On the Trail With Ted Return to TedSilary.com Home Page  Observations, notes, etc., on games I've seen during 2004-05 . . .

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MARCH 4
PIAA CLASS AAA STATE PLAYOFF, FIRST ROUND
Phoenixville 83, Bok 71
   Remember the name David Lorn. Some day it'll win you money. This was the Pub's first foray into the state playoffs and someone, of course, had to score the first points. The pony-tailed Lorn, one of the few Asians to ever play Pub basketball, was the man, but things did not go smoothly. He scored, but for Phoenixville! While fighting for a defensive rebound, Lorn reached up and the ball bounced off his arm right into the hoop, giving Phoenixville a 5-0 lead!! You could not have made that up. Not in one million years. The Pub's first-ever PIAA state playoff points were scored in the wrong basket! Gotta love that, right?! (Of course, Lorn did not get credit for the points and in fact went scoreless for the game. Paul Lewis was the closest Phantom so the two points went to him.) As for the game itself, Bok pretty much got smoked. The Wildcats were trailing by 28 points with five minutes left, then made a rush mostly against deep subs. Bok was guilty of only six turnovers, but was outrebounded, 42-27, and played almost non-existent interior defense. The halftime score was 45-26. Phew! Bok's top player, sr. G Marquise Salley, played with a severely sprained left ankle. He incurred the injury a couple days earlier in a scrimmage vs. Engineering and Science. Salley finished with 18 points (only 7-for-21) but DID have the honor of scoring Bok's first points on a 17-foot, left-wing jumper with 6:22 left in the first quarter. Jr. C Gary Harris shot 5-for-8 and 5-for-5 for 15 points. Jr. G James Jones, a Salley playalike, scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter. He went 8-for-10 at the line. Bok was hit with two techs; one apiece for Butler and coach Lloyd Jenkins. Here are some more firsts: missed shot, sr. G Cory Moultrie; personal foul, Salley; turnover, Moultrie; rebound, Moultrie; blocked shot, Butler; assist, Salley (on the first trey, by Butler); and steal, Harris. There were no dunks by the Wildcats, so a player on some other team will have to claim that honor. Bok last fall was the first Pub team to play a state football playoff, so you're advised to remember Cory Moultrie's name, also. He's the answer to this question: Who was the first guy to start for PL entrants in PIAA playoffs in football and basketball in the same school year? This game was played at Germantown HS, where AD Mike Hawkins and his staff did a marvelous job with housekeeping, security, food, etc. Sad to say, though, that Bok's fans were outnumbered by at least 4 to 1 and maybe more like 5 or 6 to 1. There were no more than 40 people rooting for Bok. Why no bus? Why no attempt to make this a night to remember? If the players sense their school doesn't care, doesn't that make enthusiasm harder to generate?

MARCH 2
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 58, Wood 41
   If you're a high school senior -- one who hasn't repeated for athletic advantage, that is, and you know who you are -- are you feeling as though you're back in fourth grade again? You should because these largely stinky CL playoffs have been just like 1997's. In that year, the six games in the quarters and semis were won by an average of 15.5 points and no team won by fewer than nine. This year? The average was 14.3 and no team won by fewer than eight. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. The latest and final no-contest involved the North champ, Wood, making its first semis appearance, and the South co-champ, N-G, which lost out on first via a coin flip. You could have left after the first 12 minutes, which was when Wood coach Joe Sette had to burn his third timeout with his club down, 27-12. The Vikings had a wonderful season, but they were no match for the much-more-athletic Saints. Sr. G Matt Spadafora made Wood's first shot, a trey. The next three were blocked by three different players and two of the guys doing the swatting honors were guards. 'Nuff said. Wood finished with 15 field goals and nine of the 37 misses were blocked. Soph C Richard Jackson had six. My DN story focused on sr. F David Burton, who uncorked two early dunks en route to an 8-for-12, 18-point outing. Soph PG Antonio "Scoop" Jardine had a well-rounded effort with 16 points, six boards, four assists and two steals. Jr. WG Derrick "D.J." Rivera contributed 11 points, four steals and a vintage dunk. (The ball hit him in the face as it came through the net. I'm pretty sure a great picture by our legendary DN photographer, Elwood P. Smith, will be in the paper. As will a picture of Burton dunking the ball. "Smitty" is age 85 and still works a full shift -- the night shift, no less -- every day. He's one of the coolest people I know!! ) Jackson had nine boards in addition to his blocks. Jr. F Earl Pettis mixed nine points, six assists, two steals. Spadafora concluded his wonderful career with 13 points and eight rebounds, but was off from the floor (5-for-17). Sr. WG Corey Filer saw his career end in strange fashion. He was called for a foul on what appeared to be a steal and expressed his frustration by fist-slapping the ball high off the wall at one end. He was hit with a tech and that was his fifth foul and he had to sit down with 4:30 left. As weird as this will sound, Wood did have a chance to make things interesting early in the fourth quarter. With the Vikings down by 42-29, sr. F Allen Borovich launched a trey. The ball was at LEAST halfway down when it popped out. Rivera hit his own trey for a six-point swing and Jardine followed with a 12-foot jumper for a 48-29 spread. As for '97 . . . the final saw Neumann beat Carroll, 54-46. The defeat was the Patriots' first of the season. Eight-point spread, but still a great game. Wish we'd seen some this year up to this juncture.

MARCH 1
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
SJ Prep 63, Dougherty 48
   I was probably not alone in thinking that Dougherty's collection of young, talented, hustling upstarts would have a chance to make this a game only because they seemed so unconscious all season, and so oblivious to pressure. But when the Cardinals missed their first few shots and the Prep kids didn't, the tightening process began and this one was history, right quick. 2-0, 4-0, 6-0, 8-0, 10-0. Phew! Dougherty missed its first nine shots, and Prep sank five of its first six. Want more? The Hawks hit 10 of their first 16 and the quarter ended with the score at 22-6, and with their fans, wearing brand new Sixth Man T-shirts, chanting, "It's all over!" As the second quarter began, jr. WG Dave Stefanski hit a trey on a pass from frosh C Larry Loughery and jr. F Reggie Redding drained one on a pass from sr. WG-SF Corey O'Rourke and Dougherty coach Mark Heimerdinger used his third timeout, at the 7:12 mark. The Prep kids crowed, "It's too easy!" Along with, "Season's over!" The lead reached 35-8 (14-for-22 to that point, with five treys) before Dougherty regrouped and the Hawks perhaps got a little bored and/or overconfident. Amauro, Kevin "Booch Ball" Bucher and I were sitting right in front of Prep's students and, of course, they had us laughing. When a basket by sr. C Chris McNicholas on a pass from soph PG Josh Martin stirred Dougherty's fans into thinking there was actually a chance, a Prep kid yelled, "We have TWICE your score!" Indeed, it was 48-24. Later, when Tom Skellan made a call along the baseline that gave the ball to Dougherty when it appeared it had gone off a Cardinal, a kid bellowed, "Ref, you're too young to be senile!" Skellan looked toward him, smiled and mouthed the words, "Thank you." The best exchange came with 3:23 left when again the Cards did a few positive things and drew within 55-40, causing their students to do that chant that builds word by word until the full version becomes, "I believe that we will win! I believe that we will win!" Accompanied by jumping up and down. In dry fashion, Prep's kids answered, "I believe that we have won! I believe that we have won." Classic stuff. Some stats: Redding had 21 points, 12 rebounds, five assists. Loughery had 13 points, seven boards. Dougherty soph F Justin Minter mixed 12 points, eight boards. Martin had nine and eight. One of the best moments of this or any other season came when Prep sr. Sean Barker (major knee miseries) made his first appearance. It was a large part of my DN story and I'll just direct you here, if that's OK. I will add this: In my last Prep report, I playfully busted on coach Speedy Morris for not using Sean in the waning moments vs. West Catholic even though the fans kept calling for him. Speedy let me know that Sean, though in uniform, had not received medical clearance and had not even practiced yet. (He had been a constant AT practice, though. Supporting his teammates and even doing some coaching.) Well, he HAD received medical clearance, but the information had not been relayed from Sean or his family to Speedy. Just one of those mixups, folks. Anyway, Speedy said before this one he'd make every attempt to get Sean into the game and, of course, it happened. In another matter, The Prep, Neumann-Goretti and Roman have received invitations to compete in the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament in two weekends at Frostburg (Md.) State.

