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By Bob Grotz

Coach Larry Yarbray called just one timeout, with a minute to go, his top-seeded Chester High Clippers comfortably ahead of Upper Moreland in the District 1 Class 5A opener Wednesday night.

In essence the Clippers were coming off a 12-day timeout and the rust from it showed early, not late, in the 74-59 victory at the Clip Joint.

“That’s probably the first time ever we had that much time between games,” Yarbray said. “But the guys worked, they kept playing hard and we came away with a win. And this time of year, you take them any way you get them.”

The Clippers (18-5) oppose Upper Merion, a 55-45 winner over Strath Haven, in the second round of the districts this Saturday.

Until then, senior Jamar Sudan, who registered game-highs of 16 points and eight rebounds, will remind teammates how important it is for the Clippers to reestablish their identity. Chester High hasn’t won a state championship since 2012. The mission statement of this group is to rekindle the old spark.

“We don’t have the talent we had from a few years ago,” Sudan said. “Now it’s like a rebuilding time for us. We’re a senior team, a veteran team and now we have a chip on our shoulder. Our identity is definitely still evolving. Right now we’re focused on the districts.”

Sudan played a key role in fighting off the last challenge from the 16th seeded Bears (12-11), who pulled within 62-56 with 2:41 left on their 11th and final three-pointer, a bomb by Brett Brossman.

Sudan responded with a basket off a dribble drive that began at the top of the key. Then he scored on an offensive rebound and center Jordan Camper (10 points) added a basket. Sandwiched around those buckets were two free throws each from point guard Michael Smith and Brian Randolph III, who contributed 12 points. The Clippers, down by five points early in the first quarter, scored 12 of the last 15 points in the game.

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(Webmaster’s note: The Upper Moreland vs Chester playoff game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link on the left hand side of the page.)

 

By Rich Flanagan

Kyle Long had seen this story before.

A slow start leading to uncoordinated offense and an inability to mount a comeback had been the encompassing theme of Springfield’s season. In tight games, including twice against Penncrest in the regular season, Springfield would fall behind and finally hit its stride, but the gap was already too large to rally.

Long was not about to allow that to happen again.

Behind 16 points and four steals from Long, the Cougars shook off another slow start and picked up the District 1 Class 5A victory over Holy Ghost Prep, 58-42. It was Springfield’s first District 1 victory in two years, when they were previously in Class AAA.

Long hit a layup and three-pointer on back-to-back possessions during the Cougars’ 14-5 second-quarter run, in which they held the Firebirds scoreless for 5:42. Long feels the second quarter has been the point where his team tends to win or lose games and jumped on the opportunity to lead the comeback.

“We’ve had a couple of games where we’ve started out slow but we usually pick things up in the second quarter and our offense really starts picking up after that,” the junior point guard said. “We knew we came out slow so we had to push the pace.”

When Long wasn’t scoring, he was finding teammates, as he did early in the third when he recorded a steal and found guard Kyle Sullivan (eight points) in transition to push Springfield’s lead to 30-16 only 1:22 in.

Sullivan, who hit a three-pointer on the previous possession, was held scoreless in the first half. But Long kept looking for him to shoot his way out of an 0-for-4 start.

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By Eddie Levin

When the PIAA District 1 Class 5A brackets were released on February 12, the last team Penncrest coach Mike Doyle wanted to see was Harriton — and for good reason.

The last time Harriton traveled to Penncrest, the Rams defeated the hosts while scoring 69 points — a season high allowed by the Lions.

“You are the No. 3 seed and you have to play a team that beat you in your home gym by eight points two weeks ago,” Doyle said. “It was the one team we did not want to play but the draw tells you how strong the Central League is. Jesse (Rappaport) does a great job with his team.”

Rappaport, the Harriton coach, responded in kind.

“We talked about it. Coach Doyle and I are friends,” Rappaport said. “We didn’t want them and they didn’t want us but this is the way it is. It’s a point system and you play who is front of you.”

With 10 days to prepare for their district opener, the Lions turned their focus to defense, which turned out to be the right approach in holding off a game Harriton squad, 51-44, in front of a raucous home crowd.

