January reports
December reports

MARCH 15
PIAA STATE FINAL
Class AA -- Jeannette 76, Strawberry Mansion 72 (OT)
  Two games on two consecutive days with starting times of 2 p.m. Two losses for the Philly guys, as well. I had an ominous feeling upon noticing that Mansion occupied the same locker room today that Freire did yesterday. It was kind of curious, too, because Freire was officially a home squad (white uniforms) while Mansion was officially a visiting squad (red uniforms). Note to D-12 honchos: petition for a different locker room in future years. Aside from being a state final, this was a chance for a statewide TV audience (on PCN) to get a look at someone who's widely considered one of the nation's very best high school athletes: No. 1 in football (as a QB-safety) to many and up there in hoops as well. Terrelle Pryor (on http://www.terrellepryor.org, no less) is listed at 6-6, 220. He displayed one bad habit -- jumping again and again to make passes, and that did cause him some problems though he was only charged with two turnovers. He also hit just nine of 19 free throws. He was VERY smooth and agile, though, and I doubt he truly forced (as in pig-headed fashion) one shot the entire game. In all, he went for 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and five blocks. The Jayhawks have no height aside from Pryor, so he spent much of the game covering 6-7 sr. Devon White. Due to Pryor's work and his own foul trouble, White had to settle for seven points. Two of his field goals came on dunks (one in OT). By then, and for the last 16 1/2 minutes of total time, Pryor did hard duty at the defensive end as his assignment was switched from White to sr. WG Dwayne Davis (Morehead signee). Davis had hit his first three shots of the third quarter, raising his point total to 19 on 9-for-13 marksmanship. Thereafter, the athletic Pryor created just a hint of discomfort for Davis and Dwayne missed seven of his final 10 attempts. Beforehand, he lanched just one trey. There was no need for more, as he was slicing the dicing the two smaller guys who tried to stick him. But with Pryor presenting a much stiffer get-by-him challenge, Dwayne resorted to five treyballs and only one succeeded. The total development was crucial to Jeannette's victory. By the way, Davis spent a large chunk of the game covering Pryor and did so in respectable fashion. In time, though, Davis yielded to foul trouble and he departed late in OT. He was not alone. Sr. WG Isaac Bradford also fouled out (late in regulation) and the three other starters finished with four personals apiece. Hmmm. Was Mansion screwed? Honestly, I never came close to thinking that though the refs did call things tightly and the game did include 63 free throws (39 for Jeannette). Part of the disparity could be traced to the OT, when Mansion fell behind early and had to hack. And believe this: if the refs were truly out to stick it to Mansion, they would have found a way to put Pryor on the line in the last few ticks of regulation (especially since Pryor is being heavily courted by Penn State for FB and a game-winning free throw at the end could have been a VERY special memory). He missed a flip shot on right-to-middle penetration and probably was jostled, at least a little. It was a good no-call. Just before that, with Jeannette in position to expand its lead to four, Pryor missed two free throws and even air-balled the second. Jr. PG Darren "DL" Lawrence then hit an in-the-lane runner to make it 60-60. Right off the OT tap, jr. CG Marcus Grimes broke almost free for a layup. Not free enough, though. Pryor caught up and got a sliver of a piece of the ball and that seemed to set a tone. Jeannette wound up scoring the first six points of the extra session and that ssssssssssss sound you heard was air coming out of Mansion's balloon. Some stats: Davis finished with 28 points and three assists. White had 12 rebounds and four blocks. Frazier grabbed 12 boards as well and went 10-for-11 at the line while netting 16 points. Mansion hit just 26 of 73 shots from the floor. Especially early, it routinely grabbed offensive rebounds (it had 23 in all) but failed to connect on the put-backs. That would prove costly. Also, the Knights never did achieve good offensive flow, witness that they managed just six assists on their 26 field goals. Mansion had 75 fans, at most, raising the Pub's two-day total to mayyyyyybe 150. (Perhaps only 125.) PIAA honchos have to be reeling. If this keeps up in the future, these guys might go bankrupt. It'll be interesting, assuming some of their schools get there, to see if fans of CL schools bother to make the trek to Penn State. Well, that's it for the school-vs.-school part of the basketball season. Just some all-star games to go. Thanks for paying attention . . .

MARCH 14
PIAA STATE FINAL
Class A – Serra Catholic 67, Freire Charter 66
  Everything was going so well. Maybe too well, in retrospect. Freire was making smart decisions and keeping its Western Pa. foe from edging close enough to create any nervousness and the chance to frolic had even appeared. Dunk by jr. pogo-sticker Koron Reed on a feed from sr. WG Jarrod “G” Denard! Dunk by soph PF-C Octavious Booker on a feed from sr. PG Antione “Blueberry” Singleton! Those two buckets made it 55-44 and the bulge crept upward to 12, 60-48, with 4:59 left as Booker hit a free throw. An admission: I was already looking forward to taking the post-game celebration pics and envisioning a special page like the ones set up last year and the year before on this site for Prep Charter, the Class AA kingpin. Then it happened: It was as if the basketball gods sent down word from above – you will not win this game; pretty much everything will go wrong from here on out. I’ve seen all levels of disappointment in 37 years of covering high school sports. Freire had to endure one of the all-time below-the-belt punches. This one hurt and hurt some more and even as I write this report at about 9 o’clock, more than 5 hours after game’s end, NO DOUBT a Dragon player or fan, somewhere RIGHT NOW, is unsuccessfully trying to fight back tears. Freire flat-out disintegrated. It committed 11 turnovers (of 23 total) in the final 4:41 and the surprising variable was, the main contributors were the team’s senior leaders and true warriors, Denard and Singleton. They kept hustling. Kept trying to show the way. No go. In that specific time frame in  their lives, they were cursed. Until the very end, when Denard beat the buzzer with a meaningless trey (SC owned a four-point lead), Freire had NO field goals in those final five minutes. Things were a mess at the other end, too. SC has a big guy (6-8, maybe 300?) named Pat Grubbs. (For those with knowledge of recent Catholic League players, think Carroll’s Dutch Gaitley after a month of non-stop eating.) Grubbs scored 17 points in the last quarter and 13 came in the fateful stretch. Freire coach Lawrence Threadgill said afterward he felt Grubbs had gotten away with some traveling violations. It might be interesting for someone to look at the replay on PCN and see how often Grubbs camped out in the lane for fewer than five seconds (smile). He was growing roots in there! Ah, maybe it just seemed that way. If he did get away with one or more transgressions, more power to him. Not that he needs anymore. He’s also to be praised because he showed very soft hands and used his body in splendid fashion to fend off Booker and Reed and anyone else in the vicinity. Though Freire did have a four-point lead with 2:00 left, that too disappeared, of course. Here are some late-game details: The Eagles went ahead, 64-63, on a free throw by Grubbs at 54.6; Denard air-balled a 17-foot jumper, but Singleton maintained possession for Freire by diving toward the baseline and firing the ball off a Serra player's leg; the ball was then lost in foul-lane traffic and SC’s T.J. Heatherington made one more free throw at 32.4 after being hacked by Booker (as he fouled out); next came a backcourt violation as Denard and Singleton crossed signals; SC’s Alex Matta wound up with a standing-alone layup. But no!  Reed came out of somewhere to notch a rejection! Singleton went hard down the middle. Tweet! Offensive foul at 6.9; Grubbs was fouled at 4.6 and created an it's-all-over, four-point pad before Denard added his last-instant trey. For one of the few times all season, Denard was rather average. For him. Though he had 12 points, seven assists, six steals and six rebounds, he also was guilty of seven TOs and he never got on one of his patented rolls. His rabid "G Force" posse was not in attendance and one has to think the absence affected him. Reed had 14 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks. Booker went 18-14-four in those same categories. Soph WG Rysheen Dorn had eight points. Singleton had 12 points, six assists and five steals, but also seven TOs. Jr. F Abraham Bah had the other two points. Not in uniform was jr. PG John “Tatoe” Brown, who was a sub for last year’s Prep Charter championship team. He’d been one of two players to act out during and after Wednesday’s semifinal victory over Reading CC and was separated from the squad for what Threadgill said were “personal reasons.” Another guy who’d seen occasional time this season, jr. F Isaac Yorro, was rooting for Freire from across the way. He was sidelined for a violation of school rules, but took one of two fan buses to Penn State this morning. The aftermath was tough to watch. Tears were pretty much everywhere and there was major distress. It was during this period that the Philly guys came up huge! The Dragons bit their lips and accepted their silver medals like gentlemen. And then Blue and G came forward to accept the runner-up trophy. Ultimately, the players and coaches even posed for a group photo. That sequence was priceless. Just last year, after blowing a large late lead in their loss to Prep Charter, the players from Aliquippa had put on one of the all-time lack-of-sportsmanship displays. Discarding medals. Leaving the trophy on the floor. Not staying around to watch PC get honored. It was brutal. DN ink went to Booker and he was prominent among the guys who deserved to feel very proud. He’d also been a knucklehead Wednesday. Today he was the picture of proper behavior. He also was the Dragon most visibly affected by the loss, bordering on inconsolable in the 15-minute period immediately following the loss. Thanks to the Freire players for the entertainment they provided this season. But more importantly, thanks for exuding class after a devastating loss.

