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By Matthew De George

Solely paging through boxscores, it’s tempting to write off Penncrest as merely Tyler Norwood and a cast of supporting players.

The explosive junior guard is the only Lion averaging in double-figures this season. His 23.2 points per game account for 45.6 percent of the team’s scoring.

But it’s rare that the one-man-team paradigm carries as far as Penncrest has ventured this year. As the Lions prepare for the District 1 Class 5A final Saturday afternoon at Villanova, the imperative for No. 8 seed Upper Merion will involve more than simply bottling up Norwood.

Offensively, at least, the “Norwood as everything” storyline largely holds. He scored 21 of the team’s 41 points in the semifinal win over Great Valley and 30 of 60 in banishing Wissahickon in overtime in the semis. He’s tallied 50 percent or more of his team’s points in 10 of the Lions’ 26 games this season.

Success by that blueprint still requires sizeable contributions elsewhere — 9.1 points per game from Justin Ross, 8.1 from Mike Mallon — but with Norwood also handling the point, his offensive threat opens opportunities. When Penncrest is on, everything flows from Norwood.

But that’s only one aspect of the game, and the defensive side of the ball offers Penncrest a greater chance to get everyone involved.

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(Webmaster’s note: The Upper Merion vs Penncrest District One Championship game will be broadcast as our Game-of-the-Week today. You can link to the game on the left hand side of the page.)

 

 

By Josh Verlin

Back in January, it looked like the wheels were falling off the Penncrest wagon.

After ripping off a dozen straight wins following two season-opening losses, Mike Doyle’s Lions were riding high in the Central League. Then came four consecutive defeats: at Conestoga and Strath Haven, at home against Harriton and Lower Merion, in that order.

Suddenly, Penncrest went from a team that was in the running to finish the regular season undefeated and earn a berth straight into the league’s championship game to one that was starting to slide towards missing the four-team Central playoffs entirely.

It was a difficult stretch on the schedule, to be sure, but something wasn’t quite right in the Lions’ den.

“I just think that we lost a little bit of chemistry between each other, it wasn’t really anything big,” junior guard Tyler Norwood said. “I think that the Conestoga game got some people a little shaken up.”

“The low point, the soul-searching moment was giving up 69 points to Harriton,” Doyle said, referencing the third of those four, a 69-63 loss to the Rams on Jan. 27. “We just had to say ‘that’s not us,’ we had to get back and guard and that’s what we’ve done all year.”

(click on this link for the full article)

(Webmaster’s note: The Upper Merion vs Penncrest District One Championship game will be broadcast as our Game-of-the-Week today. You can link to the game on the left hand side of the page.)

 

By Bob Grotz

Chester High coach Larry Yarbray wasn’t in the mood to talk about reaching the 20-win mark for the seventh time in the last nine seasons following a 48-45 triumph over Springfield Friday night.

Not after the Clippers blew almost all of a 16-point halftime lead by going scoreless in the third quarter. Preliminarily, the Clippers haven’t been blanked in a quarter in at least 26 years, and possibly longer, according to a statistician who obviously didn’t have those scoresheets handy.

Whether the Clippers are playing for fifth-place in the District 1 Class 5A playoffs, which was the case with the Cougars, or the district championship, a goose egg for Chester High is unbearable.

“We scored zero points and the defensive intensity was flat,” Yarbray said. “But we get a chance to play next Friday in the states. So that’s the positive thought in my brain. And we’ve got a week to get there. A win’s a win right now. But we’ve got to want it more.”

The next chance the Clippers (20-6) get to show they can play four full quarters of basketball is against Milton Hershey, the third seed in District 3.

It’s hard to believe Milton Hershey has the perimeter shooting stroke of Springfield (15-11), which plays the winner of the District 2 title game between Abington Heights and West Scranton.

The Cougars made 11 three-point shots, including four in that infamous third quarter to slice a 32-16 halftime lead to just four points entering the final frame.

