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December reports
January reports
MARCH 25
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF
CLASS AA FINAL
Prep Charter 82, Beaver Falls 51
As we said was going to happen way back, PC won the title! OK, so
it wasn't the Pub version, but are you going to hold that against us? (smile)
The Huskies in fact had their lowest moments as the Pub portion of the schedule
wound down. First, on their home floor, they fell to Communications Tech in a
quarterfinal. Second, AGAIN on their home floor, with their chins no doubt
dragging along it, they were dumped by E&S in a consolation for seeding
purposes. But somehow, and perhaps the time off truly helped instead of causing
rust to form, PC got it together and fashioned a five-game sweep to capture the
first state title (in any sport) in Philadelphia history. Was the final easy?
Sure looks like it, right? But at halftime, the Huskies were down, 29-27, and
BF's best player, sr. G Lance Jeter (a strong guy with great athleticism,
instincts and competitive spirit -- yes, sometimes it only takes one look to
tell) was slapping together what was promising to be one of the best title-game
performances in PIAA history. BF had 12 field goals in the first half. He poured
in eight (18 points) and had assists on two of the other four. What happened
then? Rodney Green happened. And Doug Davis happened. All the
Huskies happened, actually. PC began treasuring the ball (no second half
turnovers until very late) and sharing it (18 assists on 22 FGs). It also played
defense with terrific intensity and that led to a series of awesome fastbreaks.
Except for missing his first free throw, Green had a perfect half. Mr.
Transition went 7-for-7 from the floor and 4-for-5 at the line en route to
scoring 18 of his 25 points while also adding five of his six assists and all
three of his steals. Amauro, who likes to compare Rodney with Bartram
product Earl "The Pearl" Monroe ("I like watching old tapes; he
has all the same movements" -- agreed!), said others are now predicting that
Rodney will play in the NBA. Wonder who said that first? At least publicly?
Hmmm. (smile) Here's what I wrote back on Jan. 12: ****Sr.
WG-SF Rodney Green is a future NBA player and La Salle has a steal.
Strong words, yes, but I have strong feelings about this young man’s current
skills and potential to become better and better, year by year. Word is, the
Explorers plan to play him at the point and he OWNS transition. In this one, he
also made some good passes in set offenses.**** . . . Davis often was
overshadowed this season by his guard partner, fellow jr. Josh "Scrap" Martin,
but Doug was a big-timer in this one. He also shot tremendously (9-for-13,
3-for-5 on treys) and had two assists. Martin had to sit down for a spell with a
tweaked ankle, but finished with five assists. The Morris twins also were
headliners. All four of the second half FGs by 6-9 Markieff came on
dunks; he finished with 10 points, nine boards and three apiece of assists and
blocks. The 6-8 Marcus had eight points, 10 boards, eight feeds (yes, eight!)
and four blocks. Jr. G Kevin Radford hit two treys for six points and sr.
F Paris Griffin, who all season provided the team's behind-the-scenes
heart and wisdom (and even the no-haircut edict until the state was won -- ha
ha), grabbed five rebounds. It was also nice to see the other sr., F-C Cullen
Askew, grab a late-game rebound. There's no secret about the fact that PC's
administration, from frisky AD Chuck Pearsall on up, often finds itself
at odds with school district personnel. So while the district folks were on hand
to help with the medal presentations, and indeed were thrilled that a Pub team
had broken through to win a state title in only the second year of trying,
there's no doubting this: they would have preferred seeing another team do it.
By the same token, given its choice, PC would have preferred representing
District 13 (there is none, of course). Here's hoping the differences can be
patched up. In case you're wondering, Jeter had a rough second half. Somehow, he
picked up his first, second and third fouls in a short span and then lost much
of his aggressiveness. Also, and this surprised me, considering his build and
BF's history (lots of high-scoring games), he lost a lot of gas as the game went
on. He finished with 23 points, five assists and four steals. Well, this was the
longest season in city history, with games taking place from the very end of
November to close to the end of March (with some all-star games/tourneys still
to come). Phew! There were some wild games and fun times, and some disturbing
moments as well. Hope you enjoyed the ride. Thanks for paying attention and a
personal thank-you to all the guys who contributed to the site. Even Brian
"My Goal in Life Is to Drive Ted Nuts, and I've Succeeded Pretty Good, um, I
Mean Well" Sugden (ha ha). Many of our past student writers have
stayed with journalism in college, and now even beyond, and you can say you knew
them when . . .
MARCH 24
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF
CLASS AAA FINAL
Franklin 74, Comm. Tech 63
Should we have expected competence?
Should we have expected the School District to make CT’s appearance in a state
final, win or lose, a thoroughly enjoyable experience? Of course not. That’s why
this phrase – “Only in the Pub” – was coined in the first place and why it will
never go out of style. I’m one disgusted dude and I’m not alone. We’ll get to
the game itself in a few thousand words (smile), but first there’s a need to
angrily address something else. You might have seen earlier this week that the
Pub/District 12 honchos were hopeful of bringing all kinds of city people up to
Hershey – for free, even! – to watch CT and Prep Charter in state finals.
Insiders scoffed and predicted the result would be an abomination, and I should
have quoted them then. I was trying to maintain faith, against better judgment
formed by many years of witnessing knuckleheadism. Then, the word was that 24
buses would be coming up, from schools that qualified teams for the states but
did not get this far. Again, insiders scoffed. The final count? Eight buses. One
from U. City and seven from CT itself. Care to guess when the first CT bus
arrived? With 2 ½ minutes left in the SECOND quarter. The last one? In the
FOURTH quarter. Some buses were late showing up to CT. Students told me the
drivers refused to load and leave until more buses showed up, for caravan
purposes. Others got lost. For reasons unknown even to the guy who oversees
sports transportation for the district, Cliff Hubbard, district buses are
not allowed to transport kids to games outside the city. So, private companies
must be used and this one, whatever it was, botched the job completely.
According to long-time PIAA observers, Franklin’s fans had to travel four hours
to get here (I’m in a hotel down the street from the arena.) They weren’t late.
Yes, CT had mostly small rooting sections for its other state playoffs, but the
kids who did show up were loud and supportive. For this one, the Phoenix came
out to warm up in the Giant Center and saw no familiar faces. Was it any wonder
they had trouble exhibiting early juice? You’re going for a state title and your
section of the stands is basically empty!!! (Some people, who didn’t belong,
were sitting there.) Three-hundred CT kids were expected. Not one was there.
Disgrace. Meanwhile, as I mentioned in my DN story, the ADs had no interest in
drumming up support for CT and/or PC and almost nobody expressed a desire to go.
One AD said there was even an inside joke among the ADs. If someone did call to
inquire about getting on the bus, the guys/gals were saying, “Our bus is full.
Call another school.” Oh, baby. OK, I’m partially calm. Now for the game.
Hockey Puck was in attendance and kept saying Franklin reminded him of
Archbishop Ryan because of the way it passed the ball (often via backdoors),
attacked the rim and hit long jumpers. The colors, black and red, were also a
match. The best Knight was center Nate Byham, a Pitt FB signee for tight
end. It didn’t long for me to start calling this lefty Dave Cowens after
the former Celtics goodie. Often, he’d get the ball on the right block, throw
out a fake of some kind (ball, head; both) and maneuver to the left side for
easy layups while using the rim to shield himself from the defender. He went for
22 points. His teammates all were respectable (even better) shooters and
handlers and CT surrendered lots of easy baskets, both inside and along the arc.
The Knights hit eight of their first 11 shots en route to a 24-17 lead. Ten of
15 for 29-18. Fifteen of 26 for 40-29. Twenty-two of 36 for 55-39. CT did get
within 40-33 in the third quarter and within 66-59 with 1:38 left, but I can’t
say there was ever any reason to get VERY excited about CT’s chances. The game
just had “that look” to it. Sr. PG Jernardo “Jay” Lucas ended his career
with 20 points and five assists. Another sr., swingman Shawn Francis,
shot 5-for-7 en route to 11 points while adding five boards and three assists.
Soph F-C Andrew “Scootie” Randall had 17 points, 10 boards and three
blocks. Sr. Ben “Bombin’ Ben” Whitt drained his first trey, but missed
his next seven. Soph G Orlando Ensley, a Lucas clone who doesn’t play too
much ordinarily, showed well from the hustle/energy standpoint. He finished with
three points, two boards and two steals. In closing, let me say this: I had a
lot of fun covering this team for the paper and website and every kid was a
gentleman. I wish the players and coaches all the best going forward and it’s a
damn shame that the efforts to get fans there was so woefully butchered. Here's
hoping apologies are forthcoming. Even from The Big Guy Himself, Paul Vallas,
who was on the floor for the medal presentations.
MARCH 22
MARCH 21
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF
CLASS AAA EASTERN FINAL
Comm. Tech 66, West Perry 60
Well, all those who thought CT, a first-year Pub entrant, had a
chance to advance to Hershey for a state title game may now take a bow. Make it
long and sweeping, too. Break out the Hershey Kisses, troops, because the
Phoenix is flyin’ to Chocolate Town! Despite a gigantic difference in fan
support – CT had maybe 30 rooters (and that total included School District
personnel) and WP had roughly 1,500, even though the school is 30 miles
northwest of Harrisburg – and some head-scratching officiating at times
(overall, I didn’t think these guys were THAT bad), it has taken just two years
for a Pub squad to reach a final. Of course, basketball IS our sport, right?
(smile) Anyway, this one provided some highly entertaining twists and turns and
CT was truly tested by a team it had beaten by 14 points earlier this season in
a showcase event. One of my great fears as the Pub entered the PIAA was that
somewhere along the line (maybe often) our team would show up with almost no
fans and the other team would show up with a throng-and-a-half, and that the
disparity would be reflected in the officiating. Well, though these guys did
have some shaky moments, the fact was that they had the brass to send WP’s
franchise to the bench with his fifth foul on kind of a cheapie with 3:52 left,
so how could anyone truly complain? Justin Fry, a 6-10 senior, is bound
for UMBC, where the coach is former Roman star Randy Monroe. Fry is thin
and has small, narrow shoulders, so it’s hard to predict that he’ll ever
completely fill out, but I liked his game a LOT. The lefty showed good hands and
a deft shooting touch and was also capable of putting the ball on the floor, at
least for quick, effective moves. He scored 24 points on 8-for-10, 8-for-9
marksmanship and grabbed eight rebounds and WP led, 53-52, when he departed with
3:52 remaining. With Fry gone, CT needed to attack the inside and show big heart
more than ever, and that was what happened. The main man in that endeavor? Sr.
swingman Shawn Francis, who’s not necessarily known as a bruiser. But
Shawn kept working his way into crucial areas, and kept converting follows and
otherwise making big plays and, man, did he have a lot to be proud of. Just last
Friday, Francis had 20 stats aside from scoring (nine boards, six assists, five
steals) and did not collect a point until he went 4-for-4 at the line in the
last 2:20. Tonight? He hit for two early field goals and posted 17 points total,
along with nine boards and three steals! How clutch was this? He had a follow to
make it 55-53. Another to make it 57-55. With 1:46 left, sr. G Leonard
Jackson (seven points) thudded home a free throw to make it 58-55. The
second attempt missed, but Francis forced a jump on the rebound and the
possession arrow was favoring CT. The Phoenix went into that double high-post
delay offense, but then Francis broke down the lane and converted a perfect pass
from sr. PG Jernardo “Jay” Lucas (eight points, three assists) for
a layup and a 60-55 lead. Lucas’ conversion of a double-bonus made it 62-55 at
1:01. The tense moments were not gone for good because WP did charge within
63-60, but Lucas swished both halves of another double-bonus at 16.9. There were
two serious runs. WP had a 26-24 lead when sr. G Ben Whitt (10 points,
four rebounds) hit a left-corner trey on a pass from Jackson. CT then kept
rollin’ and pushed the pad all the way to 42-30. With great help from three
treys by sub J.P. Page, a somewhat pudgy kid with a keen eye, WP stormed
to 17 of the next 20 points and took lead, at 47-45, on Fry’s drive to open the
fourth quarter. As he always does, CT coach Lou Biester used nine players
and seven made notable contributions. Here are some stats for the guys not
previously mentioned: jr. C Lance McDowell, who missed the previous game
with a stomach virus, had 10 points and five rebounds. He was the focus of my DN
story in part because he showed immaturity and then was smart enough to shake it
off and make big fourth-quarter contributions. Soph F Andrew “Scootie”
Randall had an interesting shooting line: In every quarter, he made one and
missed one from the floor en route to eight points. He also posted 10 boards and
six blocks. Jr. G Najee Edwards totaled four apiece of points and boards.
CT’s state-final game will be against the Western Pa. representative, Franklin.
The town of Franklin is in the northwest part of the state, about 30 miles from
Ohio and 45 miles south of Erie. Phew! Good luck with that trip (smile).
Franklin is closing for the day, according to its website, so the students can
go to Hershey. The site and time will be the Giant Center, Friday at 8 o’clock.
The School District honchos have promised to provide CT with strong
fan/spectator support. We’ll see how that goes . . .