MARCH 12
PIAA STATE SEMIFINAL
Class AA -- Strawberry Mansion 80, Imhotep Charter 68
   Thank goodness for middle schools/junior highs that have been turned into high schools, eh? Finally, the Public League has a "veteran" school going to a state final. OK, so Mansion is not a true old-timer in the manner of a Gratz, Edison, West Philly, Overbrook, etc. But this is the Knights' 28th season in the Pub and it has long been considered a quality program under one of the finest men you could ever hope to meet, Gerald Hendricks. Though Mansion finds himself in a low-enrollment category, perhaps statewide respect for the Pub will increase now that a "name" school is bound for Penn State. By the way, Mansion's opponent in the Saturday 2 p.m. final will be Jeannette and Terrell Pryor, who is perhaps the country's most celebrated FB-hoops high school athlete. Should be interesting. This game was played at Southern and the crowd was rather scant as the ball was tossed into the air for the center jump. Blame it on a 6 p.m. starting time, I guess. People eventually rolled in and the attendance wound up being decent, though under what I expected, honestly. Chalk that up, in part, to the fact Imhotep has not been around for long and thus does not have a large following. Mansion put together an impressive performance. It shot 32-for-55 from the floor, rolled to a 37-22 edge on the boards and committed just 13 turnovers, same as Imhotep. It also played effective defense on the Panthers' two main senior threats, C Rashad Savage and WG-SF Miguel Bocachica. Makes you wonder, how did Mansion win by "only" 12? Not really sure. Just kinda happened (smile). Undoubtedly mindful of Imhotep's ability to snipe from distance, Mansion opened in man-to-man. But IC was aggressive and scored off a series of hard drives by sr. PG Lamar "Sysy" Trice (for his own FGs or kickouts to jr. WG Will Adams) and Hendricks wound up switching to zone. The Knights got out on the shooters in the second quarter (Adams and Bocachica had just one shot apiece) and mostly blanketed Savage inside and command was eventually established. The half ended 36-30. THE key moment occurred 3 1/2 minutes into the third quarter as Savage, who'd had none at halftime, incurred his third foul. Boom! Jr. PG Darren Lawrence made an entry pass to 6-7 sr. C Devon White and White hit a turnaround jumper, stretching the lead to 42-36. The points were White's first of the game. He wound up finishing with 12, along with 13 rebounds, two blocks and numerous intimidations. He also provided late-game entertainment with a pair of wicked dunks. SM followed White's bucket with seven more consecutive points: White's steal and pass ahead for a dunk by sr. WG-SF Eddie Frazier; a short bank shot by sr. WG Dwayne Davis off a pass by sr. WG Isaac Bradford; one of two free throws by White and a steal and layup by Lawrence. Imhotep did not fold, but its goose was heated, if not cooked. All five Mansion starters scored in double figures: Davis (24), Frazier and Bradford (16), White (12) and Lawrence (10). Frazier (nine) and Davis (eight) helped out on the boards while Lawrence (seven) and Davis (five) led in assists. Davis on some occasions has not managed too many stats out of the points column. But this was a tremendous all-around effort and another will be needed Saturday. Savage had to settle for just six points and four boards. Bocachica had five and three. Adams helped to pick up the slack with 23 points (4-for-6 on treys) while Trice was frisky all game long with 13 points, eight assists and -- get this -- a team-high six boards. Though IC did slice the deficit to 64-59 with 3:30 left, Bradford posted two quick field goals and rolled home from there. By the end, the Knights were frolicking and their fans were going crazy. Tonight's stat sidekicks were Duck and wacky Frankford assistant Keith Hines, who was a constant back in the day. It was quite a disappointment to see three District One refs doing a game involving two Pub teams. Uggghhh. It seems "we" were being punished. Last week, when Freire met Girard College, D-12 ref Guy Longstreth did not follow proper procedure when he had to beg off the game. Instead of alerting higher-ups, he found his own replacement, according to long-time ref Tom McClain, the observer for this game, and that's a no-no. Thus, McClain said, D-12 was prevented from having any refs in this game by Bob Lombardi, of the PIAA. It's alllllllllllways something. One last thing: It was great seeing the Mihalich brothers, former stars at La Salle High. Joe ('74) is now the coach at Niagara and he was on hand to watch White. Matt ('76) still lives in the area and tries to feed big bro info on potential recruits, as time permits. Robert Morris assistant Jimmy Martelli (yes, THAT guy's son) was also in the house. He's also in pursuit of White. We'll see what happens . . .

MARCH 8
PIAA STATE QUARTERFINAL
Class AA -- Imhotep 51, Holy Cross (Scranton) 49
  How cool is this? The Pub squad won the game on a play long a staple of Catholic teams! With 6 seconds left, Imhotep did the inexcusable, really, as it left HC's Joe Gibbons unattended on the right block and he was easily able to convert a follow to tie the score at 49-49. As I immediately looked at the clock, it was changing from 6.3 to 6.2 and the Panthers were trying to get a timeout. The time slipped down to 2 seconds and the referees correctly made an adjustment. In this case, Our Guys might have been cut a break, at least a slight one. During the timeout the PA announcer said 4.9 would be put on the clock. But one of the refs approached the table and said the time would be 5.9. The Panthers had to go the length of the court. Jr. G-F Sam Prescott inbounded to sr. PG Lamar "Sysy" Trice (Mount St. Mary's; most people pronounce the nickname as sah-sah) toward the right side of the court and Trice came steaming directly to the area beyond the foul line. Next thing you knew, Trice was sending a bounce pass toward the left block and sr. SF Miguel Bocachica (Long Island U.) was kissing a layup off the glass to beat the buzzer and win the game! Bocachica, of course, is a major three-point threat (all four of his previous field goals had come on treys) and when he back-doored to the basket, the Crusaders did not pay enough attention. Legendary, eh? Overall, Imhotep was sommmmmewhat lucky to post this victory. The Pnathers did not show their usual level of aggressiveness and there's no way they can let someone as dangerous as sr. PF-C Rashad Savage get just one shot apiece in consecutive quarters (second and third). There was a telling play in the third quarter. The ball popped loose near HC's basket and the two closest guys were Panthers. They barely bent over, let alone showed real hustle, and a Crusader hit the floor to come up with the ball. As coach Andre Noble will no doubt impress upon his players, that mind-set will not be acceptable Wednesday night when Imhotep meets Strawberry Mansion in a state semifinal. Somehow, Imhotep finished the first half with only seven rebounds. Yes, seven! HC had 18! Even for the game, Savage (eight) was the only Panther with more than four. Hard to believe. Savage scored 16 points, with seven in the first quarter and nine in the fourth. Two of his field goals came on emphatic alley-oop dunks on flips from jr. WG Will "Socks With Sandals/Our Bus Is Electric (no it's not)" Adams. Trice felt great about his solid decision as regulation ended. With 34.6 left, and with Imhotep up by only 48-47, he made an admittedly sloppy pass to sr. backup G Steven Leath and a backcourt violation resulted. Luckily, HC's Louis Cipriano missed a layup and Savage grabbed the rebound to set up his free throw making it 49-47. Trice dealt six assists. Adams had seven points, four boards, three dimes. Prescott blocked three shots. Jr. WG Kenny Battle and soph F Jamal Jones hit their only shots for two points apiece. Battle and Jones had two and one assist, respectively. This game was played at Freedom High, in Bethlehem, and the drive up took roughly 2 hours. The rain was brutal, like the kind you usually experience only during hurricanes, so all speed limits were obeyed. Imhotep had about 20 loyalists in attendance, aside from the six cheerleaders. HC, a first-year school combining the old Bishop O'Hara and Bishop Hannan (I guess numbers are a problem in every Archdiocese), appeared to have at least 500, counting students and adults.

MARCH 4
PIAA STATE PLAYOFF, SECOND ROUND
Class AAA – Communications Tech 60, Holy Ghost Prep 39
  Well, in the Big Mismatch Department, the score is now Southwest Philly and Beyond 2, Northeast Philly and Beyond 0. Ridley last Saturday doubled up Frankford, 76-38, and in this one, played in the sweltering gym at Norristown, CT doubled up the score on HGP through three quarters, 46-23. Wonder if the suburban folks will be posting notes on the wire saying HGP was ill-prepared and should be embarrassed about its lack of effort (smile)? Hey, sometimes routs just happen. CT has much more talent than the Firebirds and coach Lou Biester’s squad was very aggressive right from the start, and that’s a testament to Lou’s ability to reach his young men and get them to do what he wants/needs. CT used a 2-3 matchup, man-to-man and trap-upcourt pressure defenses and HGP almost never got a comfortable look. Truly. Almost NEVER. The game took on that garbage-time look late in the third quarter as subs got sprinkled in, and Ghost did draw within 16 by scoring the first seven points of the fourth, but it was not as if anyone was truly worried. DN ink went to sr. WG Orlando Ensley, who helped to set the defensive tone by getting out to the arc. Through three quarters, HGP was 10-for-35 from the floor. Ouch. When a team has advantages in size and skill and plays with full-blown desire, this is what happens. Coach Tony Chapman’s club has nothing to be ashamed of. It also tried hard, but the Firebirds no doubt had to feel as if CT had six defenders on the court. Some stats: Temple-bound sr. F Andrew “Scootie”  Randall finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three steals. Sr. WG Chris Jones added 13 points, two assists and two steals. Jr. PG Antonio “Gee” Monroe dealt four assists and sr. PF-C Manny "Man Mountain" Jordan claimed nine boards. The bench was also quite productive: Soph WG Shaquille Shannon had 12 points, five assists and four steals while jr. F Virgil Pearson sank all of his shots for six points and notched three rejections. CT had maybe 40 rooters. Most were adults (teachers, administrators, Biester’s friends/relatives, some coaches from other Pub schools, District 12 honchos). HGP appeared to have about 250 (just a guess) with a sizable student section. The more Pub schools win, the more money the PIAA loses. Maybe sometime in April we’ll get this news release from the PIAA: “We will no longer hold basketball playoffs because we’re drowning in red ink. Football season will now go from late August to March.” (smile)

