If your name is misspelled on a TEAM PAGE, please speak up. Send an email to silaryt@phillynews.com or leave word on my voicemail at 215-854-5814.

SPECIAL NOTE
  To all scorekeepers: PLEASE try to make sure that correct info on scoring is called into the Score Service (215-854-4570). Part of my daily routine, especially after full-scale Pub days, has turned into this: answering multiple emails from coaches/players reporting mistakes in boxscores. We are reaching the point of no return. For years I've asked the leagues to make a rule that would force scorekeepers to sit next to each other with the scoreboard operator to one side or the other. It would thus be much easier for the scorekeepers to coordinate fouls/timeouts, not to mention cross-check info on which players actually make the field goals/free throws. Supposedly, that IS now the rule in the Pub, but many refs aren't enforcing it. Please remember, we want the info to be correct and making that happen is only fair to those involved. When the game is over, the scorekeepers should confer and make sure that their point totals for all players match up. Sounds simple, right? (smile) One more thing: Generally, it's better for us when the winning team calls in the results. That way we get info to explain HOW the game was won because representatives of the winning team will usually be in a better mood (just human nature) to provide extra details such as rebounds, assists, etc., or the identity of someone who maybe hit a winning shot. Thank you.

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FEB. 14
PUBLIC LEAGUE ROUND-OF-16 PLAYOFF
CLASS AAA SEMIFINAL
Boys’ Latin 62, Engineering and Science 59
  Maybe the score line should read Hare 62, Tortoise 59. Because that’s what these teams normally resemble. BL likes to get it and go. E&S likes to get it and stop. Due to the teams’ clashing styles of play, attending this one was a no-brainer. Beforehand I told a few folks that BL would be wise to pull a Loyola Marymount on E&S and just fly up and down the court for 32 minutes because the Engineers would be so unfamiliar with such an approach after getting their opponents to pretty much yield to them throughout the season. Obviously, the score didn’t wind up in the 100s or 90s, but low 60s/high 50s resembled a track meet, relatively speaking. With 4 ½ minutes remaining, it appeared BL would be able to semi-coast down the stretch, as its lead was 10 points at 55-45. Heck, the spread was even at nine points, at 58-49, with 1:40 showing. But down the stretch, BL had some trouble with turnovers and missed free throws and sr. G Sibley Robinson hit a pair of gigantic treys. The second swished at :56 and enabled E&S to storm within 58-57 and – oh, baby – everybody started reaching for seat belts. Sr. PG Maurice “Doo-Wop” Watson provided a hint of comfort for BL by nailing both parts of a double bonus, but again E&S was clutch as sr. CG Tahjere McCall (recent commitment to Holy Family; big-time steal!) recorded a bucket at :26 by following his own miss. Off a timeout, jr. CG Yahmir Greenlee took a pass from jr. F Eric Lark, the football QB, and went hard to the hoop for an easy layup (upon realizing he was being covered by a non-guard). On E&S final possession, Robinson did get possession on the left wing. The shooting conditions weren’t right, however, and Robinson worked the ball back up top to sr. F Dijon Eggleton, who in turn made a right-side pass to a sr. sub, Asante Prophet. With sr. F Carlos Taylor (UMass-Lowell) in a hands-up defensive stance, Prophet tried a trey. It wound up being an airball. This happened at the other end, but it appeared Prophet realized pretty early that Taylor was going to challenge his shot, and maybe even block it. Thus, it again appeared that Prophet jumped forward with the hope of creating contact that could get him to the line. Prophet was placed in a rough spot. He’s not a starter and had scored all 11 points all season. To expect him to hit that shot in that situation? Rather unreasonable. DN ink went to Greenlee, a feisty lefty with great grades (3.9) and preliminary interest from the likes of Saint Joseph’s, Drexel, Penn and Quinnipiac. This young man plays for serious keeps and it’s impossible not to admire his zest. Next year, of course, Watson will be at Boston U. so it’ll be interesting to see how Greenlee responds without being able to interact with his best hoops buddy. Greenlee had 21 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals and his points were posted in spread-out fashion. Watson hustled and bustled for 30 points (his career total is up to 2,187; Wilt is being threatened at No. 2 – 2,206) five boards, six assists and seven steals. For my money, though, Watson’s most impressive moment came as the Warriors returned to the gym at halftime. Doo-Wop went directly to the line to work on foul shots; he’d been 3-for-7 in the first half. Taylor managed nine points and five boards and Lark scored the remaining two points. McCall (18), Eggleton (16) and Robinson (10) led E&S in scoring, McCall claimed seven rebounds and Eggleton (six) and sr. F Brandon Brown (five) were tops in assists. The rangy, fluid McCall had a few great moments, but his headliner was a move that featured a behind-the-back dribble and a dump-off pass for a layup. HF assistant Donnie Carr, the former Roman/La Salle star who once gave Kobe Bryant WORK in a high school game at Drexel, was in the house to see it. His boss, former Roman PG R.C. Kehoe, had not yet arrived. E&S’ wonderful season is over at 21-2. BL (20-4) will play at least three more times and one of those, for certain, will be a state playoff. It was great to see former Franklin coach Kenny “Ham” Hamilton, who in recent years had done some assisting at E&S. Pat Shanahan and Kevin Clay did a great job in stripes. They let the kids play while making sure no liberties were taken.

