Negative reaction moves Upper Darby to relax limits on fans at games

By Matthew DeGeorge

 By tip-off time Saturday afternoon, 26 people, many of them adults, including two uniformed security guards, did their best to populate the stands adorned with banners for “Upper Darby students.”

Behind the Conestoga bench sat a contingent of parents and the remnants of the JV team. Members of Upper Darby’s family and friends occupied a section behind the Royals’ bench. All told, a little more than 100 fans were in the Upper Darby gym for the Central League contest.

It was, by all appearances, an ordinary boys basketball game, even if it followed a very unusual Friday.

The first event hosted under Upper Darby School District’s new game attendance policy – which was announced Friday as making Upper Darby games “no longer open to the general public,” then substantially clarified late Saturday in light of a flood of media attention – didn’t seem much different from many others in the past.

It certainly underwhelmed compared to the controversy stirred up a day earlier, and most importantly, it was markedly different from the Royals’ last home game, a Dec. 17 visit from Haverford marred by a melee that interrupted the game, injured security personnel, led to arrests and inspired the new policy in the first place.

(click on this link for the full story)

Upper Darby shuts sports doors to general public

By Terry Toohey

There’s a new attendance policy in place for home athletic events at Upper Darby High School for the winter season.

Events will no longer be open to the general public, according to a release on the athletics page on the school district’s website, which was posted Friday.

“Only Upper Darby School District students with school-issued IDs and who are eligible to attend school events will be allowed to purchase a ticket at the event,” according to the release. “All Upper Darby students must sit in the identified student section.”

The release goes on to say that Upper Darby’s teams and visiting teams would have to submit “a list of invited parents and family members who will then be able to buy a ticket at the gate. Students from the visiting team must show photo ID in order to buy a ticket.”

In addition, an administrator from the visiting team is required to approve the entry of each person and crosscheck it with the list of invited. Students or adults who are not affiliated with either school will not be permitted to attend any of the sports events during the winter.

(click on this link for the full story)

Arch Carroll stays undfeated in win over Lansdale Catholic

John Camden, Dean Coleman-Newsome, Caleb Carter and Anquan Hill made sure Archbishop Carroll remained undefeated in the Catholic League with a 62-43 triumph over Lansdale Catholic.

Camden hit five 3-pointers and poured in a game-high 26 points. Coleman-Newtown chipped in with 11 points, Carter nine and Hill eight.

In the Bicentennial League:

Christian Academy 67, Calvary Christian 66 >> Grant Sareyka, Sam Beathers and Isaiah Mitchell showed the way for the Crusaders.

Sareyka made three triples and finished with a game-high 20 points. Geathers tallied 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds, and Mitchell produced 11 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and six steals.

Marrero’s defense saves day for Academy Park with 54-50 win

Springfield’s #24 Brian Ward goes up for two in last night’s tough loss to Academy Park. Photo by: Delcohoops/Mike Mayer

Click on this icon for the complete Box Scores for this game!

Tahriq Marrero scored 18 points, but his biggest contribution came on the defensive end in crunch time.

The Academy Park senior made two steals in the waning moments to help the Knights claim a 54-50 non league boys basketball win over Springfield.

Derrick Northern added 17 points in the victory. Academy Park’s press led to turnovers and six straight points in the fourth quarter. The Knights also delivered at the free-throw line down the stretch.

Cole Rhodes had a stellar outing for the Cougars, leading all players with 22 points. Freshman Michael Hoey chipped in with 10 points and six assists, while Brian Ward paired 10 points with five rebounds.

Andrew Kauffman interviews Freshman starter, Michael Hoey, after last night’s game. Photo by: Delcohoops/Mike Mayer

In other non league action:

RIDLEY 63, CHICHESTER 60>> The host Green Raiders (5-3) overcame a 14-point deficit due in large part to the performance of senior Josh Howard, who tallied 16 of his game high 23 points in the second half. Howard dialed up five shots from long distance.

Ramir McDowell paced the Eagles with 18 points and Josh Hankins added 17.

COLLEGIUM CHARTER 62, INTERBORO 34 >>

Connor Hughes registered seven points, six rebounds and two assists for the Bucs, who were outscored 34-12 in the second half. Freshman Abu Kamara also had seven points.

In the Ches-Mont League:

SUN VALLEY 48, KENNETT 38>> A 16-0 run in the second quarter spurred the host Vanguards to victory. Nick Gianokoplous led three players in double digits with 15 points. Billy Fisher contributed 12 points and Kenny Lazer finished with 11.

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.

Five Big Questions about the rest of the 2019-20 high school season

By Josh Verlin

Though high school basketball doesn’t quite have the schedule split that colleges tend to follow, with mostly non-league games before the winter holidays and conference play in the new year, there’s no doubt that the intensity ramps up in January. 

Aside from the five-team Delaware Valley League and six-team Inter-Academic League, every other conference in southeastern Pennsylvania has seen its teams play at least a couple of conference games, giving us an early glimpse at which teams are in good shape and who’s got some work to do with district playoffs only about six weeks away.

With three weeks’ worth of results already in the books, it’s not too early to look around and see which races are shaping up as expected, and which teams have totally thrown the predictions for a loop. Here are five questions I have about the next six weeks of the 2019-20 high school season, and how they’ll affect how various playoff pictures look come February:

(click on this link for the full story)

Penncrest beats St. Joe Prep and Chester squeaks by Haverford School

PENNCREST 49, ST JOSEPH’S PREP 44>>Denzel Atkinson-Boyer had a career game, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as Penncrest upended St. Joseph’s Prep, 49-44, at the Jameer Nelson Classic at Widener University Monday.

Saahir Lee added 11 points and five assists, and Marquis Tomlin chipped in 10 points as the Lions (9-1) trailed by eight points after one quarter but prevailed in a game that was tied after three stanzas.

Trevor Wall led Prep with 13 points, and Mike Keenan hit four 3-pointers for 12 points.

Also at the Jameer Nelson Classic:

Click on this icon for the complete Box Scores for this game!

CHESTER 58, HAVERFORD SCHOOL 55 >> Karell Watkins and Akeem

Taylor scored 17 points each, and Zahmir Carroll added nine points as the Clippers pulled out a back-and-forth win. Taylor was named the game MVP.

MJ Atkins led four Fords in double-figures with 13 points. Zach Genther chipped in 12, Matt McKenna added 11 and Tyler Seward had 10 points.

Webmaster’s note: The Chester vs Haverford School game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard in its entirety below or on our Archived Broadcasts link listed in the menu at the top of our page.

At the Boardwalk Classic:

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