MARCH 1
PIAA STATE PLAYOFFS
AA -- Strawberry Mansion 79, Columbia 71
AAAA -- Ridley 76, Frankford 38
   It takes a LOT for a group of city kids to be impressed by basketball playing guys from a place they view as the hinterlands. Well, shortly after the Mansion game ended, I headed downstairs and listened to the Knights as they waited for coach Gerald Hendricks to arrive and open the locker room. They were duly impressed. They were buzzing about the long-distance shooting exhibition put on by a pair of sr. Columbia guards, Adam Pittman and Mike Seibert, and they even patted Pittman on his shoulders, and said some encouraging words, as he passed by en route to the Crimson Tide's locker room, which was right next door to theirs. Watching and listening was quite pleasurable and I commend the Knights for how they handled themselves. Pittman (30 points) and Seibert (22) drained six treys apiece and Seibert rained down FIVE of his in the fourth quarter alone. Their shooting made for a special occasion and this game had to be one of the Top Five of the year, even though the outcome was decided before the latter part of the stretch. (Well, pretty much. More on that later.) Columbia, roughly halfway between Lancaster and York, took over Southern's gym with a fan contingent that was loud and, um, opinionated (smile). These folks complained again and again about every single call, but at least they cared, right? In time, the Mansion folks joined the these-refs-stink festivities, especially since so many calls were of the touch variety. Check out this sequence for Mansion: jr. PG Darren Lawrence incurred his fourth foul with 6:36 left in the third quarter; sr. WG Isaac Bradford got his third at 5:18; jr. backup G Marcus Grimes got his third at 5:15; Bradford got his fourth at 5:14; Bradford fouled out with 2:41 left; Grimes got his fourth at 1:24. No wonder, as the quarter wound down, that one of Mansion's biggest fans yelled over, "Make sure you tell people about this, Ted! We're playing 5 on 8!" After experiencing few breakthrough moments in the game's first 20 minutes, Mansion finally got one. Sr. C Devon White (18 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks) scored in tight, Grimes hustled a quick steal and layup and then White collected what we like to call a BRA. In other words, a block-rebound-assist all in quick succession. The recipient of the long pass was sr. SF Eddie Frazier and his dunk made it 45-40. The quarter ended 54-50 and the Knights established further command with two field goals to open the fourth. Though very few folks would ever label sr. WG Dwayne Davis a defensive stopper, he did wind up having to cover Pittman in the fourth quarter and Pittman finally did cool off; he missed his last four treys before fouling out late. If nothing else, perhaps Davis' height created some disorientation for Pittman. Also, Pittman had to be exhausted by then and he was also fighting back pain. Frazier collected 24 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks and he nailed a right-corner trey with 4:15 left to make it 65-55. I hope some state schools, at a minimum, are on this crafty lefty because not only can he play, he always gives off a great-teammate aura. Even after Pittman fouled out, Eddie quickly walked over to Columbia's bench and extended his hand in addition to expressing his admiration. Davis, who's bound for Morehead, managed 16 points despite an off day from the field (5-for-20). He claimed just two boards and dealt three assists. Lawrence (nine; four steals), Grimes (eight) and Bradford (four; three steals) completed the scoring. Though Columbia appeared to be quite dead, it had other ideas and Seibert kept swishing treys. His last drew the CT within 77-71, but Davis removed the suspense by converting a double-bonus at 0:21 . . . As for the opener, whoa, what happened to Frankford? Shortly after the game, coach Ben Dubin walked over and said with a very hoarse voice, "Don't put any of that on the kids. We had a horrible week of practice and that's MY fault." I appreciate Ben's stance, but the Pioneers cannot get off scot-free and I'm sure they know it. Their concentration was poor. Their execution was worse. Plus, Ridley was well-coached and focused and did exactly what was necessary -- cut off driving lanes; work for good shots and then make them to prevent transition -- to make the Pioneers look pedestrian. The top Pioneer, sr. SF Malik Tinsley, incurred his second foul with the score at 6-6. Dubin yanked him and no doubt had plans of keeping him nailed to the bench through halftime. But with the score at 20-12 4:08 before intermission and the game slowly slipping away, Dubin motioned in Tinsley. It didn't help. Malik never came close to being a factor -- five points, one rebound, no other stats. Sr. PF Khayree Brown (12 points, 10 rebounds) was the only Pioneer who came close to managing a decent performance. Frankford shot 14-for-57 (floor) and 10-for-21 (line). It had NO treys (12 misses). A late-game highlight was the three-point, four-board performance of soph lefty Tauheed Smith, a defenive tackle (he was listed on the FB roster at 6-6, 380) who perhaps is the largest kid ever to play city basketball. Ridley's leaders were sr. G Steve Egee, who shot 9-for-14 and 8-for-8 for 26 points, and sr. F Dan Robinson (10-for-16, two treys, 24 total points). He had no floor misses in the second half. Some college coaches -- Ivies, some other lower D-Is -- are pursuing Egee, also a standout QB but said to be interested only in hoops for college. What a treat watching this kid! A great blend of talent and SOLID fundamentals. He reminded me a little of ex-Princeton star Brian Earl, the Ivy Player of the Year in '99.

FEB. 29
PIAA STATE PLAYOFFS
Class A – Freire 77, Roseto/Bangor Pius X 57 (check out this story on the Roseto/Bangor controversy -- smile)
Class AAA – Comm. Tech 69, Lancaster Catholic 45
  If you’re looking for a good omen for Philly squads at the start of a doubleheader, played before a respectable crowd at Southern High, a 14-0 rush should do the trick. Freire did the tone-setting and rolled from there against the upstate Royals. As I retreated to the southeast corner of the gym and began writing the Freire story, which focused on sr. PG Antione “Blueberry” Singleton, CT stormed to a 32-8 halftime lead. No muss, no fuss. Both Philly teams looked much more mature – physically, facially, you name it – than their foes and it showed on the court, too. Our guys mostly were bullies. No need for play by play, folks. Six-seven soph strongman Octavious Booker got Freire going with six quick inside points and went on to finish with 18, along with 11 rebounds. In time, 6-5 jr. F Koron Reed also enjoyed himself, thanks to 13 points and 12 boards. Three of Reed’s field goals came on forceful dunks and he experienced lots of fun in a 24-point fourth quarter, collecting nine points, five boards and three steals. Sr. WG Jarrod “G” Denard, to some degree the second coming of Tiny Archibald, went for 21 points while shooting 9-for-14 from the floor. VERY rare is the guy who, in some regards, could be considered a pump, yet still shoots a high percentage. If you make ‘em, no reason not to take ‘em, right? (smile) Blueberry mixed nine points, seven assists and four steals. Perhaps the most important Dragon was jr. WG Ameen Rorie, as he was assigned the duty of covering sr. WG Will Purtill. Purtill entered with a 20-point average and dropped 47 on somebody. Rorie played him in a box-and-one and held him to 10 points (just 2-for-10 from floor). Purtill went without a FG until 2:16 remained in the third quarter and Rorie could not be faulted since it came on a fastbreak. Great job, Ameen! Soph WG Rysheen Dorn added nine points and hit all five of his free throws. CT used fullcourt trapping pressure to seize its game by the throat. Understandably, the Phoenix appeared to be slightly bored/defocused/whatever in the second half and LC did draw within 46-31 with 6:58 left in the fourth quarter. There would be no consternation. CT rolled to 13 of the next 17 points. Sr. F Andrew “Scootie” Randall powered (and crafted) his way to 24 points and 14 rebounds. The lovable big-‘un, sr. Manny Jordan, added six points, seven rebounds, two blocks. The ink went to sr./jr. Chris Jones, who scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half and went 3-for-4 on treys overall. He added three assists. Just in the last nine months or so, Chris has lost an uncle and his father and he underwent some rough moments. As school ended last year, he even briefly nixed basketball and considered dropping out of school. He credits his teammates with getting him refocused and for especially helping him after the passing of his father, William Jones, the day after Christmas. Chris hopes to receive an extra year of eligibility. Jr. PG Antonio “Gee” Monroe had eight points, three assists. His dad, Charles “Shoob” Monroe, an assistant coach at Neumann-Goretti, was sitting nearby and it was fun listening to Amauro playfully bust on Shoob any time Gee made a mistake. “C’mon, Shoob, he’s gotta PASS the ball there! He can’t be doin’ that! Tell him to give it up.” Shoob mostly grumbled back (ha ha). Thanks to Mike Jackson, Southern’s AD, and Rick Howard, of the School District, for helping me to get squared away with wireless access. Even Southern FB player Jonathan Spuriel lent a hand. Not sure why, but Rick’s login and password were the ones that finally worked. Well, it’ll be back to Southern for another double-dip involving Philly squads, Frankford in AAAA and Strawberry Mansion in AA. Can our guys go 2-0 again? Why not? Will I figure out a way to make the gym not look green in the pictures? Probably not. Grrrrr.

FEB. 26
PIAA CLASS A PLAY-IN GAME
Math, Civics & Sciences Charter High School 76, High Point Baptist Academy 74 (OT)
  Phew, that’s probably the longest score line in TS.com history (smile). And the night almost wound up being VERY long for the good, ol’ Mighty Elephants. The first downer was having to go without jr. WG Jose Ortiz, a scoring whiz who has undergone surgery for a knee problem. The second was falling behind by 14 points and getting out-Pubbed by a bunch of, um, complexion-challenged guys from some farming area called Geigertown. The Eagles were not only shooting well, but again and again they were getting out on the break and beating MC&S downcourt. Sr. PG Franklin Harris noted afterward with a laugh that coach Danny Jackson had them perfectly scouted, but that he and his teammates “like to learn the hard way.” Well, they almost learned what the start of an off-season feels like (smile). When the MEs did start paying attention to defense and getting back and doubling the ball with passion, they were able to make up the 14-point deficit in, believe it or not, just under 4 minutes. The third quarter ended at 50-50 and the score after four was 66-66. MC&S could have won it in regulation, but Harris’ right-corner, buzzer-beating trey was a shade off. Harris also missed a shot at the end of OT, but not the VERY end. With 8.2 seconds left, after jr. F Josh Conover had nailed a trey to make it 74-74, Jackson called time and set up the scenario. He told Harris to drive and try to attack the basket. If you can do it, fine, take a layup. If not, kick it out to someone else for a jumper. Harris went straight down the middle and sent a twisting layup off the glass. It missed. But there was still time on the clock and 6-5 soph F-C Andre Thomas was right there on the right block to convert the follow. The MC&S folks – players, coaches, four managers, six cheerleaders, a dozen spectators – went properly nuts and then those that qualified went dashing back to the  locker room. It was a great win! Harris, a transfer from Upper Darby, turned in a wonderful performance. He finished with 24 points, eight assists, two steals and even seven rebounds, and he accounted for 21 of the Elephants' 26 points from the fourth quarter on by scoring 12 and passing for nine more. He did miss both ends of a double-bonus with 26.1 left in OT, setting up Conover’s game-tying trey, but we’ll give him at least a hint of a free pass because he was probably exhausted by then (smile). Jr. WG Zaahir Smith added 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals). Sr. WG Eric “11 Treys” Johnson scored 12 points and jr. WG Khalif Deane (also 10 points) was important because he logged three of his four steals during the roar-back from the 48-34 deficit. Jr. F Chuck Brown had six boards and both of his two assists in the third quarter. Jr. G Tahir Royster had one of each (FG, assist, steal) in that same session, so it truly was a group effort. This contest was played at the Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School, in Shillington. Game time was 7:30. I arrived in the area a shade after 6 and noticed a shopping center a few blocks from the school. But no McDonald’s! What’s with these people?! (ha ha). I did spot a Dairy Queen and drove over that way, just in case. Don’t tell me dinner is gonna have to be two scoops of ice cream. But, no! DQ actually has regular food! Who knew? I opted, of course, for the DQ equivalent of a McDonald’s No. 2 and arrived at the gym completely content. Meanwhile, shortly after the game, Danny Jackson happened to mention that the MEs had given him quite the birthday present with the stirring victory. I knew Danny was young, but not just 22. Legendary. So, if he’s 22 now, that means he was only 20 at the start of the 2006-07 season. I’m guessing that means he holds the city record for youngest varsity head coach. (Feel free to let us know of someone else, if there IS someone else.) In the meantime, congrats Young Head Danny! (One last tidbit: High Point's nine-man roster includes three sets of brothers -- Josh and Jon Conover; Dathan and Jordan Marshall and Kyle and Kurtis Hultz.)