MARCH 18
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF
CLASS AA THIRD ROUND
Prep Charter 77, Trinity Catholic 60
And then there were two. Pub teams bound for Eastern finals, that
is. Comm Tech won last night in comfortable fashion in Class AAA and PC did
likewise, and then some, in this game, which was played in the very cool Geigle
Complex, at Reading HS. PC has five guys who will likely, or at least possibly,
play D-I ball and there was no explanation, except for twinges of selfishness
mixed with laziness, why a trip to the Pub final, and even a win therein, did
not occur. At least the Huskies are making the most of their second season and
they were impressive almost completely throughout against this squad from Camp
Hill, near Harrisburg. Did someone say selfishness? Not today. There were
assists on each of PC's first nine field goals and, since two were treys, the
score was 20-12. The final tally was 24 dishes on 31 FGs (and some were follows,
of course). Not a whole lot of play-by-play description is necessary. Late in
the second quarter, PC experienced a little bit of a lull and Trinity did edge
within 36-32. But just before the buzzer, jr. PG Josh "Scrap" Martin hit
a medium-range jumper on the left side of the lane and the momentum was carried
into what became a rather uneventful second half. Martin was outstanding with 13
points (6-for-10 floor) and eight assists. Jr. WG Doug Davis, who also
has PG skills (and mentality), hit three treys for nine points and each one
seemed to be timely. Markieff "Big Twin" Morris shot 8-for-10 (two dunks)
en route to 18 points while adding 11 points, five assists and two blocks. He
goes 6-9. Marcus "Wing Twin" Morris, a mere 6-8, had 14 points, nine
boards and five feeds. Hmm, you might be wondering, what about Rodney Green?
Yes, the La Salle signee, with Explorer assistant Ashley Howard among the
spectators, also turned in a sparkling performance. Well, not right away, he
didn't. Green, who always shoots a high percentage when I'm around, as Amauro
duly noted (smile), missed three bunnies to start the game. He was his effective
self thereafter, though, as he finished 8-for-15 en route to 19 points. He
worked well in a high-low situation with Markieff and/or flashed into the middle
of the lane for chippies sometimes delivered with his off (left) hand, as was
one of his two throw-downs. He added eight boards, three assists and four
steals. PC did not arrive until maybe 25 minutes before the game. Its player bus
also included some fans; 20 at the most. It's amazing, and sad, to see almost
nobody supporting the Philly teams while these okey-doke teams from Who Knows
Where get tremendous fan turnouts. The Wife did make the trip and sat with us in
a folding chair high atop one end of the court. She looked lovely, even though
she won't let me post her picture, and she yawned only two or three times. Per
minute. On the way home, she said that during the game she'd been thinking of
asking me how many quarters there'd be, but then caught herself. "Oh, yeah. It's
QUARTERS. Has to be four." Only in the Dot.com. ha ha.
MARCH 17
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF
CLASS AAA THIRD ROUND
Comm. Tech 69, Oxford 53
One thing about the state tournament. It provides many more chances
for ink, especially to teams that keep winning when others have faltered. The DN
story was my 10th on CT for the season (holy hoops!) and three guys have gotten
two apiece. Following after sr. PG Jernardo "Jay" Lucas and sr. Mad
Bomber Ben Whitt was sr. G-F Shawn Francis, who ranks No. 1 in his
class academically and perhaps from the good-guy standpoint as well. Shawn did
the unthinkable, racking up 20 stats in three categories and almost not scoring
at all! He had nine rebounds, six assists and five steals and waited until the
final 2:20 to score by going 4-for-4 at the line. Legendary, huh? His stats were
not cheapies, either. He had four rebounds and four assists in the first 6:12 as
CT claimed a 15-7 lead, then added one apiece in each category as the score went
to 18-8. The true warrior in this one was Lucas, who, like Francis, is a lefty.
CT's coaches drove home the point that Oxford relied heavily on G Julius Gray
and "Luke" was up to the challenge. Gray is a decent player, but Lucas owned
him, straight up. He swished three early treys and stormed ahead to 24 points,
shooting 9-for-13 from the floor and 3-for-4 at the line. He also forced Gray to
shoot just 4-for-16 and did the occasional trash-talking -- in subtle fashion,
of course -- to get into his head. Soph F-C Andrew "Scootie" Randall had
nine points, eight boards, two assists, four steals and three blocks in the kind
of well-balanced, heady performance that has become the norm for this young man.
Soph big'un Manny Jordan got a start, with Lance McDowell
unavailable, and came up with three rejections. The three bench-guy rotation
members, sr. Whitt and jrs. Najee Edwards and Shyheem Satchell,
combined for 22 points and late sub Chris Jones, a promising soph, scored
a late field goal. He appeared to think about dunking, then went with a layup
(smile). Satchell added seven rebounds and Edwards had two assists, two steals.
CT benefited greatly from some miserable first half shooting by Oxford C John
McMillan (2-for-9 floor, 0-for-8 line -- ouch!). CT has to win one more game
to make an appearance in a state-title game. Prep Charter, in AA, gets a chance
to match the feat tomorrow at Reading. The Wife is threatening to make the trip.
Oh, baby. Wonder how long it'll take her to say, "What inning are they in?" ha
ha
MARCH 15
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF
CLASS AA SECOND ROUND
York Catholic 59, Engineering and Science 43
How would you react upon hearing that one team held another to ZERO
field goal attempts for an entire quarter? Wow! Amazing defense! Not always, as
we saw in this one. YC attempted no FGs in the fourth quarter because E&S kept
hacking and hacking and hacking and hacking. There was really no other option.
Early in the fourth quarter, after committing several turnovers, YC decided to
nurse its lead by spreading the floor and making E&S chase. The possession
lasted for at least 50 seconds, and maybe more like a minute. The Fighting Irish
did a great job of playing keepaway with a lineup filled with respectable
ballhandlers who weren’t too slow, either. Thereafter, coach C.M. Brown
ordered his players to foul on every YC possession and the result was a
20-for-28 performance at the line – in the fourth quarter ALONE -- and a
going-away victory. This game was filled with weird occurrences. E&S did not try
a FG until 4:47 remained in the first quarter. YC led at the half, 16-12, though
it had grabbed all of two – yes, TWO – rebounds. Neither team shot a free throw
until 0:13 remained in the first half. YC made its first seven FG attempts of
the third quarter and, as mentioned, went 20-for-28 at the line in the final
eight minutes. Actually, in the final 5-odd minutes. For whatever reason, E&S
was not its usually aggressive self in the first half and had trouble with
sloppy, barely-forced errors. The Engineers shot 6-for-12, but committed 11
turnovers. Thereafter, jr. PG Sandy Tanner (nine points, all in second
half) and jr. WG Jaret Richardson (13 points, nine in fourth quarter)
took turns trying to show brass by going to the hole, but there was not much
overall sync. Also, the frontcourt guys had some foul problems, especially late,
and it just wound up being one of those nights. Sr. WG-SF Andre Murphy
scored just four points, but did grab eight boards. Tanner and Richardson had
three assists apiece. E&S had about 50 fans in attendance, with the number
roughly split between students and adults. After the final buzzer sounded, they
gave the Engineers a nice sendoff with that “We are proud of YOU” chant.” E&S
will have a fun/productive backcourt next year with Tanner and Richardson. E&S
always comes up with late-blooming frontcourt guys, and we're guessing the next
one will be jr. Thiel Benn, a lefty. Start working like crazy right NOW,
young man. It will all begin with your feet, though a shade more strength would
not hurt, either (smile).
MARCH 14
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF
CLASS AAA SECOND ROUND
Comm. Tech 63, Crestwood 52
Are we having fun yet? The CT Guyz surely are. Thanks to a
performance that was mostly sparkling, the Phoenix is flying on to the third
round and thus is the first Pub/Dist. 12 to accomplish that feat. (OK, so this
is only the second year of this grand experiment, but it’s still quite cool!)
This tilt was played in a beautiful facility at Parkland HS, in Allentown, and
as soon as I walked in, I said, “Shooter’s paradise.” Everything seemed to flow
right down into the baskets and as I discovered afterward, long after mostly
everyone was gone, the wooden floor was slightly springy and that always makes
shooters comfortable. Anyway, CT shot 23-for-43 from the floor and 18 of the
field goals came courtesy of assists. Crestwood had some early FGs on nifty
backdoor plays and it was though the Phoenix wanted to match those upstate dudes
not only on real points but on style points as well. The ink went to sr. G
Leonard Jackson, who has been battling through an ankle problem while,
honestly, not making many contributions. I even commented to Amauro a
couple of times, “What’s with Jackson? He never gets any numbers.” Well, in this
one, he shot 5-for-6 and 3-for-4 for 13 points and bagged four assists, to boot,
and his contributions often were timely. As the first half ended, he found a
wide-open jr. F Shyheem Satchell for a layup that sent CT into the locker
room with a 21-19 lead. Then, with 5:14 left in the third quarter, he made
another solid look that resulted in a three-point play for Satchell (and a 29-24
pad). Want more? He posted yet another dime when Satchell buried a trey for a
46-38 lead. OK, let’s zoom ahead to the final minute. After hanging around for a
while, Crestwood scrambled within 56-52 to cause at least a slight case of
sweaty-palms syndrome for CT’s players, coaches and 20 student fans. But sr. G-F
Shawn Francis hit the front end of a one-and-one and CT caught a break
when the missed second shot went out of bounds off some Crestwood guy. Francis
inbounded from the left corner to Jackson. Leonard seized the baseline, went in
for a layup and that was it, folks. Know how I knew that? Because the CT kids
chanted, “See y’all next year!! See y’all next year!!”
Satchell was outstanding, making all of his shots
(6-for-6, one trey, 1-1 line) for 14 points. He had no other stats, but we’re
thinking we don’t care (smile). Soph F-C Andrew “Scootie” Randall again
impressed as much with his savvy and attention to the SO important little things
as his skill. He finished with 11 points, 10 boards and four assists. Sr. PG
Jernardo “Jay” Lucas had seven points, five assists and two steals while
Francis also had three dishes. Sub sr. WG Ben Whitt, a k a “Bombin’ Ben,”
scored nine points while going 3-for-6 (one trey) and 2-for-2. CT went 13-for-15
at the line. It was 6-for-6 total when, in the third quarter, Amar said, “They
haven’t missed from the line.” I spit out, “But they will now. You just jinxed
them.” Jackson then did the honors. “I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Amar said. CT had
14 second half FGs. Thirteen had assists. Wonderful! We spotted at least two
other Pub coaches in attendance – Mansion’s Gerald Hendricks and UC’s
Lou Williams – along with former West coach Ed Wright. Part of my DN
story focused on the fact that CT’s fan bus never showed, meaning the
non-players and players rode up to Allentown together. All went well. Not sure
if the players or coaches noticed this, but . . . The sign outside CT’s locker
room read “Community Tech.” Crestwood's students were in a group right behind
CT's bench (and going up maybe 15 rows). In the fourth quarter, a kid in the
front row did something to cause a few police officers/game personnel to trot
over in that direction and then place him in handcuffs. The kid was ornery, too.
He was struggling against the officers as he was being led through the aisle
right behind the teams' benches. Very weird. Only in the Upstate! (smile)
MARCH 11
PIAA STATE PLAYOFFS
CLASS AAAA FIRST ROUND
University City 56, Pennsbury 46
This was a VERY nice win for the Jaguars, primarily because it
was accomplished through halftime adjustments. Pennsbury has a promising 6-8
junior, Lavoy Allen, and in the first half he collected 12 points. The
Falcons have nothing close to a true point guard, though, so UC went with a much
different defensive approach -- assorted traps -- and it's doubtful Pennsbury
had even one comfortable possession after intermission. Sr. PG Aaron Stephens
was a whirlwind in the second half, collecting nine of his 14 points, four of
his six assists and three of his four steals. Jr. F-C Kenny Moore was
even more productive, posting 13 of his 15 points and six of his seven rebounds.
UC trailed at haltime, 26-19, but went on a 26-12 run over the first 12 minutes
of the second half to seize the game by the throat. Moore had six early points
and provided the lead, at 31-30, with a follow. Soon, Stephens was adding a
steal and layup to make it 33-30 and then sr. G Khalil Montague, a sub,
was nailing a right-wing trey on a pass from Stephens. Pennsbury truly looked
shellshocked and UC never let the Falcons get even a sniff of a comeback. Sr. SF
Charles McKissick, one of the best do-little-things guys in the city,
mixed 10 points, four boards, three assists and two steals. Coach Lou
Williams also received effective outings from the two sr. Khalils, Bookard
(seven points, five boards) and Montague (seven points). Every single Jaguar
played with juice. Like I said, this was a VERY nice win. Local angle: Pennsbury
coach Frank Sciolla was a first team coaches' All-Catholic player for SJ
Prep in '89. Sub frontcourter Kevin Gallagher, a jr., made a brief
appearance and hit his only shot. I happened to get a picture of the shot and
another photographer, with a very strong flash, happened to be taking a pic at
the very same time from the opposite direction. It made for an interesting
effect (smile). The game had a strange beginning: There was a problem with
name/number in the scorebook and UC was hit with a technical foul. The Pennsbury
kid missed both free throws, however. When Moore committed a foul in the early
going (he was the only nearby Jaguar), the refs somehow signaled the wrong
number to the table and that became huge when Moore incurred two more fouls in
the first half. He never had to sit down, though. Don't believe the wrong number
was reported? Ask former UC star Dawn Hoover. She was sitting on
UC's bench at the time, keeping the Jaguars' scorebook, and even SHE
acknowledged that Kenny had incurred that early foul. Why is it noteworthy that
SHE agrees with me? Because she's Kenny's mother (smile).
MARCH 11
PIAA STATE PLAYOFFS
CLASS AA FIRST ROUND
Imhotep 52, Schuylkill Haven 40
SH brought cheerleaders and all kinds of fans and took over the
gym from the noise/energy standpoint, but Imhotep used its height advantage to
dominate the inside and also received poised performances from its guards, sr.
wing Curtis Jackson and jr. point Jermaine Washington.
