Images

By Josh Verlin

The opening two quarters of a District 1 5A semifinal between No. 4 seed Bishop Shanahan and No. 8 Upper Merion couldn’t have been much uglier.

With every young athlete playing on by far the biggest stage of his career, both teams came out ice cold, combining for a grand total of 21 points in the game’s opening 16 minutes.

“A combination of defense and nerves,” Upper Merion head coach Jason Quenzer called it, though he admitted it was “maybe a little bit more nerves.”

With the way both the Vikings and Eagles were shooting the ball, it was only a matter of time before one of the two put something together.

Finally, after 13 missed 3-pointers over the game’s first 29 minutes, Upper Merion’s Andrew Persaud connected. And then, 30 seconds later, he hit from deep again.

The senior guard’s pair of 3-pointers in the game’s closing minutes sealed the deal as the Vikings advanced to the district championship game with a 45-30 win over the Eagles.

(click on this link for the full article)

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

 

By Anthony Dabbundo & Will Slover 

In a quarterfinal round that saw all but one game decided by four or less points, and all but one game won by the higher seed, four more than deserving teams advanced to the District 1 5A Quarterfinals, which will take place on Wednesday night at Temple University’s Liacouras Center.

Here’s a look at the night’s matchups:

Game 1: No. 2 Great Valley vs. No. 3 Penncrest (6:00 PM)
Penncrest is no stranger to fighting its way to wins in close contests.

Of its 24 games played this season, 16 of them were decided by single digits, and Penncrest came out on top in ten of those close-knit affairs.

With their last three games all being in that category of single-digit differences, the Lions (18-6) are getting ready to make a long playoff run using that close-game experience to battle through the dog days of late February and March.

After falling to Lower Merion on a buzzer-beater in the Central League semifinals and then topping Harriton by a score of 51-44 in the first-round of District play, Penncrest had quite possibly its toughest challenge yet in its quarterfinal contest with Wissahickon.

Thirty-two minutes of basketball weren’t enough in that one, as it took Penncrest until overtime to top the Trojans by a score of 60-56 and advance to the district semifinals.

“It’s kind of like we’ve been in that mode for a little while now,” Penncrest head coach Mike Doyle said. “We’re not built for blowouts and we’ve had a tremendous amount of close games. It’s just the way this team is built, we’re not going to blow anybody out. We’re in it for the long haul, that’s kind of what we try to do.”

(click on this link for the full article on both games)

(Webmaster’s note: Both PIAA, District 1, 5A semi-final games will be broadcast tonight on our Game-of-the-Week broadcast and will be heard LIVE and on our Archives by using the links on the left hand side of the page.)

 

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.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

The District One 6A semifinals at Temple University on Tuesday night will showcase three SOL squads – Plymouth Whitemarsh, Abington and Cheltenham. In the 6 p.m. contest, second-seeded PW will take on third-seeded Abington in a rematch of this year’s SOL title game. The Ghosts won that one 70-66.

For Abington and PW, trips to Temple for the district semis have become something close to the norm. The Colonials are making their fifth trip in as many years while the Ghosts are making their fourth trip in the past six years.

“You hope you don’t get to a point where you think it’s normal because then you’re probably in a bad place,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “You have to take a breath and say, ‘Wow, appreciate it.’

“You think about other coaches who are really terrific coaches and have never had a chance to experience it once. I have to stop and take a breath, appreciate 22 wins and another successful year for this group.”

For Cheltenham, which earned the program’s first trip to the state tournament since 2006, this is a brand new experience.

“We’re trying to find out ticket information and the details of the game,” coach John Timms said with a laugh. “It’s like no one really knows, and everyone is feeling their way.

“It’s very exciting, and it’s a good time to be a Panther.

Cheltenham is the lowest seeded team in the final four after upsetting the tournament’s number one seed, Perk Valley.

“Right now, it’s caught some by surprise,” Timms said. “It wasn’t as if it was last year’s team that was senior heavy with 10 seniors.

(click on this link for the full article)

By Ed Morlock

The Upper Merion boys basketball team has been through more ups and downs than it can count.

The Vikings won just three games in 2014-15, but responded the next year with a 13-win improvement and a district playoff berth. The season was highlighted by a double-digit win over eventual district champion and state semifinalist Plymouth Whitemarsh, but the Vikings season came to an end in the first round of districts with a two-point home loss to Academy Park.