FEB. 25
CATHOLIC LEAGUE FINAL
N. Catholic 51, Ryan 45
  Let’s pretend it’s about 7:45 p.m. We’re going to walk into North’s locker room, in the northwest corner of the hallowed Palestra, and tell coach Mike McCarron some tidbits about his two Division I-bound star seniors, PG Velton Jones (Robert Morris) and WG Lenny Young (Coppin). “Hey Mike, Velton will be hobbling around tonight like a guy with one leg about five inches shorter than the other, and Lenny will score just TWO points.” How many seconds will it take McCarron to faint? Well, those two things DID happen, but the Falcons nevertheless claimed their first title since 1987. Pretty amazing, right? How’d it happen? Despite continuing lower back pain, which necessitated a mid-afternoon visit to a chiropractor (will this guy get a championship ring? – smile), Jones had one of his more impressive performances from the staying-within-himself standpoint while becoming the first player in city history to start for championship squads in each league (also Gratz in '06). Shooting was something of an adventure because of the awkward way he had to jump, so he concentrated, especially in the second half, on just running the offense and funneling the ball to open teammates and he was seemingly involved in every big play. He had notched five of his seven assists after intermission and we’ll get to specifics a little later. Young, blanketed (and even bedspreaded) all night, mostly by sr. WG Eric Jann, took just five shots. He did not connect until 3:46 remained, on a pass from Jones, and he fouled out just 13 seconds later. Who stepped up? The smallest guy on the court, soph Woody Redding. And it wasn’t as if he only had to worry about generating points because the woodster – yes, he’s related to Villanova’s Reggie – also was covering sr. PG Andrew Rogers, the coaches’ Northern Division MVP. Anyway, Redding went 3-for-3 for eight first quarter points and kept ch-chinging points onto the scoreboard throughout. He finished with 21 while shooting 6-for-10 (4-for-6 on treys) and 5-for-8. When Redding picked up his fourth foul, as the fourth quarter opened, Jones sucked it up and began covering Rogers. Also receiving occasional try-to-hound-him duty was soph Jaleel Mack. Rogers finished with 13 points, going 4-for-11 and 5-for-10. He’s ALWAYS the Energizer Bunny, but almost all of his misses were short and one has to think he was exhausted by the end of the night just because so MUCH had been lumped onto his plate. For my money, THE sequence of the game occurred early in the third quarter. On a drive, Jones was horse-collared by jr. G-F Anthony Keiter and an intentional foul was called. Admittedly, I was sitting more than half-the-court away, so the angle wasn’t the greatest, but it did NOT appear that Keiter had malice in his heart. He has never hit me as the play-dirty type. Not at all. The call was made by L.B. Rebstock. If that name sounds familiar, his son, also named L.B., was a starter for Ryan just four years ago. It makes no sense for a guy with recent ties to a school to be assigned to this game. It’s not fair to the game, nor to Rebstock, for that matter. One has to wonder: did he call the intentional foul because he was fearful people would think he was favoring Ryan if he didn't? Anyway, Jones made the second free throw and then buried a right-corner trey on the tacked-on possession, drawing North within 24-22. Jones then executed a steal near midcourt and, during a break in the action that followed, he coaxed the North fans into making more noise by again and again raising his upturned palms. Until recently, the student body and even the alumni had never fully connected with this squad, but this, I felt, was a truly unifying moment. It was if Jones was saying, “Listen, we can really give this school a title, so how about let's ALL of us get there?” Serious luck was next. Jones missed a left-corner shot, soph F Bob Makor could not can the follow and then soph F-C Xavier Harris, merely reaching for the next rebound, somehow batted the ball into the basket. That tied the score at 24-24. Ryan regrouped with a trey from sr. F-C Chris “He’s on Weightlifting!” Wilk (pass from sr. G Mike Colon), but soon North was in front by five, at 33-28, thanks to a pair of nifty passes from Jones – to Mack for a layup and to Redding for a trey. North led the rest of the way. Don’t get us wrong. Not one hint of breathe-easy time was evident until the final minute-plus, and even THEN Ryan kept lurking. The lead went to five (41-36) on Redding’s jumper from just inside the foul line, and then to six on Redding’s free throw, and then to eight with 1:11 showing as Redding grabbed a rebound and zoomed coast to coast before dishing to soph F Josh Stevens for a short flip shot. The Raiders had one last goodie of a gasp. Rogers hit a jumper – his feet were on the arc – to make it 47-40 and then Makor made a sloppy inbound pass right to Wilk, who easily deposited a layup. There would be no late miracles. Jones hit two free throws at 19.6 and Makor did likewise at 13.6 to sandwich a three-point play by Rogers. Kudos to Ryan’s students, who turned out in big-time force. They filled all three lower-deck sections behind the east basket and stretched at least two-thirds of the way up the middle section into the upper deck. Late in the girls’ game, they’d even teamed with Carroll kids to root against O’Hara (smile). And maybe a half-hour after the game, it was nice to see/hear Ryan’s players and coaches receive a large ovation from parents/loved ones as they emerged from the locker room to head home. Ryan truly remains a neighborhood school – the starters hailed from just two parishes (Calvary, St. Chris) – and there’s much to be said for that. Some numbers: Jones had 11 points, seven assists, two steals. Harris mixed seven points, 11 boards. Wilk had the reverse. Ryan jr. WG Rus Slawter, off the bench, shot 4-for-6 en route to nine points. And for North, during the post-game photo madness, good-guy sr. C Shahid Paulhill, bound for Temple for FB, made sure to be in all the photographers' pictures, often front and center, oh, about 1,426 times (smile).

FEB. 25
DISTRICT 12 CLASS AAAA PLAY-IN GAME
(To Determine 4th Seed)
Bartram 70, Roxborough 61 (OT):
  Bartram survived, but not without a major scare. And that major scare almost became an all-time embarrassment. Shortly after the game began, the only question was, how long will it take Bartram to reach 100 points? The Braves were slicin' and dicin' the Indians in truly incredible fashion and the latter had the look of a scared-to-death team that should have been playing somewhere against middle school opposition. Brutal! Bartram's cozy gym can do that to opponents, but it shouldn't happen in a game of this importance. Luckily for all concerned -- yes, even Bartram, which undoubtedly learned some lessons for future reference -- Roxborough regrouped and even seized a three-point lead in the fourth quarter before Bartram regained its balance and managed to force the extra session. Roxborough finished with only one of its normal starters, sr. F Tyrone Carnegay. Sr. PG Chris Anthony was in street clothes. He claimed he had a disagreement with coach Terrell Burnett; "Burn" said Anthony quit when told he'd be yielding to jr. PG Gabe Thomas. Three others -- sr. F Marquis Reaves, sr. F-C Eric Bryan and sr. WG Clayton Brothers (Hartford) -- fouled out late in regulation or in OT. Bartram's leaders, as always, were sr. G-F Novar Gadson (Rider) and soph PG Tyrone Garland. Gadson was killin' early in all facets, but then became a shade defocused, along with the others. He atoned in OT with six points (two dunks included) and two assists. Total stats: 22 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, two steals. Garland hit five treys en route to 22 points. He added five assists. Jr. F Danny Walker claimed 12 rebounds. Brothers did not score until the final seven seconds of the first half, and that came on free throws. He was 0-for-8 beforehand. He finished with 13 points and six assists and nailed some sweet, mid-range jumpers once he got rolling. Bryan (East Stroudsburg) managed to snag 12 boards. Carnegay was the early catalyst with 12 of his 16 points in the first half. Thomas did a nice job thanks to his friskiness. Every PG turns it over in Bartram's gym -- it's the law -- but once he settled in, he went for 14 points and most came on brassy drives through traffic. Soph G Justin Bailey also fared well in a difficult situation. He had two big buckets in the fourth quarter, along with an assist. Sorry I have to cut this report short. I'm at the Palestra and the CL championship doubleheader will begin shortly. Congrats to 'Boro on one of the school's all-time seasons!