FEB. 12
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
O’Hara 59, Judge 54
  OK, so a 5-8 record does not exactly indicate dominance. But in an era when the Catholic League is allowing 10 of its 14 teams to make the playoffs, why not try to take advantage, right? O’Hara had not made the playoffs since 2001 and its league record over the ’09, ’10 and ’11 seasons was an unsightly 3-38. But the Lions are now headed for a game in the first round of the playoffs Wednesday night and, guess what, they won’t even have to travel. Because they beat the two teams (Judge, C-E) that also were part of a three-way tie for eighth place, they earned a home tilt (the foe will be C-E). With former coach Buddy Gardler watching current boss (and former player) Tim Kelly pull the strings, the Lions pretty much had their way. They stormed to a 7-1 lead and kept Judge at that latter number through the first eight minutes. That’s right. Judge finished the first quarter with ONE point. Witness the final score, the Crusaders did leave Slumber Time behind and it was impossible not to think O’Hara might wind up taking a late-game dagger to the heart. However, that charge was rebuffed and the Lions prevailed. Afterward, I asked the players/coaches to gather in the locker room for a group shot. Admittedly, this wasn’t the brightest moment in O’Hara basketball history, but a crew that earns its school a playoff visit for the first time in 11 seasons deserves to be acknowledged at least to some degree, correct? Before we move on with game stuff, major congrats to Tim Kelly. Tim’s wife, Kathy, passed away earlier this season and we can only imagine how difficult everything has been. Tim said he has a large family right in the area, and that that has helped. Making the playoffs no doubt adds some brightness to Tim’s life. We wish you the best going forward, Tim! . . . DN ink went to sr. PF-C Ed Allen. As I suspected when seeing O’Hara earlier this season, Ed’s dad, also named Ed, played for North Catholic back in the day. Like That Ed, This Ed is a late bloomer. He carries only 175 pounds on a 6-6 frame, but as he pointed out with a laugh, “I was only one-SIXTY-five last year.” Ed has pretty good hops and fundamentals and could become a very interesting player over time. Thanks to great passes from teammates, a few post-up moves, follows and a jumper or two, he posted 20 points while shooting 9-for-12 from the floor. He also snagged 11 rebounds and registered three blocks while likely missing at least a quarter of playing time due to foul trouble. Like his dad, a Philadelphia policeman, Younger Ed wants to go into law enforcement. O’Hara’s ballhandlers were mostly jr. Mike Louden and sr. Pat Hagenbach and they were terrific. They fared well in transition and out of a set offense and combined for 11 assists, with Hagenbach (six) leading the way. Louden also nailed two treys while scoring 11 points. Jr. WG Sean Havink “a Good Time From Threeball Land” hit two deepies en route to 10 points. He also had three dimes. Sr. F Brandon Wassel hit all three of his field goal attempts for six points and jr. quickster Raymond Harris made three steals. Jr. G Chris Duffin had six points and one assist. Oddly, 14 of Judge’s first 18 shots were launched from beyond the arc and it wasn’t as if O’Hara had Wilt and/or Shaq lurking in the lane. Jr. G Steven Griffin, usually the essence of dependability, did not hit his first field goal until the very end of the third quarter and that shot was launched maybe 1 1/2 steps past halfcourt. He was his ol’ self thereafter and finished with 15 points, in addition to four boards, five assists and four steals. Sr. WG Brian Hennessey sniped 5-for-12 on treys while notching 21 points. He also had six boards, three thefts. Jr. swingman Malik Robinson used three fourth quarter field goals to reach 11 points. Except for the cheerleaders, who pretty much defined listless, was even one non-player O’Hara student in the house? I’d love to know why the boys’ basketball team rarely receives support unless the opponent is Bonner. (And with Bonner due to close, what the heck will happen next year?) Anyway, congrats to these Lions for making the playoffs. Let’s hope there’s at least a hint of support for Wednesday night’s game.