FEB. 27
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Wood 44, Judge 31
   Cue the music. Happy days are here again . . . Oh, wait. They're here for the first time. In its 39th CL season, Wood can finally say it has won a game in a regular playoff. 0-for-11 has become 1-for-12 and doesn't that sound SO much better? (smile) The Vikings won going away, hitting their free throws to close out the game with a 10-2 run. Sr. PG Matt Spadafora totaled 13 points and six rebounds. Sr. WG Corey Filer had 10 points, three assists and three steals. Sr. C Rob Pearson had 10 points, six boards and three blocks. Sr. F Mike Piselli had two steals and added his usual gumption. Sr. G Mike Murnane, off the bench, made all of his shots en route to seven points. The other rotation members were sr. F Allen Borovich, a starter, and jr. G Jim Malatesta. There were several key moments. Early, with the lead at 7-4, Murnane hit a trey on pass from Filer and then scored a regular on another pass from Filer (off a steal). Fast-forward: With the score stuck on 34-29 for a while, Judge kept bricking treys and Wood kept finding new and creative ways to turn it over. Finally, Murnane converted a one-and-one at 1:44 and Spadafora added two more free throws at 1:30 and then he did so again at 59.9 and, by this time, the Vikings' rooters were starting to stand as one and applaud and allowing themselves to think, "Oh, my goodness, this is really going to happen!!" One thing that impressed me a whole lot was that, as the Vikings stormed toward their locker room, a few took slight detours to the walkway in front of the stands on that side to exchange hugs/pleasantries with some recent ex-Vikings. That showed respect and a sense that this was really a shared experience, and that the former players had helped to make this unit what it has become. Wood, by Pearson's estimate, used a triangle-and-two defense for about 75 percent of the game. The targets were sr. wing sniper Damien Palantino (1-for-10, 1-for-8 on treys, five points) and sr. F Mike Briscella (50-percent shooting, but he only got six shots en route to seven points). Jr./Sr. F-C Art/Arthur Livingston had seven points and eight boards while turning in his usual workmanlike performance. However, he also was subpar from the floor (3-for-10).
  Some research I did on my own (from my own website -- smile): Wood's 11 quarterfinal losses included four apiece to Judge and La Salle and three to Dougherty. Its worst loss was to Judge (by 19) and its closest was to, well, three times it lost by three (twice to Dougherty, once to Judge). Its average margin of defeat was 10.9 points. In the Vikings' defense (admittedly, an 0-11 mark is hard to defend), just ONE time did they go into a quarterfinal with a better record than their opponent. That was in 2003 (17-point loss to La Salle) and the records (10-4, 9-5) were only one game apart. The Vikes five times were the fourth-place team and four times were the third-place team.
   More research: In the last 15 years, this is only the second time that the quarters had no game decided by fewer than eight points. In '02, the spreads were 13, 18, 10 and 20. This year: 20, 8, 13 and 13. Hard to believe, but there has not been a one-point victory in a quarterfinal since 1990 (Judge beat Kenrick, 50-49). There have been seven two-point games and five three-pointers since '91.   

FEB. 27
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Dougherty 55, Ryan 47
   When two teams are pretty evenly matched, it's hard for one to beat the other three times. But that happened in this case and win No. 3 came in easier fashion, so perhaps the teams were not as evenly matched as everyone thought? Dougherty, which returned just 40 varsity Catholic League regular season points, and has four sophs in its eight-man rotation, is headed for the semifinals. I can't imagine there has been a situation to match this one in CL history, especially since sophs hardly ever played varsity way back in the day. Anyway, CD put two players in double figures in scoring as soph PG Josh "Scrap" Martin shot 7-for-13 en route to 18 points (he added two assists and four steals) and soph F Justin Minter shot 7-for-10 at the line en route to 11 points. Soph F Roberto Townsend, a sub, had nine points and sr. WG Dwight Lyons had eight. Ryan took momentum into halftime as sr. PG Tom Manes grabbed a tough rebound and converted a scoop-shot follow just before the buzzer, creating a 22-19 lead. But the early part of the third quarter belonged to CD, witness a 15-4 run in just 4 minutes, 12 seconds. Martin fueled the outburst with eight of the first 10 points and the others came on a follow by sr. C Chris McNicholas. Actually, I was a shade surprised when the Cardinals soon began to spread the floor and take a cautious approach because they'd appeared primed to push the spread from nine (at 40-31) to maybe double that. Ryan did keep its composure and even edged within 45-44 as jr. G-F Joe Zeglinski (18 points, nine rebounds, four assists) scored on a drive with 2:11 left. Townsend answered with a drive of his own, then flashed for a steal and set up Lyons for a trip to the line (made one). Dougherty maintained from there by making its free throws. Dougherty's sticky defense should receive credit for forcing Ryan to shoot 19-for-46 from the floor. But there's no explanation for a 5-for-15 outing at the line. Unacceptable. Major reason for setback. Dougherty, meanwhile, went 17-for-25 at the stripe. Manes had 10 points, five boards, three assists and two steals, finishing his career with a strong effort. He had to endure a tough situation this year -- coming off the bench behind a freshman, the coach's brother -- and he maintained his fire. Jr. C Kevin Hudgeons grabbed seven rebounds, but inexplicably got off just six shots (making five). Actually, there was an explanation: He didn't receive enough touches, especially considering he was 6 inches taller than anyone on the floor for Dougherty (most of the time, anyway).

FEB. 26
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
SJ Prep 60, West Catholic 47
   This was mostly a no-muss, no-fuss win for the Hawks. Jr. F Reggie Redding tallied 11 of his 19 points in the first quarter, then mostly concentrated on rebounds (15 total) and assists (four) thereafter. Not much play by play to report. A trey by sr. PG Joe Fox (12 points; all after intermission) on a pass from Redding provided a 12-point lead, at 36-24, and another by jr. WG Dave Stefanski (feed again by Redding) stretched the lead to 16, at 41-25. The Prep had six FGs in the third quarter (three apiece of threes and twos) by that juncture and every one included an assist. Redding had three and the goofy Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna came scrambling over to Amauro and babbled, "Don't it seem like Reggie got 10 assist? It do, don't it? He gotta have more than three!" Amauro and I then pointed out that The Prep had only seven FGs in the first half and Redding scored five of them. "Oh," Puck said. "But still, I think he have more assist. Seem like it, anyway." Gotta love Puck (sometimes -- smile). Frosh C Larry Loughery had six points, five boards and two blocks, though his uncle, John, a friend for 30 years, might have had him for 20, 10 and five (ha ha). Frosh F Oscar Griffin grabbed eight rebounds, in part because he missed some chippies. Long-injured sr. Sean Barker was in uniform and ready to go, and the Hawks' fans called for him, but he remained on the bench. C'mon, Speedball, show him some love! (smile) I know you think the world of the kid, and how dedicated he's been to the program during his two years of watching and recovering from knee miseries. Maybe sometime soon. West's only two highlights came at the end of the first and second quarters as sr. PF-C Derrell Hand (out front, on the run) and frosh F Eric Brennan (from the left corner) banged home buzzer-beating treys. Hand (11) was the only Burr with more than six points. Six guys had from three to five boards. Also, West went 10-for-23 from the line to Prep's 18-for-22. I spent the night sitting next to La Salle University rookie assistant Horace "Pappy" Owens, our City Player of the Year for Dobbins in '79. Horace, a former ref, is one of those has-no-enemies guys and it was fun to exchange opinions on assorted underclassmen. He is doing his homework, big time, and he'll try his best to help restore the luster to La Salle's program.

FEB. 26
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 61, Roman 41
   This isn't supposed to happen. A pretty good team is not supposed to lose a playoff game by 20 points. But Roman wound up getting handled or "served" or dominated or whatever you want to call it and the Cahillites, amazingly, have now gone four seasons without a playoff win (didn't make the postseason in '02; lost to Neumann/N-G the last three). Several Saints played well, but the overall story was too much Derrick "D.J." Rivera. The jr. WG was a whirlwind as he finished with 25 points (9-for-1, two treys, 5-for-7), five rebounds, two assists and three steals. He was at his best just after Roman showed some life and received a dunk from sr. F-C Malik Perry to move within 30-27 with 5:10 left in the third quarter. He began his multi-faceted hot streak with a trey from a shade to the left of the top of the key. Next, he fed jr. WG-SF Earl Pettis (19 points, 11 rebounds) for a dunk and mixed in a blocked shot. Soph PG Antonio "Scoop" Jardine bombed home a left-corner trey on a pass from sr. F David Burton and when Pettis tacked on his own trey a short time later, N-G's lead was 41-29. Everyone could have left the gym at that point. Good thing very few did because Rivera turned in one of the season's best dunks. With his back facing the backline, he caught an alley-oop pass from Jardine above the rim and wolfed one down to create a lengthy buzz among both schools' fans. N-G went 4-for-5 on threes in the third quarter and 5-for-10 total. It rebounded the Cahillites, 35-24, and made eight more field goals, 24 to 16, on the same amount of shots (50). Soph C Richard Jackson added eight boards and seven blocks for the ex-Buccos. For Roman, only jr. F Mike Ringgold, he of the very quick feet and baseline trickiness, had anything close to solid performance. He shot 6-for-8 and 4-for-6 for 16 points and snagged eight rebounds. No one else had more than six points and the others combined to shoot under 25 percent (10-for-42). Roman's program is at a crossroads. It's now "only" a solid third in the South behind Prep/N-G or N-G/Prep (choose your order) and it'll be interesting to see what happens from here. Ringgold, soph SF Bradley Wanamaker and jr. PG Raymond "Doodles" Sims had mostly good seasons and they'll be back. Will their playmates provide enough help? Is Roman's name still solid enough to bring in difference-making transfers? One has to wonder.