FEB. 20
CATHOLIC LEAGUE SEMIFINAL
Ryan 44, Bonner 42
  The only place to truly begin is at the end. While the hope would be for a game not to be decided by a non-shooting foul 45 feet from the basket with eight-10ths of a second remaining, that was not the reality. As sr. PG Andrew Rogers pushed the ball upcourt, he was inadvertently knocked to the floor by Bonner jr. C Lijah Thompson. As Andrew acknowledged afterward, he had not yet begun to load up for a shot. So if the call had not been made, we would have gone to OT. Preferable? Of course. But when a guy definitely gets bumped and even falls to the floor in plain view of everyone, all a ref can do is make the call and then hope that maybe somehow the buzzer failed to sound and there’ll be a way to embark on an extra session. No such luck. For the ref and certainly not for Bonner, which had been stung by another call a shade earlier. Anyway, Rogers stepped to the line and drained both free throws, breaking a 42-42 tie and sending the Raiders to Monday’s title game against . . . well, THAT winner turned out to be North Catholic, so the final will be an all-North affair for the first time since 1970. (There WERE semifinal crossovers back then. League honchos later ditched them out of fear that every final would feature only South teams. They then later reversed their field after some one-sided finals.) Now for the stretch run: Bonner drew within 41-40 with 3:06 showing as sr. WG Rob “Apple” Siter made a leaping steal at midcourt and raced home for a three-pojnt play. Ryan came up dry and then Bonner jr. F Henry Smith, off an offensive rebound, missed a one-and-one at 1:56. Ryan began to hold and used THREE timeouts within 33 seconds – at 1:43, 1:16 and again just six seconds later as sr. F-C Chris Wilk was being pinned against the sideline by a fellow FB star, sr. F Kristian Johnson. Not wanting to risk a turnover there, Ryan coach Bernie Rogers quickly signaled for the TO. At 1:05, sr. WG Eric Jann got a little discombobulated while attempting a cross-over and Thompson managed a steal, putting Bonner in control. There was a timeout at 42.7 and soon, there was Siter, making a move along the near right baseline. And there was Jann, redeeming himself in ginormous fashion by using textbook techniques, including what was likely an exaggerated fallback (smile) to make sure the ref made the call in his favor. Rogers was immediately fouled and hit only the front end of a one-and-one. Thompson rebounded and Bonner called a 30-second TO at 15.6. The ensuing possession featured a missed jumper by soph PG Jamal Melvin from a shade past the foul line. Siter then hustled for two follows and the second one connected to tie the score with 6 seconds showing. Out of timeouts, Ryan had to push it and hope. With the foul call, its prayers were answered in big-time fashion. Overall? Well, for folks who always root for the little guy in sports, this was an all-time occasion. The 5-8 Rogers and 5-6 Melvin – OK, maybe they’re 5-9 and 5-7, but that’s doubtful – put on wonderful hows. They scored 22 and 18 points, respectively. Rogers shot 7-for-7 (two treys) and 6-for-8 while adding two assists and a steal. Melvin was 7-for-10 and 4-for-4 on treys. He had three assists, two steals. Wonderful job, guys! Melvin slapped together a stretch where he was responsible for 18 consecutive points by either scoring or assisting. And Rogers scored all 12 of Ryan’s fourth quarter points after somehow going almost 2 ½ quarters without attempting a shot! Bonner deserves major props for scrambling back into contention after seeing Ryan bolt to an 18-5 bulge in the first 10 minutes, 15 seconds. Melvin’s trey started the comeback, as well as his 18-point flurry. Sr. F Tom Marshall was Ryan’s next-high scorer with six points. Jann, with four, was the rebound leader. Ryan did a great job of smothering Thompson (seven points, six rebounds), so Siter’s 13-point outing was not only appreciated, but necessary, especially considering the scoreless woes experienced by  Smith. Both schools had good rooting juice. Always great to see. Thanks once again to our DN/website crew. Huck and Frog helped me at the Palestra while Amauro and Duck handled matters at Drexel for the Pub semis, with the stories being done by colleague Bob Cooney and Temple intern Chris Banks, former FB at Northeast HS and website writer during his days there (and at Judge beforehand).

FEB. 20
PUBLIC LEAGUE CLASS AAAA PLAY-IN
Roxborough 54, Lincoln 51
   This was a good contest to see for one specific reason. There was only Division I signee in the game, Roxborough sr. WG Clayton Brothers, and it was interesting to watch his approach during two specific sectors. First, he was the classic good teammate through the first three quarters, making a series of smart basketball plays while also making sure to blend. Then, in the fourth quarter, and particularly down the stretch, he did what star players are supposed to do -- grab the game by the throat. Brothers scored 10 of his 22 points in the final eight minutes and did so without being greedy. Even better, he converted a one-and-one with 9.0 left to hand the Indians a 54-51 lead. On its final possession, looking to force OT, Lincoln opted for a hard drive by jr. PG Maurice Robinson and a kickout to sr. WG Dorrell Harrington for a trey. However, the ball was slapped loose in traffic and the buzzer sounded during a mad scramble, thus ending the career of Lincoln's competent, good-guy coach, Steve Gittleman. Roxborough will now travel to Bartram on Friday afternoon, weather permitting, to decide which teams gets the No. 4 seed for the state tourney. 'Boro pulled something of a Houdini act in this one, as it trailed by 48-40 with 6:11 left. Not a gigantic deficit and there was a decent amount of time remaining, but this rally had to be accomplished on the road. A quick sequence helped immeasurably, both from the actualy and spiritual standpoints. It happened with just over a minute remaining as sr. PF Eric Bryan, who has committed to East Stroudsburg, grabbed a loose ball and flipped in a layup. The Injuns then double for a quick steal and when the first shot was missed, sr. F Marquis Reaves was there to convert the follow. Just like that Roxborough was within 51-50 and the Railsplitters were reeling. Down the stretch, different Lincoln guys air-balled a free throw and blew an easy layup that followed a nifty behind-the-back pass. Quite a deflating sequence. Brothers finished with seven rebounds and two assists in addition to his points. Bryan was a terror in the first half, with 14 points and eight boards. He received virtually on entry passes thereafter, but did hit his only two shots while adding five more rebounds. Reaves claimed 12 caroms. Sr. PG Chris Anthony added three assists, two steals. Lincoln's best were Robinson (five assists, two steals along with 11 points) and workhorse sr. F Daniel "Space" Randall (15 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks). He had 14 of his points prior to intermission. Harrington struggled shooting-wise en route to 11 points. He hit only two of his first 13 shots, but did drain a trey and hustle for a layup in the waning moments of the third quarter, making it 42-37. Sr. G Markief Azuakoemu followed with a flip shot off a steal and Lincoln was in business at 44-37. As you already know, those good vibrations disappeared by the final buzzer. I'm writing this report from press row at the Palestra. The CL semis will begin in about 90 minutes. Should be fun. One problem: Puck has already arrived and he's babbling like crazy. Then again, when isn't he?

FEB. 17
PUBLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINALS
Frankford 82, Freire 73
Straw. Mansion 82, Imhotep 78 (OT)
Southern 76, Gratz 60
  What a great day of basketball! You’re never quite sure what will happen when you take kids out of their comfort zone, and starting games at such times as 10 a.m. and noon on a Sunday certainly qualifies. However, the players got after it and there were some wonderful performances and except for some foul language out of a small segment of fans -- PL basketball chairman Charles Sumter moved quickly to address it – there wasn’t a hint of a problem. Let’s root for  repeats Wednesday at Drexel for the semis and Sunday at Temple for the final! I’m writing this report Monday (day after) and there’s still much to do even though no games will be played today, so this combined report will not get into play-by-play and will focus more on player outings. Thanks for understanding. The performance of the day was posted, in defeat, by Freire sr. WG Jarrod Denard. The lefty WG, with a PG’s fluidity, was killin’ throughout. He poured in 41 points against a variety of defenders and needed just 26 shots from the floor. He made 17 and five were treys! He can go hard (all the way to the hoop), he can go medium (to pull up for mid-range Js) and he can not go at all (catch and shoot, with maybe one dribble mixed in). It’s expected he’ll need to hit the JC circuit, but assuming he receives the proper nurturing, he’ll be lighting up the D-I level someday. Frankford received a workmanlike outing (18 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks) from sr. WG-SF Malik Tinsley, a taller, righthanded version of Denard. He, too, should have loads of D-I fun after a JC stop. The headliner, though, was soph CG Dehaven Brown (26 points, five assists). A few people said of Brown, “He doesn’t even know what he’s doing out there.” As in, he’s oblivious to pressure and unaware he’s performing such impressive feats. He had almost no trouble getting around defenders and finished with concentration, too. Freire killed itself with 25 turnovers, many of the unforced (or barely forced) variety. In Mansion-Imhotep, the desire for the Knights was to win for jr. G Marcus “Worm” Johnson, the brother of former headliner Matthew “Moo-Moo” Johnson. (I hope more brothers with cool nicknames will be arriving soon – smile.) Worm broke a leg Saturday during a pickup game in Mansion’s gym. We noticed of course that he wasn’t playing, but did not know the reason until afterward. After the Knights won this classic OT battle, they gathered at midcourt to hold aloft his No. 12 jersey and chant, “Worm! … Worm! . . . Worm!” Johnson had an operation to repair his tibia with a rod and pins. Best of luck, Worm! Sr. WG-SF Dwayne Davis (Morehead) led the Knights with 26 points, but his outing was quite uneven (8-25 floor). At least he showed the composure to shake off a wicked first half and rally his squad to victory. Sr. C Devon White added 13 points and 13 boards and, somehow, like almost always, never got an entry pass (smile). Sr. wing man Eddie Frazier, the most underrated guy in show business (basketball version), went for 18 points and nine boards. Also major props to jr. G Isaac Bradford, who filled in for Johnson as a starter and hit five of six shots for 10 points. Jr. PG Darren “DL” Lawrence mixed nine apiece of points and boards and helped limit Mansion’s turnover total to 15. Imhotep’s best was sr. PF Rashad Savage, with 25 points and 15 rebounds. Last year at Neumann-Goretti, passes to Savage were only a rumor. It’s amazing to see how capable he is in traffic, especially since he’s equally comfortable with both hands. Also, no one’s tougher. The other performance of note was Kenny Battle’s. The jr. WG has “battled” (what other verb would we use, right? – smile) through some ineffective outings this year, but here he mostly made his shots for 14 points. Hopefully, he’ll be able to shake off a missed one-and-one late in regulation that created a need for OT, especially since he drained a right-win trey shortly beforehand to create a tie at 69-69. In the extra session, White provided a great start by sending the tap to Davis for what became a three-point play. The Knights went ahead for good, at 75-73, on Frazier’s tap-in with 2:22 left. Young bucks paced Southern’s surprisingly easy win. DN ink went to PG Deshon Minnis, who is related to every good player in school history. OK, we exaggerate, but not by much. He has the cut-your-heart-out brass of every South Philly guy, plus he’s smooth and sensible. He had 10 points and six assists. F Jamir Hanner went for 23 points and 17 rebounds and a jr., Parkway transfer Furnell Doster, (with that first name, switching to Furness would have been a better conversation-piece fit, right?), had 13 points and seven boards. The other starters are the Reeses Pieces twins, 5-10 sr. G Anthony “Crip” (14 points, nine boards, great dunk) and 6-5 F Antoine (nine, six). Gratz’ leader (no surprise) was sr. PG Charles White (Hartford). Though he still appeared to be dealing with a sports hernia issue, he went for 25 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Others had occasional moments, but this Gratz squad has composure/competitive-fire issues and that’s a BIG-time rarity for the Bulldogs. Southern had a large fan turnout. Gratz did not. Very strange. OK, on to other duties . . .