“It means a lot,” said junior guard Tyler Norwood, who finished with a game-high 23 points. “We wanted to get the seniors to Temple University (site of district semifinals) before they go out and we got one step closer tonight.”

“Our key tonight was to guard,” said senior Justin Ross, who chipped in 14 points. “We gave up the most points all season the last time we played Harriton so we knew if we played defense we would be fine.”

With the win, Penncrest (17-7) will host 11th-seeded Wissahickon Saturday, after the Trojans’ 67-48 upset of No. 6 seed Phoenixville.

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By Matthew De George

All that stood between Davoughnte Brown and the basket was 40 feet of open hardwood Wednesday night.

In the closing seconds of the first half, the Academy Park forward picked the pocket of Bishop Shanahan guard David Angelo, stretched low to the ground to keep alive a dribble and eyed the open basket for a fast-break slam that would’ve offered consolation and momentum from an otherwise dour first 16 minutes.

That is, until the whistle blew for a double-dribble.

It was that kind of night for the No. 13 seed Knights, who couldn’t get out of their own way in a 59-39 handling at the hands of No. 4 Shanahan in the first round of the District 1 Class 5A tournament.

In an affair that was rarely pretty, an Eagles first-half onslaught accrued a 33-14 lead sufficient to coast through some choppy waters after the break to secure a second-round date with No. 5 Rustin, which beat Glen Mills, 57-50, Tuesday.

The third quarter was the nadir for action. Shanahan (18-7) hospitably offered Academy Park a lifeline with just two points in the first five minutes of the half. The Knights didn’t oblige, hitting just one field goal in that stretch on a generally poor night.

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By Josh Verlin

There was a feeling that Upper Merion waited an entire year and a few extra days to try and experience. It was elusive, teasing, leaving the Vikings unsure all season long whether or not they would get a chance to taste it.

And then finally, it came, as sweet as ambrosia.

Redemption.

Emotion hit the Vikings like a wave at the final buzzer of their District 1 5A first-round home game against Strath Haven on Wednesday night, as a group whose season ended in disappointment in that same gym a year ago finally got to taste postseason success with a 55-45 win.

“Best feeling in the world,” senior forward Ethan Miller said. “This is the climax of our careers, and hopefully it keeps going up.”

Last year, Upper Merion walked out of its gym with its heads hanging after getting upset by Academy Park in the first round of the District 1 AAAA tournament, which had been the state’s largest classification.

After that loss, Upper Merion coach Jason Quenzer stayed optimistic, knowing that he had the vast majority of his rotation — including his best three players — back the following year.

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By Bryan Davis

Taj Asparagus wanted to make sure things didn’t get out of hand for West Chester Rustin.

The Golden Knights saw what was once a 14-point lead evaporate quickly against Glen Mills in the fourth quarter, which was caused by four straight turnovers.
With Rustin clinging to a two-point lead, it was up to Asparagus to stop the bleeding, as Rustin pulled away late for a 57-50 victory over No. 12 Glen Mills in a District 1 Class 5A first-round game Tuesday.

“The only thing going on in my mind was ‘We got to stay sharp, stay clean, no turnovers,’” Asparagus said. “We had to keep the pressure going since we were getting a lot of layups off of that.”
Asparagus took his own advice with three layups of his own in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of his 16 points in the final frame as No. 5 Rustin finished off the Bulls. Once Glen Mills cut the deficit to 43-41 on a steal and finish by Wayna Smith, Asparagus responded with a jumper to put Rustin up 45-41 with 4:03 remaining.

Myron Sanders respond with a layup of his own to cut the deficit back to two. After Brandon Frazier hit 1-of-2 at the line to make it a three-point lead, Asparagus stole the ball to Glen Mills’s ensuing possession and went crosscourt for an easy layup to put Rustin ahead 48-43 3:10 to play.

Cooper hit a layup to cut Rustin’s lead to 50-47 with 1:41 to play, but Asparagus took advantage of a one-on-one matchup on the Golden Knights next possession for a drive and finish to put Rustin up 52-47 with 1:15 left.

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