The Gym Rat, BB 2011-12

DEC. 9
NON-LEAGUE
PHILADELPHIA ACADEMY 62, COMMUNITY ACADEMY OF PHILADELPHIA 28
Opening week of high school basketball is an exciting time for the city of Philadelphia because there is a lot of talent across the city that is very entertaining to watch. Philadelphia Academy Charter High School is not known to have much basketball talent besides having Donte Shorter ('07) and Allan Dempster ('10). They do have a very young and talented team led by coach Dave Brown. Last season Brown stepped down as head coach and let his former Franklin Towne Charter player Kyle Glover coach the Chargers. With Kyle moving on to other things, Mr. Brown is back on the throne and ready to teach his young and youthful kids the right way to play the game. Last season when PACHS faced CAP they easily defeated them 59-27. It was like déjà vu all over again with the score and outcome. What cost Community Academy of Philadelphia last season was bad passes, turnovers, and forced shots. All of the same factors occurred in tonight’s game. PACHS opened up the first quarter with dominance and determination to attack CAP early. PACHS outscored CAP 19-2 in the opening quarter lead by Juniors Elijah Crandall (19 Points) and Joey Flynn (18 Points). Both combined with thirteen of the team’s twenty one points. CAP did not score their first bucket until 5:40 into first quarter which was scored by Fr. PG Khalil Smith (4 Points). Second quarter PACHS outscored CAP 13-6 and was led in the quarter by the Best Cornerback in the Public League Jamiel Hines (9 Points) who had five points. Jamiel did not start, but was a major player throughout the game defensively and offensively with most of his points coming on breakaways down the court. All of CAP’s points in the second quarter came from two treys by Jr. F Amir Johnson (7 Points). With the halftime score 32-8 PACHS this game seemed to be over with PACHS under control. CAP did show a little life by opening the third quarter with Sr. SF Steven Harris (12 Points) going on an 8-0 run to begin the third quarter. CAP was able to tie PACHS in quarter points ten a piece, but was still down by twenty four points to start the fourth quarter (42-18). The fourth quarter PACHS played with more aggressive defense like they did in the first quarter which allowed themselves to score easy layup baskets on the fast break. PACHS outscored CAP in the fourth quarter 20-10 which was again led by the scoring combination of Elijah Crandall (10 points in the quarter) and Joey Flynn (6 points in the quarter) which combined for sixteen of the team’s twenty fourth quarter points. Overall I was very impressed by the youthful Philadelphia Academy Chargers. They are a young core with most of them being juniors, and sophomore Muhammad Laws (0 Points). The only senior on the team is Aaron Ball (9 Points), who is a veteran in Mr. Brown’s basketball system, and will bring great leadership to his teammates. This group may not be the biggest kids on the court, but they will box out in the paint which will lead them to many victories. One thing that Brown stresses is rebounding and boxing out the opponents, which was a big factor in this contest PACHS out rebounded CAP 38-11.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Jr. G. Elijah Crandall 19 Points (9 2pt FG, 1 for 5 FT) and Jr. F. Joey Flynn 18 Points (8 2pt FG, 2 for 6 FT). Both players may not have been too sharp at the free throw line, but helped the Chargers in scoring with a ton of fastbreak layups to out beat CAP. Both had great scoring combos in the first quarter (13) and the fourth quarter (16).