FEB. 16
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
N. Catholic 56, La Salle 42
  Well, somebody had to avoid an upset, right? Three high seeds bit the playoff dust – one in this gym (Dougherty) and two at O’Hara in South action (Neumann-Goretti, Roman). What kept the Falcons from joining them? Mostly a feisty mindset at the start and solid play down the stretch after La Salle created more than a little consternation. North was incredibly aggressive as the game began. Soph G Woody Redding and sr. C Shahid Paulhill (bound for Temple for FB), among others, played the hell out of defense. It wasn’t so much that the Falcons were creating turnovers. What they did was prevent La Salle from experiencing even a hint of comfort. It would have been impossible for that level of intensity to be sustained, even with the deep rotation favored by coach Mike McCarron, and, let’s face it, La Salle’s roster is not exactly populated with stiffs. With Paulhill off the floor, the Explorers were able to make some inside inroads with 6-7 sr. F-C Matt Crozier and 6-9 soph C.J. Aiken. The momentum carried into the early portion of the fourth quarter. Aiken converted a one-and-one to draw La Salle within 43-38 with 4:39 left. Next, Aiken wolfed down a dunk on a pass from sr. PG Frank Pierson. Further nibbling was possible, but Crozier missed a one-and-one and perhaps North’s top hero of the day, soph F Bob “I Love Doing the Little Things” Makor was fouled while snagging the rebound and sank both ends of a one-and-one at the other end. Makor finished 11 points, eight rebounds and four steals. A few times in the fourth quarter (maybe as many as four, actually), he scrambled to post rebounds after teammates missed free throws. They were seriously clutch plays. La Salle’s chances vanished after a three-miss sequence that included two treys and then a follow. Then, with 1:22 left, as Redding was getting “reddy” to shot the second of two free throws, a few fans stood up behind La Salle’s bench to alert the coaches to the fact that six Explorers were on the floor. The boo-boo would have likely been discovered before someone could have eased their way off the floor, but ref Dan Kiss noticed the commotion from across the way and, tweet!, called a tech. Redding hit both Ts and folks began to at least stand up and get ready to leave, if not actually depart. Sr. WG Lenny Young (Coppin) had 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Sr. PG Velton Jones had just two FGs (and none until the fourth quarter), but he was BIG difference-maker with 10 boards, seven assists and his usual I'll-cut-your-heart-out approach. Soph handyman Jaleel Mack scored an opportunistic nine points by shooting 4-for-6. Crozier had 11 points and nine boards. Frosh F Jaylen Bond grabbed six boards. Soph PG Troy Hockaday had a Mack kind of day, in terms of opportunistic scoring (5-for-9, 10 points). While driving home, I was trading cell phone calls with Huck, who handled the two games at O’Hara. He was wondering how common it was for a 14-0 team (Roman) to get dumped by a team that had to win a fourth-place playoff just to get into the regular part of the playoffs. Since I’m a fossil, I know that stuff (smile) and here's a legendary occurrence: In 1981, St. James won a fourth place playoff and then shocked 14-0 Roman. It was the first time in his 14 Roman seasons that Speedy had posted a perfect regular season record. That wound up being his final game as Roman’s coach (he was fired about four months later for ridiculous reasons that never WERE fully explained). Of course, he’s now the coach at St. Joseph’s Prep. Being on this side of that kind of upset is a lot more enjoyable, he’d certainly tell you. So now the matchups are set for Wednesday’s semis at the Palestra: Bonner-Ryan at 7, Prep-North at approximately 8:45. Seems strange to not see Roman's and/or N-G’s name(s) in there somewhere, right? (Best of luck to the La Salle kid who sat maybe 5 feet away from me. He set a world record for coughs in a 90-minute period. Two-hundred? Three-hundred? More? I gave him a mint and then later a Hall's with the hope that something would help. No luck.)

FEB. 16
CATHOLIC LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL
Ryan 72, Dougherty 46
   Ryan was forced to wear its road uniforms and even switch benches to the opposite end, but if there's ever going to be an argument against a playoff system that allows the quarterfinals to be played in school gyms, you're going to hear it now. Ryan not only won this game in the comfort of Raiderville, it pretty much coasted after storming to a 10-2 start in the first 2 minutes, 43 seconds. Ryan had not beaten Dougherty since posting a sweep in coach Bernie Rogers' first season, 2000-01, Not sure whether Ryan's players knew that, but it's a good guess coach Rogers was aware of that fact, seeing as how he has been around all that time, and he no doubt is breathing a sigh of relief that might be big enough to get tagged with a name by the National Hurricane Center. Also, as Bill Jann, father of Ryan sr. WG Eric Jann just reminded me when he ducked into the trainer's room to say hello (I'm writing this report between games of the doubleheader), Rogers today became Ryan's all-time winningest coach. Congrats, Bernie! To nail down why this happened, look no further than that exact same family. Bernie's brother, Andrew, a sr. PG and the coaches' MVP of the North, was a certifiable whirlwind. Often, the Raiders spread the floor and he went straight down the middle to either flip home a layup or dish to teammates for short jumpers. A perfect example came with a shade over three minutes remaining in the third quarter. Dougherty, thanks mostly to soph WG Zaahir Allen, was finally showing zest (and a better competence level) and the deficit was down to 14, at 42-28. All Rogers did was drive for a three-point play and nudge the pad back to 17. No real need for play-by-play details, troops. Rogers finished with 21 points, five assists and three steals. Sr. F-C Chris Wilk, of football fame (bound for Albany) added 15 points and enforcer qualities. Jr. SF Anthony Keiter shot 6-for-7 for 12 points. With Rogers leading the way, Ryan took great care of the ball. The Raiders did not commit their second turnover until 5:30 was left in the second quarter and their fourth didn't come until an instant before halftime. Plus, they shot great and, as always, were the poster childen for teamwork. Only Allen (11) scored in double figures for Dougherty, though sr. WG Isiah Mason, jr. PG Jahkeem Bogans (nine apiece) and sr. F-C Brandon Savage (eight) came close. The Cardinals shot just 3-for-17 in a 35-16 first half and committed nine turnovers. Dougherty's fans were sitting behind us (Frog was the statman helper today) and came out with some funny lines. Most can't be printed (smile). Honestly, I was surprised no school administrators told them to knock off steroid references directed at one of the Raiders. General cube-busting is to be expected and school folks are sometimes TOO overzealous in shutting it down. But to accuse someone of doing something illegal, again and again at reasonably high volume, is over the top. (I will add this: at least one of the "Dougherty kids" is actually now a college student. Not sure WHAT the rules are in that case.) Way before the teams came out, a Dougherty soph named Mike Dowling put on a serious shooting exhibition. He hit five shots in a row from out of bounds! Maybe he's a JV player and we'll see him next year? FB star Sean Kidd went out to join him and swished a few, too. From normal range.

FEB. 10
LET'S CALL A TIMEOUT
 . . . (OK, now the timeout is over)
  Had to cross-check with Episcopal coach Dan Dougherty, as there was some confusion over the Churchmen's scoring. Philly.com had sr. PG Dan Hilferty with just two points, but I thought he hit the game's last basket and Doc confirmed that. EA's scoreboard number went from 39 to 42, so we're calling it a trey! That means CHA soph Pat Connaghan had the last "two" on a hard drive along the right baseline.

FEB. 9
INTER-AC LEAGUE FINALES
Chestnut Hill 51, Episcopal 42
Gtn. Academy 62, Penn Charter 50
  As you probably know, Episcopal is relocating to Newtown Square next school year and Saint Joseph's University is taking over the school's Merion campus. I probably would have attended this game from the last-tilt standpoint alone. There were two other reasons: This may have been the final game for EA's legendary, height-of-class coach, Dan Dougherty (I hope he stays around; Dan, do NOT leave as the next two-three years could be lots of fun -- smile), and CHA had a chance to clinch at least a title tie. CHA-EA started at 6 and PC-GA was not until 7:30. The game were similar, as the underdog caused the favorite some to much consternation. CHA did not start to gain control until late in the third quarter and GA was uncertain of its fate into the fourth. An unlikely guy pushed the Blue Devils in the right direction. The spread was almost two-three points until jr. WG Ryan Duffy took a pass from jr. PG Mike Rhoads and swished a right-wing trey 1:52 before the end of the third quarter. It was his only shot of the game and it made the score 32-26. Next, jr. F Gary Lawrence (15 points, 11 rebounds) scored in transition on a pass from Rhoads (10, five assists) and CHA's guys were noticeably looser. In the fourth quarter, they did an excellent job out of a four-corners offense and eased home from there. Check this out: in the second quarter, jr. G Kevin Maguire had converted a trey on HIS only shot of the game. Nothing like getting six points from unexpected sources on the minimum number of attempts. Sr. G-F Mike Mattei and soph F Pat Connaghan added 10 and eight points, respectively. In the second half, soph handyman Todd Cramer was responsible for holding O'Neill (foul trouble, lingering effects of flu) to five points (of 18 total). The springy O'Neill, who looked good early, went 0-for-2 in the third quarter and his five came in the final 1:25 of the fourth with the issue already decided. He totaled five rebounds. Soph WGs Omari Grier and Cory Goodman added 11 and eight points. EA's own handyman, sr. Matt Byrne, did not score (0-for-2), but hustled for six boards and three steals. For a road game on a Saturday night, CHA had a respectable turnout of kids and adults. In fact, I'd bet about two-thirds of the people in the gym had Blue Devil leanings. I was surprised and disappointed that more EA folks were not in attendance. The school must not have bothered with any come-to-the-last-game announcements. The school has a great hoops tradition under Doc. Never would have known it tonight. Oh, well. CHA's guys did not exactly go overboard with emotion. In fact, their outpouring was more like an out-trickle. The only possible explanation has to be this: that they lost to GA in both regular season meetings . . . The trip from EA to GA went smoothly and I arrived in the final moments of the second quarter. PC was ahead by four. Hmmmm. The gym was close to packed and even PC had a decent amount of students for this fray against its fierce rival. It's weird to start keeping a scorebook at halftime. Starting off, I had to break the habit of writing down stats in the first quarter (smile). One stat sticks out for the second half: GA went 17-for-19 at the line while PC was 1-for-3. Here's a strong guess that PC coach Flipper Phillips mentioned the disparity at least once (a minute?) to the refs, especially since it was constant throughout the final 16 minutes (GA had nine attempts in the third and 10 in the fourth.) The Patriots received spirited play from everyone after intermission, but soph Cameron Ayers was probably the ringleader with 10 of his 16 points and five rebounds. Just as a lesser light got CHA going, jr. F Dean Melchionni did so for GA. Just a short while ago, Melchionni was barely playing. But tonight, after a follow by jr. F-C Jeff Holton made it 41-41, Melchionni took a pass from Ayers and drained a right-corner trey for 44-41 math. GA went on to post eight of the next 10 points. The defensive stalwarts were sr. F Timmy-Tim McCarty and jr. Jack McDonnell. They took turns holding soph F Travis Robinson to three second half points on 1-for-7 shooting. After the game ended, the Patriots convened in a small area off one corner of the gym. Coach Jim Fenerty said he'd give access in just a quick minute and I told him, "It's OK, Jim. No hurry. I'm just going to take some pictures." Jim spoke briefly to his squad and then . . . whoa! These guys were excited! (smile). They surged toward the doorway and I wound up taking three celebration pics. Timmy-Tim and sr. PG Joe Hill were the most excited. The best goofy expression award goes to Melchionni (No. 13) in the final pic. This is title No. 11 for Fenerty (seven outright). CHA's Bill Dooley is in his first year (though he once was the head coach at the University of Richmond) and he's the first "rookie" to win an Inter-Ac title since PC's Dave "Lefty" Ervin shared one in '88. He'd previously been the head coach at La Salle College. Wonder if that shared experience says something?