FEB. 25
PUBLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Central 52, Prep Charter 46
   The points were being ch-chinged onto the scoreboard in alarmingly fast fashion and the squad doing the honors was . . . not the vet, the newcomer. 2-0, 4-0, 6-0, 8-0, 10-0. PC, in its fourth Pub year and first playoff run, was mincemeating the Lancers. Jr. WG-SF Rodney Green, a k a Mr. Transition, had four of the field goals, and 6-8 soph Markieff "Big Twin" Morris had the other on a dunk (assist to sr. F Haven Wroten). Phew. Central had been waiting since 1932 for a Pub title and it was getting downright toyed with. Ah, but games are 32 minutes, not 2 1/2, and by the time it was over, the Lancers' l-o-n-g drought indeed had been terminated. One thing coach Haviland Harper did was forget the press and fall back into man-to-man. Another thing he did was trust that his guys would somehow find a way to not disappoint him. By the way, from 10-0, PC's lead went to 14-3 and then to 18-11. However, the Huskies chalked up eight turnovers en route to that latter score and they would finish the game with 34. Yes, 34. I repeat, 34. The turnovers came in all shapes and sizes. Wild passes out of bounds. Traveling violations. Offensive fouls. PC shot 22-for-38 (58 percent), but when you cough up the ball 34 times, your chances for winning are obviously cut in dramatic fashion. This was not the most aesthetically pleasing game of all-time. Aside from PC's 34 Betty Crockers, the teams combined to shoot 12-for-31 at the line (PC was 2-for-10) and 0-for-13 on treys. It did produce, one of the best sequences you could ever hope to see at any level of basketball. Not surprisingly, Central's franchise player, sr. G Scott Rodgers, was front and center. On a play where PC jr. G Lamaar Trice appeared to have a breakaway layup, Rodgers ran him down, soared to block the layup, maintained his presence of mind and raced back downcourt to score a layup on pass from sr. F Andre Woodlin (14 points). He was fouled and added the free throw, drawing the Lancers within 20-18 with 3:42 left in the half. The play gave Central's rooters a reason to get excited again and they remained involved from then on out. Rodgers shot 6-for-13 and 3-for-8 for 15 points while adding six rebounds, two assists and three steals. He had two fouls when he made that spectacular play and Harper then sat him down, fearful of a third before the half. He put him back in with 47.6 left and the Lancers held for the last shot, which turned out to be a drive through the zone by Woodlin for a short banker. That basket sent Central into the locker room with a 24-22 lead and it was never relinquished. The Lancers scored seven straight points in 47 seconds to start the third quarter -- Woodlin from Rodgers, Rodgers off a steal, three-point play by Woodlin. PC later scrambled back and kept hanging around and a layup by sr. PG Bilal Rogers on a pass from sr. G Cordell Powell drew it within 47-46. Out of a halfcourt set, from the right corner, jr. G Kenny St. George drove the baseline and flipped in a dipsy-doodle layup at 0:40 and Central had a hint of breathing room. PC's next two possessions resulted in turnovers. Central added 2 of 4 free throws by Rodgers. Green, 10-for-11 to this point (all 2's), got a great look on a straight-on trey, but the shot wouldn't fall and St. George grabbed the board that needed to be grabbed. He added a free throw at 8.6. In the waning moments, a cup of soda was thrown onto the court from PC's stands -- Central's fans chanted, "Loser . . . Loser" and flashed L's with their thumbs and index fingers -- and someone again threw an object when the Lancers were celebrating. At the end stands near PC's bench, one LARGE unruly spectator had to be subdued by a big contingent of security guards. Rodgers was named the game MVP and Green received sportsmanship honors. Green finished with 20 points. I saw three of PC's four regular playoff games and here's what he shot from the floor -- 17-for-19, 7-for-9 and 10-for-12. He was 5-for-8 in the one I didn't see. Total: 39-for-48. An incredible 81 percent!!!! That was mostly just on slashes. If this kid can develop a jumpshot, Amauro and I agree that he'll someday be playing for pay. The same could be true for "Big Twin." He made his only three shots and had seven blocks. There's some Rasheed Wallace/Eddie Griffin in there somewhere. It'll be up to him to bring it out. Some guy played God Bless America on a harmonica before the game, even though the announcer said the selection would be America the Beautiful.

FEB. 23
CATHOLIC NORTH PRE-PLAYOFF
Judge 60, North Catholic 48
   Ryan's gym was packed to the gills and I'd imagine some folks were turned away. Early, it appeared we were in for perhaps an all-timer with up-and-down action and lots of scoring. Didn't pan out that way, but this was still an enjoyable game. The key spurt started midway through the fourth quarter when sr. F Mike Briscella (18 points, 6-for-8 floor) hit a left-wing jumper on pass from jr. F Jim Schule to put Judge ahead, 46-41. Briscella scored the next four points, too, on a left-baseline pop and a jumper from roughly the foul line (assist again by Schule). The outburst made it 50-41 and only 2:08 remained For good measure, Briscella then scored two more points on a pair of free throws. Sr. G Damien Palantino helped the 'Saders by going 6-for-6 at the line in the fourth quarter, raising his game total to 19. Schule finished with five assists. Jr. PG Will Taggert had three steals. Jr. F Chris Schwartz grabbed four of his five boards in the last quarter. Sr. G Tim McCauley had two big plays spanning the third and fourth quarters. As the third wound down, Palantino missed a LONG trey but McCauley grabbed the board and was fouled on the follow. He hit two shots and bombed a trey early in the fourth, staking Judge to a 42-39 lead. For North, only jr. WG-SF Nate Edwards (18) scored in double figures. He went 3-for-9 on treys. Yes, the Falcons made it to a pre-playoff, but overall the season will undoubtedly be considered a disappointment. There were injuries, grade problems, behavior problems . . . nothing was THAT serious, but the assorted miseries severely disrupted the flow. Also, this squad rarely displayed anything close to positive chemistry. A couple of players fell far short of expectations, as well. No matter how hard the coaches and players try, there are certain teams that just don't get it done. This was one of them. As I was leaving, a kid who said his name was Joe Parker kept trying to convince me he's Judge's biggest fan. He begged to be mentioned on the site. There you go, Joe. I felt bad for long-time stat sidekick Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna. He pours his heart and soul into North's program and he was so hopeful that this season would lead to good things. He was down even before the game started because he's extremely close with just-fired East Carolina coach Bill Herrion, formerly of Drexel. Also with EC assistant Dino Pressley, a Philly native. If you see Puck on the trail, say something nice to him, OK? Forget those times when he busts on someone in that unconscious way of his and maybe goes too far (smile), or when he interrupts serious conversations and just doesn't get it when told to back off (bigger smile), or when he calls me 27 times in one day to insist that so-and-so had five rebounds, not four, in a game three weeks ago (laughter), he's one of the most good-hearted people you could ever hope to meet and when he's in pain, I'm in pain. Thanks for listening, er, reading.

FEB. 22
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEEDING CONSOLATION
Class AAAA (Gratz 3rd/UC 4th)
   Man, can we please fast-forward to baseball season? Just kidding. I think. In a season featuring WAY too many worthless experiences, this was the capper. Gratz' gym was stink-ass hot and I almost feel asleep. I counted 54 people in the stands at the beginning; 31 at the end. That should tell you all you need to know. Gratz rolled to a 22-2 lead. So much for play-by-play. Sr. PF-C Ameer Ali (6-5 ,210) led the Bulldogs with 20 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three blocks. I like this guy more and more. He never coasts and always goes forward and he has big, strong hands, which enable him to grab rebounds even when his positioning isn't perfect. Maryland-Eastern Shore, Coppin State and East Stroudsburg are among his pursuers. He's going to have a fine college career. Jr. WG Malik Alvin also had a strong outing with 18 points (two treys; one missed shot total), six assists, three steals and five rebounds. Jr. F Ryheem Miller was a first-half factor with six points and seven boards. Jr. Karl Howard, usually a deep sub, started at the point and did nothing to discredit himself. UC mostly had the look of a team that had no interest in extending its season. Jr. PG Aaron Stephens (2 1/2 minutes) and sr. SF Anthony Morrison (6 minutes) were held out at the start for missing recent practices. Morrison also was benched for the first 5 minutes of the third quarter after giving some lip to coach Lou Williams late in the first half. To his credit, he showed no hints of knuckleheadism for the rest of the game and often made great passes that his teammates did not convert. Ex-Gratz and St. Joe's star Marvin O'Connor was in attendance. So were other ex-Bulldogs Erik Hood, Andre Armour and Arthur Dorsey. I truly wonder how the Philly teams are going to do in the states. This is not a strong year and there's such a time lag for some of these teams. Will they be able to get it going against opponents they don't know and, more importantly, don't care about? We'll see . . .

FEB. 20
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Prep Charter 69, Engineering and Science 55
   Can we go back and do this over? Through the years, the Pub semis have been one of the season's most enjoyable days. This year? Pretty much a waste of time and, I hate to see it, an illustration of how far the quality of ball has dipped. The Frankford-Central game was mostly a dud and this one was worse. E&S had 17 turnovers in the first half. Big ouch! Meanwhile, I guess there's justice in the fact that PC will be the first charter school to appear in a PL final because they were the first to enter the Pub (for the '02 season). They took early lumps, of course, but now are rollin' to some degree and should make noise in the state AA playoffs once March arrives. My DN story focused on 6-8, 210-pound soph Markieff "Big Twin" Morris, who shot 5-for-11 and 3-for-6 for 13 points, grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and recorded two apiece of assists, steals and blocked shots. His 7-minute-younger twin, Marcus, who comes off the bench for first-year coach Dan Brinkley, managed seven points, three boards and three assists. It'll be quite interesting to follow these guys' progress. Especially where Markieff is concerned, we could be talkin' biggest of the big once some strength is added. Another D-I prospect is 6-4/6-5 jr. WG-SF Rodney "Wingspan" Green. He gets to the hole at will with a certain slinkiness and needs only to develop a true stop-and-pop jumper to make himself highly desirable to least mid-majors. I love this guy's potential. He scored 19 points while shooting 7-for-9 and 5-for-8. Steady sr. SF Jason Dogan had 14 points. Brinkley used 11 players in the first half, but mostly stayed with six in the second and the Huskies were sometimes gasping for air. The lower-enrollment schools mostly play on small courts and we'll see if conditioning is a factor when PC meets Central for the title on another big floor at Temple. For E&S, sr. WG-SF Fred Gresham shot 5-for-9 (two treys) and 4-for-6 for 16 points, sr. WG Marquis Coates grabbed 10 boards and sr. PF-C Rodney Norris mixed 12 points, seven boards and wow!! leaping skills. Rodney is also strong and the fact he's undersized (maybe 6-3/6-2) should not deter him from having an excellent career in the state-schools league. A few of them are after him. E&S coach Charlies "C.M." Brown has done a excellent job. He has nothing close to a true point guard, but his kids listen and hustle and these days, especially, that's much more than half the battle.