Jackson, taking sensible shots, scored 14 points. Washington mixed 11 points and
five assists and did a savvy job of flat-out handling. Inside, jr. F-C Tamir
Johnson had nine points, seven boards and six blocks (and even four early
steals) and jr. F-C Kashief Edwards was gigundo in the fourth quarter,
grabbing seven of his 12 rebounds. He also finished with seven points and four
blocks. Sr. sub Kevin Burwell went 4-for-4 at the line in the fourth
quarter (double-bonus situations both times). Jr. SF Hanif Nixon was
missing for team reasons and soph F Denzel Gatewood received more playing
time than he usually does. The lefty camehrough with flying colors, adding
seven points and just as many rebounds. Washington's right-corner trey provided
a 35-30 lead and he was front-and-center over the next couple minutes with
scoring/assisting as the Panthers stormed ahead by 11, at 43-32. Meanwhile, I
was very disappointed with Imhotep's turnout. There could not have been more
than five students on hand. I had the impression Imhotep was a very together
place with strong spirit, great pride, etc. Not sure what's going on. Maybe the
school will make more of an effort to support the team for the next round. At
one point, Edwards, who's apparently renowned for his bricked free throws, hit
two in a row in very ugly fashion. He smiled and shot a look at the bench guys
that appeared to say, "Had 'em all the way." ha ha
MARCH 10
PIAA STATE PLAYOFFS
CLASS AAA FIRST ROUND
Comm. Tech 67, Upper Moreland 47
One thing about these state playoffs. We only have to talk about
one team (smile). CT rebounded in fine fashion from its woeful performance, at
least shooting-wise, in the Pub final. It was obvious very early that the
Phoenix had more talent and once adjustments were made, and savvy/unselfishness
were shown, there was little doubt about the outcome. Coach Lou Biester
had to happy that such balance was shown in the scoring column. Five guys scored
from 10 to 16 points, two of the double-figure guys came off the bench and none
was sr. WG Ben Whitt. I know. Impossible to believe, right? Mr. Treyball
(well, most of the time) had some illness problems this week and saw scant duty,
missing his only shot (it was a two, heaven forbid!) and dishing two assists.
The two productive subs were juniors, ballhandler Najee Edwards and F
Shyheem Satchell. Edwards totaled 10 points and four assists and worked in
perfect harmony with sr. PG Jernardo “Jay” Lucas (10, eight dimes, three
steals). When Edwards did the actual running of the offense, Lucas was able to
go to the wing/baseline and penetrate from there, thus making the Phoenix even
more effective. CT wore down the Bears in the fourth quarter (22-14) and nine of
the 11 field goals had assists. A handful, maybe, could have had two assists if
this were hockey. Very impressive. Soph F-C Andrew “Scootie” Randall had
16 points, eight boards and three beautiful assists. This young man truly gets
it and it’ll be a pleasure to watch him blossom even more over the next two
seasons. Sr. WG Shawn Francis also had a strong outing, shooting 4-for-6
and 3-for-3 for 11 points and even grabbing seven rebounds. CT double the Bears
on the boards, 36-18. Satchell, who adds a certain hard-guy aura, had 15 points
and nine rebounds. UM played in fesity fashion, but was tough to figure. Though
almost everyone was 6-1 and under, the Bears kept trying to drive and not quite
finishing. I expected numerous treys, but a bombardment never quite happened.
Popular ref Gary “Heart” Butler, who’s been battling a health problem,
handled the PA duties and Franklin coach Larry Gainey was the official
scorer. Mansion’s girls’ coach, Lou Zambino, ran the scoreboard.
Amauro, a legendary SW Philly loyalist (smile), found it hard to contain his
enthusiasm when the Phoenix made nice plays (and there were many). His favorite
phrase of the night, “Ohhhh, great pass!” I didn’t hear Duck make any
similar comments. Now if FLC had been playing . . . (ha ha).
MARCH 4
CATHOLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Neumann-Goretti 44, Roman 41
It wasn't a pretty game, but the intensity was ultra-high and
the matter was not decided until the final possession and, really, isn't that
all you can ask of a championship game? After standing at close to midcourt for
what seemed like an eternity, and with soph WG Will Kirkland not
close enough to draw the beginning of a 5-second count (at least in the opinion
of the nearby ref, George Geiss, who's famous and respected for not
over-officiating and letting the kids decide the outcome), sr. WG Derrick "D.J."
Rivera finally began his approach to the basket, eased a shade to the left,
made like he was going to penetrate, executed a couple of back-and-forth
dribbles, did a step-back for a slightly off-balance jumper from behind the arc
and . . . bang!!! It was N-G's only successful trey of the game, and only the
second total on the night!!! As the ball passed through the net, I glanced
immediately at the clock and saw the time changing from 1.4 to 1.3. Rivera,
who'd been teased unmercifully for his supposed facial resemblance to a
butt-ugly rapper named Flava Flav (seemingly all the Roman kids had
photo-copies of Flava Fave's face, which they kept holding up), ran to the far
end of the gym, where Roman's student rooters were located, and rejoiced, as you
might imagine. Other players and even some fans were already with him and the
group quickly grew in numbers. Was there cursing by the N-G kids? By the Roman
kids? Were they giving each other the finger? Can't say I was paying rapt
attention to that stuff because the surge was coming RIGHT toward the spot where
I was sitting along press row and all of us in that area were in the process of
backing up in case the tables got overturned. But this much is definite: bottles
-- some empty and some with soda/water -- and other items began flying out of
the stands where Roman's students were located and, in time, there was a
full-scale "event." At least on the inside, I didn't notice actual fighting
between Roman and N-G kids. But the father of an adult N-G fan was hit in the
head/face with a bottle, from what witnesses were saying, and I saw him going at
it hot and heavy with city police officers who were trying to subdue him. At
least one other adult also was upset beyond belief, and was also tough to calm
down. ***After this report was orginally posted, I received word that one Roman
student was hit with an object thrown into the stands from floor level, and that
he did receive cuts necessitating treatment by Roman's trainer.*** In time, maybe 15-20 minutes after the game ended, at least 40 city cops
came scrambling into the gym to help move folks along, and out (one family, in
particular, provided staunch resistance on N-G's side; there was minor
pushing/shoving) and many more cops were outside. The early report I received
from a police officer, who happens to be a former city basketball star, was that
"maybe six-seven" people had been arrested and that "maybe two-three" had
suffered injuries (extent unknown). He also said that police units of all
varieties had rushed to the scene from all sectors of the city. Phew! The N-G
kids never did get to hold the traditional celebration in front of their fans,
and scissors never attacked the nets. Along the walkway leading to N-G's locker
room, and in the room itself, there was major celebration as the players/coaches
could not resist hugging and yelling non-stop. It was a wild scene. A tie at
39-39 had been created with 36 seconds left on a flip shot in the lane by jr. WG
Bradley Wanamaker. Before that, with 44.9 left, sr. G Frank Biondo,
after badly missing the first, had regrouped in fine fashion, despite all the
pressure, to swish the back end of a double bonus. N-G coach Carl Arrigale
said afterward he did not call time out during his team's final possession
because he liked the matchup, with the veteran Rivera going against the
inexperienced Kirkland. To his credit, Kirkland certainly was not embarrassed on
the sequence. He did NOT let Rivera get past him and D.J. wound up taking a
fall-back trey when a two would have done the job. It just happened to go in.
The game was physical and mostly devoid of clean, sparkling plays. The teams
combined to shoot 31-for-108 (28.7 percent) from the floor and 21-for-41 (51.2)
at the line and were guilty of 30 combined turnovers. The game was very physical
and almost NO free-and-easy shots were ever attempted. Until Rivera upstaged
him, Roman sr. C Rockeed McCarter was the player of the game. The James
Madison football signee went 4-for-9 for eight points and grabbed 15 rebounds
and again and again used his strength and willpower to force 6-9 jr. C Rick
Jackson out of his comfortable spots. Jackson did finish with 12 points, but
had just six boards. By the same token, often in a zone, Jackson was largely
responsible for making sr. F Mike Ringgold a non-factor. Jackson had
seven blocks and Ringgold went 0-for-8 from the floor. Mike also hit just two of
eight free throws and Roman as a team went 10-for-24. As the players and coaches
and fans well know, this was not the first time this season the Cahillites had
major difficulties at the hardly-a-charity-stripe-for-them. Wanamaker showed the
heart of a warrior, but went just 6-for-19 and 6-for-12 (line) as he tried to
score off assorted varieties of penetration. Sr. PG Raymond "Doodles" Sims
suffered an early ankle injury, which caused him to miss 3 1/2 minutes. He
enjoyed one special hot streak, and during that he hit Roman's only trey, and
overall he totaled nine points, two assists and three steals. On the last
possession, we can strongly assume that jr. G Nick Daggett would have
been covering Rivera. But Daggett had fouled out at 44.9. Roman had won the
teams' first two meetings. The big development since then had been the broken
ankle suffered by jr. G Brian Wanamaker, Bradley's twin. He was so
important to what Roman did, and was sorely missed.
MARCH 3
PUBLIC LEAGUE FINAL
Gratz 62, Communications Tech 36
There must be something in the water. In a three-day period, La
Salle University hosted two of the most opposite-end games you could imagine. In
a semifinal Wednesday, Neumann-Goretti and Dougherty set a Catholic League
record for most points scored in a playoff at 157 (N-G 84, Dougherty 73) while
providing non-stop entertainment. Then came tonight and an all-time stinker as
CT fell by the largest margin in Pub final history. The previous mark was
Southern’s 24-point setback to Dobbins in the ’85 final (86-62). CT has had a
wonderful season in its first year in existence and, over the next few weeks,
folks would not be surprised to see the Phoenix make noise in the Class AAA
portion of the state playoffs. But here? Tonight? In this one? Butt ugly. You
could say Gratz took somewhat of a gamble playing zone defense (3-2, with hints
of 1-2-2 when soph PG Velton Jones stepped out a little) against a team with the
city’s best mad bomber, sr. WG Ben Whitt (seven treys in a semifinal win
over Imhotep), and some other reasonably capable shooters. But Ben struggled
badly as the Bulldogs made sure to jump out at him, and his teammates were
similarly brutal. The ink went sr. F Brandon Combs, who last year
was only a JV player at Penn Wood, in Lansdowne. He canned his first four shots
(for his total of eight points) as Gratz jumped to a 14-4 lead after one quarter
and he finished with seven rebounds along with three blocks; all that in the
first half. Brandon acknowledged that he was “scared” early in the season and
had trouble being productive, but coach Leonard Poole credited Brandon’s
work ethic for getting him through the tough times to not only become a rotation
member, but a starter. Game MVP honors went to sr. WG Malik Alvin (UTEP),
who played within himself throughout and made a series of impressive decisions.
‘Lik shot 9-for-13 from the floor en route to 21 points while adding five
rebounds and two steals. He had 10 of his points in the first half, which ended
at 25-16. Any hopes that CT would make a game of it were quickly dashed at the
start of the third quarter. Gratz registered the first 12 points as Alvin and
Jones took turns stealin’ and scorin’. Jones finished with 12 points (all in the
second half) in addition to five rebounds and three apiece of assists and
steals. They were the only two ‘Dogs in doubles, but Combs of course came close
with eight while jr. F-C Ishmawiyl McFadden and jr. sub F Tommy “T.J.”
Sykes managed seven apiece. CT shot 15-for-60 total and a hard-to-fathom
2-for-28 on treys. It missed its first 19 from Threeball Land and Whitt went
2-for-15 after going 7-for-14 vs. Imhotep. He was short on pretty much every
miss, so maybe he was having some depth-perception problems or was launching too
early without getting enough bend in his legs. CT has two other usually reliable
scorers, sr. PG Jernardo “Jay” Lucas and soph F Andrew “Scootie”
Randall. Lucas went 2-for-15 en route to six points and Randall (10) shot a
somewhat decent 5-for-12. The best Phoenix on this night was the eighth man, jr.
F Shyheem Satchell (4-for-8, eight points, six rebounds). As the game
ended, Gratz’ fans stormed the court and came surging across right in front –
well, almost – of where Amauro, Duck and I were sitting. At least a half-dozen
kids were on the floor briefly and only LUCK prevented a bad scene. Gratz had a
very strong student turnout. CT, for one thing, is not too big. Also, it’s
located almost out by the airport, so its fan support was not too impressive.
CT’s 36 points were the second fewest scored in a title game since Bartram fell
to Overbrook, 37-31, in ’48. In '01, when Bill “Strangle the Life from
Games” Ellerbee (smile) was still coaching, Gratz sputtered past Frankford,
40-34. As mentioned in my DN story, that game is still a favorite of those
trying to battle insomnia.