FEB. 8
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
La Salle 59, Conwell-Egan 42
  Shoutout No. 1 goes to Al Gore, inventor of the Internet. Next in line for thanks and praise are the persons who dreamed up wireless access and specifically the one who installed it at La Salle. The Explorers are still starting their Friday home games at the Stone Age time of 8 o’clock and our deadline for stories is a ridiculous 10:30. There would have been no way to rush back to the office and finish the story in time. I called Chris Carabello, La Salle’s information director (and, it turns out, the new PA man at the basketball games) this morning and he insured me that the school’s wireless system is good and easily accessible. Correctamundo! Thanks, Chris. This was a fun time! La Salle’s kids took up one entire section of stands, plus a little more, and almost every kid was wearing blue or gold or both. About 15 were shirtless with those colors painted on their chests and when they came into the gym, they were led by junior Steve Stanton, who was playing a bagpipe and wearing a kilt. Some kind of rap/hip-hop song was pounding through the sound system when all of a sudden it stopped in favor of Steve’s in-person effort as he walked across the baseline. Classic stuff! Undoubtedly a first in Catholic League history! (ha ha ha) But first . . . We take you back to the pregame. The last time I visited La Salle, coach Joe Dempsey had asked me to hold off on taking the Team Pic because some important youngsters were still playing JV. This time the JV game was a serious blowout and the varsity/JV guys were sent upstairs early to prepare for the varsity contest. Assistant Bernie Fitzgerald said he’d ask Joe whether it was OK to take the pic. Permission was granted, we gathered in the wrestling room and finally got it done after waiting for sr. PG Frank Pierson to, ahem, complete a bathroom visit that, rumor had it, lightened his load (smile). As I was leaving the room, I passed a door and heard a tap on the glass part of it. It was one of the painted guys. He gave me a hand gesture that said, “Yo, look at us. Can we get a pic?” Of course. The kids hustled into the room and we took their pic, too, as the basketball players, by now running around and doing some informal drills, looked on in amusement. I noticed Stanton was holding something, but the bagpipe thing didn’t really register. Anyway, congratulations to all members of The 6th Man section for their intense support. What a memorable occasion. The game? Well, spurred by the fans, La Salle roared to an 11-0 start, with the capper a steal and layup by Pierson. Frankie also had two early assists and another steal and did exactly what a PG is supposed to do early in a big game – make sure things go right. Ink could have gone to several deserving candidates, but Pierson stood out for that early rush and for how he got the Explorers rolling again in the third quarter after the second was quite the dud. He had seven points, four assists, three thefts. Sr. F-C Matt Crozier, who played for C-E as a soph, packed 12 of his 14 points and all seven of his boards into the second half. He and 6-9 soph C.J. Aiken (17 points, nine boards) had several impressive high-low exchanges as the Explorers took advantage of the height differential. Late, 6-5 frosh Jaylen Bond wolfed down a dunk on a break and jr. Brendan Duffy drew major cheers just for checking into the game. After the students had begged Dempsey to put him in. Sr. B.J. Fitzgerald, Bernie’s son, had an assist. Then, so did Bernie as he allowed Pierson to be interviewed within seconds of the final buzzer. (I pressed the button to file the story at 10:18. By this point, a crew of guys was hustling like crazy to set up the gym for the CL wrestling championships. They were finished a shade before 11. Great work, guys!) For Egan, sr. F-C Hayk Gyokchyan totaled 11 points, 10 rebounds and six blocks. Baseball coach Rich Papirio was in attendance and we were discussing “Hike” beforehand. He has him in class and confirmed what a great kid he is. Rich said Hayk is Armenian by birth, but grew up mostly in Lebanon. Rich says the last name is pronounced gee-oak-shun. (pretend the “gee” is like French people say the first name “Guy” – not “gee” as is gee whiz; phew, this ain’t easy.). Sr. CG Rashad Little (also three steals) hit two treys en route to 14 points. Jr. swingman Jonas Skovdal saved seven of his nine markers for the fourth quarter. The highlight was a drive along the left baseline that started off in normal fashion. Then, holy Christmas!, he was up at rim level, ramming one home. Quite a sight! Even the La Salle kids liked that one. One last note: I’m not sure what pushed this guy over the edge, but an adult C-E fan, perched in the top row and taping the game, flashed THE finger to the La Salle kids from across the way. Not good. They responded by chanting, “Your kid hates you! Your kid hates you!”

FEB. 8
PUBLIC LEAGUE
CLASS AA PLAY-IN
Bodine 56, Parkway 51
  The game itself was decent. The gym was VERY cool. One of Parkway's campuses is in upper Mt. Airy, right below the beginning of Chestnut Hill, and way back it housed Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. The building looks like a barn and there's a balcony surrounding three-fourths of the court. At the other fourth there's a stage, much like Roman, and that was where I sat to keep stats and take pictures. A decent crowd was on hand, but the noise level never reached outrageous proportions. Anyway, it was still a good experience. DN ink went to jr. F Tarran Prince, a reasonably athletic kid (and transfer from World Communications) who does a little of everything. He totaled 14 points and nine boards and was at his best in the first 95 seconds of the fourth quarter. He poured in seven quick points by beating jr. C Terrell McClure on drives to the hole. McClure is a widebody and just couldn't stay with him and the Ambassadors intentionally exploited the mismatch. Later, they again tried to give creative opportunities to other guys who were being covered by lesser defenders. They got fouled and hit most of the free throws. Though there were some fastbreaks, this was mostly a halfcourt game. The teams ran plays and actually realized that X and O are two letters in the alphabet (smile) . . . OK, I can hold back no longer. As much as possible, I try to say only nice things about kids. But one guy who played today deserves a serious scolding and that guy is McClure. With just 9.7 seconds remaining in the first quarter, he incurred his second personal and went to the bench. The VERY end of it. There was a good 5 feet between him and the nearest Hoya and there he stayed until haltime. Planted! He did not stand up during timeouts to listen to strategy, did not encourage his teammates one iota, etc. Just SAT there! At halftime, a woman, who appeared to have a purpose, came walking across the court and talked to him. Maybe his mom? Hopefully, she was telling him how unacceptable his actions had been. Here's the kicker: With McClure off the floor, Parkway enjoyed a 15-5 second quarter to get back in the game. The Hoyas were aggressive and effective. McClure does have a place on this team. When he gets into the lane, quickly plants and cleanly accepts a well-timed entry pass, there's little a defender can do to stop him. OK, end of sermon. I do hope Terrell and his teammates (and even his coaches) understand why I thought it was important to note all of this. If a college coach recruiting him had been in attendance, the guy would have left the gym in rapid fashion . . . The other productive Ambassador (this wasn't a statsfest) was jr. CG Pendarvis Williams. This stringbeany kid went 3-for-5 on treys en route to 15 points while adding three steals. He also hit all four of his fourth quarter free throws. Jr. Nick Neal, a chunky G with attitude, made several important plays down the stretch. Sr. F Wayne Wilson, back in the fold after a "mini-vacation," had six points, two assists. Parkway's best were sr. PG Kenny Bagwell, an unorthodox lefty (is there any other kind? -- smile) with savvy and the heart to play dogged defense, and sr. WG-SF Rodsewell Wells, another lefty. Wells had 16 points and 12 boards, some of which came off his own misses. He just couldn't quite finish some of his hard penetrations. Sr. Ranier Davis, a backup PG, wowed the crowd with several LIGHTNING fast cross-overs. Phew! The Parkway guys had been asking/bugging/pleading all year for some exposure. Though the day did not result in a victory, I was glad to finally attach faces to some of the e-mail names. One downer: Wells took too long in the locker room and was not present for the Team Photo. Oh, Wells . . . (P.S. -- I'm writing this in the auditorium at La Salle High. I'll be covering La Salle/Conwell-Egan later. There's a ceiling fan overhead that's driving me nuts. Click, click, click, click, click . . . Grrrrrrrrr.)