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By Tyler Sandora

It has been an exciting year for Penn Wood, to say the least.

After winning the talented Del-Val conference, winning its first two games in district play, qualifying for the 6A state tournament, and winning 12 of their last 15 games, first year head coach Matt Lindeman couldn’t be prouder of his team.

The senior-laden Patriots added onto their successful season with a 68-56 win over Perkiomen Valley Friday night, clinching the No. 7 seed out of District 1 in the PIAA 6A state tournament.

They’ll play either Hazelton or Williamsport — who face off tomorrow in the District 2/4 6A championship — in the first round of the state bracket next Saturday, March 11.

“This season speaks about how much work these guys have put in,” Lindeman said. “Most of the team returned from last season when the were about .500, so it’s great to see them doing well.”

Penn Wood, who beat Neshaminy and Pennsbury convincingly to open up district play, had dropped their last two games to Abington and Conestoga. Now the Patriots (19-8) will enter the state tournament on a win, providing them with an special ingredient they need to be successful.

Energy.

“We need to move the ball to create energy,” Ghee said. “We play our best when we play like that. We’re going to go at whoever we play with energy.”

The Patriots were guided by a pair of seniors, Kairi Jones and Pernell Ghee, two of the 10 on the roster.

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By Delcohoops.com

In less than four full seasons our web site has passed 450,000 hits!  What a wonderful testament to high school basketball fans in Delaware County and through-out the Philly area.

We have 23 high schools in Delaware County but those schools, year after year, offer some of the best high school basketball anywhere!  We rely on the Daily Times, City of Love Basketball and Philly.com web sites to provide coverage of games and news which we review every day and then link from our web site.  That allows our readers to quickly review the information from these major sources and link directly to their stories. We wouldn’t be nearly as interesting a read without these terrific sources.

We also provide the only regular source of game broadcasting for high school basketball in the area.  That’s not so easy with 23 schools and over 400 games in only a 10-week season (not including playoffs).  Of course our games are not only LIVE but are available on our archives so that the players themselves as well as family and friends can tune in to the game anytime after it has concluded and listen to the full broadcast.

Best of all this web site and our broadcasts are completely free to our readers and listeners and that would not be possible without the very generous support of our sponsors.  It takes several thousand dollars to do all that we do and every year the businesses on the right side of our page step up and send us their support.  If you ever need their services please contact them and let them know that you are a Delcohoops.com fan and your appreciate their support.

A special shout-out to Burmans Medical Supplies who has made a special effort of support to make sure we can broadast right through the playoffs, no matter where they take us and who is playing! 

We still have a week of so to go until the season ends!  It’s been a great ‘ride’ and we look forward to many more years to come.

By Rick O’Brien

In the inaugural year for six PIAA boys’ basketball classifications, there are four District 1 championship games and one District 1-11 subregional final on tap this weekend.

By Pete Digiovanni

The old adage that defense wins championships could certainly apply to Penncrest’s 41-33 victory over Great Valley on Wednesday night at Temple’s Liacouras Center in the District 1 Class 5A semifinals. Although no championship was claimed Wednesday, it may lead to one.

The third-seeded Lions (20-6) harassed the second-seeded Patriots into a one-for-10 shooting nightmare in the fourth period, outscoring them, 12-5, to punch their ticket into the disrirct championship game against No. 8 Upper Merion on Saturday at The Pavilion at Villanova University.

“I mean shooting like that in the fourth period is not going to get it done,” Great Valley coach Paul Girone said. ”They took our back screens away and we had to settle for too many jump shots tonight. They out-rebounded us, and had 12 second-chance points.”

Junior Tyler Norwood led all scorers with 21 points, while Mike Mallon added 11. It was Norwood’s six-for-seven at the foul line in the decisive fourth period that was key for the Lions. Alex Capitano and Gavin Frankenheimer had nine points each.