MARCH 1
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 84, Dougherty 73
Now that’s more like it. Maybe all we needed to do was leave
February behind and March into a new month (smile). After five playoff games
that were mostly clunkers and featured victory margins of 13, 15, 20, 25 and 20
points (18.6 average, if you’re dividing at home), on the menu tonight was an
all-time classic. Dougherty captured the Northern Division title and had given
N-G a strong battle three months ago, so the Cardinals hardly appeared to
be phased by their assignment – to try and beat the defending champ and its four
returning starters. They were warrior-like throughout and what a show they put
on. But in the end, N-G battled back from a 71-66 deficit in the final 4:31 and
scored the game’s final 11 points. Sr. G-F Earl Pettis (four fouls) came
back into the contest with 4:51 showing and departed 20 second later after
becoming a Poster Boy for Dougherty jr. F Roberto Townsend on a flying
dunk you had to see to believe, and drawing his fifth foul. The play began with
a steal by jr. G Kahlil Mumford (14 points, nine assists) and an assist
in transition by sr. G Vinny Simpson. At that exact moment, it was hard
not to think, “Man, Dougherty might win this thing!” Good moments were scant
thereafter, though. Jr. PG Antonio “Scoop” Jardine made a steal and
followed his own miss for a bucket for the first of his big contributions. With
the score 73-73, guess what he had the gonads to try? An alley-oop pass. It went
to sr. WG Derrick “D.J.” Rivera, who ran in along the left
baseline, caught the ball one-handed maybe a foot above the rim and rammed it
home with serious gusto. (Steve Dengler, a Daily News intern who goes to
Temple, got an excellent photo of Rivera’s catch!!) Jr. C Rick Jackson,
who like Jardine is headed for Syracuse, followed with a down-low steal and one
of two free throws to make it 76-73. Simpson then drove hard along the right
wing/baseline and curled a pass back toward the middle of the lane. Not sure if
he thought he saw someone or just assumed someone would be there, but there
wasn’t. The ball squirted all the way to midcourt. Soph F Jamal Wilson
tracked it down and continued in for a field goal. Mumford missed a jumper and
jr. F-C Tim Gates tried to rebound in the lane. Rivera imposed his will
and instead wound up with the ball and went 6-for-6 at the line down the
stretch. This was the highest scoring game (157) in CL playoff history, outdoing
a 152-point, double-OT 1982 quarterfinal (Roman 77, West 75). The outstanding
performances were numerous. Jackson shot 10-for-17 for 23 points and inhaled 17
rebounds. Rivera had 24 points, six assists and three steals. Jardine had 13
points, seven boards and six assists. Wilson had 13 points and sr. G Frank
Biondo not only had two official assists but made a few more entry passes
that led to free throws. Simpson was unconscious. N-G played man-to-man
throughout, but it didn’t seem to matter. He shot 9-for-14 and 6-for-9 on treys,
some from DEEP, en route to 29 points, and he also had four assists. Mumford was
off at 5-for-17, but he dealt nine assists. Jr. F Justin Minter collected
12 points and seven boards. Sports writers are not supposed to root, of course,
but I was pulling hard for overtime and, as that one would have been winding
down, I would have been pulling hard for another. You just don’t want to let go
of games like this. Dougherty exhibited big-time brass. But when it absolutely
HAD to, so did N-G. Lord only knows what Saturday’s N-G/Roman final will bring.
I’m guessin’ goodie. Are you? Interesting dynamic: Gates is the nephew of
Darrell “Heat” Gates, the point guard on Dobbins’ ’85 Pub champs. Rivera is
the nephew of the late Hank Gathers, the co-franchise on that team
along with Bo Kimble. D.J.’s dad, Derrick Gathers, was also a
Dobbins starter.
FEB. 28
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Roman 69, Ryan 49
I’d never say the CL playoffs have been worthless, but
“disappointing” is a definite fit and “largely uncompetitive” isn’t a stretch.
Let’s see. This was game No. 5 in the postseason and the victory margins have
been 13, 15, 20, 25 and now 20 again. Also, the 13-point game was probably the
worst (Ryan 39, Judge 26). Phew, can we please go back to the end of the regular
season and start over? Didn’t think so. Though this wound up being not close,
believe me when I tell you it COULD have been different with some slight
early-game alterations. On the way into the building, I happened to see Ryan
coach Bernie Rogers and told him I thought his team could hang because,
in his system, everyone is accustomed to handling the ball and, more
importantly, going to the basket. The Raiders did get to the basket often enough
early. Unfortunately for them, they missed at least five ducks and they could
have built a 10- to 12-point lead if a few had gone down. Things could have
gotten VERY interesting. As it was, Ryan did claim an 8-2 lead. Just thereafter,
though, 6-8 sr. C Kevin Hudgeons (Bloomsburg) picked up his second foul
on a block that appeared to be clean as a whistle and he incurred his third 6:14
before halftime on a definite bump, but one that was largely inconsequential and
could have been ignored. (Can you tell I’m begging here, and that I REALLY
needed to see a good game? Smile.) Anyway, Hudgeons sat down and Roman reeled
off the next 13 points to steam away from a 16-16 tie and the game was as good
as over. The ink went to sr. F Mike Ringgold, who somehow had been
ignored all season by the bad, ol’ Daily News. (Previous stories went, in order,
to sr. C Rockeed McCarter, jr. WG Brian Wanamaker, sr. PG
Raymond “Doodles” Sims and jr. WG Bradley Wanamaker, Brian’s twin and
out for the season with a broken ankle.) As far as I know, as he waited not so
patiently, Mike cursed me out to his friends only seven days a week (ha ha).
Mike went for 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists and his career point total
for city-leagues action stands at 1,020 (41 at Fels in ninth grade; the rest at
Roman over these last two seasons). He starred at Freire Charter in 10th grade,
the year before that school came into the Pub, and led it to the championship of
the Charter Schools League. The coach, Lawrence Threadgill, said he would
try to get us Ringgold’s points from that season. C’mon, LT, hustle it up,
buddy. Mike is being eyed by UMBC, Rider, Delaware, San Francisco and Central
Connecticut as he tries to make the transition from 10-feet-and-in to small
forward. He has a quick spin move that is very effective and soaring is no
problem. Bradley Wanamaker shot 8-for-12 en route to 19 points while Sims, who
was at Edison earlier watching his old school in a Pub consolation, dished six
assists while taking just two shots. McCarter mixed eight points, seven boards,
while sr. F Lonnie Perry was a key-moments factor with six points and two
blocks. Soph Will Kirkland shot 3-for-4 for six points and grabbed five
boards. He also has a twin on the team, Wes. By the way, Roman attempted
NO treys. Incredible
in modern b-ball, right? For Ryan, Hudgeons made his first six shots and
finished 6-for-9 for 12 points. He added five blocks. Sr. G-F Mike Varanavage,
who took no shots in the third quarter, finished with 12 points. Sr. G-F Joe
Zeglinski, in his fourth game back from football-caused major knee woes, got
his first start and settled for 16 points. In an oddity that I’m sure caused him
frustration, one of his only two treys (in 10 attempts) came on a falling out of
bounds buzzer-beater from literally in front of coach Rogers. Joe had four
assists and his 16 points enabled him to finish with exactly 1,300 in his
wonderful career. Roman had a low fan turnout. Going on simultaneously was a
ceremony at Roman to fete the honors students. Ryan’s “Tribe” again came up
strong in terms of numbers and passion. Can’t say there were any stupendous
chants from either side, though.
FEB. 28
PUBLIC LEAGUE CONSOLATION
Southern 70, Edison 62
This game was played to determine the third and fourth seeds among
Class AAAA teams for purposes of the state playoffs. I've written a number of
times about Southern, but this was my first look at Edison so that's where the
concentration will be. This squad is fun to watch! I doubt anyone is over 6-1. I
also doubt anyone is going to win a weightlifting competition any time soon. But
the Owls play hard and together and if they had just one true inside force . . .
The headliner is soph WG George Baker. Because Baker barely gets off the
floor on his "jumper," the tendency is to believe he's slow and unathletic. Not
at all! Not even close! He's VERY quick and savvy in the open floor and his
defensive smarts caused Southern game-long difficulties (eight steals) and it'll
be interesting to watch him progress over the next two years. It takes time to
bend and rise and all that good stuff (on jumpers). It takes no time to catch
and fire and Baker has it down to a science. As the ball's arriving, his feet
are already set and the defenders have almost no chance of blocking his shot.
Though he shot just 5-for-14 on treys, I know he has heated things up on many
occasions this season. Anyway, Baker finished with 22 points. Sr. F-C Daniel
Dorman was also impressive. He's thin and not tall, but he worked like crazy
against Southern's bigger/stronger inside guys and finished with 11 points, 12
boards. Nice job! Jr. PG Daniel Johnson mixed six points and four assists
and soph Eric Jones, a combo G, had six points and seven boards.
Southern was comfortably ahead much of the way, but with Baker and sr. G
Fabian Pena (nine points, three steals) leading the comeback the Owls
charged hard within 51-42 with 5 minutes left and the fans began to get
involved. Sr. F Jason Sabb put a quick halt to that with a lefthanded
slam that caused even Edison's fans to go berserk. Man, what a sight to behold!
It was a combination of strength and beauty and I know everyone is still talking
about it. Southern maintained from there. Some Rams' numbers: sr. C Bryheem
Charity, who's just 6-2, had 22 points and 13 boards (with 11 and eight in
the first quarter!); Sabb had 17 and eight; jr. F Ramone Moore mixed 18
and 10; sr. PG Oliver Burbage dealt four assists. After the game, with
time to kill before I headed for La Salle and the CL playoff, I went to the
Wendy's down Hunting Park Ave. from Edison. I looked at one of the workers and
said to myself, "I know this guy." Then I said it to him and he shot back,
"Yeah, you're Ted Silary." The guy's identity? Leon Pettyjohn. He was a
senior for Southern in the '02 season and was also the Rams' quarterback. He was
surprised that I remembered his website claim to fame: arriving late in the gym
and missing the team pic, then begging me (ha ha) to take an individual shot
that I wound up posting nearby.
Here is that
page. Meanwhile, gotta love those baked potatoes with cheese and bacon bits. I
like the skin well done. How about you? Meanwhile again, best of luck to Guy
Longstreth, who reffed his final game today. He said it was kinda cool that
his first and last varsity games involved Edison (though the first one was in
the old building at 8th and Lehigh.)
FEB. 26
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Roman 62, Bonner 37
Once the first game wound up being uncompetitive, you knew this had
a chance to be a Lost Doubleheader and those fears were realized. And speaking
of lost, the reason a whole bunch of Bonner kids did not come dashing into Tom
Gola Arena until the second quarter was because their fan bus first traveled to
La Salle HIGH instead of UNIVERSITY. Oh, baby. And how can it be that not one
kid on the bus knew that they were traveling in the wrong direction? Or maybe
someone did speak up and the bus driver refused to listen? Who knows, but that’s
certainly one for the ages. Honestly, I took only occasional glances at the
first half action because I was writing the game story for the good, ol’ Daily
News about the Neumann-Goretti/Prep debacle. But the word from Huck and
Amauro to my right and Duck to my left was that Roman played well
from the very start and never allowed Bonner to think, “Hey, you know what? An
upset IS possible!” The Cahillites played respectable defense, dominated the
boards and then got out in transition. The double-figure scorers were jr. WG
Bradley Wanamaker (18), sr. F Mike Ringgold (15) and sr. PG
Raymond “Doodles” Sims (12). Sims (seven) and Wanamaker (five) dominated the
assist column while sr. C Rockeed McCarter (13) and Ringgold (nine) took
care of the boards. Bonner’s franchise, jr. WG Jeff Jones, had to work
like crazy for 16 points because two guys were always around him, and sometimes
three. Sr. F Brian Campuzano shot 4-for-4 for eight points and grabbed
three rebounds and had the coolest assist of his life (smile) because the pass
went to sr. F Colin Liberatore, a deep-sub fan favorite. Maybe four
minutes were left and Colin, the nephew of the late Mike Stack, a star
for Bonner (’72) who then played at Villanova, began his journey my making a
steal fresh off the bench. The kids were still going nuts over that when Colin
took Brian’s pass under the basket, used a ball-head fake to get a defender to
jump almost to the ceiling and then kissed a layup off the glass. They probably
heard the reaction at La Salle High (ha ha). As Colin walked on air back
downcourt, the Bonner kids chanted at Roman’s players, “You can’t guard him! . .
. You can’t guard him!” It was a special moment for a wonderful kid and all
involved will remember it always. Thereafter, the neatest thing was when one
Bonner kid, with 10 seconds left, bellowed, “I smell comeback!” That registered
a 10 on the make-me-laugh-o-meter. Despite the semi-spanking to end it, Bonner
had a fine season under first-year coach Brian Daly. The Friars made the
playoffs and finished with a winning overall record and I just have a feeling
this program is headed for special moments. These seniors should feel proud for
knowing they got things started.
***** This note came after the report was posted from
Bonner student Stephen Bochanski.*****
This is legendary stuff (smile). We thank Stephen for checking in.
Mr. Silary,
Hello. I'm a senior from Monsignor Bonner, and I would just like to
clarify something that you wrote in your article about the Roman/Bonner game
about the buses. Let me give you the whole story. We took two buses from Bonner
at 6:30. When we were not even ten minutes away from Bonner, some kids on the
bus started to say, "I bet he's taking us to La Salle High School." At first we
were joking, then we realized that that's what was happening. We eventually
actually pulled into La Salle High School's parking lot, and the kids on the bus
chanted "U-Turn, U-Turn." We did eventually get to the University at about 7:30
or so. But this was the bus that actually made it on time. The other bus (with
most of the fans on it) had even worse luck. They went to Springfield-Montco
High School. How? Why? No one has any idea. (Ted's note: Springfield is a
short distance from La Salle High, and where La Salle plays its home football
games.) One of the teachers stopped the bus in the parking lot and tried to
explain to the bus driver where to go. But the bus driver did not speak English
and was having trouble getting the correct directions from the "headquarters"
(or whatever you would call it). Seeing that nothing was getting done, the
teacher took the phone and tried to find out what in the world was going on. The
woman at the "headquarters" was looking it up on Mapquest, but she had a dial-up
internet connection. So between going to the wrong school, trying to communicate
with the bus driver, and getting past the dial-up, they sat there in the parking
lot for about a half-hour. I don't know about you, but I'll blame this one on
the buses and those people. The person who coordinated it from Bonner gave them
explicit instructions about the location. Anyway, these people have messed up a
few times before (for example, not even showing up a few times). So that's the
story of the bus fiasco of Bonner. I must say, though, it did make a nice
entrance for the kids when they came running in during the middle of the game. I
also wanted to thank you for your nice comments about Bonner, and especially
Colin Liberatore. Everyone loves the kid and those cheers you hear when he steps
on the court are as sincere as they can be.
FEB. 26
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 55, SJ Prep 35
Was N-G very good? Or was Prep very bad?
