Delcohoops.com

By Matthew DeGeorge

Taken on their own, the elements of the play Saturday weren’t particularly extraordinary.

Chester wing Rahmaad DeJarnette stepped in to pick off a Parkland pass. He missed a shot, this one a fastbreak dunk attempt off back iron that clanged out more spectacularly then most. Akeem Taylor corralled the rebound, as he did so often Saturday, and dished back to DeJarnette to lay in off glass.

That confluence of events wasn’t the most spectacular moment in a 55-41 Chester win in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A tournament at Freedom High School’s Joseph J. McIntyre Gymnasium. But it illustrated the total control that Chester, the sixth seed from District 1, exerted over the Trojans when the Clippers turned the screws.

Even without leading scorer Karell Watkins, suspended for a violation of team rules per coach Keith Taylor, the Clippers (20-6) ran all over Parkland. The third-quarter margin was a game-deciding 25-5, with Chester forcing 16 total turnovers and turning them into offense at will.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matt Smith

It wasn’t the prettiest win, but Delco Christian isn’t complaining.The District 1 champion Knights are moving on to the second round of the PIAA Class 2A tournament after Saturday’s 56-47 triumph over District 12’s Strawberry Mansion.

Do the Knights (17-10) have work to do before Wednesday’s second-round contest with District 2 champion Holy Cross? You bet. Of course, a win’s a win …

The Knights appeared to have this one in the bag early on. With two minutes left in the first period, DC led 15-1 and there wasn’t a worry in the world. Strawberry Mansion (14-7) struggled to a 1-for-20 performance from the field in the first eight minutes. Mansion was chucking up (and bricking) 3-point shots at will.

Junior standout Jackson Piotrowski got off to a splendid start, banking two 3s and making plays on the defensive end. Junior big Obinna Nwobodo was causing havoc in the paint, gobbling up rebounds and getting to the foul line.

All was going well for DC until Mansion ramped up the pressure on defense.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Zach Sturniolo

The Cavaliers’ improbable run into states ended at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.Jeremiah Anderson scored 18 points and Christian Sapp added 11, but East Stroudsburg South fell 62-44 to Lower Merion in the first round of the PIAA Class 6A boys basketball tournament on Saturday afternoon.

Anderson, who did not start for the Cavaliers (15-2) after a violation of team rules, netted 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. But Lower Merion, the District 1 third-place program, had long pulled away before those points could matter.

“I knew what we were up against,” ES South coach Shawn Munford said. “I tried to prepare my team as best I could. We don’t see teams like this where we are.”

The Aces (23-3) used every advantage it could to break away early, whether that meant depth, long-range shooting or impeccable defense on Anderson, keeping the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference’s MVP double-teamed the entire game.

Lower Merion netted seven 3′s, five of which came in the first half, and outscored East Stroudsburg South 20-4 in the second frame.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Harry Chaykun

Before Archbishop Carroll took on Spring Grove in a PIAA Class 5A girls basketball opening-round game at Thomas Jefferson University Saturday, Patriots coach Renie Shields said there were things about the Rockets that had her concerned.“They’re going to want to shoot (3-pointers),” Shields said. “We know we have to be ready for that and play good defense or this could be a team that gives us trouble.”

The District 12 champion Patriots heard what was being preached to them and turned in a solid effort at both ends of the floor in earning a 56-34 decision over the Rockets, the seventh-place team from District 3.

Carroll will play a state tournament second-round game Wednesday against District 3 runner-up Gettysburg (23-6), which advanced with a 43-39 victory over West Chester Henderson Saturday.

Junior Erin Sweeney (6-for-10 shooting, including 4-for-6 on 3-point attempts) and freshman Grace O’Neill (8-for-11 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from behind the arc) shared scoring honors for Carroll with 20 points apiece as the Patriots shot 20-for-45 (44.4 percent), with 8-for-17 (47 percent) accuracy from long range. Sweeney also chipped in with seven rebounds, four steals, and one assist.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Jack McCaffery

With decades of results to draw on, there is little Bonner & Prendergast girls basketball coach Tom Stewart hasn’t seen, tried or mastered. So every 20-plus years or so, he figures, he will have the kind of talent that will thrive the way the Pandas did Saturday.

Aware that Bermudian Springs would likely go small for a PIAA Class 4A tournament opener, Stewart would choose to go smaller. Aware that a quick-strike offense would best suppress the Eagles’ upset notions, he would start not one guard, not two, not three, but four.

So he surrounded starting forward Ariana McGeary with unselfish, ball-handling guards Bridie McCann, Meave McCann, Alexis Eagan and Dakota McCaughan, watched the Pandas grab a quick lead and leave neutral-site Cardinal O’Hara with a thorough 59-35 victory.

The Pandas’ ball-control and passing were impressive. And, at least in Stewart’s experience, rare.

(click on this link for the full story)

By Matthew DeGeorge

You could forgive Missy Massimino for feeling good about her defensive effort at halftime Saturday afternoon.

Massimino’s Radnor team went into the break against Southern Lehigh down by nine points, and Massimino’s primary mark, Olivia Snyder, had eight points. But on just 4-for-13 shooting, Snyder could’ve done much more damage. Especially in light of the balloons and posters that would be brandished in the second half, it was a pretty gutsy effort from Massimino and company.

“I’ve done it all year against every team’s best player, so I have experience,” the guard said. “But she’s definitely one of the best I’ve played against.”

And for a player like Snyder, it’s less about stopping her than delaying the inevitable.

Snyder scored 25 points, including the 2,000th of her high school career, leading District 11 champion Southern Lehigh to a 58-27 win in the first round of the PIAA Class 5A tournament at Freedom High School’s Joseph J. McIntyre Gymnasium.

(click on this link for the full story)