Delcohoops.com

The Christian Academy and Chester Charter Scholars Academy are both bound for their first District 1 finals … and their first state tournaments.

Both teams won in the District 1 Class A semifinals Wednesday, with top-seeded TCA downing No. 4 Jenkintown, 65-46, and No. 2 CCSA handling third-seeded Phil-Mont Christian, 59-46.

TCA (23-4) bounced back from a loss in the Bicentennial championship game with its usual offensive balance: Five players had at least nine points each, led by Isaiah Mitchell’s 14 points, plus seven assists and three steals. Jourdan Green had nine points and nine rebounds, Grant Sareyka paired 12 points with six assists and four steals, and Sam Geathers chipped in 10 points. Tahmir Phillips was 6-for-8 at the line in scoring nine points. TCA led by 10 after one quarter and never looked back.

Their opponent in Saturday’s final (noon, Lower Merion) is the Sabers, who rode 15 points, five rebounds and four assists from Breon Showell to top Phil-Mont. Sean DeShields added 12 points as the Sabers (17-6) won their first playoff game in the school’s three-year varsity existence.

CCSA also beat TCA, 61-56, on Jan. 8.

Webmaster’s note: The District One, 1A Championship this Saturday between The Christian Academy and Chester Charter Scholars will be audio broadcast right here on Delcohoops.com. Our broadcast begins at 11:45 AM.

By Matthew DeGeorge

Faheem Berry knew pretty early Tuesday night that it could be a good night for him and his team.

As in so many games Chester has played, Haverford’s scouting report was to first hit the Clippers with a zone defense. It’s fundamental basketball: Compress the space, divert the drivers, deny post entry, force Chester to prove it can shoot over you, instead of what it wants to do, which is drive right by you.

That would leave opportunities on the perimeter, the poison most opponents pick against a team averaging just three made 3-pointers per game this season.

So up stepped Berry, in the lineup because of an injury to point guard Fareed Burton. And down went five 3-pointers and Haverford’s 11-game winning streak.

Berry scored a career-high 16 points, going 5-for-9 from 3-point range, to lead fourth-seeded Chester to a 64-44 win in the second round of the District 1 Class 6A tournament.

“I feel like (Steph) Curry, you know how Curry gets open?,” Berry said. “That’s how I was feeling today. I just was shooting and I was like, ‘I’m hot, keep getting me the ball.’ I was feeding them, they were feeding me, and we played as a team.”

(click on this link for the full story)

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By Mitchell Gladstone

It’s been a few years since they’ve updated the list of 1,000-point scorers inside Fred Pickett Jr. Gymnasium.

But the last one was a biggie — Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, now with the Brooklyn Nets, joined the club in 2013. A few others have joined him since, but their names haven’t yet made it up.

Now, whenever Chester gets around to updating the list of an already impressive group, Karell Watkins will become a permanent part of Clipper history.

Watkins scored his 1,000th career point just before halftime Tuesday as Chester pulled away from Haverford for a 64-44 win, clinching a spot in the Class 6A state playoffs and yet another trip to the District 1 quarterfinals.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Bob Grotz

No one shows up on game days at Garnet Valley sooner than Carl Schaller, who gets started so early he brings his own basketball because the others are still under lock and key.

Schaller also was one of the last players to leave Tuesday, the second-seeded Jaguars upset, 55-50, in overtime by 18th seeded Downingtown East in the second round of the District One Class 6A playoffs.

The junior guard scored 30 points on an assortment of crowd-pleasing drives to the basket. The Jaguars (20-3), however, needed 36.
Schaller and the seniors stuck around to reinforce what coach Mike Brown told them about completing the season on a high note.

“We’ve still got playbacks,” Schaller said. “As a team we’ve just got to stay confident. The losses that we’ve had have been close games. We’ve got to stick together. We’ve got to make it to states. We’ve just got to win two games.”

(click on this link for the full story)

by Neil Geoghegan

The West Chester East boys took another step forward in the effort to fill in the circles from some postseason disappointments a year ago.

Last week, the Vikings captured the program’s first Ches-Mont league basketball crown. And on Tuesday East opened the District 1 Class 5A Tournament by pulling away late for a 42-29 triumph over Sun Valley, avenging a bitter setback to the Vanguards in the 2019 District Final.

“We obviously remember what happened last year, but we tried to approach this like we would any other game,” said Vikings’ star Andrew Carr.

“After you win something like we just did, and you have a week to prepare, you’re thinking about a lot of things,” added East head coach Tom Durant. “The most important thing is that we’ve made it over this hurdle.”

Now 22-2 overall, the top-seeded Vikings will play the (8) Radnor-(9) Upper Moreland winner on Saturday in the quarterfinals. Sun Valley’s season ends with a 9-14 record.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Andrew Robinson

Cheltenham coach Patrick Fleury knew the exact point where his team took off Tuesday night.

A 3-pointer by sophomore Saleem Payne lit a fire in the No. 3 seed Panthers and their home crowd, a central play in a 9-0 run to end the first quarter. They would not slow down from there, and the pressure came nonstop as Upper Darby’s turnovers began to mount in a one-sided second quarter.

Cheltenham’s ferocious defense overcame the No. 19 Royals 83-57 in the second round of the District 1-6A boys basketball tournament, securing a state playoff bid for Cheltenham.

“Last year we fell a win short so to get that done for our group is amazing and the next goal is Temple,” Fleury said. “We came out pretty good in the first quarter which set the tone for us and we were able to ride that momentum.”

Whether it was a week off thanks to their first round bye or Upper Darby’s zone defense early, the Panthers weren’t getting points on the board at first. They led just 6-4 with 1:30 left in the opening quarter before senior Jaelen McGlone’s and-one kicked off a 9-0 run to end the quarter with Payne’s trey putting the hosts up 11-4.

(click on this link for the full story)