Somewhere in the middle, of course, but the Prep’s bad resulted in part from how
good N-G was. At times in recent years, the Saints have been dogged defenders
for 10-12 seconds and then have relaxed and surrendered the somewhat easy
basket. Not tonight. These guys dug down and rarely afforded the Hawks a clean,
comfortable look. Very much in lockdown mode was sr. WG Derrick “D.J.” Rivera,
who’s bound for Saint Joe’s. His assignment was ‘Nova-bound sr. F Reggie
Redding and he did his job in superb fashion. RR finished with only eight
points while shooting 3-for-14 from the floor and since the Prep’s entire
success is almost always based on how he plays, this was not a good night. The
score was 12-3 after one quarter and 24-12 at halftime and instead of getting
better, things got worse. With the count at 45-17 and only a few seconds left in
the third quarter, coach Speedy Morris removed his four top players for
the DURATION and went with second- and even third-liners the rest of the way.
The extras hustled like crazy and even outscored the front-liners, 18-17. As
mentioned by Rivera for my DN story, N-G had double motivation. Prep had been
picked (along with Roman) to travel to Maryland in mid-March for the Alhambra
tournament. N-G had not (an eighth team has not yet been added) and you better
believe the coaches hit hard on that angle. Also, N-G coach Carl Arrigale
received a call from an Inky reporter on the fact that Morris was one win away
from 800. Carl played for Speedy at Penn Charter and in fact was the Inter-Ac
MVP in his senior season of ’84. The timing was a little awkward, of course, but
it made perfect sense for the reporter to seek out Carl for comment. But can’t
you just picture Carl speaking to his players? (smile) “This guy wanted me to
talk about Speedy’s 800th. He thinks we’re going to lose! We ain’t lettin’ that
happen, right guys??!!” Growl!!! Rivera had 17 points, three rebounds, two
assists and two steals. Jr. C Rick Jackson owned the inside with 10
points, 15 rebounds (eight in the first quarter) and five blocks. Jr. PG
Antonio “Scoop” Jardine, who makes N-G so much better when he concentrates
on making every possession productive (whether HE is front and center, or not),
mixed 10 points, seven boards and six assists. Sr. G-F Earl Pettis added
11 points. For Prep’s extras, jr. G Kevin Funston buried two treys en
route to eight points and sr. G Kevin Fox scrambled for four rebounds.
Though he attempted no shots, it was nice to see sr. F James Oberlies
back in action. The ex-starter had been out for close to two full months with a
leg injury and his three rebounds no doubt gave him reason to feel satisfied
(despite the overall disaster). The best exchange of chants came when the N-G
guys bellowed “Overrated!!” and the Prep guys responded with “Overweight!” Many
of the N-G guys were bare-chested and, yes, a few were carrying some excess
poundage (smile). Late in the game, Prep sr. G Charlie Schrier put a
serious cross-over move on N-G sr. G Hiram “H” Bowman, of football fame,
and got around him. Bowman tried to recover and fouled Schrier and then tapped
himself on the chest while smiling broadly, as if to say, “That guy burned me,
big-time. I’ll give him that.”
FEB. 25
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Dougherty 71, North Catholic 56
Run, run, run . . . No, this wasn't a track or cross country
meet, but there was certainly lots of "running." North stormed ahead by 13-6.
Dougherty regrouped and went ahead by 41-24. North righted its sinking ship and
made it 53-all. Then Dougherty finished with an impressive closing rush to the
tune of 18-3. OK, end of report . . . Nah, just needed to wolf down a donut. I'm
back . . . As he often is, the main supplier of energy and brass for the
Cardinals was jr. F Roberto Townsend, who has truly become a force as the
sixth man. I love how he mixes heart with sense (well, almost always -- smile)
and the Cards usually start playing better the instant he appears. Townsend
finished 5-for-11 (3-for-4 on treys) and 7-for-9 for 20 points while adding nine
boards and two steals. He walks that thin line between confident and cocky and I
don't mind that at ALL because every good athlete needs, to some degree, to give
off that aura. Sr. G Vinny Simpson (10 points, six assists) and jr. G
Kahlil Mumford (21 points) are pretty much givens, but the big step-up guy
in this one was jr. F-C Timothy Gates. Aside from grabbing a game-high 10
rebounds, he scored 10 points in quite-clean fashion by going 1-for-2 and
8-for-10. He had five apiece of offensive and defensive boards. The Cardinals
greatly helped their cause by shooting 28-for-35 at the line. North's best
player, by far, was jr. F Chris Edwards. The way this team was
constructed, pecking order-wise, he often wound up getting nowhere near as many
offensive opportunities as the other unrelated guys named Edwards, sr. PG
Hanif and sr. WG Nate. But he got some early touches in this one and
made the most of them and he continued on to a special night. Chris, who reminds
me a WHOLE lot of former NBA player Paul "Snoop" Graham (Franklin '85;
Olney before that) in terms of his build and bounceability (it's not so much
that he leaps, but he does have lively feet) and how he carries himself, and
especially when thinking of what might be possible for him, shot
11-for-19 overall and 4-for-4 on treys en route to 28 points. Yes, 28. He also
claimed nine boards. If not for some foul trouble, he might have been able to
produce even more. N. Edwards, who mixed 15 points, nine boards and four
assists, gave the Falcons, who were already in the midst of their comeback, by
nailing a long shot as the third quarter ended. He was right at the edge of the
large logo on La Salle University's court, so the shot was roughly 30 feet. It
pulled North within 50-43 and, of course, got the fans stirred up. The score
became 53-53 with 4:31 left when N. Edwards hit a pair of free throws. But
exactly when it needed to, Dougherty took a deep breath and regained its balance
(and undoubtedly benefited from the fact North had already expended so much
energy during its comeback). The Falcons were a step slow on defense down the
stretch and kept sending the Cards to the line. Also, with 3:03 left, Townsend
took a pass from Simpson in the left corner and lifted up to drain a big-boy
trey, making it 61-53. Dougherty eased home from there. In the waning moments,
North sr. G Bobby Finn, nephew of coach Mike McCarron, came onto
the court much to the delight of all the people wearing No. 25 Finn's Fanatics
T-shirts. He sandwiched a pair of missed treys around an offensive rebound.
Huck and I worked together on this one (while Amauro and Duck
handled the Gratz-UC Pub semi) and we had to fend off occasional visits from
good, ol' Hockey Puck, a North assistant. Not sure I understood one
question Puck asked all night, but that was nothing new (smile). Huck spent his
evening shaking his head back and forth, too. In case you're wondering,
Dougherty wore maroon road uniforms because it doesn't have white or gold ones.
But it was the home team on the scoreboard.
FEB. 25
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Ryan 39, Judge 26
Wake us when this one starts, OK? Oh, it's over? Ryan vs. Judge
was not a good recipe for points this season and this one followed the trend.
And Judge was much more guilty. The Crusaders shot 8-for-43 from the floor and
0-for-15 on treys while posting the lowest point total in a CL postseason game
since South Catholic (now Neumann-Goretti, basically) fell to La Salle, 28-23,
in the 1950 championship game. Also, the combined 65 points were the lowest
since a 1995 quarterfinal (62) when Roman downed O'Hara, 33-29. Judge's first
points came with 7:17 left in the second quarter on two free throws by sr. G
James "J.J." Franklin and their first field goal didn't come until 4:52
before halftime on a foul line jumper by Franklin. They were 0-for-14
beforehand. Their first FG by someone aside from Franklin came on a basket by
sr. C Arthur Livingston (12 rebounds) on a pass from sr. F Jim Schule
with 6:10 left in the third quarter. Their first FG by someone aside from
Franklin and Livingston came . . . oops, never mind. The other 'Saders combined
to go 0-for-17. Holy brick after brick. (And it wasn't as if Franklin and
Livingston were burning the nets, as they combined to go 8-for-26.) Check out
this stat: Ryan had almost as many blocked shots (seven) as Judge had field
goals (eight). Despite all of its shooting miseries, Judge was only behind by
22-18 after three quarters. But Ryan dominated the last quarter and won in quite
comfortable fashion. The Raiders' headliner was sr. F Joe Zeglinski. Not
because he was sensational; he wasn't. But his contributions were MUCH more than
adequate considering this was just his third game back after missing the entire
season with a shredded knee suffered during football season. The Middle Ziggy
led Ryan in scoring with 12 points while also notching six rebounds, two assists
and a blocked shot. He went 2-for-3 on treys and his other field goal no doubt
will give him worlds of confidence going forward because it came on a follow. He
came flying in along the right baseline to tip in a teammate's miss and that
made it 26-18 with 6:02 left. Sr. C Kevin Hudgeons (seven rebounds, five
blocks), who somehow had failed to score by then, converted a down-low basket on
a pass from sr. F Jon Bruce (10 boards) and the lead stood at 10 with
5:29 remaining. Hudgeons added seven more points, with four coming on dunks, and
Zeglinski tacked on a 3-for-4 showing at the line. Soph PG Andrew Rogers
had five assists and three steals while sr. G-F Mike Varanavage was extra
sticky on defense while chasing Franklin. Once again Ryan's student section, The
Tribe, turned in a strong performance. Lots of juice.
FEB. 24
PUBLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Comm. Tech 65, Imhotep 61
Though the three-point shot in many ways
has done basketball a disservice, there’s denying how exciting it is to see
someone connect again and again from distance and NOT mix in a whole bunch of
misses. The bombardier in this one, played at Philly Community, was CT’s Ben
Whitt, a 6-2 sr. WG who serves as the sixth man. All he did was bomb home
seven treys (in 14 attempts; no other shots of any kind) for 21 points and it
seemed as though each and every one was important. Twice, his sniping forced
Imhotep to abandon a zone for man-to-man, but each the time Panthers gradually
eased back into a zone and, as Whitt said, not surprisingly, “I LOVE it when
teams play zone.” Whitt hit two treys almost before he had a chance to remove
his warmup jacket, providing a 13-9 lead. His next two-trey flurry made it 38-27
with 3:03 left in the second quarter. (Oddly, Imhotep responded by reeling off
12 consecutive points.) His final threebie came with 6:24 left in the game on a
pass from fellow sub Najee Edwards (six assists), a jr. G, and provided a
56-50 lead. Proving that he's more than a shooter, he later added an assist and
then, in the stretch run, scrambled for a huge blocked shot and crucial rebound.
Whitt had one of those nights, folks. Almost every one of his misses was close
and it reached a point where you expected him to connect on every shot. Whitt’s
bombing helped CT’s subs to a 30-point outing. So. F-C Manny Jordan and
Edwards managed five and two, respectively, in the second quarter while jr. F
Shyheem Satchell hit a pair of third quarter free throws. Sr. PG Jernardo
"Jay" Lucas, who has recently been battling a stomach virus, drained two
early threes, but had to settle for nine points and three assists and went just
1-for-5 at the line. Soph F Andrew "Scootie" Randall mixed 16
points and seven boards. Imhotep’s best player was jr. C Tamir Johnson.
He REALLY set up well and used his body/savvy to full advantage in the low post
and along the sides of the lane and he caused CT all kinds of problems. Much of
what he was doing is a lost art so I’m guessing some oldheads have been in the
kid’s ear, big-time (smile). By the end, I was thinking Imhotep should have gone
to him every single trip down the floor. He finished 10-for-15 en route to 22
points and had seven of his 10 rebounds in the fourth quarter. Jr. PG
Jermaine Washington had five assists. Neither team shot well at the line as
CT went 8-for-18 and Imhotep was 6-for-13. Here’s some game detail: Imhotep's
last lead, at 39-38, came on a basket by Johnson on a pass from Washington. The
Panthers wound up trailing by as many as eight, at 63-55, but refused to fade.
One specific sequence was a killer. With his team down by 64-61, Washington made
a steal and passed ahead to sr. WG Curtis Jackson for a layup. Jackson
was being tracked down as he reached the basket area and somehow the ball just
refused to go in. What a tough break! But teammate Kevin Burwell, a sr.
G, rebounded and drew a foul. Both attempts missed. Whitt ran to the corner in
pursuit of a long carom, did an all-one-motion jump-and-fire off an Imhotep
player to give CT possession. He was also pushed HARD by a Panther, but none of
the three refs saw it. Twenty seconds remained. Imhotep didn't foul until 0:10,
when Lucas hit the back end of a double-bonus for a four-point spread. N.
Edwards followed by blocking Jackson's trey and the ball went out to Imhotep at
0:04. A turnover occurred at 0:02. Honestly, I didn’t walk into the gym with the
usual feelings of great anticipation one would expect to have for a Pub semi. I
guess the reason was the schools’ newcomer status (CT is in its first year;
Imhotep its second). But except for late-game sloppiness, this was a good show
and the teams are to be commended. I was surprised that neither team had
cheerleaders. Not sure why.
FEB. 19
CATHOLIC SOUTH
Bonner 60, O'Hara 50
Can student support really push a team to victory? Does it really
make a difference? I'm guessing Bonner's players would answer with a resounding
yes! This game between teams battling for the fourth playoff spot was played at
O'Hara, but it might as well have been Bonner's home game. I'm guessing maybe
150 students were in attendance and they took over the stands at the far end of
the gym and they made noise throughout and Bonner is headed for the playoffs and
O'Hara is not. I kept expecting someone to rally O'Hara's kids and offer an
answer, but it never happened. Not sure what to think. Are the players on
O'Hara's team not that popular? Is something else going on? In this age of
widespread cell-phone usage, I even expected the O'Hara kids to get organized
for the second half. "Yo, Bonner has a whole bunch of kids here. They're takin'
over our gym. We can't let this happen! Get your a-- over here!" I'm still
waiting. Maybe the players are, too. Maybe they were disheartened about the lack
of support. (Maybe I'm reading WAY too much into this, but it just struck me as
strange.) The game? Quite enjoyable. Check out this amazing fact: in 14 division
games, only three times did a Friar aside from jr. WG Jeff Jones hit
double figures in scoring. There were two 11-point outings and today jr. F
Tim Vanderslice went off for 13 (smile). Early, it appeared he wanted to
pour in about 50 because he hit three early treys and they helped Bonner claim a
19-7 lead after one quarter. At least two of those baskets came on passes from
Jones. The Maryland-bound Jones finished with 30 points, shooting 11-for-26
overall, 4-for-7 on treys and 4-for-9 at the line while adding seven rebounds
and three assists. Sr. Gs Anthony Walters (seven points, seven
boards, five assists) and Calvin Gilbert mostly took turns sticking him.