FEB. 11
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Malvern 55, Gtn. Academy 52
  If high school games were 33 or 34 minutes long, rather than 32, we might have enjoyed a classic finish. The Patriots kept whittlin' the lead, but the three-point margin is a shade deceiving because the final points came on a follow maybe two-tenths of a second before the buzzer. And maybe two seconds after that, there was a crush of bodies at midcourt! Malvern's players were being swarmed by the student rooters from FriarNation and what a scene it was. Everybody make it out alive? (smile) This one featured a semi-strange element because Malvern had already clinched at least a piece of the title. However, any fears maintained by coach Jim Rullo and his assistants that the Friars might be somewhat satisfied were quickly allayed. Emphatically. Drawing great energy from the numerous Malvern fans in the overflow crowd, Rullo's club stormed to a 12-5 lead and two great baskets were part of the avalanche. One was a follow dunk by sr. WG Brendan Kilpatrick (serious ups!) and the other was a wacky layup by sr. PG Steve Perpiglia. It happened at the other end, so I'm not sure if the ball was tipped, or if maybe Steve slipped as he released it? Anyway, the ball hit glass (maybe even metal) at the very top of the backboard and . . . fell straight into the hoop! All Malvern rooters were free to take that as a good-luck moment. Overall, Malvern succeeded because it played an active 2-3 zone, which kept jr. Gs Nick Lindner and James Drury from doing TOO much damage out front and also bottled up the Patriots' two inside threats, jr. F Greg Dotson and classmate Julian Moore, a center. (Man, how good will GA be next year with four quality players returning?) Especially early, the Friars also posted some steals and were able to get out in transition for deflating buckets. Perpiglia, a k a "Perpiglia Motion" (just made that up, actually) had 17 points, four assists and (gulp) a team-high eight rebounds. Always a treat to watch him play. Kilpatrick (Vermont) had 16 points and three apiece of assists/steals. Sr. F Tom Pitt, hindered by foul trouble, added five points, six boards. Sr. WG Dennis Gabert totaled 12 points, six boards and five steals. Jr. sub Ryan Ammerman made his only two shots for four points. Lindner (14), Drury and Dotson (13 apiece) scored in double digits for GA and Moore came close with eight. Lindner added three apiece of assists/steals and Moore claimed nine of his 13 rebounds in the fourth quarter. GA hurt itself with 11 first half turnovers. Malvern, meanwhile, had just six in the first half and didn't commit its seventh until 5:00 remained in the game. This is the first time Malvern has won back-to-back titles (outright or otherwise) since the 1976-77 seasons when the coach was none other than -- MAJOR drum roll, please -- Fran Dunphy. Meanwhile, our thoughts continue to be with GA coach Jim Fenerty and all members of that school's hoops/overall families. A health issue forced Jim to step aside last weekend after he collected wins Nos. 500 (not present) and 501 (present) and long-time wingman Mike Hannigan is guiding the team in Jim's absence. Both teams will compete in next week's state Indy tourney (whatever the heck it's called; I always forget -- smile). Three of the other Inter-Ac schools also will do so. Oddly, SCH (nee Chestnut Hill) Academy has opted to end its season early. Congrats to Malvern's players for how hard they competed. Big props also to FriarNation, which brought it all night. With 0:47 showing, those guys chanted, "This is OUR league!! . . . This is OUR league!!" True for two. Years in a row, that is.