FEB. 6
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Chestnut Hill 48, Penn Charter 46
  Overtime would not have been bad, but the end of regulation was cool enough. And it almost was VERY cool. Let's get to it. After being mostly muzzled all game by soph SF Pat Connaghan, soph SF-WG Travis Robinson converted a spin move along the right baseline to draw PC within 46-44 with 21.8 showing. With CHA jr. F-C Gary Lawrence ready to shoot a one-and-one at 21.0, CHA coach Bill Dooley called timeout to discuss assorted late-game matters. This isn't a second guess because I felt it at the time: Lawrence is not THAT reliable a shooter and I would have avoided "icing" him. Anyway, he did miss and sr. F-C Chris Kurz rebounded for PC (though he was so concerned about boxing out, he almost neglected to grab the ball -- smile). As Connaghan explained afterward, CH's intention was disrupt PC's possession by committing fouls (it had two to give). So, Pat ran out to double soph PG Dylan Moody when Moody made good penetration. One problem: Moody hit Robinson for an easy layup and the score was tied at 46-46 as CHA called time at 8.9. For CHA, jr. PG Mike Rhoads drove hard along the left side of the lane as time dwindled. THREE guys were around him -- Moody on the floor and two more in the air -- as Rhoads left his feet. My camera has a lag time of several seconds for the flash, so I wasn't sure. Take this pic or not? It appeared Rhoads would flip the ball off the glass. Click! But noooooo. Instead, Rhoads dumped the rock to Connaghan, standing alone toward the right side of the lane. Unsure how much time he'd have, Connaghan kinda caught and released the ball in one motion. Up and good!!! The clock read 2.1 or 2.0. Somehow, PC got off a last shot from midcourt that connected!! Doing the honors was jr. WG Mark Rhine. Of course, it would have been a game-winning trey. The refs ruled that the shot was an instant late. But even CHA kids, including Connaghan, said afterward, "It was close." Starting off with so much play-by-play is uncommon here on the site, by any of us, but it seemed justified in this case. DN ink went to Connaghan, who had six of his 13 points in the fourth quarter. He also had two assists, steals and blocks and, even better, did a great job on Robinson. Pretty sure he took two charges and Robinson wound up attempting just nine shots. (He had some strange moments early -- failing to catch a pass with no one around, dribbling off his foot, etc -- and was yanked for a stretch.) To his 10 points he added only one board and two steals. CHA rolled to a 15-10 lead and then, in an oddity, scored only on treys in the second quarter (sr. G-F Mike Mattei had two of the three) while going 0-for-5 at the line. Mattei finished with 13 points, five rebounds. Lawrence added 10 and seven. Soph G-F Todd Cramer had eight points and important little-things contributions. Aside from his great vision on the Devils' last possession, Rhoads impressed with six total assists and three steals. The starters had to perform even more than usual because sr. Mike Lonergan was unavailable (school matter). Kurz claimed 14 rebounds in a nice overall effort. The frisky Rhine is one of those buzz-around guys that would help your team stay on the court all day at the playground. You watch him and think he can't be THAT productive, but then he is. I have no idea whether he plays soccer, but he reminds me of someone who does because of his darting ways and quick feet. He also shows good team-oriented enthusiasm. He scored 21 points while shooting 8-for-14 (one trey) and 4-for-4. He also had four boards. This might be a telling stat for the Quakers: On 19 FGs, they had just three assists. Two playing dates remain in the I-A. Believe it or not, a FIVE-way tie for the title is possible. Could you imagine?

FEB. 4
NON-LEAGUE
Bok 66, Bodine 60
  Thank goodness for the occasional Monday afternoon game. It gives us a chance to see teams and/or players that need to be seen. One word after seeing Bok sr. WG Chris Parks: Whoa! The kid is a player! He goes about 6-foot, maybe 6-1, and is lefthanded and, man, does he ever get to the basket. In this one he mostly operated on the baseline or near wings and, despite numerous defensive wrinkles, including a box and one, Bodine was mostly powerless to keep him from doing what he wanted to do. He has the much coveted lightning quick first step and he's somehow able to keep possession through heavy traffic. Honestly, there were not many jumpers and his free-throw style is a little shaky -- the ball spun out of his hands partially sideways. But that can be worked on. Chris was described by coach Lloyd Jenkins and others at Bok -- football coach Tom DeFelice and AD Roscoe Natale -- as a great kid who's quiet and never causes an ounce of trouble. Plus, he already owns a qualifying SAT score. A number of D-3 schools are pursuing him and Jenkins said D-2 Cheyney is also making a bid. Parks poured in 29 points, going 13-for-20 from the floor and 3-for-6 at the line. To some degree, he stirs memories of former U. City all-timer Rasheed Brokenborough, who had a great career at Temple. Other productive Wildcats included sr. CG Tyshaun Harper and two frontcourt guys, sr. Khaleem Williams and jr. Tremell Green. Harper, a classic jump-shooter with serious lift, especially for a little guy, went 4-for-5 on threeballs and finished with 20 total points. He added three assists and eight rebounds. Williams, a DE in FB, was content to do rebound and do little things. He managed eight boards, two blocks. Green had a frustrating afternoon shooting-wise and even got yanked for a spell when he let frustration get the best of him. He, too, had a good overall feel, witness his eight rebounds and five assists. Jr. G Hassan Jones had eight points. Bodine had to go without star jr. WG Lamar Gary (illness). It would have been interesting to see him match skills (and desire) with Parks. The Ambassadors' productive lefty is jr. PG Donte Greene. He also gets to the rack with regularity while also mixing in jumpers. He had 20 points and two assists. Jr. SF Tarran Prince was victimized by some in-and-out shots en route to 11 points. He also had six boards and two apiece of assists, steals. Sr. PF-C John Hughes had to miss major minutes with foul trouble, which eventually sent him to the bench with 2:43 left. He managed eight points, the same number of boards and half that number of steals. Jr. CG Pendarvis Williams has interesting possibilities. He's long and lean -- his build is similar to that of Germantown Academy's Cameron Ayers -- and he showed a high hoops IQ. He spent part of the game at the point. Total numbers: seven points (on just four shots), seven boards, five assists, three blocks. Bodine was able to hang around deep into the game mostly because jr. Nick Neal, who's only 6-foot but built like a power forward, packed all 10 of his points into the fourth quarter. Jones' trey on a pass from Harper made it 59-56. Williams drove for a Bodine bucket, but Parks got out on the break and went for a hard two and the Wildcats mostly made free throws from there.

FEB. 3
SUPER BOWL TIDBIT
  I wrote the Ryan-Judge report as the second half of the Super Bowl unfolded. I had no real rooting interest since neither team included city products. But then, in the fourth quarter, there was a timeout and I happened to look up just in time to see the camera showing the Giants' sideline. Hey, it's Charles Way!!! Let's go, Giants!!! Charles, a former RB-LB star at Northeast (class of '90) and Virginia, played for the Giants for five years and then retired due to knee trouble. If I remember correctly, his first post-playing job with the team was to help guys make the transition to life after FB. Now he's the director of player development (might be the same job?) Very cool! Charles grew up near 28th and Allegheny. I'll have to dig into the database and post a story from his high school career . . .

FEB. 3
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Ryan 49, Judge 45
  More than one person kiddingly noted, "You should write about the JV game today." Ryan won it, 58-57, in many OTs. How many? Well, Wood FB coach Steve Devlin, a Ryan grad (hard to cut the ol' ties -- smile) insisted there was one before I arrived and I KNOW there were four after that, so . . . But Ryan's JV coaches said there'd only been four total. Who knows? Whatever it was, it was legendary. That contest was followed by a lightning-quick Senior Day ceremony and then a 15-minute warmup period and tipoff took place at 3:01, 31 minutes after the scheduled starting time. Little by little, the varsity game sufficiently filled the entertainment bill. In past reports, I've made occasional mention of games where one team leads and leads and leads and then the other team catches up and catches up and catches up and then pulls out a miracle win at the end. Nah, that didn't happen here. Judge did keep fighting and DID take a late lead, but Ryan, to its everlasting credit, regrouped and left with the W. DN ink went to sr. PG Andrew Rogers. Like always, he was a flawless ballhandler and Judge coach Frank Cahill thought enough of Rogers' ability to influence an outcome that he covered him in a box-and-one for much of the second half with star FB athlete Tom Ryan, a jr. WG. Rogers (nine points) took just three shots in the second half, but two of his fellow guards, sr. Eric Jann and jr. Rus Slawter, stepped up nicely. More on that later. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the 5-8, 155-pound Rogers for college. Yes, he's small. But I keep coming back to this: he was terrific last spring while playing in the Conshohocken tournament. Not only does the tourney include pretty much EVERY top player in the Philly-South Jersey areas (and even beyond, sometimes), but it also features fast-paced games. At the least, Rogers will wind up at Sciences or another D-II school. But D-I is not out of the question and he deserves a VERY long look for how he just flat-out takes CARE of the ball. OK, back to the stretch. Judge sniper Bob Zanneo, a sr. WG, entered the fourth quarter 0-for-7 from the floor. He missed his first three treys and then had the good sense to get back on the beam by trying some drives and flip shots. Even those didn't go. Zanneo stayed busy and productive by grabbing five rebounds and collecting three assists mostly on nice high-low dump passes to sr. F-C Andrew Vose (8-for-10, 18 points). Zanneo drained two treys earlier in the fourth quarter, and then swished his third, from the left-corner, with 1:13 left to put Judge ahead by one, 45-44. Wow! Were the Crusaders, left for dead as recently as last weekend after losses to C-E and McDevitt, going to pull off a two-win weekend over gigantic rivals? (They'd surprised North on Friday night.) Here's what happened thereafter: Ryan jr. SF Anthony Keiter missed a one-and-one at 1:00 and Ryan (Tom, not the school) snagged the rebound. He slippped/tumbled a shade over midcourt and was awarded a questionable timeout at 55.2. Ryan's coaches argued that the ball was squirting out. Out of the TO, Ryan missed a hard drive. Ryan then blocked Rogers' shot on a drive. Keiter grabbed the board and hit two free throws to make it 46-45. Judge sr. G Jim DiLisio attacked the hoop with a hard drive down the left side of the lane. It didn't succeed and the rebound battle yielded a tieup between Vose and sr. F Chris Wilk at 18.6. The arrow favored Ryan. Judge opted to foul right away. Jann came through at 16.8, hitting both shots for 48-45 math. Pretty much all game, Zanneo had been taking his shots from the wings and corners. This time he got a good, straight-on look at a trey. The ball hit the front of the rim and then was knocked over the baseline in a wild scramble. Possession went to Ryan and Jann hit the first of two free throws at 5.7 to make Judge's final possession moot. Jann finished with 11 points. Slawter, the FB QB, added 10 (and three steals) and one of his buckets (on a nice feed from Wilk) ended the third quarter, making it 30-25 and providing a good boost headed into the fourth. Wilk grabbed nine boards. Keiter mixed 11 points, nine rebounds. Chris Clifton, a senior F (to my knowledge, he hadn't played much until lately), dished a pair of fourth quarter assists. Ryan notched seven points, six boards, two steals. DiLisio added 10 points, three assists, two steals. There was a great crowd on hand and both schools' student sections showed juice. That doesn't always happen on Sundays. In fact, these days, it rarely happens.