At times I've commented on how Jeff rushes/forces some shots. I might have
jinxed him today (smile). With the game in the third quarter, I just had
finished thinking to myself, "Jones is really behaving himself today," when he
went one-on-one along the left baseline and took an ill-advised shot. But guess
what? The ball was tipped out right back to him and he buried a trey and Bonner
owned a 39-29 lead. Later, Jeff missed eight shots in a row and even struggled
badly at the line in the fourth quarter (1-for-5). But those facts should even
make the Friars feel better, as they triumphed without getting a spectacular
late-game showing from their franchise. A big moment came with 2:24 left when
Campuzano posted a three-point play for a 50-43 bulge. It came off a steal after
O'Hara sr. F Pat Kirby made a leaping steal along the sideline but wound
up gunning the ball toward Bonner's bucket. Sr. G Chris Myers hit a trey
and a successful baseline drive and, whoa, O'Hara was within 50-48. A
bold-relief sequence followed. Out of a timeout, Vanderslice inbounded from the
baseline and passed the ball maybe 15 feet to Campuzano, who made the catch
while facing 'Slice. 'Campy then turned and fired far upcourt to Jones, who made
the catch in stride and made a layup while absorbing an intentional foul. Jones
missed both free throws, but Bonner's ensuing possession resulted in two free
throws for Vanderslice. The Bonner fans soon were chanting, "Here we come,
playoffs!" And then to the O'Hara folks, "Better luck next year!" After the
game, maybe 25 of the fans rolled down to the other end, where Bonner's locker
room was located, to join with the players and coaches in celebration. The other
rotation members for this one were sr. Gs Denny Coyne, Kevin Roe and
Chima Soribe, jr. Gs Rob DiNicola (four points in the fourth
quarter) and Nagbae Saylee, and sr. F Steve Wheatley (big second
quarter FG on a follow). When Jones was removed at the very end, his replacement
was sr. F-C Colin Liberatore, a deep, deep sub all season but, by all
reports, a good soldier and very important to morale, etc. While speaking with
his team in the locker room, coach Brian Daly gave Colin a shoutout and
the response was strong. That was nice to see/hear. Before the game, O'Hara
coach Bud Gardler was given a large, framed picture to mark his 30th
season as the Lions' boss. Among those in attendance was former Neumann coach
Mike Doyle, who happens to be Daly's brother-in-law. (They're both married
to daughters of the late Jim "Bo Chang" Boyle, who coached St. Joe's back
in the day.) Mike played his high school ball for O'Hara. With a laugh, Mike
said his mother-in-law, Tess, was upset with him for splitting time
between the Bonner and O'Hara fan areas. Meanwhile, Bonner is the only suburban
CL school headed for the playoffs.
FEB. 18
INTER-AC LEAGUE SHOWCASE FINAL
Episcopal 82, Gtn. Academy 56
Here's the answer to your first question -- no. Sr. F Gerald Henderson
(Duke) did not become the leading scorer in school and Inter-Ac history. He
needed 35 points to surpass '98 Episcopal grad John Phillips (2,068) to
take the No. 1 spots and he probably could have gotten them because he reached
23 with about 5 1/2 minutes left (en route to 25; 2,059) and the game had just
reached that juncture where defense and full intensity were starting to become a
rumor. However, coach Dan Dougherty had said last weekend, after
Henderson reached the 2,000 mark, that no special attempt would be made to
exceed Phillips' total, and he remained true to his word. Also, G himself
remained right on the high road as he attempted no field goals down the stretch.
Sr. WG Wayne Ellington (North Carolina) departed with 1:21 left, with the
score at 78-54 and Henderson preparing to shoot two free throws. There were hugs
from coaches and teammates and a standing ovation from many of the spectators,
even those not affiliated with Episcopal, and Gerald received the same treatment
when he hit the second free throw and strolled to the bench. ESPN is following
G&W for a special feature and a cameraman/soundman followed the twosome's every
move. When they left the game, they sat side by side on the bench, talking and
laughing/smiling for the rest of the way, and the news crews/photographers (many
stations, newspapers) ate it up. I can't say enough how much fun it was to watch
this team and to deal with Doc and his players as interview subjects. They were
always courteous and personable and generous with their time and you can't
believe how many demands were made of them. At least 45 minutes after the game,
maybe even an hour, reporters were still asking questions and little kids were
still asking for autographs and G&W kept going and going and going. I stood
nearby, just taking in the whole scene (since we don't have a Sunday Daily News,
there was no interviewing to be done) and I kept thinking about how proud
everyone associated with Episcopal must be of this team's headliners. They have
brought credit to the school in every possible manner and, of course, they've
done their families proud, as well. The game itself? Much better than you'd
think, the final score notwithstanding. GA came out of the gate big-time
inspired and was within one at halftime, 33-32. The Patriots hit five treys in
the first 16 minutes, 6-10 Andrew Ott ('Nova) recorded seven blocks and
jr. PG Kyle Griffin mixed 11 points with three assists. Episcopal stormed
to a 16-2 run over the first 5-plus minutes of the third quarter, though, and
the avalanche was too much for GA to overcome. The major dagger-brandisher was
not G or W, though both had excellent moments in the third quarter. It was jr. G
Pat Kelly, who sniped 3-for-3 on treys en route to 11 points. The session
ended at 57-42. On hand at Malvern for this one was almost a full house. No
food, though. Yo, what's with that? (smile). 'Nova coach Jay Wright made
an appearance to thank the Inter-Ac and the fans for their contributions to the
Coaches vs. Cancer fundraising effort. Jay was on a roll when a couple kids
behind me started applauding. Others nearby also clapped and Jay quickly wrapped
things up. Hey, if it's that easy . . . Next time Hockey Puck comes into
the office and starts babbling, I'll give him a rousing standing ovation and see
if that gets him to stop (ha ha). Jay wasn't babbling, by the way. The kids
behind me were just messing around and trying to see if they could exert some
influence on the length of his remarks. Turned out they could.
FEB. 17
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Comm. Tech 72, Prep Charter 69
One day you're seeing 60 total points and wondering what has
happened to basketball? The next you're seeing 141 total points and you're
purring that all is right with the basketball world. Just because teams score,
of course, a good game is not assured. But this was a goodie, even a greatie,
and I'm sure the participants/spectators will be talking about it all through
the weekend, at least. Right up front I'll say that pretty much everyone
connected with the "regular portion" of Pub hoops, meaning the non-charter
schools, was thrilled by this outcome. There's a lot of charter school hatin'
out there, and specifically PC hatin', in part due to jealousy and just as much,
if not more, because PC athletic director Chuck Pearsall, by his own
admission, is a prickly guy who fights like crazy for his school and always
wants his way and drives his peers nuts (smile). The Pub honchos made the
mistake of not considering way ahead of time where this quarterfinal, featuring
the AAA (CT) and A champ (PC), would be played. A neutral college site was
supposedly not available and PC "refused" to play in a neutral Pub gym, from
what I was told. Rather than force the Huskies to do so, the brass gave in and
said PC could host the game because of its better division record (17-0 as
opposed to 12-1 for PC). CT coach Lou Biester and his school's personnel
were NOT thrilled, as you might imagine, and the circumstances provided extra
motivation. Anyway . . . There was a standing-room-only crowd on hand in the
former supermarket, at 24th and McKean, in South Philly, and, in time, everyone
had sweaty palms and racing hearts. CT, mostly in the person of sr. PG
Jernardo "Jay" Lucas, took things right AT the Huskies. Lucas, an
unquestioned warrior, kept seizing the lane and converting with tough layups off
the glass. He went 8-for-16 for 16 points in the first half, which ended
with CT on top, 38-26. PC scrambled back in little-by-little fashion and was
able to do so, in part, because jr. G Kevin Radford did an excellent job
of stalking Lucas. Jay took no shots in the third quarter on jr. F-C Marcus
Morris rallied the Huskies by hitting two treys, uncorking a dunk and
scoring 13 of his 17 points. The score finally became tied, at 54-54, with 6:30
left as Morris took a pass from sr. G-F Rodney Green (La Salle) and threw
down a dunk. Guess what? It would be his final shot of the game, even though his
twin, Markieff, would miss the final 7:26 after fouling out. When a guy's
on that kind of fire, I don't know how he can't be fed non-stop, but it didn't
happen. There were deadlocks at 57 and 61, then CT posted five in a row on a
down-low basket by sr. F Leonard Jackson on a pass from soph F Andrew
"Scootie" Randall (11 points, six boards) and a three-point play by Lucas on
a pass from sr. WG Shawn Francis. No chance for comfort, though. An
incredibly quick sequence of basket, steal, basket again made it 69-69 and the
roof almost came off the building. From there: Lucas hit the back end of a
double-bonus at 21.1. The Huskies set up with Green (18 points) at one high post
and Marcus (17) at the other. But the ball went into the left corner and frosh G
Parrish Grant (nine fourth quarter points) was long with a trey. CT sr.
WG Ben Whitt was fouled at 3.3 and strode quickly downcourt, straight to
the line. I loved seeing that. He made both to create a three-point lead. For
PC, frosh G Jesse Morgan, fresh into the game because Green had fouled
out, missed a heave from a shade inside the left side of halfcourt. CT's
nickname is the Phoenix. When the players shoot free throws, their fans hold
their hands with their palms facing inward and their thumbs criss-crossed. They
then wiggle their hands -- yeah, like the phoenix in flight. Pretty cool, eh?
Wonder who thought of that. Kudos, whoever it was!! CT went 24-for-31 at the
line. PC went 10-for-18. As nice as PC's gym is, there are only two baskets and
I wonder if the Huskies get in enough free throw practice?
FEB. 16
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Imhotep 33, Eng. and Science 27
. . . And we’ll be back for the second half in just a moment. Oops! The game
is over and this is the final score. Holy bricks! Only twice in the last 60
years has a Pub playoff game finished with a score this low. The other time was
in ’02, when King beat Frankford, 35-25, in the round of 16. From there you have
to go back-back-back-BACK to a 1946 pre-playoff, which produced a 30-29 win for
Central over West Philadelphia. That’s 59 points, of course. The year before,
West put Northeast to sleep, 26-22. People are still in comas from watching that
one (smile). How did this happen? Hard to explain. There was no flat-out holding
of the ball. Both teams exhibited Catholic North-style patience, though, and the
shooting was horrific. The teams combined to shoot 24-for-81 (29.6 percent) from
the floor and 9-for-21 (42.9) at the line. There were 23 turnovers. E&S did not
shoot a free throw (of just five total) until 1:18 remained in the third
quarter, when sr. WG Andre Murphy was hacked while launching a long trey.
The ink had to go to somebody, of course, and the choice was 6-5 jr. C Tamir
Johnson. He had three points and two rebounds!!! Just kidding. He actually
had 13 and 11, along with three assists and three blocks, and I liked his
ability to post up in such a fashion that his teammates felt confident giving
him the ball. E&S is way undersized, though, so giving Johnson the ball was
certainly the way to go. Johnson had an eye-popping dunk in the second quarter.
He began what appeared to be a nothing-special drive down the right side of the
lane and then, phew!, soared right to the rim and really uncorked a wolf-down. I
mean, a SERIOUS wolf-down. The only problem: It was the only truly noteworthy
play of the game. Sr. WG Curtis Jackson went 3-for-8 on treys en route to
nine points. He was the game’s only player
to hit a threebie, by the way. Jr. F Hanif Nixon had six boards and nine
points, and seven of those markers came at the line (in eight attempts) over the
last 2:43. Jr. G Jaret Richardson (10) was the only Engineer with more
than six points. With Imhotep holding a 29-25 lead, E&S jr. G Sandy Tanner
made penetration and attempted a jump pass. Nixon intercepted, got fouled and
swished two free throws at 0:27. Murphy's errant trey sealed the deal. After the
game, I had a dust-up with one of the refs. He lied about the spelling of his
surname and then came up with some wacked-out story that he would lose custody
of his foster children if his name appeared in the paper. In a boxscore? I
snapped out, then walked away, after he said, “I will not ALLOW you to put my
name in the paper!” Last time I looked, he wasn’t my boss. We run referees’
names for playoff games we cover in person. And if a ref is breaking some rule,
it’s not our problem. A few years ago, there was a BIG problem with city
employees cutting out of work early to go ref games. Police investigators even
wanted to check our records of playoff boxscores. Hay-zoooooos!! Outside the
gym, I was approached by someone who said he knew the real reason the ref didn’t
want his name in the boxscore: He was scheduled to work a college game at night
and should not have, by rule, accepted the afternoon high school assignment. The
ref’s name, with the spelling we have in the boxscore, is all over the Internet.
He’s even a member of a School Board. I’ve seen him ref before a few times over
the past couple seasons. He does a decent job. I’m told he’s a nice guy, too.
Never had reason to think otherwise until today.
