Delcohoops.com

By Stephen Pianovich

Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Jim Donofrio noticed something different about his current team from the one which also reached the District 1 AAAA semifinals at the Liacouras Center last season.

This version of the Colonials isn’t just pleased with making it this far.

That’s a reason this veteran Plymouth Whitemarsh, which starts five seniors, was able to respond so well when Lower Merion went on a few runs Tuesday night. The second-seeded Colonials calmly and collectively handled any spurt by the Aces and eventually pulled away for a 53-42 win, punching their second straight ticket to the District 1 AAAA title game.

“That’s what a senior strong team does that believes in itself,” Donofrio said. “Last year, just getting here was the enjoyable part.”

A year ago, Plymouth Whitemarsh fell to Abington in the championship game.

The Colonials never trailed 11th-seeded Lower Merion in the second half of Tuesday’s win, but their lead was in jeopardy on two occasions.

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By Jeff Kerr

They may have been undersized and not highly seeded, but Academy Park vaulted itself into the PIAA Class AAAA tournament Tuesday night with a big, 61-54, win on the road at third-seeded Downingtown West at Wagner Gymnasium.

Academy Park, the 18th seed in the 32-team field, more than held its own with the taller Whippets on the glass. The Knights (19-7) missed their chance at the state playoffs last season with a home loss to Penncrest in this same game.

Senior Jawan Collins, who led the Knights with 20 points, said that loss motivated Academy Park this season.

“This team has so much heart and we play with confidence,” Collins said. “Tonight we got down 9-0 and we just came back and played our game. We missed the state playoffs at home last year by one game and we did not want that to happen again. We knew we could rebound with them because we have been doing it to teams all season.”

Academy Park will host Hatboro-Horsham Friday night to decide who finishes ninth and who finishes 10th heading into states.

The Knights were much smaller than the Whippets up front Tuesday night but more than held their own on the offensive and defensive glass. Freshman Kyree Temple, a Neumann-Goretti transfer, hauled down 12 boards and Collins chipped in with seven from his guard position.

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By Jeff Griffith

It’s no secret that, in the 2015-16 season, District 1 basketball has experienced an impeccable level of parity. As the playoff push began, it became clear that there were at least ten or twelve teams that could easily have cut down the nets at the Liacouras Center as district champions.

A bulk of that group was teams that haven’t been known for their success across the scape of district one history–No. 3 Downingtown West, No. 7 Central Bucks West, No. 8 Strath Haven, and No. 10 Phoenixville, and No. 12 Spring-Ford have all burst on the scene in the last few years.

However, when the dust settled and four teams emerged as semifinalists, those teams fell by the wayside, leaving four programs that have been there and done that in the district playoffs to fight for the title at Temple.

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By Matthew De George

Wyatt Harkins’ historic Friday night traced its roots to 10 days earlier.

The do-everything Delco Christian guard was still stewing, in a channeled and productive way, over how his last game ended. It was the the first round of the Bicentennial League playoffs Feb. 9, and Harkins missed the front-end of a 1-and-1 in the final minute that could’ve sent the Knights to overtime against Bristol.

Instead, DC crashed out, 66-64, waiting more than a week to further its quest to return to the PIAA Class A tournament.

When that arrived, Harkins put the intervening week of practice-court atonement to good use, scoring 40 points — including a 20-for-20 day from the line — in an 83-49 thumping of No. 3 seed Calvary Baptist in the District One quarterfinals.

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