The 2016-17 season got off to a fast start but quickly turned when their star center Matt Faw injured his foot and had to miss six weeks. The Holy Cross commit returned without missing a beat. He led the Vikings to a key win in the regular season finale and two district playoff victories. The latest was one of the biggest in school history — a three-point win at No. 1 seeded Chester to clinch the school’s first state playoff berth since 1993.

“After a few of the losses — some of the losing streaks — our heads were hanging a little bit,” senior forward Ethan Miller said. “But we knew if we made it into the playoffs that no matter what we’d have a chance. We’re good enough despite the seeding that we could make a run and do good things.”

“It’s incredible all that we’ve gone through as a group,” Upper Merion coach Jason Quenzer said. “From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs to all the in between. I think my biggest message throughout the whole season this year was when we lost games and didn’t win as many as we expected to win, I just said, ‘Guys listen. Ultimately we want to win as many possible games to put ourselves in a position where we have a home playoff game and the best possible seed, but ultimately all these experiences are going to give us something. That’s been the case since you guys have been here and wore a Vikings jersey.’ We’ve been in tight games where we’ve lost, we’ve been in tight games where we’ve won. I think we’ve kind of experienced the gamut. I don’t know how much more you can throw at these guys and say, ‘Have you experienced this yet?’ Most of the answers would be, ‘yes we have.’”

(Webmaster’s note: The Upper Merion vs Bishop Shanahan game is one of our Game-of-the-Week broadcasts this week and can be heard LIVE (and on Archive) by clicking on the link on the left hand side of the page.)

(click on this link for the full article)

By Delcohoops.com Staff

The two boy’s basketball PIAA 5A District One semi-finals are being held this Wednesday night, March 1st, at Temple’s Liacouras Center and Delcohoops.com is pleased to announce that we will be covering both games ‘LIVE’.

The Liacouras Center is a great place to watch a game but if you can’t make it you can pull up and chair and tune into Dave Burman, Mark Jordan, Mike Mayer and Pete Fulginiti as they describe all the action and give you an analysis of the game. Anyone with a an Internet connection, including most mobile devices, will be able to listen to the game. After the game is concluded it will be available in it’s entirety as an archive file.

The first game starts at 6:00 PM between Penncrest and Great Valley.  The second game is scheduled for a 7:30 PM tip-off between Upper Merion and Bishop Shanahan.  The winner of each game will face off at Villanova on Saturday, march 4th at 2:00 PM.

High school basketball never sounded so good!

By Andrew Robinson

Improbably, Wissahickon was in a position to possibly upset District 1-5A No. 3 seed Penncrest on the road.

Down six with 2:37 left, the Trojans had fought all the way back to force a tie game and had the ball with 7.5 seconds left, ready to take the last shot and possibly the win. All season, Penncrest has hung its hat on its ability to defend. Now, more than ever, that was going to be tested.

The Lions got their stop, the game went overtime and their electric junior guard Tyler Norwood did what he does best, scoring the go-ahead hoop to lead Penncrest to a 60-56 quarterfinal win Saturday night.

“It comes down to sometimes, the ball goes in or it doesn’t,” Trojans coach Kyle Wilson said. “They made a few more plays than we did and sometimes that’s the difference in the game. There were a lot of points where we could control that outcome, we had chances to win and sometimes it doesn’t come out the way you’d like it to.”

Norwood scored 30 points, including the 1,000th of his career, using his entire skillset to do so. The quick handle, the long 3-point shots, the drives, the ability to draw contact and even the gift of gab helped the undersized but deadly scorer go to work.

The first half was up-and-down basketball. Wiss jumped out to a 9-2 lead but Penncrest led 13-12 after one thanks to one of Norwood’s deep treys. The score at half was a 25-25 deadlock with Norwood scoring 14 and Wissahickon’s Zach Reiner having put in 13.

Reiner had a team-high 18 for Wissahickon and shot 6-of-12 from the floor but just 6-of-13 from the foul line. Still, he was able to get baskets and to the line against a physical Penncrest defense that guarded the Trojans very well as a unit.

“They’re a high-powered offense,” Penncrest coach Mike Doyle said. “They play in one of the toughest divisions around and their record doesn’t reflect how good they were. We made it a point the last two days of really working on their dribble drive offense, getting through screens, opening up and time and time again, we came up with big stops.”

(Webmaster’s note: The Wissahickon vs. Penncrest PIAA District One 5A playoff game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link on the left hand side of the page.)

