By Andrew Kaufman
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Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Naheem McLeod, right, seen defending Bonner & Prendergast’s Tariq Ingraham during a game last season, will lead the Colonials against Haverford in the first round of the District 1 Class 6A tournament Friday night. Photo by: Digital First Media
By Matthew DeGeorge
On Keith Heinerichs’ Xs and Os board, there are certain things you can diagram. Matching up with someone who stands 7-foot-2 – or 7-3, or 7-4, depending on the listing – isn’t exactly in the arsenal.
So when Heinerichs’ Haverford team squares off with Plymouth Whitemarsh, anchored by gargantuan center Naheem McLeod, in the first round of the District 1 Class 6A playoffs Friday, the Fords will do their best to limit the Colonials’ vertical prowess.
“I don’t think you do,” Heinerichs said about handling such height. “I don’t think there’s an answer to stopping someone of that height. I think it’s a game plan where it’s about team defense. It’s not only him. They’ve got two other 6-7 kids in their lineup. It’s daunting. I haven’t seen a front lineup (like that) since Glen Mills in the 1980s.”
Heinerichs shares those plans without intimidation in his voice, though. Yes, the 22nd seeded Fords (12-9) have a tall task at hand with a nucleus making its first playoff appearance. But the Fords are embracing it, even if their front line is similarly ambiguous in terms of height, albeit at a lower altitude.
By Matthew DeGeorge
Conversations about separate PIAA championships for public and private schools, no matter how vociferous the proponents, have always reached the same dead end.
Pennsylvania’s General Assembly, so goes the well-worn logic, would never allow it. The legislature, via Act 219 of 1972, bound together private and public schools under the PIAA; any procedural decoupling of state champs runs counter to that law, by letter or spirit, and opens the threat of litigation or worse.
This week, a maneuver to remove that legislative impediment has presented itself.
State Representative Scott Conklin (D-77) of Centre County intends to propose a bill that would amend that statute in a way that could give the PIAA the ability to crown separate champions.
“One of the reasons we’re doing that is that the PIAA has said that they’re worried that they’d be open to litigation if they pursued this,” Conklin told the Daily Times Thursday. “By passing this piece of legislation, we (would) now allow the PIAA to set these tournaments up, that they can’t be litigated against.”
Lower Merion’s Julian Hairston floats to the hoop for a layup in the second quarter of the Aces’ 63-31 dismantling of Penncrest in the Central League final at Harriton Wednesday night. (Pete Bannan/Digital First Media)
By Matthew DeGeorge
No matter how hard Penncrest tries, there is no happy ending, just heartbreak, when it plays Lower Merion.And so, it was here Wednesday night.
Instead of losing dramatically at the buzzer, which is where the series was stuck for the last handful of games, the Lions welcomed the final buzzer as the Aces put together a game for the ages to win their third straight Central League championship.
Jack Forrest scored a game-high 17 points, Steve Payne contributed a dozen points and seven assists and Josh Martin added 10 points and 12 rebounds to lead Lower Merion to a runaway 63-31 triumph, the Aces’ sixth Central League title in eight years.
What was left of the partisan crowd began singing Queen’s “We Are the Champions” with much too much time left on this school night.
(click on this link for the full story)
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Webmaster’s note: The Central League Boy’s Championship game between Lower Merion and Springfield was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard in its entirety below or on our Archived Broadcasts link listed in the menu at the top of our page.
Andrew Kaufman interviews LM’s Steve Payne after their victory. The interview can be found on the game archive at the 1:23:48 mark. Photo by Delcohoops.com
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Garnet Valley senior Emily McAteer goes to the net in the fourth quarter against Springfield. McAteer scored a game-high 27 points in a 57-52 win for Garnet Valley in Wednesday’s Central League final. Pete Bannan — Digital First Media
By Matt Smith
In terms of size and all-around skill, few teams in the area can match up with Garnet Valley.
Certainly, the Emily McAteer-Brianne Borcky combo has presented nightmares to many teams ever since the four-year varsity standouts were freshmen. Just one Central League team — Springfield — has figured out a way to beat Garnet Valley during that span.
In last year’s Central League final, Springfield capitalized on several Garnet Valley turnovers (14 of them after the first quarter), hit timely shots and held McAteer and Borcky to a quiet 15 points each. The result? Garnet Valley’s incredible streak of four consecutive Central League championships was over, and Springfield’s reign had begun.
“We never forgot last year,” McAteer said Wednesday, “and ever since the first day of practice, we did everything we could to get it back.”
The Jags’ comeback mission, initiated in offseason open gyms, was completed Wednesday night at Harriton. GV’s all-senior starting lineup of McAteer, Borcky, Jillian Nagy, Morgan Falcone and Madi McKee captured their third Central League title with a 57-52 victory.
Click on this icon for the complete Box Scores for this game!
Webmaster’s note: The Central League Girl’s Championship game between Springfield and Garnet Valley was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard in its entirety below or on our Archived Broadcasts link listed in the menu at the top of our page.
(click on this link for the full story)
Andrew Kaufman interviews GV’s Emily McAteer after winning the Central League Girl’s basketball championship. The interview with can be heard at the 1:47:00 mark of our archived broadcast.
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Roman Catholic’s Lynn Greer, seen in a game against Carroll last year, had his request for a waiver to participate in the postseason denied by the PIAA. (DFM file)
By Matthew DeGeorge
The 2019 PIAA Class 6A tournament will take place without one of the stars of the 2018 postseason.
Roman Catholic guard Lynn Greer III is ineligible for the tournament after an application for a hardship waiver was rejected, according to several officials with the PIAA.
Though Roman Catholic is still exploring legal avenues around the ruling, the PIAA’s stance is that the star guard is ineligible for district and inter-district competition. He can play for the Cahillites as they pursue a second straight Philadelphia Catholic League title, in which they open play as the top seed Friday. But he is ineligible for the District 12 placement game and for the PIAA tournament.
The 6-3 junior point guard transferred last spring to Oak Hill Academy, a national basketball power and boarding school in Virginia. But he never settled in there and returned to Roman before the 2018-19 season began without playing a game for Oak Hill.