“It is great for the community, the school and the kids that worked so hard to be going to Villanova,” Penncrest coach Mike Doyle said. “We thought at the beginning of the season that we wanted two home games and get to Temple, and now, I guess it is Villanova. We are very excited to be playing for a district title.

(click on this link for the full article)

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

 

By Bob Grotz

The last time Chester played, senior Jordan Camper looked at the clock winding down in a loss to Upper Merion and mistakenly thought the season was over.

The PIAA’s eccentric District 1 5A playoff system will do that to you.

Camper obviously was relieved that he had been wrong. You could see it in the way he answered with 16 points and a powerful low post presence Wednesday night, sparking the Clippers to a 64-45 win over West Chester Rustin and a berth in the state tournament.

“We all wanted to play as hard as we could,” Camper said. “We didn’t want to have that same feeling tonight.”

The Clippers (19-6) host Delaware County neighbor Springfield Friday night for seeding in the state tourney. The Golden Knights must beat Wissahickon to qualify for states.

The Clippers had to work to get this victory, as they trailed after one quarter and led by just four points at the intermission.

A 14-3 run to end the third quarter ended the suspense. Camper, Ahrod Carter (15 points) and Jamar Sudan (12 points) scored four points each in that outburst, one fueled by full- and half-court presses and a blistering tempo. It sure looks like the Clippers are back.

“It was our defense,” Carter said. “We played hard and well on defense. We slid on every rotation right. We got the proper spacing on the floor. We just got the job done tonight. I think (the press) made them nervous. I don’t think they had a ball-handler, in my opinion. And when you don’t have a ball-handler, you can go haywire. They made their run. We knew we were going to make our run. We’re known for defense and getting on the break and run and hustle. We’re not really a half-court team.”

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By Austin Petolillo

In the sports world, perhaps no four words invite more drama than “win or go home.”

That was the case for both Pennsbury and Lower Merion boy’s basketball teams, who met Tuesday night in a District 1 6A playback: winner moves onto states, loser is done for the year.

With the stakes at it’s highest, one team showed that no matter the deficit, they were not going to let this be their last game of the season,

That team was the Lower Merion Aces, who stormed back from down as much as 10 points to come out on top over the Pennsbury Falcons, 58-55.

Leading the Aces comeback was senior wing guard Terrell Jones, who scored 24 points for Lower Merion, while also adding seven rebounds.

As a senior, Jones is used to these pressure filled, raucous crowd, win or go home type of games.

“I love the pressure, I love the big moments, their fan section was crazy, our fan section was crazy, they came out an hour away to cheer us on.” Jones said. “People don’t realize how much fans really help.”

Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer and the rest of the Aces squad have shown that they perform best in a win or go home situation, going 3-0 in elimination games this season.

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By Harry Chaykun

Springfield basketball coach Kevin McCormick was happy to see the school’s student body well-represented in the stands as the Cougars hosted Wissahickon in a PIAA District One Class 5A playback game Wednesday night.

The students who watched the home team earn a 68-62 decision were happy to join in a post-game celebration as Springfield earned the chance to compete in the state tournament for the first time since 2010.

It wasn’t easy, though.

The Cougars won despite falling behind by 14 points in the third period, when they made only one field goal in eight minutes. There was an intentional foul against Springfield that helped Wissahickon built its lead by scoring 12 consecutive points.

The strangest situation during all of this craziness occurred when Trojans junior Marlyn Jordan was fouled on his way to the hoop. The ball never did go through the basket, but the officials conferred before ruling that the goal counted. They never did make it clear that they were awarding two points because of a violation such as goaltending.

“I’m glad it didn’t turn out to be a one- or two-point game in their favor,” McCormick said with a smile.

Springfield will visit Chester Friday night in the district’s fifth-place game. Among the things that made that possible was senior Zach Chevalier tossing in a 3-point shot at the buzzer ending the third period to cut Wissahickon’s lead to 10. The Cougars got hot from the floor from there and took advantage of the double-bonus from the foul line for the final 5:43 of the game.

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