Delcohoops.com

By Rick O’Brien

From fifth grade through his sophomore year at Strath Haven, John Harrar focused on basketball.

“I thought I was going to stick with the sport and play it in college,” the 6-foot-8, 230-pound senior said. “But then the coach [longtime Panthers football boss Kevin Clancy] kept bugging me to come out for the team.”

Harrar fared well as a junior defensive end and then, in the recently completed season, was highly impressive as a two-way end. He earned first-team all-Central League honors on both sides of the ball.

“I got stronger physically and learned from the coaches the ins and outs of the game’s technical aspects,” the 17-year-old said. “Now I’m leaning toward playing football in college.”

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Matthew De George

When Chester’s boys basketball schedule dropped a few months back, you can bet Tuesday night’s game was the first one circled by orange pens around the city.

Blue-chipper Lonnie Walker, a highly-touted installment of perennial state-title contender Reading — and oh-by-the-way the team that ended Chester’s 2015-16 season — brought all the makings of a special night at the Fred Pickett Memorial Gymnasium.

In just about every way, a young but bright Chester squad obliged the hype with a 62-51 win that overshadowed the bright star that is the Miami-bound Walker.

The defense-first performance was vintage Chester, nullifying Walker’s usual sizeable influence on the game. The high-flying wing had a pair of his obligatory, gravity-defying dunks. But his 13 points included a scant three in the second half and a ghostly impact.

(Webmaster’s note: This 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 Matthew De George

We’re just over a week – and a busy week at that – into the boys basketball season, and there have been some interesting developments. The first one that stands out is how open and high-scoring play has been. Tuesday’s loaded slate presents the 12th play day of the PIAA winter. Yet already, 2016-17 has seen as many Delco players tally games of 30 points or more as did all of last season. Those six players have accounted for seven 30-point outings (Chichester’s DaQuan Granberry is the repeat), a far cry from last year’s 16. This year’s tally also doesn’t (yet?) involve Nick Alikakos, the Episcopal Academy forward who topped 30 points on five occasions last year.

This prevalence of top scorers is neither good nor bad, per se. Many offenses are built around one marquee scorer, certainly, but whether that’s a long-term drawback isn’t yet clear. It does, however, portend a fair amount of unpredictability game-to-game. And in a traditionally close-to-the-vest league like the Central, the presence of an explosive scorer like Tyler Norwood, Austin Laughlin or Brandon Starr can shift a game quickly.

 

That brings us to the hierarchy this week, where the order is more-or-less similar, with one sizeable exception. (Records based on games through Monday, Dec. 19)

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Tim Hindin

The Jenkintown boys basketball team hits the court this year with four new starters, though three of the four have logged significant varsity minutes prior to this season.

The only returning starter from last season is guard Jamison Kolb. The Drakes are going to rely on the gritty senior heavily this season and Tuesday night they needed him to bail them out.

Jenkintown used the 29-point performance from Kolb to hold off a late surge from Delco Christian to escape with a 63-57 Bicentennial Athletic League win.

“Jamison Kolb has been a part of a lot of success for Jenkintown basketball,” Jenkintown coach Wes Emme said. “He was our leading scorer as a freshman in the postseason. He’s a tremendous shooter and confident ball handler and he’s tough as nails and those three things usually go well together.”

It’s easy to get caught up on the offense number that Kolb puts up but the way he puts them up is sometimes inexplicable. Kolb is not a big body by any means yet still somehow finds a way to get many of his points in the paint. Tuesday night he also showcased his free throw shooting ability as he knocked down 15 of 17 while hitting his first 13.

(click on this link for the full article)

 

By Matthew De George

 In their third game in four days, trailing after a sluggish opening quarter, Bonner & Prendergast senior guard Christian Lane could’ve looked for excuses. He and his fellow Friars could’ve sought an out, against a well-rested and game Academy Park side on its home court.

Instead, they just decided to look for Ajiri Johnson in the paint … again and again and again.

The Nigerian-born center scored 23 points to go with 17 boards as Bonner & Prendie continued its unbeaten start with a 64-46 nonleague win Monday night.

That result came on the heels of Sunday’s domination of Simon Gratz, itself less than 48 hours removed from a long ride Friday to beat Beaver Falls on a last-second Tymir Cooper 3-pointer.

So when AP, in its first game in nine days, hit the Friars for the night’s first five points and led 13-8 after one stanza, Bonner & Prendie didn’t opt for the ready-made cop-out.

“I told the kids, we could always use it as an excuse if you want to,” coach Jack Concannon said. “We played yesterday, Friday. I said, good teams don’t make excuses.”

(click on this link for the full article and more game scores)

 

By Michael Bullock

Here’s installment No. 1 of City of Basketball Love’s state rankings, a package that will appear on Mondays throughout the remainder of the regular season.

We did showcase a set of preseason rankings in the lead up to the opening weekend (Dec. 9-10) and those groupings will serve as a starting point — since we’re going to shuffle some things around based on the early returns.

Appearing below are all six of our top 10s, with PIAA district and this season’s record displayed in parentheses. Only those schools competing for PIAA state championships are eligible for ranking purposes.

 

(click on this link for all six classification rankings)