadcast the 5A boy’s District One Championship game between Penn Wood visits W.C. East. Our broadcast begins at 2:45 PM.