Delcohoops.com

By Matt Smith

The Radnor and Chester boys basketball teams have earned the top two seeds in the District 1 Class 5A tournament.

Top-seeded Radnor (21-2), which plays Lower Merion in the Central League final Monday, meets the winner of No. 8 Sun Valley (14-9) and No. 9 Holy Ghost Prep (13-9) in the quarterfinal round on Feb. 22.

Del Val League champion and No. 2 Chester (15-3) awaits the winner of No. 7 Marple Newtown (13-8) and 10th-seedes Rustin (11-11) in the quarterfinals.

No. 12 Chichester (9-12) travels to fifth-seeded Penncrest (14-8) in the opening round on Friday.

Six teams qualify for the PIAA Class 5A tournament.

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Webmaster’s note: Selected PIAA District One playoff games will be broadcast LIVE right here on Delcohoops.com. Check out our Schedules page for which games will be broadcast! 

By Matthew DeGeorge

The mantra from the Radnor bench Saturday, as it has been most of the season, was getting to three. Three straight stops, the rallying cry goes, and you can create serious cushion on the scoreboard.

In a raucous first quarter of the Central League semifinal against Haverford Saturday afternoon, those stops eluded them. But once the Raptors dutifully ground out one, then two, then three stout defensive possessions in a row, the momentum snowballed … all the way into a Central League final.

Radnor put the clamps on Haverford over the fin

al three quarters, riding 21 points and 14 rebounds from Jackson Hicke to a 53-38 win.

Second-seeded Radnor (20-2) advances to Monday night’s final against top-seeded Lower Merion. The game is at Ridley at 7:45. The Aces routed No. 4 Conestoga, 55-33, in the other semifinal.

Radnor led, 20-17, after an opening quarter in which both offenses had the run of the gym. But Radnor’s defense adjusted more quickly and more thoroughly to grab the advantage.

“I think we just have to keep talking together, staying together and committing,” point guard Danny Rosenblum said. “We always say, three stops in a row, because our offense really feeds from our defense, and just committing to it is our game plan.”

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By Jerome Taylor

Once Jackson Hicke pulled down the defensive rebound, he hit his stride quickly and got to the rim for a coast-to-coast finish. 

The very next play, he drove down the middle of the lane, finished a layup through contact and completed the and-one. Hicke’s personal 5-0 run sent Radnor to the locker room at halftime with an eight-point lead over Haverford. 

And they didn’t look back. 

The junior finished with 21 points and 15 rebounds in the 53-38 victory, and now the Raptors are heading to the Central League finals. 

“Jackson has had that in him all year…he’s so intelligent, and he learned this whole year how to get himself ready for this moment,” Radnor head coach Jamie Chadwin said. “[Haverford] is one of the best defensive teams you’re going to see, and it didn’t matter to him. He’s going to find a way to get the space he needed and be aggressive and put his best out there against their best.”

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By Matt Smith

The third time was the charm for Marple Newtown and Garnet Valley.

In the Central League semifinals Saturday, the Tigers and Jaguars avenged regular-season heartbreaks, clinching their sports to Monday’s final (Ridley, 6 p.m.).

Marple defeated No. 2 Springfield, 45-40, in overtime. Nikki Mostardi hit a floater to give the Tigers the lead in overtime, and Mary O’Brien was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 30 seconds to seal the victory.

The third-seeded Tigers (17-5) were winless in two contests against the Cougars, the reigning league champions.

“It was a monkey off our backs,” coach Ryan Wolski said. “It was a close game the entire time. The kids battled. They wanted it. (Springfield’s Taylor Hunyet) hit two big free throws for them (to tie the game in the fourth quarter). Same kid who made them to beat us last time. I was thinking, oh no, here we go again.”

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By Joseph Santoliquito

Mary O’Brien remembers it well. The Marple Newtown junior guard lived through all of the Senior Nights her freshman year. O’Brien recalls specifically the time the Tigers visited Springfield when the school was awarding its state championship rings to its lacrosse team.

That’s where the Tigers were—the team under the welcome mat that opposing teams could shovel out for special occasions and guaranteed victories.

O’Brien, a three-year starting guard, had been waiting three years for this. The Marple Newtown girls’ basketball community more than doubled that time, stretching back to 2015—that’s the last time the Tigers beat perennial Central League powerhouse Springfield (Delco).That long wait ended on Saturday afternoon in a raucous, rousing Springfield gym, where Marple Newtown dealt the two-time defending PIAA District 1 Class 5A champs and defending Central League champs a 45-40 overtime defeat in the Central League semifinals.

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