FEB. 20
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Central 54, Frankford 43
   The semis are usually a special occasion, but this one nearly gave off an odor. The play was uneven and the teams combined to shoot 31-for-92 and it just wasn't much of a fun experience. A decent stretch run could have saved the day, but there wasn't one of those, either. Oh, well. It happens. There's almost no need for play-by-play stuff. Jr. F Lewis Leonard, during what was mostly a horrendous day (4-for-22, he missed all kinds of close-in shots and just could not catch one whiff of a good-luck spurt), hit a trey to bring Frankford within 43-38. Central immediately re-established command, though, and rolled home. Here's how goofy the day got for Frankford: sr. G Alfred Thomas was arguing with a teammate late and ref Guy Longstreth blew his whistle to tell coach Bernie Handler to remove Thomas from the game. Before that could happen, though, Thomas mouthed off in front of another ref and a tech was called. Oh, brother. Sr. WG Scott Rodgers (20 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals) went to the line and hit 3-for-4 to make it 54-41 with 45.7 seconds left. Rodgers had only three points at the half, but his squad was up by 23-13. That was how much trouble Fkd was having. Soph G Marcus Morris hit all five of his shots for 10 points. Jr. PG Kenny St. George had seven points, seven boards and three assists. Despite his shooting miseries, Leonard did claim 11 rebounds. Soph SF Kenny Spotwood had 12 points and six boards and experienced some success covering Rodgers. While the teams were warming up for the second half, Julian Coleman, brother of Central jr. G Rashiid, did some serious throwing up in the second row behind the east basket. Rashiid kept making faces as he watched his little 'bro try out for a future Exorcist movie. His teammates were kidding him. Julian eventually reclined in the stands, then sat back up to watch the game.

FEB. 19
INTER-AC SHOWCASE FINAL
Episcopal 66, Gtn. Academy 58
Click here for boxscores/photos
   This was the third meeting between these heavy hitters and did not have any "official" meaning because the Inter-Ac still awards the title after the regular season. Also, though perhaps as many 4,000 (just a guess) were on hand at Villanova, many just wanted to see quality basketball, and top prospects, and did not necessarily have a rooting interest. So, overall, the juice did not match what was present for the first meeting at St. Joseph's, nor the second at Arcadia. No one was complaining, though. The teams played hard and mostly well and overcame the fact some chintzy foul calls detracted from the flow. EA went 3-0 in the series and closed out this one with eight of the last 10 points. The leading Churchmen -- don't all raise your eyebrows at once -- were jr. WG Wayne Ellington and jr. SF Gerald Henderson. Ellington shot 9-for-17 and 9-for-9 for 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Henderson did not shoot quite as well (9-for-22 and 5-for-7 for 23 points), but added seven boards and three assists. One of the primary difference-makers was sr. G Brian FitzPatrick, the FB quarterback who's bound for Cornell. "Fitz" received extended playing time due to others' foul trouble and hustled for two assists and three steals. He made consecutive pilfers when the game was still in doubt. He made a free throw after the first and his second led to Ellington's fastbreak layup on a pass from sr. PG Dylan Brown. That bucket made it 50-44 with 5:42 left. Jr. C Mike Yocum added seven points, nine boards and two blocks. GA's headliner was sr. F Brian Grimes, a kid with strong grades and D-I talent who is still unsigned. Brian had some quite uneven performances this season, and appeared to be pressing/forcing, but he played under control under the brightest of spotlights and it was nice to see him bow out with a goodie. He shot 8-for-15 and 9-for-13 for 25 points and snagged 14 rebounds. His one rough moment came with just under 1 1/2 minutes remaining when, with GA trailing just 60-57, he missed a pair of close-in follows after grabbing a missed second free throw by Notre Dame signee Ryan Ayers (nine points, five boards), a sr. F. Ellington hit two free throws at the other end to make it a five-point spread and the Churchmen cruised home from there. (The big play down the stretch was a block/rebound sequence by Yocum.) The Wife made the journey to 'Nova and was handed the photo-taking assignment for the evening. She got some great shots and never once asked how many innings were left in the game (smile). Before the game, we were talking about one Episcopal player and then I pointed to another to tell her a little about him. She said, "Hey, is his name Churchmen, too? . . . Oh, wait. They all have Churchmen on their back." She's the best. High entertainment value! (smile)

FEB. 18
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
West Catholic 69, Bonner 60 (OT)
   This was a solid team victory for the "HuckleBurries," as we've come to call West at good, ol' ts.com in honor of the contributions made to the program by legendary statman Ed "Huck" Palmer (actually, I just made up that nickname -- smile). Four guys scored in double figures and four claimed double digits (or close to that) in rebounds. Nevertheless, this easily could have been a loss because Bonner had the final two shots of regulation and both came close. The first was an 8-footer along the right baseline by soph WG Jeff Jones. It missed and the rebound bounced to the left side, where it was claimed by soph F Tim Vanderslice. His follow almost went in two times, then did not. Phew! Close shave! In the 4-minute OT, West pitched a 9-0 shutout even though no scoring took place until junior WG-SF Chris Mayo hit a trey on pass from sr. PF-C Derrell Hand with 2:05 left. The Burrs spread the floor on their next possession and sr. PF-C Maurice Denton converted a pass from Hand for an easy two. The final four points came on Hand's two free throws and a dunk by sr. WG-SF Joe Askew on a feed from Denton. See what we mean? Lots of guys making contributions. And as regulation wound down, the last tie was created as Hand converted a turnaround, lefthanded layup right in front of the hoop on a pass from Mayo. With the win, West (6-7) only has to beat K-K (48 consecutive league defeats; new CL record) to claim a playoff spot. My DN story focused on Askew, a k a Mr. Layup/Mr. Follow (smile). The 6-1 senior is a first-year varsity player with little outside game but a tremendous knack for slinking between guys for well-timed, body-control leaps that lead to putbacks and bunnies. He shot 8-for-13 for 16 points and Huck and I agreed that his longest shot came from maybe 6 feet. Maybe 5. Maybe 4 (smile). Askew also had 12 boards and 2 steals. Hand, the beefy Notre Dame FB signee, had 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists in what was likely his best overall game. Denton was victimized for numerous blocks by 6-8 Derrick Graff and others, but he kept battling en route to 10 points, eight boards, two assists and two smacks of his own. Mayo had 11 points, nine boards and six dimes. Sr. Gs Antonio Banks and Anthony Lee had eight and five points, respectively. Graff, who was being eyed by the brother of a D-I coach, shot 5-for-9 and 4-for-4 for 14 points while adding seven rebounds to his nine rejections. He showed some of the same skills he did in the first go-'round with West -- good feet/timing, an ability to pop face-up jumpers and even go hard to the hole with smoothness from beyond the foul line. Alas, he received a tech for cursing after drawing a foul with 5:42 left in the half and had to sit down until the third quarter. It'll be intriguing to see what happens to Graff along the recruiting trail. I'd have to imagine someone in D-I will give him a chance. Jones poured in 26 points, but it was hardly a tight-and-bright performance. He went 11-for-13 at the line, but just 6-for-21 from the floor (and 0-for-4 in OT). There are times when he looks so damn smooth, you think he should be able to make shots at will. But then he'll throw up some clunkers that have you wondering. He's only a soph, though, and a young one at that, so once the refinement comes, what a special, SPECIAL player this kid will be. Jr. F Steve Wheatley had six boards, six blocks in his latest do-the-grunt-work performance. Vanderslice totaled 11 points while shooting 4-for-6. Games in West's gym tend to be sloppy, so Huck figured this was a school record: In the first half, West had ONE turnover and three personal fouls. Among the visitors: University of the Sciences coach Dave Pauley, who continued his good-natured feud with Huck, and Ed Downs, starting forward for West's '76 CL runner-up squad. Ed long has worked part-time for the Phillies' ground crew and makes anybody's all-good-guy team.

FEB. 17
INTER-AC SHOWCASE SEMI
Episcopal 65, Malvern 43
   When one team has a noticeable advantage in talent and wants to play, at least to some degree, this is the result. The Churchmen played hard in spurts and coasted in spurts and assured an Episcopal-GA final Saturday night, 7 o'clock, at Villanova. It won't have any true meaning because this tournament does not act as playoffs. But we'd imagine the intensity will be high because EA won't want to close on such a downer and GA will be revved to go out in an ever-popular blaze of glory (hey, it's late and I'm tired -- forgive the cliche). EA's leaders were . . . how could you ever guess? Jr. WG Wayne Ellington shot 7-for-9 (one trey) en route to 18 points while adding eight boards (two each quarter) and three assists (all in first quarter). Jr. F Gerald Henderson mixed 16 points, seven boards and nine assists. Yes, nine assists. The Churchmen were highly unselfish (sr. PG Dylan Brown had five). Sr. F Joe Rosati incurred two early personals and sat down for a large chunk of the game. Sr. G Brian FitzPatrick received an extended run to the tune of four points, two dimes and one steal. Sr. G Craig Wallace canned a layup in a late appearance. He's a family friend, so you KNOW he's gettin' a mention (yeah, baby!). For Malvern, jr. PG Mike Creighton again showed lots of reasons to like him. He has that old-style, savvy-as-hell look and if Malvern had a true, tall inside force (maybe soon?), he could really deliver the guy the ball. He had six assists, two steals. Sr. PF-C Matt Borgerson finished his career with nine points, five boards and two assists. Jr. F Tom "Mr. Gritty" Grandieri had six points and several hustle plays. Jr. SF Kevin Dougherty had seven points and four assists. Jr. WG Jimmie Cotton scored 11 points. Amauro was in the house (for both games) and we watched the second one with Keith Wood, a spunky GA guard in the '70s. Keith grew up near GA and knew many of Wissahickon High's top athletes from that era. We both agreed the Wissy athlete with the coolest name was a FB player named Leon Hill. What's cool about that? Nothing. But his nickname was "Bunker." If he'd gone on to star for the Patriots, he would have owned New England (smile).