FEB. 15
PUBLIC LEAGUE ROUND-OF-16 PLAYOFF
Southern 72, Washington 57
To my way of thinking, and I think it's legit (smile), the key
moment to illustrate this game occurred with maybe 1:30 left. The ball was loose
in Washington's end. The Washington player bent over and tried to collect the
ball from a crouching position. A Southern player, specifically sr. G-F
Daniel Weatherly, made a dive into the area and caused a held ball and the
arrow favored Southern. Southern had every reason to be hungry in this
delayed-by-a-day affair (bus woes). The Rams and late-season frustration were
intimately acquainted over the last three years. In '03, Southern had to forfeit
11 wins for using an ineligible player. In '04, it went perfect in league play
and lost in the round of 16. In '05, it missed the playoffs via a final-game
setback. Not good. The Rams were grabbing throat, and squeezing, right from the
start, witnessed that they forced Washington into 11 first quarter turnovers.
They jumped and bounced and showed waving hands out of their zone and Washington
got very few clean looks. My DN story focused on sr. C Bryheem Charity,
who's only 6-1, 190, but boasts a strong, chiseled build and looks like one of
those old-school, cut-your-heart-out Pub players. He finished with 13 points and
13 boards, in addition to four steals, and by the second half, he and his
slender, taller frontcourt mates, sr. F Jason Sabb (18 points, seven
boards) and jr. Ramone Moore (21, eight, four assists), were having their
way on the inside. Washington's defenders kept drifting away from the lane
and/or baseline and Southern's guys kept getting gimmes. Sr. G Alston Ross
also played a nice role in this win. He used a pair of treys to score nine of
his 13 points in a 20-18 second quarter. Washington's only truly effective
player was sr. F Frank Peters. He shot 8-for-10 en route to 17 points and
also led the Eagles in rebounds, with eight. Most of the Eagles, to be honest,
showed varying degrees of nervousness and/or a hesitancy to play with authority.
There was also a late-game display of knuckleheadism -- unintentional, yes, but
still a killer -- that removed all remote hints of suspense. Sr. PG Ranald
Lindsey uncorked a hard drive and flipped in a layup while drawing a foul.
The ball was right above the cylinder, ready to drop through, when an Eagle
jumped up and dunked it. The obvious call, basket interference, was made.
Instead of a possible three-point play, which would have made the score 66-57,
Lindsey only made one of the two foul shots. Washington also crunched its
chances, overall, by going 12-for-27 at the foul line. Numerous legends on hand.
Ex-sidekick Keith Hines, a non-teaching assistant at Washington, was
parked at the scoring table. Jimmy Galen, a School District police
officer assigned to Washington, also works part-time here at the Daily News.
Swenson's first-year coach, Pat Durkin, was my oldest son's favorite
teacher of all time. (His name is Teddy. He'll turn 28 Saturday and I
dragged him to his first Pub game, Overbrook at the old Edison, at 8th and
Lehigh, when he was maybe a week old! Well, his mom did. Ha, ha. Yeah baby!) One
of Washington's phys ed teachers, Ron Zawacki, was a CL coach at several
schools and now coaches at Neshaminy. When I first arrived at Washington, a kid
in coach Calvin Jones' office was checking out the website on a very slow
computer. After the game, he and three friends came running across the court,
and he was saying he wanted his picture to appear on the site because he's on it
every day. Hey, I'm easy. A pic of Keith and Jimmy also will draw in millions of
visitors (smile).
FEB. 14
PUBLIC LEAGUE ROUND-OF-16 PLAYOFF
Univ. City 62, Frankford 52
Not sure how many suburban visitors we get, but let’s throw this
out there: Is UC the first team in PIAA history to make the state playoffs with
wins in only 10 percent of its non-league games?? You read that correctly. The
Jaguars, only 1-9 outside the Pub, posted a victory in this one and thus will be
one of four Class AAAA squads to enter the state playoffs in about six months
(just kidding about the time lag, but only a little). The difference-maker was
sr. PF Robert Mosby, who’s built like a tight end and is usually content
to do the little things. Today, though, he packed 10 of his 12 points and four
of his seven rebounds into a 25-16 fourth quarter, and he also exhibited all
kinds of juice while stirring his teammates and the fans. Mosby shot 5-for-6 in
the session and followed the one miss with a basket. Not sure what Frankford was
doing, but defenders – at least motivated defenders – were rarely in Mosby’s
area and he surely took advantage. UC already had a lead, admittedly slim at
43-41, when Mosby began his heroics with a fallaway jumper. A basket by jr. F
Kenny Moore (10 points, seven rebounds, five blocks) made it 47-41 and Mosby
followed in quick order with three more field goals. The last was a follow of a
teammate's miss. The others came on short jumpers off assists from sr. G-F
Charles McKissick (14 points) and Moore. Then, and he wasn’t even sure how
it happened, Mosby got the ball near the right corner and began a move along the
baseline with a cross-over dribble. Yes, like he was A.I.!! Ha, ha. Mosby dusted
the defender, but then slightly lost his balance as he neared the hoop. His shot
missed, but he easily grabbed the rebound and made the follow to give himself a
story to tell for life. (For verification of what happened, he can print out
this report and save it – smile). To no
one’s surprise, sr. PG Aaron Stephens was a significant factor also, as
he collected 11 points, five assists and six steals and helped force Frankford
into 26 turnovers. Moore managed 10 points, seven boards and five blocks. Sr. F
Kristopher Byes mixed nine points and eight boards. Frankford’s season
came down to one thing: an injury to the left wrist of franchise sr. SF Lewis
Leonard. Rookie coach Ben Dubin said the injury was a combination of
a deep contusion and a hairline fracture to Leonard’s left (shooting) wrist and
that it happened not in a practice or game, but over a weekend away from
basketball. Leonard missed losses to Edison and Lincoln and was not himself in a
loss to Washington (“He couldn’t rebound, at all,” Dubin said) and the
disruption caused this to be a road game instead of a home tilt, and that made
all the difference. Leonard was not his usually aggressive self and settled
almost exclusively for mid- to long-range jumpers. He went 7-for-25 overall, and
just 3-for-16 on treys, and never did get to the line. He added seven rebounds
and three assists. There’s no way a healthy Leonard doesn’t get fouled numerous
times. Also no way he doesn’t throw down a dunk or three. Jr. SF Kenny
Spotwood had 13 points and six boards and mostly did a sparkling job chasing
Moore. Soph F-C Antwaine Brown mixed 11 points, six boards. For the
quarterfinals, UC will visit Edison, the surprise team of the Pub this season.
Frankford is history and Leonard finishes his career with 1,304 points. Now on
UC’s roster is fresh PG Zaahir Smith, a quite recent transfer from
West Catholic and the brother of former FLC PG Zakee Smith. Zak
was in attendance and it was good to see him. He’s now about 6-1, which will
surprise anyone who remembers how tiny he was when he first popped onto the
scene as a Bobcat in the mid-90s. Zaahir got no run, but we’re betting that will
change in the years to come. Also in the house was Southern assistant Jarrard
“Mutch” Jones. The Rams’ round-of-16 playoff at Washington was postponed due
to the ever-popular bus miseries. Oh, baby. All kinds of legends came into the
office tonight – Amauro, Duck and even Littel Vaughn. The
last time Littel stopped through, about TWO years ago, he left behind a
sweatshirt/jacket kind of thing. I was able to give it back to him tonight.
Yeah, baby! It was tucked into a box beneath my desk all this time. Not exactly
smelling like springtime (ha ha).
FEB. 10
CATHOLIC NORTH
Ryan 64, La Salle 55
Ryan’s everybody-passes, everybody-shoots system has done well by
coach Bernie Rogers over the past few seasons, but there are occasions
when a break from tradition is not only smart, but necessary. Sr. C Kevin
Hudgeons goes 6-8, 220, and La Salle had no one to contend with him on the
inside and something must have been said at halftime because Hudgeons was
force-fed again and again over the final 16 minutes and he delivered, but good.
He scored 19 of his 25 points after intermission and shot 10-for-16, 5-for-9
overall. Often he sealed off his man just outside, or even inside the lane, and
took lob passes from the likes of sr. WG Mike Varanavage (four of
six assists in second half) or sr. SF Mars Shah (all three). Mostly he
did the deposit-it-in-with-flips routine, but he did turn one feed from
Varanavage into a wolf-down and, guess what, La Salle faded thereafter. There’s
a message in there somewhere, big guy! (smile. Kev said he often gets asked why
he doesn’t dunk more.) He also had 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Early in the game, Shah owned at least a share of a world record!! Most points
scored on only four shots. Yes, he went 4-for-4 on treys for 12 points, yet took
only one shot thereafter and it was a missed two. Similarly, Varanavage had five
early points and then did not score again until going 4-for-4 at the line in the
fourth quarter. Sr. F Jon Bruce and soph PG Andrew Rogers also had
strange stat-column nights. Bruce had NO stats of any kind in the first half,
then finished with four boards. Rogers had just one assist, and all three of his
steals came in the second quarter. He scored 11 points on a trey and 8-for-8 at
the line. (The importance of having a ballhandler who can drain late-game free
throws cannot be overemphasized). Varanavage did a solid defensive job on La
Salle’s chief threat, soph G-F Clay Penecale (2-for-8 floor, 11 points).
Penecale (five) was the only Explorer with more than three rebounds (ouch). In
fact, La Salle had just 14 boards for the game (double ouch). Sr. PG Tyrell
Marshall had 15 points and three
assists. A few times he went off a little half-cocked on sashays to the hoop,
but I mostly had the impression he felt he would at least get fouled if he
wasn’t able to convert the layups. That did happen. Unfortunately, he went only
7-for-12 at the line and Penecale went only 6-for-11 and those numbers were
killers in a game that was tight until the last couple minutes. Maybe “The
Tribe” deserves some credit?! Ryan’s student group was not as large as it was
when last I visited the upper regions of Academy Rd., but the passion was there
and I definitely love how the guys (and gals) move from end to end at halftime
so they can keep bothering the visiting team. Jr. WG T.J. Brown hit a
trey on a pass from Penecale to draw La Salle within 47-45 with 3:02 left. A tie
could have been next, but Marshall missed on a drive (no foul was called) and
Hudgeons dunked at the other end. Penecale made one of two free throws, then
grabbed the rebound of his missed second shot. He gave to soph PF-C Joe
Migliarese, whose tight shot just didn’t happen to fall. Hudgeons again
scored. Again on a feed from Varanavage. La Salle was still hanging around, at
53-47, when a great play by Varanavage almost blew up in his face. He tipped the
ball toward La Salle’s bench while going for a steal. Jr. WG Greg
Dusing (nine points, two treys) recovered and made a quick, short pass to
Penecale, who’d slipped away from Varanavage. His shot from behind the arc
didn’t fall. As they say, or at least used to, school was out. Andrew Pomager
and Joe Rod were among the North Catholic players in attendance. At
halftime, wearing a Duke T-shirt, Pomager went onto the court, among others, for
a short, playful one-on-one session with Mark Hueber, young son (maybe
11-12?) of Falcon assistant Tim. Mark schooled him!! (ha ha) Former La
Salle coach Marty Jackson was among the spectators. He’s coming along
after being thrown for a health loop and we wish him the best!
FEB. 9
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Straw. Mansion 88, Washington 76
Had a couple of interesting pre-game
talks. The first was with Mansion coach Gerald Hendricks about how
Washington is hard to figure because no one averages a whole bunch of points.
The second was with Washington coach Calvin Jones, who said he grew up a
few blocks from Mansion in the school’s middle-school days (late 1960s) and was
so excited when he came into the building with FitzSimons and pulled off a win.
At that age, in the packed gym, he thought he was in the NBA, he said. Calvin
was a three-sport star at Edison and one of his buddies, mostly from baseball,
was Charles Sumter (Olney). And guess where Charles is the AD? Mansion.
The two greeted each other warmly and I even took a picture. That might have
been the last normal moment of the afternoon (smile). These teams went at each
other hard and there were all kinds of sideshow elements. There were multiple
techs and many more could-have-been techs as Hendricks and Jones kept venturing
onto the floor to question/complain about calls. There were differences over
numbers of fouls and the possession arrow, and interference from the fans (at
one point, “Henny” walked over and made everyone in the front row move up to the
second or higher) and Washington’s players four times made catches or dribbled
the ball while across the sideline because they were unfamiliar with the floor's
narrow width. The biggest reaction came when Jones got excited and slipped off
the front end of his folding chair, falling to the floor. Everybody went nuts!
It was one of the few times all game Calvin laughed. Oh, remember the beginning
of this report? Well, seven Washington players scored between seven and 14
points. My DN story went to sr. WG Eugene Moss, who has become
quite the productive sixth man. He went for 27 points, 15 rebounds, seven
assists and two steals while being his usually bouncy, spidery self. Assuming
Gene keeps making strides in the good-teammate category, he could explode into a
wonderful D-I player in a couple of years as he fills out. He might need to
follow the JC or prep school route, but a qualifying SAT score is not out of the
question. He sports one of those rock-a-bye
jumpers that makes him extremely tough to cover. His off (left) hand is
effective, too. Sr. WG Matthew “Moo” Johnson was his relentless self with
jumpers from distance and hard moves to the hole. He poured in 32 points and now
needs just 16 for 1,000. He also had six assists and four steals. The
ever-reliable inside workhorse, sr. PF-C John Brooks, had 14
points and 12 boards. Srs. Chaz Philpot and Marcus Gilliland (cool
name!) had six and five boards, respectively, while sr. PG Stanley Williams
did the bulk of the ballhandling. As for Washington, phew! The Eagles have many
similar players and they take turns getting extended runs, and then sitting.
That was especially true today due to foul trouble. The one guy who is NOT like
the other is sr. PG Ranald Lindsey, a smallish lefty with impressive
court vision and ball-delivering skills. He had nine assists by halftime and
could have posted nine more in the second half if his mates had converted
supposed gimmes. Soph WF Miguel Bocachica has sniper potential, even from
distance, but he rushed some shots and was off-balance on others. I liked his
confidence level, because he was never afraid to launch, but some refinements
must take place (smile). Srs. Dan Powell and Frank Peters, also
lefties, are active small forwards. Jrs. Lamont Couser and Dante
Williams are also SFs. Jr. Naheem Anderson? Might be a SF, too!!