FEB. 10
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
C-E 60, Wood 47
  The thoughts bounced around inside the semi-elderly noggin all week. Where to go Friday night? C-E, West and Bonner would all be playing their final regularly scheduled home games and, natch, I wanted to split into thirds. So many great people at all three schools. C-E, West, Bonner . . . C-E, West, Bonner. It was driving me crazy. Plus, there was the possibility that none of those games would be seen due to the afternoon contest featuring N-G and SJ Prep. If the Prep had won, that would have been MAJOR news for SportsWeek because coach Speedy Morris would have tied the city record for all-time wins, at 621, and of course it would have been necessary to address the end of N-G’s lengthy CL winning streak (now at 66). I wrote the N-G/Prep story in the snack bar area at Prep, headed outside at 6:05 and zoomed to Egan. Something just spoke to me. Or maybe the ghost of someone (as in Mike “Tugger” Tos, the all-time Egan loyalist who passed  in December 2007). Anyway, the choice turned out to be tremendous. What a special night and everyone involved deserves MAJOR congrats! Approximately 50 former Egan/C-E players showed up (even from as far back as 1960, before Egan joined the Catholic League) and PA announcer Rich Papirio, the former, long-time baseball coach, introduced them all as they walked through lines of cheerleaders. (Later, the total swelled to 78!) The biggest response, predictably, went to ’90 grad Joe McEwing, the former major league outfielder who was also a second team DN All-City hoopster. Joe appeared to be truly moved by the love he was shown and it was very cool to see. After Senior Night presentations, the Eagles went back into their locker room for final instructions from coach Rick Sabol (’99). When they came back onto the floor, they trotted through two lines of ex-players AND cheerleaders, slapping five all the while, and that too was great. When the game began, the student support was non-stop and the emotion flowing throughout the gym was very tangible. Quite an experience. Cyber attention went to sr. C Bobby McTague, who endured a difficult football season (one win) and has become a mainstay for the basketball team. His main assignment was to contain soph C Joe LoStracco and, boy, did he ever do that. Big Suburbs got off just two shots all night while settling for four points. Honestly, Bobby was mugging him and Joe was returning the favor while trying to free himself and if the refs had been so inclined, they could have called, oh, 57 personals on each guy (smile). McTague complemented his defense with eight rebounds, four assists and two steals. Oh, and five points. Like always, the Eagles’ leader was sr. WG Jamal Nwaniemeka, who finished with 21 points, eight boards, two assists and three steals and had a WICKED dunk off a steal that, for now, goes down as the last field goal in the gym. JN also scored the last point on the second of two free throws with 20.3 seconds remaining. In the fourth quarter, he mostly played the point and wound up with nine points, four rebounds and two thefts. Jr. PG Ryan “Pepi” Pepito also had a strong performance with 18 points, including 3-for-5 marksmanship on treys. He had eight of those points in a 20-13 third quarter. Jr. WG Mike Kelly, meanwhile, was the early leader, posting eight of his 10 points in the first session (two treys included). Sr. F Dylan Pease was his important little-things self. For Wood, soph WG-SF Pat Smith scored 17 points while being guarded, mostly, by JN. Jr. F Shane Neher had 13 points, 10 boards and three assists in a solid overall outing. A few times toward the end of the game, the C-E kids bellowed, “Keep us open! Keep us open!” And then, with 1:00 left, they changed the “I Believe” chant from “I believe that we can win!” to “I believe that we HAVE WON.” The Eagles were up by 10. As I noted in the philly.com story, they grow ‘em smart in Levittown (smile). A post-game reception for former players and their families was held in the cafeteria. Wish I’d been a fly on those walls. Once again, congrats to everyone associated with this special “Last Game.” The Eagles did it up right. Perfectly, in fact. (And if someone wants to send me a list of the former players in attendance, I’ll gladly post it here. Would love to recognize them.) . . . The list appears right below. Thanks to coach Rick Sabol for sending it.