FEB. 17
INTER-AC SHOWCASE SEMI
Gtn. Academy 42, Penn Charter 30
   Just before the game began, PC coach Jim "Flipper" Phillips walked over and said to me, "That pencil won't need to be too sharp. Won't be much to write down." He wasn't kidding. The Quakers played stallball. Often a full-blown version. Especially when GA chose to remain in a mostly passive halfcourt trap. The major stat, if we'd kept it, would have been Yawns Around the Gym. GA had a quick, fruitless possession to open the game and then PC held until 5:35 when jr. F Joe Rauchut drove for a layup. Sr. F Ryan Ayers hit a trey for GA and PC held some more before soph WG Sammy Zeglinski made a layup for 4-3 arithmetic. GA closed the quarter with two FTs from sr. F Brian Grimes (17 points, eight rebounds) and an opportunity basket from soph PG Kyle Griffin. PC continued to waste large chunks of clock, though behind (not by much), but Jones did some deflating with a huge, multi-faceted contribution just before the halftime buzzer. He posted a block and rebound at one end and a pass at the other that produced a field goal for 6-10 jr. C Andrew Ott. The Quakers were still hanging around deep in the third quarter, when Griffin's trey made it 25-18. Grimes had 11 of his points and five of his boards in the last quarter. Kirk Jones, a 6-4 lefty WG, got the ink for mixing four boards and three assists and holding S. Zeglinski to six shots and eight points. Jones was working on an oh-fer (smile), but hit two free throws in the last minute. I had PC with FOUR rebounds for the game. Amazing, eh? PC sr. WG Zack Zeglinski, wearing a heavy brace on his right knee (shredded just before FB games were to begin), played his fourth and final game of the season and, thus, ended his career. He bowed out by flashing hard to the ball in front of Ayers and making a backcourt steal. He finishes with 1,167 career points and looks forward to a strong baseball season.

FEB. 15
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Frankford 52, Gratz 45
   Rare is the basketball player, especially in this era of largely woeful shooting, who can jump through the basket with a spectacular dunk and then splash a series of treys later on. But Frankford jr. F Lewis Leonard shows flashes of becoming a special player and he showed MORE than flashes in this one. His throwdown came late in the first half and excited a standing-room-only crowd in Frankford's gym that had only been mildly entertained to that point. A shot kicked off the rim and Lew ran straight down the lane, caught it on the leap and wolfed it back down. Wow! Later? All he did was nail three consecutive treys, at absolute crunch time, to assure that Gratz would not advance to the semis for only the second time in 17 seasons. All three came on passes from extra-savvy sr. PG Ryan Smith (seven assists, five in last quarter). They put the Pioneers ahead for good, at 41-38, with 2 minutes, 38 seconds remaining. Extended their lead to 44-40 at 2:24. And provided a 48-40 cushion at 1:25. As you might imagine, there was a little but of buzzing taking place in the gym by that juncture (smile). But for my money, what Leonard did a short time later was just as impressive. With Gratz having scrambled back within 50-45, Leonard had the ball in the right corner and was pulling up for another jumper. But just as he did, he noticed soph SF Kenny Spotwood pretty much alone at the edge of the lane. Spotwood missed the layup and sr. F-C Lamont Brown could not convert the follow, but Spotwood stayed with the play and scored on another follow. A following steal by sr. G Maurice Miller (12 points, two dimes, two pilfers) clinched the win. Some strange stats from this one: Gratz shot better than 50 percent (17-for-33) and Frankford was under 33 percent (16-for-49), and Gratz even outrebounded Frankford, 24-20. However, the Bulldogs were guilty of 24 turnovers and at one point had 14 despite owning an 11-10 lead. Sr. C Ameer Ali, an inside workhorse, got just seven shots. Jr. WG Malik Alvin, a renowned explosive scorer, took just four! The Bulldogs had lots of trouble with a halfcourt trap that allowed Frankford to crawl back into contention after it faced a 27-18 deficit. Crowd control was excellent and crowd behavior was within a whisker of being excellent. With 4:01 left, something was thrown onto the court (must have been at the other end; I didn't see what it was; couldn't have been too big) and AD Tom Mullineaux (didn't he used to be a FB coach? -- smile) made an announcement that the throwing of anything else would lead to the gym being cleared of spectators. No further trouble. I watched the game with Tim Hickey, the former track mastermind at William Penn and now helping at West Catholic. He taught at Penn with Fkd coach Bernie Handler and is a big-time hoops fan. A big-time beyond belief hoops fan. Helping with stats was Fkd senior Shannon Garrett, one of the crown jewels of that school. She was a manager for the FB team and her picture was posted a few times on the site. "It made me famous," she said, laughing.

FEB. 14
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Judge 50, Conwell-Egan 47
   One can only imagine how deflated coach Bill Fox and his Crusaders (14-9) would have felt had they kicked away a big lead yet again, and lost. Fox is now the winningest coach in CL history at 542-268 (in 29 seasons) and his team undoubtedly owns the mark for Worst Foul Shooting in Fourth Quarters in Games Where Coach Is Going for History. Two Friday nights back, when Fox could have tied the record held by his own coach at La Salle HS (class of '69), Charles "Obie" O'Brien, Judge blew an 11-point lead in the final seven minutes and fell to Ryan, in OT. The Crusaders shot 1-for-10 from the line in the fourth quarter and two of the misses were front ends. In that game overall, Judge five times blew both halves on two-shot fouls. Last Friday night against Dougherty, in attempt No. 1 to nudge aside Obie, the Crusaders coughed up a 15-point lead over the last 12-plus minutes. The foul shooting in the fourth quarter (3-for-7, one front end) was again a contributing factor. This time? Well, when Judge went to the stripe for the first time in the fourth quarter, 3:54 remained and its lead was 43-29. Those familiar with the recent miseries held their breath. With good reason. Brick. Brick again. C-E began a furious comeback. And sustained that furious comeback. And when sr. G Matt Burns hit a jumper with 1:10 left, the Eagles were within 47-44! From there: Judge sr. G Tim McCauley missed a front end at 0:51, but the ball bounced out with possession to Judge; jr. F Jim Schule hit the second half of a double-bonus at 0:46, making it 48-44 (that success broke an 0-for-7 foul-line skid in the fourth quarter); while drawing contact, C-E jr. F Dan Griffin, a lefty, hit a short jumper on an inbound pass from Burns at 0:31 and then went to the line to complete a three-point play, edging the Eagles within 48-47; Judge sr. F Mike Briscella knocked down both halves of a double-bonus at 0:17 (50-47); under pressure, Burns air-balled a trey from beyond the top of the key and Griffin made a tremendous effort at a save by leaping over the baseline at 0:03, but the refs ruled his foot had hit out of bounds; Briscella missed two FTs at 0:01 and, after a brief mixup, C-E was given one last chance with 0:01 still on the clock; nothing noteworthy happened. Jr./Sr. F/C Arthur/Art Livingston and Schule scored 10 points apiece for Judge while Livingston added eight rebounds. With jr. G Will Taggert hampered by foul trouble, jr. PG Kevin Lynch nicely filled the void by dealing five assists. C-E had an amazing night. The Eagles were extra impressive while storming to a 20-13 lead, and again while closing the gap at the end. In between? Ouch. They scored just nine points over approximately 19 minutes! Part of the drought was an inability to get into an offense after dealing with a halfcourt trap. The most impressive Eagles were Griffin (18 points, three treys) and sr. F John Little, who shot 6-for-10 for 12 points and grabbed nine boards. Jr. G Adam Van Zelst (his identical twin, Ryan, is also in the rotation), finished with six assists and was especially whirlwindish in the fourth quarter comeback. Soph sub Kevin Schafer, the FB QB, did some serious stalking of three-point sniper Damien Palantino (seven points, just five shots) in a box-and-one. Kevin "Sparky" Cooney, who formerly lit up the website and is now a "columnist"  for the Bucks County Courier Times, enjoyed a night off by just watching the game. He was a manager for Fox in his Judge days in the early '90s.

FEB. 13
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Wood 51, La Salle 19
   The less said about this one, the better. Hope you understand. I began my career covering La Salle and McDevitt pretty much one game apiece every weekend and it's tough to see how badly the Explorers are struggling. They shot 8-for-39 from the floor and the leading scorer, sr. Kevin Miller, had five points. Wood was just as wicked in the beginning and the score after one was a rousing 5-4, Vikings. As evidenced by the final score, the visitors finally got going and the subs wound up playing almost the entire fourth quarter. My DN story focused on sr. PG Matt Spadafora, who mixed 12 points, six boards and three apiece of assists and steals. He's a top-notch student with some interest from Princeton and Columbia and coach Joe Sette is dismayed that no official D-I offers have come. He has some valuable skills. Patience could be rewarded. Then again, after walking on at Duquesne, Matt's brother, Mike, is now ripping up at Gettysburg and there's a lot to be said for experiencing stardom, no matter the level. Good stats were hard to come by. In fact, few had any. In the third quarter, won by Wood, 23-4, sr. F Allen Borovich did hit two treys and dish three assists. John Schwartz and Frank Doyle scored three points apiece in the late going. This is a little off-color, so stop reading now if you're easily offended. Trust me. It was funny . . . In the fourth quarter, as one of Wood's guys was getting ready to shoot from the corner, Sette encouraged him by saying, "Stroke it!" A Wood girl sitting behind me said to her friends, "Stroke it? What did he just say?" The other girls giggled, of course, and the first one said, "I never heard THAT term." Late in the game, La Salle student reporter Jack "In the Box" Crouse stood up and began imitating the movements of coach Joe Dempsey. Hands on hips. Arms folded. Rubbing chin. Jack's buddies, Joe Winning and Mike Pennington, stayed seated and imitated the movements of the assistants.