Smile. Sr. Anthony Wilson?? Yet another!! Nah, some of these guys lined
up more on the wing, but I’m telling you they’re all very similar. Washington
appeared to be dead when the score was 74-54. But Mansion had some problems
against the press and the Eagles kept battling, hard, and the deficit shrank to
76-68 before the Knights regrouped. Washington’s warmup T-shirts feature this
motto: “We ball together & we fall together.” Not bad.
FEB. 8
SPECIAL NOTE
I wanted to put out some information about Carroll C Dutch
Gaitley. In the fall, strong rumors were circulating that Dutch had
committed to Lafayette and we even came close to publishing a story in the Daily
News. Dutch is leaning to Lafayette, and could very well wind up there, but the
matter is not final. Several other "lower" Division I schools, so to speak, were
in contact earlier and again have resumed recruiting Dutch. Others are
encouraged to jump in (smile). Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk may be reached at
romanczuk42@aol.com. Thanks very much!
FEB. 7
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Episcopal 70, Penn Charter 43
There was reason to hope this game would be a goodie, right? After
all, PC had provided terrific competition for EA in the Inter-Ac tripleheader at
Arcadia and had only gotten better since then, right? So what happened today?
Why was this one a dud? Well, Episcopal is tough to beat at home, for one thing.
You can also add in the fact that Episcopal was trying to clinch its second
consecutive championship. Given a different beginning, perhaps the Quakers would
have been able to hang around deep into the game. But they opened in a funk
before the capacity crowd (nerves? bad luck? flat-out poor play caused by
Episcopal's brilliance?) and fell into a 10-0 hole in 3 minutes, 59 seconds. In
that span PC shot 0-for-8 with two turnovers while sr. C Mike Yocum
(Albany) collected five points and three boards. He would finish the quarter
(13-5) with seven points, seven boards and three blocks. Phew! PC did a
reasonably good job of not letting EA frolic in transition and of not allowing
multiple strips (just four steals for the game), but it shot horribly
(15-for-50) and jr. G Sammy Zeglinski (Virginia) was a non-factor thanks
to sticky defense by UNC signee Wayne Ellington, who is to be commended
for how hard he has worked to become a Lockdown Man. Ziggy can fire from
anywhere and is quick enough to take pretty much anyone off the dribble. He
yields roughly four inches to Ellington, however, and Wayne has a much wider
wingspan. Ziggy had just two points until the final moments of the third
quarter. With Ellington taking a brief rest, Ziggy banked home a deep trey (not
sure if he called it; I'm guessing no -- smile) and then, with Wayne back in,
drilled two more as the fourth quarter started. But he finished with just 11
points (3-for-10 on treys) and no else came close to picking up the slack. Some
numbers: Ellington went for 21 points and seven boards. Sr. F Gerald
Henderson (Duke) made varied contributions (20 points, 14 boards, five
assists) and had a vintage throw-down dunk on a follow. He caught a miss in
mid-air and executed an all-in-one-motion flush. Damn, was it nice!! Yocum added
15 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. So, who got the ink? None of those guys!
Have to spread things around, you know? I decided to focus on sr. PG Tim
Ivory, the FB QB and the perfect guy to blend with the three-headed monster.
Tim is dangerous because he CAN shoot the trey and teams almost have to leave
him open every so often if they have any hope of guarding the lane. Plus, he
takes care of the ball. He went for nine points and three assists. The fifth
starter, sr. G Charlie Barks, took no shots, but had three boards and a
dish and exhibited non-stop hustle/smarts. For PC, sr. F R.J. Lyons
totaled eight points and eight boards and sr. F Brian Teuber managed six
carom-clutches (I love that phrase; gotta use it more often -- smile). The
halftime highlight came when website legend Tom "Takin' a" Mulligan
trotted out to midcourt and tried to sink a shot from there. He missed the
first two and PC's students were razzing him big-time. He then begged for
another chance -- "Yo, I gotta make one," he told another kid with the ball --
and then . . . and then . . . and then . . . (suspense is building) . . . banked
one home!! Legendary!! Of course, he was probably inside halfcourt by about 10
feet, but that's OK. There was a little bit of late-game chippiness as
Episcopal's players and coaches took exception to what they felt were
too-physical fouls. Henderson was the victim on one of them and when he got the
ball back, he began a drive from far out and I swore from his expression that he
was going to try to JUMP through the basket or put about three PC defenders
through the wall. But instead, from maybe 20 feet away, he made a perfect pass
underneath to Yocum and Mike did the scoring honors. The line of the day went to
EA coach Dan Dougherty. Talking about how Ivory is brassy despite his
lack of size, he quipped, "Nobody takes his lunch money." Doc is now on the
record as saying that this is his best team (of 27 at Episcopal). The Churchmen
are 23-4 against a killer schedule and have as many as four games remaining.
FEB. 6
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Prep Charter 62, Franklin LC 59
Since when is breathing on your opponent a foul? Since today,
apparently. I can’t stand it when refs call non-stop ticky-tack fouls and one
lived to do that today. I can’t remember ever seeing him before and Lord only
knows how he received the assignment for such an important game. There were 12
fouls in the first six minutes – yes, 12! – and 40 for the game, and it wasn’t
like PC was fouling on purpose down the stretch because it was doing a good job
of mounting a strong comeback anyway thanks to steals and unforced FLC errors.
Also, for whatever reason, almost all of this one guy’s calls went against PC,
and the pattern was so strange it bordered on very curious. (I am not kidding.
Ask anyone neutral who was there.) The score was 8-8 when PC star Rodney
Green (La Salle signee; now a SF, WG down the road) sat down with his second
foul. FLC then stormed to a 29-11 lead and eased into halftime at 34-22. This
was my first visit to PC’s new building, a former supermarket, at 24th and
McKean, in South Philly. The place is beautiful! Bright and cheerful and
well-conceived and the gym earns an A-plus. Well, maybe a B-plus. Instead of
paint, the lines are made of some kind of synthetic substance that looks like
duct tape painted black and the players slipped on them several times. Also, the
sun comes streaming through windows maybe 30 feet above floor level and hits
directly on the backboard at the east end throughout the second half. It kind of
surprises me that PC chooses to shoot there last. It’d make more sense to force
the visiting team to deal with that in the second half, right? Many
teachers/support personnel were on hand and the students were well-behaved (and
LOUD, eventually; the sound carries like crazy) and so was the drum and more
drums corps (smile). Anybody have Excedrin? In the second half, with
consistently good play from jr. PG Malcolm Eleby (23 points, eight
rebounds), FLC built its lead to 15 points with 11 minutes left to play. Then
the game began to have that ever-familiar “look” – the trailing team is going to
come back and back, little by little, and win at the end. FLC’s lead dipped to
12 points, then 10, then seven, then five, at 50-45, as jr. F Marcus Morris
hit a basket on a pass from jr. CG Josh “Scrap” Martin early in the
fourth quarter. PC reeled off 10 of the next 11 points, as the noise level
approached jet-plane-takeoff status, with sensational end-to-end play from Green
(18 points, five steals), Martin (12, six assists), jr. CG Doug Davis
(four steals in fourth quarter) and jr. PF-C Markieff Morris (11, three
blocks down the stretch after his twin brother fouled out). Frosh Parrish
Grant, a backup G, packed seven points into the final 2:15. His trey (pass
from Martin) provided a 58-55 lead at 2:15 and his conversion of a double-bonus
made it 60-58 at 1:02. The teams then traded turnovers and Eleby drove down the
lane. Markieff got a piece of the ball and Green rebounded. He gave to Martin,
who whipped a pass downcourt to a streaking Grant. He made the layup, but was
unable to complete the three-point play. Back down the other end. Jr. WG
Sharif Bolton seized the left baseline and got hacked. He made the first and
missed the second and Grant wound up with the rebound. As Grant bent over
slightly, three guys pecked away at him. But this time a foul was NOT called and
the held-ball arrow favored FLC. Oh, baby! On the inbound play, Eleby got a
great look on a left-wing trey. The shot was a shade to the left. When he saw it
miss, Eleby pulled up his jersey and dashed in anguish to the other end as the
Huskies rejoiced. Quite a finish. Bolton finished with 11 points. Sr. C Tyree
Burnett, a late bloomer with some bulk, went 3-for-4 from the floor and
grabbed eight boards. Soph PF-C Dante Wooten, a lefty, had five points
and as many boards, along with two blocks. He impressed by making a bank shot
from a difficult angle. Soph WG Khalief Trawick drained two of four
treys. With Martin (and sometimes Davis/others) dogging him, Eleby had to expend
incredible amounts of energy. He went just 9-for-16 at the line and all of his
misses were short (a couple were way short). As he gets older and wiser, he’ll
learn to combat fatigue by adding a slight bit of distance to his shots. La
Salle assistants Horace “Pappy” Owens and Ashley “I’m Not an Aide”
Howard (inside joke; you’re my man, Ash, smile) were in attendance as was
the Explorers’ former coach, Billy Hahn. Ditto for scouting-service gurus
Allen Rubin and Norm Eavenson, and FLC girls’ coach John
Merlino. It was good to see all of them. It was not good to see them have to
wince, like me and everyone else, at all the wacko calls.
FEB. 3
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Episcopal 74, Gtn. Academy 51
There are good blowouts and ugly blowouts and this was very much
the former. GA showed full effort, but Episcopal, especially in the first half
(44-21), was basically awesome. It was a clinic to the second power, at least.
GA again was without 6-10 ‘Nova signee Andrew Ott (and if I’d known that,
I might have gone somewhere else; no sweat). Episcopal had all of its Smarty
Jones-quality horses and cruised. The Churchmen were strong and aggressive and
totally unselfish and the blend was quite a sight to behold. If CN8 had not been
taping the game for broadcast Saturday at 3 p.m., I’ll take a strong guess and
say EA coach Dan Dougherty would have sprinkled in second-line
players a shade earlier. But he knew why the cameras were there and he knew
people without a rooting interest would be changing the channel the instant the
bigwigs were removed. The ink went to Duke-bound sr. SF Gerald Henderson,
who totaled 23 points, five rebounds, six assists and six steals. Phew! He also
had five dunks. Into the first half he packed three of his five dunks, five of
his A’s and four of his S’s. He worked in perfect harmony with 6-4 sr. WG
Wayne Ellington (North Carolina) and there wasn’t one time where I thought
one or the other was trying to “get his” at the expense of anyone else.
Incredible feat; a tribute both to the players and what they feel about each
other and their coaches/teammates. Ellington finished with 30 points, 10
rebounds, seven assists and two flushes. Sr. C Mike Yocum, the other D-I
signee (Albany), had 10 points, five boards and three assists. The three other
rotation members were sr. Gs Tim Ivory (three assists) and Charlie
Barks (three steals) and jr. G Pat “Mono? What Mono?” Kelly (two
steals). Those six did all of the playing until 5:41 was showing, with the score
at 69-37. Two subs checked in then. More got the call at 4:10 as Henderson was
shooting free throws. He missed the second, so he couldn't depart until 3:57
remained. If "Doc" had been trying to rub it in, G and/or W would have been on
the floor throughout. That was NOT the case. Kyle Griffin, GA’s
outstanding jr. PG, entered the game needing 15 points for 1,000, counting the
334 he scored while playing for Allentown Central Catholic through the ’04
school year. He scored just eight thanks to chest-to-chest defense by Ellington
(and then sub Rob McCallion). He did have five assists and, to his
credit, did not take poor shots just for the heck of it. The best Patriot was
sr. F Matt Turner, who shot 8-for-11 for 16 points and grabbed eight
rebounds. No other GA player grabbed more than three (ouch!). Sr. G Zack Paul
had some hustle-and-bustle moments in the late going, witness a three-point
play, assist, steal and blocked shot. The Patriots play Sunday in a showcase
event in Atlantic City; Ott is doubtful. A dance team consisting of Episcopal
gals put on an impressive, shake-your-booty show at the end of the third quarter
(smile). Long after the game ended, G and W were still hanging out in the gym to
accommodate people who wanted to get their autographs and snap their pictures.
Quite impressive. Nothing like young men who “get it.”
FEB. 1
PUBLIC LEAGUE
Robeson 73, CAPA 42
This'll be short, troops. CAPA's only win came by forfeit and its
top players were unavailable, this was NOT pretty. The final 15 minutes were
played with a running clock. Robeson's top two players are jr. PG Thaddeus "Boobie"
Fauntleroy and soph SF Chris Delbridge. Because of the lack of
competition and the liberal substitutions by coach Rob Powlen, it was
hard to make any judgments. Fauntleroy (10 points, four assists) does appear to
have a good feel for how to play, though, and Rob likens Delbridge (10 points)
to ex-Bartram headliner Richard "Franchise" Francis. With two years to
grow and get stronger, it could happen. Sr. F Chris Cohen had 12 rebounds
and three steals and jr. F Dominic Medlock shot 8-for-12 en route to 18
points. With minimal defensive attention in the fourth quarter, CAPA finally got
to have some fun. Soph G Ron Roberts threw in three treys, raising his
total to four, and sr. G Jameel Gibson had two, for three total.
Gibson also dealt four assists. For the entire first half, there was ONE
spectator. I went over to ask him why he was watching the game and he said he
was a CAPA player unable to play due to illness. Two adults and a child arrived
before the second half, one other adult watched and some neighborhood kids took
about a 5-minute peek. That was it. CAPA had no one to keep the scorebook and
one of the sidelined players worked the scoreboard. Geeeeeeeeeeeeez. Robeson
scorekeeper Christina Sherman wrote down all the scoring into CAPA's book
at halftime and after the game. Very nice of her!