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By Matthew DeGeorge

Marple Newtown captain Minh Tran belatedly landed on the court via a string of successive opportunities that the guard has received and taken full advantage of.Like when coach Sean Spratt stepped in two years ago and instituted open gyms, at which Tran made himself a fixture, undeterred by falling short in JV tryouts as a freshman and sophomore. Or when in the spring of his junior year, Spratt found himself short on bodies for an offseason tournament and gave Tran a nod.

Or when Tran’s work ethic earned him a varsity spot as a junior with the understanding he’d play primarily on JV, where injuries vaulted him into a primary role.

“Working hard is the number one thing. I just had a goal in mind,” Tran said last week. “I never really made it to the team before, and when (Spratt) came in, I was like, this is my opportunity to show the coach that I have something. That summer I just worked my butt off and that’s why I’m here right now.”

Born in Vietnam, Tran gravitated toward basketball after coming to the United States just before his third birthday. Aunt took to calling him “Jordan” from a young age for the volume of basketball videos he consumed. When his family moved from Upper Darby to Marple when Tran was in eighth grade, he made the pilgrimage to New Ardmore Park in his neighborhood on a daily basis with friends, shooting for hours on end.

(click on this link for the full story)

By CoBL Staff

We’re approaching the stretch run of the 2017-18 high school regular season, and the conference races are starting to heat up. So here’s Part 1 of a look at each of the area high school leagues and how they’re shaking out, with our revised pick for the winner of each league.

Central League

Count us among the many who doubted Penncrest heading into this season. Sure, the Lions returned the best player in the league (and District 1 5A), senior guard Tyler Norwood, but three starting seniors and several more graduated off last year’s District 1 5A champs, and it seemed like Penncrest was due for something of a drop-off as it acclimated several new players to the rotation. But the other returning starter, senior forward Chris Mills, plus junior forward Matt Arbogast and senior guard Justin Heidig have been just as strong as last year’s starters, and the Lions are 12-1 (7-1) and a game up on the rest of the Central League. That being said, there are several very strong contenders. Lower Merion beat Penncrest (at Lower Merion), though the Aces along with Garnet Valley and Springfield (Delco.) have two league losses.

(click on this link for the full updates on all the high school leagues in the Philly area including Delaware County)

By Matthew DeGeorge

Sun Valley 68, Octorara 60 >> Vinny DeAngelo poured in 26 points, and Dom Valente hit a game-tying 3-pointer in the final minute to send the game to an extra session, where the Vanguards pitched a shutout.

Marvin Freeman fired home 14 points, and Isaac Kennon added 10 for Sun Valley (8-4, 3-3), which has won six straight.

In the Inter-Ac League:

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

(Webmaster’s note: The Octorara vs Sun Valley game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link by clicking on the player below)

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By Josh Verlin

Penn Wood and Academy Park were winding down what had been a back-and-forth, high-intensity game at Penn Wood.

And then all bedlam broke loose.

With just over a minute to play in the fourth quarter, a hard foul in the corner suddenly became a mass of people, as players, coaches and spectators turned what had been a high school basketball game into a massive brawl that spanned the entire court. It took the police and Penn Wood security several minutes to break up what became a torrent of shoving, fistfights and worse, with several people actually picking up chairs and appearing to hit other spectators and even players.

“We got fouled, and then [there was a] melee,” Penn Wood coach Matt Lindeman said. “I just saw, everyone [joined in] from over there” — he gestured towards the bleachers, from where the first group of fans ran onto the floor. “It’s disappointing, it’s really disappointing.”

I’m going to drop my “reporter voice” here for a minute and interject.

(click on this link for the full story)

Web master’s note:  We were not at the game but we support Mr. Verlin’s opinion.  We rarely publish negative articles but this is a high school game for young men 14-18 (most haven’t turned 18 yet). Coaching staffs, referees and administrators do a great job in keeping student athletes and their student body’s emotions in check during contests.  They can’t control the adults and parents.  We can’t allow our support for our kids and our teams to collapse into anger and violence.  In our opinion both teams should take the game as a loss and move on.

By Josh Verlin

La Salle College HS head coach Joe Dempsey and his Explorers don’t hide the fact that they’re very much aware of what’s going on in the rest of the Catholic League. The first two weeks of league play have seen more than a couple surprising results, both in terms of upsets and close calls, which already have scrambled any predicted order one could have had before the season started.

So they headed to Cardinal O’Hara on Monday evening for their first away game in league play well aware of just how up-for-grabs the PCL is this season, making every regular-season game even more crucial in the race to get home-court advantage in the league’s quarterfinals come February.

And after a flat start had La Salle looking like it might fall right back into the pack, the Explorers found their defensive energy and rallied for a 51-48 win over the Lions.

(click on this link for the full story)

By PAPrepLive

Chester remains undefeated in January, thanks to Brian Randolph.

The 6-3 senior scored the final seven points of the game, including a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left, as the Clippers rallied for a 55-52 nonleague basketball triumph over Newark (Del.) Monday.

The victory extended Chester’s winning streak to five games. All five wins have come in January.

Randolph finished with 15 points. Rahmee Gilbert led the way with 16 and Micahel Smith added 12.

In other nonleague action:

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