FEB. 11
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Dougherty 46, Judge 45
   This record-earning stuff is more difficult than it appears. And trying to get the job done on Fridays is definitely not a good idea. Last Friday, when Judge coach Bill Fox was trying to tie the mark for most wins in Catholic League history, his squad blew an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead and fell to Ryan, in OT. This time, with the record already having been tied, what evaporated was a 15-point pad (36-21) over the last 12-plus minutes. Phew! Judge largely caused its own demise in that Ryan game, missing nine free throws in the fourth quarter. This time? I'd have to say Dougherty just seized the heck out of it (though Judge did go 3-for-7 at the stripe in the fourth quarter). Let's start at the end: With 35.8 seconds left and Judge up by one, jr. G Will Taggert, who'd played some great defense, especially on Dougherty's best player, soph G Josh "Scrap" Martin (2-for-9, five points, went to the line to take his first shot of any kind. The one-and-one missed and soph F Justin Minter grabbed his ninth rebound. At the other end, the Cardinals held for a while and then timeout was called at 16.9. The shot wound up being a trey by jr. G Vincent Simpson a shade to the right of dead-on. It missed and the ball caromed to the left baseline, where it was grabbed by soph SF Roberto Townsend. His 10-footer bounced twice on the rim, rolled around a little, then fell in with 2.4 seconds left! Time ran out, but the officials put 2 on the clock. Townsend then twice blocked (completely, then partially) inbound passes by jr. F Jim Schule and the Redbirds had a stirring win. Townsend and Simpson were big-time in the second half. Townsend had 11 of his 13 points and five of his seven boards. Simpson (three treys) had 11 of his 14 points along with three boards and one assist. After Judge went ahead, 36-21, Townsend and Simpson fueled a comeback that saw CD score eight points in under a minute. The Cards finally earned a tie, at 40-40, with 6:18 left on Townsend's halfcourt steal and layup, and went ahead, 44-42, on Simpson's three-ball with 2:38 left. Judge persevered and claimed a 45-44 edge at 1:31 on a reverse layup by sr./jr. F/C Art/Arthur Livingston (pass by Taggert). It was a shame that Taggert's late foul-line trip was unsuccessful because he really had a strong effort. With 1:15 left, his in-your-jock defense forced Martin to leave his feet and whip a pass out of bounds. Soph WG Kahlil Mumford then became Mr. Sticky, forcing a 5-second call against Schule, and Taggert came back with MORE tremendous D, forcing Martin into a bad, rushed layup attempt off a drive. Livingston finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists. Sr. WG Damien Palantino had 14 points. Jr. F Chris Schwartz, a sub, mixed eight boards, two steals and two blocks. In the locker room, sr. C Chris McNicholas kiddingly told me, "My two points made the difference." Actually, a case could be built (smile). I sat in the Looney Bin, hoping to get some decent pictures from that angle. Worked out OK, though Dougherty's gym is in serious need of better lighting and it wasn't fun hearing a kid, NOT a student at Dougherty or Judge, say he was "all hopped up on meds" and talk about his wild drinking exploits. Yo, buddy, stick with orange soda. Always worked for me through the teen years. Also, like always, they might want to lower the temperature from something in the 90s to something in the 70s. Much love, maintenance supervisor. I've been a fan from way back. So has the maker of my deodorant (ha ha).

FEB. 12
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 42, Bonner 32
   Is the paint finished drying yet? Phew, tough one to watch, folks. Neither team appeared to be particularly juiced and the Hawks' fans, in turn, found it hard to get excited. Speedy Morris' club is going through some tough times. Starting jr. WG Dave Stefanski has a torn knee ligament and is out for the season. Sr. WG Corey O'Rourke is playing, but a foot problem is preventing him from practicing. Meanwhile, Bonner somehow forgot its lineup included a 6-8 center, sr. Derrick Graff, who sliced and diced The Prep in the teams' earlier meeting to the tune of 34 points. In this one? He took just five shots, made one and finished with six points thanks to 4-for-4 perfection at the line. He added seven boards. Deep into the third quarter, the Hawks were still mostly sleepwalking. But sr. PG Joe Fox drained a right-corner trey on a pass from O'Rourke to create a tie at 23-23 and jr. SF Reggie Redding went hard to the hole from beyond the arc (after O'Rourke forced a 5-second call) to can a layup and provide a hint of momentum to take into the fourth quarter. It was sustained. The fourth opened with a trey by frosh WG Oscar Griffin (pass from sr. C Mike Lombardi) and SJP rolled home from there. Not stormed home. It wasn't that kind of day. Rolled home. Griffin, no relation to '04 star John, had five points, four boards and an assist in his first extended duty. Redding managed 18 points, seven boards and three steals. Eight of his points came in the 17-9 fourth quarter. With Graff being ignored, Bonner's only true offensive option was soph WG Jeff Jones. He posted 17 points, shooting 6-for-15 and 5-for-5. The battle within the war had some intrigue as Jones was covered by the always feisty O'Rourke. Also, Jones mostly guarded O'Rourke (six points, only three shots from floor). The Friars were still hanging around, at 35-30, after sr. PG Mike Heppler hit a free throw with 1:16 left. But at 59.8, Redding converted a three-point play off an inbound pass from O'Rourke (from almost midcourt, no less) and any hint of suspense was removed. Some praise is due jr. F Steve Wheatley. He had seven rebounds and set some big-contact picks. Meanwhile, no tickets will be sold at the door for the Feb. 20 Neumann-Goretti at Prep game. Speedy said each school has been given an allotment of tickets.

FEB. 10
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Prep Charter 86, Freire Charter 62
   This one figured to be close, but instead was anything but. PC pounded the ball inside again and again and again while claiming the Class A title and a spot in the state playoffs. (The Philly rep will be playing up into the Class AA tourney, however.) Jr. WG Rodney Green had a performance for the ages. It wasn't that he scored a school record 36 points (Johntai Holmes had 33 in '02). It was that he got them while shooting 17-for-19 from the floor! His two misses -- one on a drive, the other on a trey -- came right at the end of the half. He made his first eight and last nine shots! Green, a 6-5, 185-pound junior, has the look of a pro, buildwise. Not from the strength standpoint, but from the long-limbed, big-first-step standpoint. He's also an explosive leaper, and gets good hang time (smile). This was also a good day for the sophomore Morris twins, 6-8 Markieff (14 rebounds, five blocks) and 6-7 Marcus (13 points). Markieff, especially, was a dominant factor in the game. Sr. SF Jason Dogan mixed 14 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals. Sr. PG Bilal Rogers had five assists and three steals. The Huskies were accomplished in transition and the presence inside of the big guys caused Freire to hesitate just enough to make a difference. Sr. WG Isaiah Coleman had an off day. He managed just 14 points (some meaningless near the end) and incurred his third foul 2:28 before halftime when sub Paris Griffin neatly drew a charge. FC was already down by 38-23. Sr. PF Lavine Grimes shot 8-for-17 and 7-for-11 for 23 points and grabbed 14 boards. Sr. PF-C James Morene had 11 points, 12 boards. The other Dragons combined to shoot 4-for-22. As the fourth quarter opened, the clock ran straight through for almost 2 full minutes though the spread was "only" 31 points. I hear varying answers as to when the PIAA's mercy rule kicks in, so if it's 40 points instead of 30, Freire coach Lawrence Threadgill has a beef. It would not have mattered, of course. Many parents and college guys were in attendance. Nice to see!