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Harry Chaykun

Tyler Norwood wanted to talk about his teammates after he scored 30 points to help Penncrest to a 60-56 overtime PIAA District One Class 5A quarterfinal victory over Wissahickon at the Lions’ Kaufman Gymnasium Saturday night.
“It was about getting Justin (Ross) and the other seniors to Temple,” said Norwood, a junior who scored the 1,000th point of his varsity career with 1 minute, 55 seconds to play in the extra period.
Norwood, Ross and the third-seeded Lions qualified for the PIAA Class 5A tournament and will play in the district semifinal round against second-seeded Great Valley at Temple University Wednesday night.
Penncrest had to survive a wild fourth period in which it did not make a field goal (0-for-5), getting all seven of its points on five Norwood free throws and two by senior Chris Mills. Four of Norwood’s foul shots came with 4:44 left in the quarter when he was fouled and Wissahickon’s Shane Ford (12 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots) was charged with a technical foul in a scrum that followed the personal foul.
When Norwood was finished making those foul shots, his team had a 51-44 lead. Two minutes later, he was 1-for-2 at the line, ending a streak in which he hit a dozen in a row. Max Rapoport countered with a 3-point shot for the 11th-seeded Trojans, and Donovan Oliphant made two steals and tied the score at 52 with 1:44 to play.
Ross missed two foul shots with 1:32 on the clock, but Norwood forced Zach Gelman into a turnover with 5.7 seconds to play. Ross then couldn’t hit a long try at the buzzer.
“This game was won at the defensive end,” Penncrest coach Mike Doyle said. “That team has a high-powered offense, but we got stops when we had to.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Bruce Adams

After scoring 25 points in Westtown’s 64-49 victory against Episcopal Academy in the Pa. Independent Schools Athletic Association boys’ basketball championship game Saturday evening at Malvern Prep, Moose senior Brandon Randolph reflected on his team’s second consecutive PAISAA title as well as the final game of his illustrious high school career.

“When the [final] buzzer sounded, it was crazy,” said Randolph. “I was thinking how we made history, we won it again, and it was great to see how much all of [our teammates] had grown during my time here.”

Senior teammate Anthony Ochefu added, “This championship meant so much, winning it back-to-back with this group of seniors, and seeing how far we have come [in the last few years].”

Episcopal Academy (18-11) proved a tough foe for Westtown 32-2) in the final, and the Churchmen took a 32-30 lead with 3:42 left in the third quarter.

“I wasn’t surprised [that EA was leading],” said Westtown head coach Seth Berger. “We couldn’t run [at that point] — EA’s transition game was awesome and they were very patient on offense. EA is a talented and well-coached team. But then our talent took over, and [our players] turned it on.”

The talented Westtown squad responded with a 23-4 run that gave the Moose a 53-36 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Westtown, with a roster stacked with talented Division I level players, has been drawing large crowds as of late, and Saturday evening at Malvern Prep was no exception. Once the gym was filled to capacity, would-be attendees had to be turned away.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Steve Moore

As the throng of Great Valley students poured from the stands at the final buzzer and surrounded their victorious schoolmates, one final, simple chant engulfed the circle of jumping, happy teenagers.

“Temple, Temple.”

It signified the obvious, that the Patriots will head into Philadelphia for the District 1 Class 5A boys basketball semifinals Wednesday night.

Second-seeded Great Valley snapped a tie with under two minutes to go, while scoring four of the game’s last points, to outlast No. 10 Springfield (Delco), 41-38. The Patriots head to the Liacouras Center to face No. 3 Penncrest in the first semifinal on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Springfield falls into the consolation round with a chance to make the PIAA tournament still in the offing.

“It feels great to be going to Temple knowing that we played most of our season without Alex Capitano (who missed significant time due to a broken hand),” said Nate Graeff. “We came together as a team. Team ball pays off.”

Great Valley (18-6) came up with some key defensive stops in the fourth quarter, holding the Cougars (14-11) without a field goal for the final four minutes, 57 seconds of the game. They took lead for good on a perfectly executed backdoor layup by Capitano with 1:42 left.

The Patriots held a tenuous 28-27 lead after three quarters, which they quickly extended to three on a Capitano basket. They held the advantage at 35-31 with 5:07 left following a 3-point basket by Gavin Frankenheimer. Jordan McKenzie quickly silenced the home crowd by rebounding a missed shot for the bucket and the foul. The resultant free throw made it 35-34 with under five minutes to play. What nobody in the gym would know at the time would be that was the last basket for Springfield.

“We played it right,” Graeff said in amazement when told about the feat. “They’re a well-rounded team with a lot of guys eho can score, so to hold them without a basket for that long is incredible.”

(click on this link for the full article)