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FEB. 10
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
N-G 66, SJ Prep 53
  Not often does a Prep team get outSpeedied, but that definitely happened today. Throughout his stint at 17th & Girard, coach Speedy Morris has won lots of close games by making sure his players close out one quarter with a big play and start the next with something similar. Often, those big plays feature threeballs. This time, N-G spanned the third/fourth quarters with a pair of treys and I guess we shouldn't be surprised that coach Carl Arrigale's squad went the copycat route because Carl played for Speedy at Penn Charter in the mid-1980s. Let's set the scene: As the third quarter wound down, Prep jr. WG Miles Overton succeeded on a hard drive and that bucket moved the Hawks within 41-38. One problem. He made his move a little too early and there was still a decent amount of time on the clock. The Saints zipped upcourt, jr. F John Davis passed to sr. WG Billy Shank in the left corner and, bang!, Shank's trey made it 44-38. Just 12 seconds later, the sound was splash! and sr. F Derrick Stewart provided it, also from behind the arc (though straight on). Just like that, instead of feeling threatened the Saints were at least partially exhaling and drama was pretty much disappearing. The weird thing about Stewart's shot: It was his FIRST of the game! Yes, the Rider signee had gone attemptless through the first three quarters while concentrating on defense, rebounding, setting picks, etc. A few times he'd set up strongly but had not received the ball. No sweat. He didn't bitch or stop hustling. He kept making other contributions and I loved how Derrick phrased his team-comes-first comments for the SportsWeek story. Oh, by the way, he wasn't finished scoring after hitting the trey. In fact, he wound up with 11 points by shooting 3-for-3 and 4-for-4. He also had 10 rebounds as the Saints extended their CL win streak to 66 games, counting the regular season and playoffs. Elsewhere, soph WG Ja'Quan Newton had 15 points and five assists (though he couldn't have been too happy) about going 1-for-6 at the line). Davis had 13 points and seven boards. Shank shot 3-for-7 on treys for nine points and even snagged six rebounds. Sr. PG Hanif Sutton "exploded" for 11 points and that verb is used because he'd rung up no more than five in previous league games. His thing is defense and he played it well, sharing the responsibility with sixth man sr. G La'Quan Coaxum on Prep jr. CG Stephen Vasturia. When we tell you Vasturia had 27 points, you'll be saying, "Wait, the kid had 27 points and somehow good defense was played against him?" Hard to believe, I know, but Sutton and Coaxum really worked and nothing came easily for Stevie V (10-for-18, 4-for-6 on treys, 3-for-3 at line). Overton had 14 points and five assists. Sr. WG Gene Williams hit his first trey, and since he tends to ride hot streaks for all they're worth the Saints likely were worried. However, he did not connect from distance thereafter and settled for six points. Sr. sub Tom Stewart pleased the gigantic student section by hitting two long treys in the waning moments. N-G won the rebound battle, 31-18, and made the Hawks' rotation guys shoot 7-for-21 on threeballs. With a win, Speedy would have tied Dan Dougherty for the all-time city record at 621. His next chance will come Sunday at Carroll. Today's Most Legendary Spectator Award goes to good-guy DN colleague Ed Barkowitz. The Barkster is a Prep grad and lives in South Philly, so he had both sides covered (smile).

FEB. 9
PUBLIC LEAGUE FIRST ROUND PLAYOFF
CLASS A QUARTERFINAL
Robeson 77, Sankofa 72
  The hope, always, is to see a good game, but in the first eight minutes, the negative thoughts were numerous. Why’d I pick this one? Would it look bad to leave and rush to a game someplace else? And so on . . . Sankofa is a new school and won’t graduate its first seniors until June 2013, but the Warriors had looked respectable in an earlier visit and had also given Frankford a decent run. Plus, Robeson would be missing its only true big man, PF-C Richard Lemon (knee injury). Yes, Robeson’s gym is quite tiny/loud, but I thought Sankofa would be able to hang. Eventually, coach Isaiah Thomas’ crew made a game of it and even came reasonably close to stealing the win. But there were major nerves early and the Warriors missed all KINDS of layups throughout, and those two factors made the difference. Robeson’s gym is so goofy, the home team sits on chairs in the northeast corner and the visitors sit on chairs in the southwest corner. The scorers’ table, meanwhile, is in the southeast corner. When the visiting team wants to insert a sub, the kid stands  along the west baseline and goes into the game right from there, assuming the referee sees him in time. Anyway, Big Steve and I were sitting toward Sankofa’s bench and at one point I mentioned to an assistant coach that the Warriors had missed many, many layups. That observation did not exactly work as a reverse-jinx kind of thing. On its next three possessions, Sankofa missed SEVEN more layups. Unbelievable. (Not uncontested layups, of course. But all were launched from right inside and most didn’t come close.) DN ink went to