FEB. 8
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Univ. City 31, Southern 29
   I went to a Pub game and a Conwell-Egan intrasquad game broke out. Thirty-one to 29 in a Pub game? Say it ain't so! It was so. It's what happens when the defenders are motivated and the teams, combined, really have only reliable scorer, especially one who can shoot over a zone. That player was UC sr. G-F Anthony Morrison, but he went only 4-for-12 (one trey) en route to 14 points. The score was 4-4 after one quarter and 14-9 at half. Can you say brutal? There was a hint of life in the third quarter and it belonged almost exclusively to Southern. The Rams scored 12 straight points and UC did not dent the scoreboard until 1:20 remained on Morrison's 17-foot, right-wing jumper. The stretch run featured all kinds of wacky things. We'll begin at the end. A volunteer assistant for Rams' coach George Anderson, and the father of a player, yelled again and again at high volume about the sexual orientation of the referees and how they'd cheated. The man was being nudged out the door until he finally calmed down. Anderson, also at high volume, apologized to everyone and said, in part, "I'll never again allow someone like that on my bench!!" As the game was winding down, U. City was assessed two technicals -- one came right after a call in its FAVOR -- and Southern's 6-8 Ervin Spuriel, who hardly ever shoots the ball from any farther than two feet, was chosen to shoot the techs after one of them. He missed four consecutive shots. The first two didn't count. One ref said Spuriel was allowed to shoot two extras because Lurline Jones, UC's athletic director and the girls' b-ball coach, "was wandering around the court." In part, she was trying to convince her players, seated in folding chairs behind the basket where Southern was shooting, to move back and to the side. She was also incensed, as was coach Lou Williams, who drew the tech, about the call that led to it. (A jump ball, even though it appeared the UC player was asking for time out.) Here's some late detail, stolen directly from DN story (smile): The tech against a UC player, forward Robert Mosby, came with 48.9 seconds left and the Jaguars up, 26-25. UC's Timothy Barlow (eight points, six rebounds, two steals) converted a one-and-one and Southern sr. G Jalil Harris hit both techs at the other end. Sr. PF-C Ervin Jordan blocked sr. WG Christian Hollins' shot on the Rams' follow-up possession and the ball was awarded out of bounds to UC. The sequence from there: Morrison (nine rebounds) hit two free throws; Southern sr. F Demetrius Murray made two after being hacked on a trey; jr. PG Aaron Stephens (five points, three assists, seven steals) made the first of a double bonus at 3.9; Stephens missed the second, then tied up Spuriel for the long rebound (possession to Southern); and Harris stepped on the sideline at 0.4 after catching the inbound pass. Southern's chances were hurt when sr. WG Amir Ryan fouled out with 48.9 left. It's not that he's a great player. It's that he's the Rams' heart and soul. Spuriel, a lefty, shows some promise. He'll be able to add weight and he runs pretty well already. His presence needs to improve, especially where positioning is concerned. A few times he got caught in too deep along the baseline and was unable to be effective. 

FEB. 7
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Frankford 77, Lincoln 58
   I could forget this one as early as tomorrow. Lincoln was missing six guys for assorted reasons (all negative) and its coach, Steve Gittleman, was also not on hand because he'd been ejected from the previous game. The guy who coached the Railsplitters looked a lot like Malcolm X, according to Amauro, and a little like the son of ex-Frankford coach Vince Miller, according to me. There were some wacky goings-ons. Keith Hines, former DN statman, was running the clock and when the first whistle sounded, the scoreboard showed 8:23 left in the first quarter. Yes, the clock was ADDING seconds. "It would have to be me doing this," Keith muttered. Also, Lincoln sub Javier Watson, used sparingly, had no shoelaces in his sneakers and went through part of the warmups wearing just socks. Gotta love it! Lincoln had three little-guy guards, all srs., in Mike Wilson, Tyreke Smith and Jamill Baker. They were feisty early and working well together, but they lost some composure as the spread mounted. Frankford received multiple quality performances. The sr. backcourt of Maurice Miller, a savvy lefty, and Ryan Smith, a strong kid with great grades and SATs, controled the game. Miller had 11 points and seven assists while Smith totaled five points, six assists, four steals and even seven boards. Some low Is are sniffing for Smith and we all hope he finds a nice situation. He's a great kid and would be an asset to any program. Jr. F Lewis Leonard, also a lefty, had 23 points and 11 boards. He's of those rare lefties who's comfortable on the right side of the court and I'm pretty sure he missed all of his shots from the left side. When he tried to dunk, he did so righthanded. Miller was a headliner during a 12-point run that allowed Frankford to establish command in the second quarter. He began it by nailing consecutive treys, then continued it by making a snappy pass to Leonard, who swished a trey of his own. Other contributors were soph SF Kenny Spotwood (12 points, six boards, three assists), sr. PF-C Lorenzo Byrd (10 points) and sr. FB QB Lamont Brown (six points, five boards, two assists; also a PF-C). For Lincoln, the leaders were Wilson (18 points, four treys), Baker (13, three treys) and its own FB QB, Kareem Dennis (16 points).

FEB. 5
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Freire 105, Del Val 72
   Pretty darn amazing. Freire's gym, that is. This school is located in an old YMCA at 2027 Chestnut Street and the court is VERY short. Freire coach Lawrence Threadgill says it's 71 feet. My guess is 60-65. Put it this way: It's 20 feet, maybe, from the top of one three-point arc to the other. And once you go past the halfcourt line, the foul line behind you becomes the backcourt line. Also, there are four thick support columns on each side of the court and thank goodness they're heavily padded because they're no more than two feet off the sidelines. There's a stage at the north end and most of the kids sit up there. Other fans pull up folding chairs and the choice is: sit back and have your view partially blocked or sit close and risk getting run over by players chasing loose balls. There are also balconies running the length of the court on both sides. No one was standing up there today, but a bunch of kids hanging over the balcony could make this place even more legendary. This place is cool! Glad I saw it! The game? Lots of stats, baby. Del Val didn't need it and was somewhat uninspired, especially once the deficit reached 15 points or so. Freire needed the win to tie Prep Charter for first in Division C among Class A teams and thus get the first seed on the head-to-head tiebreeaker. Sr. WG Isaiah Coleman, being watch by an assistant coach from Howard University, Dawud Abdur-Rahkman, got a shade swept up in the game's wild nature and shot just 9-for-27 en route to 21 points. He made a series of flat-out basketball plays, though, so we'll forgive him for the brickin' (smile). Sr. PF Lavine Grimes was a manchild against the Warriors, not exactly packed with inside forces. He shot 14-for-21 and 4-for-5 for 32 points and swallowed 20 rebounds. He also had six assists and three steals. He's a burly kid and constantly goes forward while playing within himself. As good, ol' Amauro would say, State School Alert!! (smile) The other brute, sr. C James Morene, totaled 14 points and eight boards. James, who wears No. 34, looks old enough to be a father of four (smile). At one point, a little kid standing next to me said, "Damn, 34 looks 34!" Sr. PG-WG Dwayne "Mister" Johnson hit three straight treys and finished with 15 points, along with four assists. The biggest roars were reserved for jr. G Darryl "Snoop" Atkinson, who made a late appearance. Atkinson passed to jr. G Pierre Lewis for the basket that gave the Dragons their 99th and 100th points and when he scored himself moments later, the starters exploded off the bench in glee. For DV, sr. WG Dominic Smith-Albright missed his last 11 shots and settled for 11 points. Sr. Clifford Copper, a WG-SF earlier in the year, mostly played the point and dealt seven assists. He seemed to be very comfortable setting up his teammates and that could be his future. He's a smart player! He also had 12 points. This was my first look at jr. WG Corey James, who starred last year at Germantown before running into some problems. Honestly, he didn't do much (13 points) and has horrendous shooting form -- sideways spin, which really showed on his free throws. Jr. G Christopher Barnes scored 18 points, with 14 coming in the fourth quarter. Roman's Mike Ringgold, a star jr. F, was in attendance. He played last year for Freire. The nutty assistant coach got Mike going when he claimed Freire would beat Roman. Nah. I did agree to this notion, though: Take Ringgold OFF Roman and Freire probably wins the game.

FEB. 4
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Ryan 44, Judge 43 (OT)
   In the 29 years Bill Fox has coached at Judge, I can't imagine his teams too often have coughed up an 11-point lead in the final seven minutes, especially at home. It happened in this one, though, and the meltdown -- the loss eventually came in OT -- prevented him from tying his own coach, La Salle's Charles "Obie" O'Brien (Bill graduated in 1969), for the most wins in CL history (541). Meanwhile, Ryan collected a stirring, hard-earned victory that featured prominent contributions by pretty much everyone. The overall hero was jr. G-F Joe Zeglinski, who started slowly (2-for-9, then two missed free throws) but finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds and had 10/seven from the fourth quarter on. Joe got ziggy with it by nailing a 23-foot, straight-on trey to force OT. Then, as OT wound down, and with Ryan ahead by 42-41, he blocked the second of two shots by sr. F-C Mike Briscella, gathered the rebound with some quick-hands work and galloped downcourt for a clinching layup. Judge got a trey from jr. G Kevin Lynch with one-10th of a second left. Also for Ryan, 6-8 jr. C Kevin Hudgeons swept an amazing 19 rebounds; jr. G Mike Varanavage mixed eight points, four assists and four steals and played outstanding defense on Judge's long-distance sniper, sr. G Damien Palantino (1-for-11, three points); and sr. PG Tom Manes had some clutch moments in OT. Regulation ended at 35-35. Palantino's only FG, a trey, made it 40-37, but Manes passed to Hudgeons for a basket and then, after a Hudgeons block, sped downcourt for a FG of his own. That made it 41-40 with 1:31 left. Manes added another free throw at 36.6. Somehow, Judge shot 1-for-10 from the line in the fourth quarter and four guys contributed to the miseries. Two of the misses were front ends so, of course, that meant the Crusaders missed out on 11 more possible points. Phew! Brutal! In the game overall, Judge five times blew both halves on two-shot fouls. Jr./Sr. C Arthur Livingston had eight points and seven boards. Briscella had nine and nine. Jr. F Jim Schule was the Cruasaders' most reliable player. He shot 4-for-6 en route to nine points and also contributed eight points and two assists. Jr. G Will Taggert had two assists, two steals. This was a late-arriving crowd, perhaps the capacity of Judge's parking lot is so small. The balcony was pretty much filled and the regular stands were about 80-percent occupied.

