Delcohoops.com

By Bob Grotz

 A dunk, not a three-point shot, was the turning point Wednesday in Chester’s frenetic 76-65 triumph over Harrisburg in the second round of the PIAA Class 6A boys playoffs at the Geigle Complex.No one would have thought that possible after viewing the second quarter.

Fortunately for Chester, Akeem Taylor’s emphatic slam with 1:17 to go snuffed out the last bit of hope for three-point happy Harrisburg, advancing the Clippers to the quarterfinals, where they oppose Coatesville Saturday.

The Clippers had to win the game twice after taking a double-digit lead into the second quarter because the Cougars went all Steph Curry on them, draining five three-pointers.

The Clippers were outscored, 30-19, in the frame. With each Harrisburg three-point shot, the crowd was on its feet.

The dunk quieted the sizable Harrisburg following for good. It gave the Clippers a nine-point lead and sent several spectators toward the exits.

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By Matthew DeGeorge

Delco Christian had a plan on offense Wednesday afternoon. Holy Cross knew it, every which way.

A smaller Crusaders defense understood that in order to mitigate the threat of Obinna Nwobodo and Jacob Bronkema in the post and the lanky Jackson Piotrowski driving to the hoop, they’d have to defend proactively. So a 2-3 zone, with constant post denial against bigger marks, was the order of the day.

Add in foul frustration and the Crusaders’ dogged work on the boards, and it was a long day for DC.

With Piotrowski accounting for nearly half of Delco Christian’s points, the Knights didn’t have enough steam to get past Holy Cross, losing 50-38 in the second round of the PIAA Class 2A boys basketball tournament at Bethlehem Freedom High School.

“We knew (Nwobodo), he’s a really good post player,” Holy Cross guard Tyler Mozeleski said. “So we wanted to get in front of him and make sure he didn’t get the ball as easy as he did in some other games, because if he did, chances are he’s probably going to score. Same thing with (Piotrowski). We wanted to take him out of the game and make him do things he didn’t want to do.”

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By Matthew DeGeorge

By process of elimination, you could’ve easily arrived at Bonner & Prendergast’s approach against Madison Borum Wednesday.

What the Pandas wouldn’t do, in their PIAA Class 4A second-round contest with Lake-Lehman at Bethlehem Freedom High, was allow the 6-1, 1,000-point scorer to match up with any Panda one-on-one. They wouldn’t try in vain to match her height. So the only logical choice was a variety of zone looks that allowed every Panda, from 5-4 Dakota McCaughan literally on up, to get a chance to stem the tide.

Together, they assembled a superlative performance, Bonner & Prendie muting the District 2 champ into a 54-34 thumping to advance to the state’s Elite Eight.

“It was either to have Alexis Gleason or Ariana McGeary to get in front of her and definitely try to keep her out as much as we can and to block any passes that they were looking for her in the middle,” guard Maeve McCann said. “Every passer was looking for the middle. So the guards were trying to jump and help the big girls, because they were definitely having a game with her. They did a great job on her.”

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By Bob Grotz

When Archbishop Carroll gets it going, you can’t tell the difference between House and Huss.

You just know you’re in trouble, which was the case Tuesday night when senior shooter Luke House and big Tairi “Huss” Ketner took over the third quarter to lift the Patriots to a 74-62 win over Lancaster Catholic and reach the elite eight in the PIAA Class 4A tournament.

The duo combined for a dozen points in a 17-3 run that turned a four-point lead into a 58-40 wrap entering the final frame.

“I call House-House and then I call Huss-Huss,” Carroll coach Francis Bowe said of the plays he calls from the sideline. “We want to go inside-out with those two. We challenged House in the locker room at the half. We said ‘Luke, get going.’ If Luke gets going, Huss gets going. If we can get outside-inside going all game, that’s when the runs really start happening.”

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By Matt DeGeorge

The tears in Vinny DeAngelo’s eyes Tuesday night weren’t caused by the ankle he sprained in the first round of the PIAA tournament last Friday. But the extra fire he brought to Tuesday night’s second-round matchup with Northern York was no doubt augmented by the pain in his leg, which kept him out of practice the last three days.

So with Sun Valley’s survival in the PIAA Class 5A tournament teetering in the face of a five-point Polar Bears lead in the third quarter, no one had to ask DeAngelo to do a little extra.

“I just couldn’t let that be my last practice,” he said, first as vow to himself, then as a postgame sound bite.

DeAngelo led Sun Valley with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but in shutting down Northern York’s Ryan McGill in the second half, he allowed the Vanguards to crawl back from that deficit to a 61-53 win Tuesday night at Garden Spot High School.

The win moves Sun Valley (21-7) into the quarterfinals to take on reigning PIAA champ Abington Heights. The District 2 champ eked by Mastery Charter North, 54-52.

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By Matt Smith

 There wasn’t much Penncrest could do.The Lions knew they were in for a battle Tuesday night at Harriton High against District 12 champion Archbishop Wood.

The Lions also knew they had to play a flawless four quarters of basketball to have any shot at winning their PIAA Class 5A second-round playoff game.

Early on, it wasn’t looking too bad. The Lions were ahead by five points in the opening minutes and trailed by two at the beginning of the second quarter.

But Penncrest could only hang on for so long. Wood forced turnovers, popped 3-pointers and scored fast-break points during a game-changing run in the second quarter. The exclamation point was a steal and a one-handed slam dunk by Daeshon Shepherd in the last seconds of the first half.

Penncrest headed into the locker room down eight points and never recovered. Archbishop Wood ended the Lions’ season with a 61-38 victory.

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