FEB. 2
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Neumann-Goretti 74, Roman 69 (OT)
   Ah, that's more like it. After watching a few consecutive clunkers, I needed to have my faith restored in CL basketball and this one more than filled the bill. Much more than filled. There of course was intensity and the Philly U. gym was filled to about 85 percent of capacity and great play followed great play all night. N-G jr. G Derrick "D.J." Rivera had an all-timer and I still don't know how. Amauro and I immediately looked at each other with expressions that screamed, "Did we really just see that?!?!" I'm sure that was happening all around the gym. Unless I'm going crazy (always a possibility -- smile), Rivera made a layup from the right side that bounced in off the glass from the LEFT side. I kid you not. He was flying in that direction, of course, so he might have been right in front of the basket when he released the ball. But the ball kicked hard off the glass and went right in and there was tremendous English on it. Like a golf shot or pool shot. Amazing! Rivera also had two of the game's five dunks. He finished with 17 points, three assists and four steals and formed a wonderful tandem with his best buddy, soph PG Antonio "Scoop" Jardine (18 points, seven rebounds). N-G was coming off a loss, its first of the season, to St. Benedict, of N.J., and as the guards and coach Carl Arrigale said afterward, was a shade overconfident against a Roman team that had already dropped three South contests (one to N-G, two to SJ Prep). Pretty much all game, Roman would spurt to borderline comfortable leads and then the Saints would come back, as if saying to themselves, "Oh, yeah. We can't let them get too far ahead, just in case they're really serious about this." They got away with that mentality tonight. Another time, especially at the wrong time (playoffs, for instance), such an approach could be deadly. Anyway, sr. F David Burton, saddled by some foul trouble, settled for six points and five boards. Soph C Richard Jackson had seven points and five rebounds. Jr. F Earl Pettis, playing before his brother, Robert "Beattie" Taylor, a Neumann grad in the final season of a quality career at Rider, worked for 14 points, four boards and seven assists and did so for half of the night after falling hard and injuring his hip. (Perhaps it was his hip. The injury report might have listed it as "high left butt contusion" -- smile). Sr. WG Conor Kennedy drained two treys en route to eight points and sr. PF-C Phil Love hit two pressurized free throws at the stage end, where Roman's students were going berserk in front of him. Roman showed supreme balance as the starters scored between nine and 16 points. Some stats: sr. F-C Malik Perry (14, eight boards, shot 5-for-8); jr. F-C Mike Ringgold (14, 12 boards, three blocks); sr. G Bobby Jordan (nine); soph WG-SF Bradley Wanamaker (16, seven boards); jr. G Raymond "Doodles" Sims (12, eight assists, two steals). I'd imagine this was Sims' best overall game as a varsity player. The lefty, a slick ballhandler, spent most of the night on the point and largely made good decisions. Jordan was mostly on the wing. Late in the game, Jordan more often played the point, and I'm guessing the reason was that Rivera had four fouls and Roman's coaches figured he wouldn't be able to be as aggressive. Steve "Hoopin' With" Hosack did a great job detailing the important play-by-play moments, so I'll direct you there for that stuff. At one point, one of the refs made a call that did not sit well with a N-G fan, who yelled, "You'll never move up with calls like that! You'll be doing high school ball all your life!" Yo, buddy, what's wrong with high school ball??!! (smile). I've been doing it all my life, and a wonderful life it has been.

FEB. 2
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Audenried 48, Penn 46
   Audenried could/should have closed this one out early in the fourth quarter, but it let Penn hang around and then got sloppy on the boards in the late going and Penn almost stole it. In the final 10 seconds, after falling behind, 47-43, Penn twice hustled for offensive rebounds off missed free throws. Sr. G-F Mikal Jennings missed two and sr. F Preston Williams got the board and was fouled. He made the first and missed the second and Jennings claimed the board and got hacked. This time he made both and the Lions were within 47-46 with six seconds left. Audenried jr. WG Tyreek Jackson went to the line for a double-bonus at 4.7 and made the first. When he missed the second, sr. F Hasan Roundtree grabbed the board and flipped ahead to sr. swingman James Sanders. His buzzer-beating trey, launched from halfcourrt, came close. In fact, it grazed the right side of the net. If that ball had gone in, what a wild scene there would have been! Even though only about 25 people were in attendance. Audenried had two guys worthy of D-III or JC attention. Sr. PG Alex Jones, a lefty, plays a smart, Catholic League kind of game. He is sensible and effective and really runs his ballclub. Also, he looks to shoot last, which I'm sure is appreciated by his teammates. He generated six assists, five steals and even eight rebounds. The inside force is sr. PF-C Andrew Hardy, who goes about 6-5 and has a solid body. He collected 15 points, shooting 7-for-8 at the line (always a good sign in a big man), and added seven boards and five blocks. He, too, played the game the right way. Jackson shot 8-for-13 (two treys) en route to 19 points. Role-playing inside guys Anthony Hill (seven) and Kevin Patterson (10) helped on the boards. For Penn, Jennings is an interesting player. He is VERY thin, but he's also about 6-4/6-5 and springy and can knife through the defense at will. He'll need to develop an actual jumper, but he'd be perfect for a team that gets out in transition. He shot 10-for-22 and just 6-for-15 at the line (he was rushing a shade, and firing line drives) while adding 10 boards and two blocks. His shot selection is somewhat shaky only because he realizes his squad has very few scorers. Sr. WG Rashand Williams looks like the kind of guy who'd be picked very early in playground pickup games. Soph PG Orie Johnson saw some time for Penn. He is probably not 5-foot tall, but he showed mad ballhanding skills (just using the current lingo, folks -- smile) and was definitely fun to watch. Early in the game, Audenried coach Hilderbrand Pelzer called a timeout and said to his team as they walked to the bench, "Come with me." The entire group walked to the end of the court, then Pelzer pointed down and said, "This is the baseline." He then explained how it is not to be given up. Legendary stuff. At one point, Jennings had what my part-time statman, Jack "In the Box" Crouse, has labeled a BRA. That's a block, rebound and assist in quick order. It has to be done with an outlet pass, of course. At least three times, the clock operator pushed the buzzer just when the second of two free throws was about to be shot. One of the refs, back-in-the-day West Philly guard Norman Winston, just smiled and shook his head in Only in The Pub fashion. The gym was wicked hot, plus there are about 6-7 small to medium-sized rectangles with warped floor boards. Dangerous!

FEB. 1
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Episcopal 53, Gtn. Academy 45
   It would have been nearly impossible for this matchup, played at Arcadia University before about 2,000, to match the first, played at Saint Joe's before about 3,000 and decided by jr. WG Wayne Ellington's waning-moments field goal. But check this out: If someone said these teams had to play each other once a week for the rest of the school year, I think everyone would be thrilled and the crowd would be large each and every game. The early plot line in this one, and then even the middle-game plot line, was, are Episcopal's two prime-timers really going to score all their team's points? Ellington and 6-5 jr. SF Gerald Henderson combined to produce Episcopal's first 15 points (to 8 for GA) with 7-for-7 marksmanship. Then halftime arrived and it was 14 for "Skitch" and 11 for "Duke" (older folks with an interest in music will understand -- smile) and 25 total for the Churchmen. Would someone else step up? Yes. Jump up, in fact. EA's first points after intermission came on a dunk by 6-9 jr. C Mike Yocum (pass from Henderson) but then it was back to the usual. The dynamic duo finished with 21 of EA's 22 field goals and 47 of the 53 points. Henderson 9-for-13 and 4-for-4 for 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Ellington shot 12-for-18 (one trey) for 25 points. The best thing was, not one of their shots was forced. I never felt like screaming, "Stop hogging the ball! Pass it!" (Unfortunately, I did have that thought a few times when GA had the rock.) Henderson and Ellington did everything in the flow and, like always, they showed a mix of jumpers and high-flying attacks at/near the rim. Luckily, they also have two of the best teammates in world history, sr. F Joe Rosati and sr. PG Dylan Brown, who are content to do little things again and again and let the franchise guys lead the way to victories and all kinds of fun. For GA, the leading scorers were sr. Fs Brian Grimes (14) and Ryan Ayers (12). Grimes shot just 6-for-18. Ayers got to take just seven shots, making three. The Patriots' inside big'un, Andrew Ott, had nine points and 10 boards. Episcopal faced a possibly tough moment when Brown incurred his fourth foul with 6:16 left in the fourth quarter. Neither team had used a sub to that point and soph Tim Ivory had to come in cold. He quickly got cornered and had to call time, but soon he was sticking his nose in there and flicking the ball away from a GA player. A jump ball resulted and the arrow favored EA. I liked how his teammates encouraged him and did not show one ounce of hesitancy that he'd be able to get the job done. (Soph backup PG Pat Kelly is ineligible for league games, so Ivory was next in line.) Brown returned with 3:55 left and Ivory departed to a nice round of applause from EA's fans. Brown's fourth foul had been called an intentional. He delivered a hard hack to a driving Ayers after a steal. I disagreed with the call, by the way. Yes, it was "intentional" as Brown indeed was trying to keep Ayers from getting an easy basket on what began as a breakaway. But in that situation, especially, "intentional" to me should mean "intent to injure" and that wasn't the case at all. Ayers had not yet jumped. Oh, well. After sr. WG Kirk Jones buried a right-corner trey on a pass from Ayers, drawing GA within 46-45 with a shade under three minutes left, everyone no doubt was thinking, "Oh, baby, here we go again! Next stop, great finish!" It wasn't to be. The Patriots goose-egged from there. The biggest play came when Rosati, inbounding from maybe two-thirds of the way to halfcourt, fired a pass to near the basket that was caught by Henderson. He was fouled and made both for a 51-45 lead. We hear Rosati, a star TE-LB, will be challenging star QB Brian FitzPatrick to a passing accuracy contest any day now (smile). TS.com promises to cover it! (ha ha). GA's most frustrating possession occurred when Jones missed a trey, Ott missed a tap, Grimes missed a trey and Brown rebounded for EA. He was fouled and made both shots at 20.3 for 53-45 math.