sr. WG Marquise Richards, who can get from here to there in a hurry and also displays major amounts of brass. His shot was a little off and occasionally his judgment wasn’t the best, but there’s much to like about how he plays and he could be a true franchise player in D-III. Plus, he wears sneakers that are mostly pink with a hint of red (smile). Richards had 27 points, four rebounds, two assists and three steals. Sr. PG Acquil Craft-Brown was likewise impressive, thanks to 17 points, nine assists and five steals. The Sankofa guys complained non-stop about C-B’s dribble and, truth be told, he does palm the ball. But it’s his natural dribble and it’s not TOO outrageous and there’s no way refs are going to call it over and over and over. Sr. F Nate Hargust contributed 12 points and Richards made sure to mention him about 75 times during the interview (ha ha). Jr. F Raymond Jefferson, a lefty, maneuvered his way to eight quick points. Sr. F Ahmed Doumbia hit two late free throws to help lock down the win and didn’t seem to mind when Richards (fake) beat on his chest right before a pair of late free throws. Sankofa’s far and away leaders were jr. PG Dache Talbert and jr. WG Tydeus Ellison, a sub. Talbert hit three treys while scoring 21 points. Ellison, the only Warrior to truly play with calm and body control, shot 9-for-18 and 4-for-4 for 22 points. Talbert had five steals while Ellison mixed six boards with five assists. Soph F Anthony Downing had 14 rebounds and Jefferson added five. Always good to see Robeson coach Rob Powlen, who’s now known as Robeson Rob. Back in the day, when was an assistant at Bartram, we called him Bartram Bob. A few Pub legends were also on hand: Anthony “Hubba Bubba” King (Penn), George Yuille (Bartram), Adrian “Pinky” Burke (Frankford) and some guy who played for Washington. Couldn’t remember his name, but I did recognize him as a former player and he said, “You wrote a story on me when I dropped 24 on Kensington. I still have that.” Niiiice. Also on hand was one of the Pub's best-ever managers, '08 Robeson grad Christina Sherman. Great to see you, Christina!

FEB. 7
PUBLIC LEAGUE
AAAA PRELIMINARY PLAYOFF
Dobbins 67, Bok 53
  This was going to be a special day. For just the third time all season (pretty sure), I was going to see a game involving only old-school participants. No charters. No former middle schools. Just some true Pubbers that would truly go at it before a lively crowd in South Philly. Then the game began and . . . oh, baby. The kids were trying, but it was very sloppy. Put it this way: The teams combined for 36 steals, so you can imagine how many turnovers there were. Dobbins’ PG, Daquan “Day-Day” Brown, was unavailable due to a school issue, and a few guys took turns trying to run the offense. Eventually, they did OK. Bok appeared to have no true PG and the offense was quite the mish-mash, and things looked even worse because so many chippies were missed. Bok did not reach double figures in points until 4:45 remained in the second quarter and missed 18 of its first 21 shots. The halftime score was 32-13 and that’s a BIG deficit to overcome. Impossible this time, as it turned out. DN ink went to jr. SF Dequan “Powder” Jackson, who boasts just 145 pounds on his 6-4 frame. He shot 8-for-18 from the floor and 5-for-7 at the line and the timing on his production was important because he scored six points in an 18-6 first quarter and 11 more in the fourth as the Mustangs withstood several mini-rallies. Bok has some height and sr. football star Jihad Ward is VERY physical, so Jackson is to be commended for how he battled again and again. Coach William Johnson's eight-man rotation, which he called "a little flash of the future," featured just two seniors, Fs Lamar Harrison (10 rebounds) and Kiwuan Trawick (seven boards). Jackson, F Wanya Barren (eight boards) and G Marquell Tate (four steals) were the juniors while G-F Robert Edwards (12 points, 5-for-5 floor, eight rebounds), PG Andre Cannedy (10 points) and PG Devonte Laws (five steals) held things down for the sophs. Edwards, a lefty, looks to have interesting possibilities. He wasn’t too quick, but used a crafty, back-and-forth dribble to get around people and he was poised/patient once he got to the right spots. Sr. swingmen I-Meir Martin (16) and Sean McLean (14) joined Ward (11) in double figures for Bok. Ward, also a lefty, had 17 rebounds. McLean made six steals and jr. F Deonte West, who's just as skinny as Jackson, sacrificial-lambed himself in impressive fashion while taking three charges. He got absolutely clobbered on more than one occasion. Many legends in the house: ex-Dobbins FB coach/AD Lou Zambino, former Bok FB coach Tom DeFelice (the gym is named in his honor), current Bok FB coach/AD Frank “Roscoe” Natale, E&S coach Charlie Brown, PET coach James “Flame” Lewis . . . I guess that’s it. Brown was scouting, but the effort went for naught. There was some confusion among Pub coaches on the seeding process and E&S will NOT play Dobbins in the next round. The Mustangs are the lowest remaining seed and they’ll head to PET. E&S will host West Philly. Flame said he had someone at that tilt. Not sure if Charlie did.

FEB. 6
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 46, O'Hara 36
By Anonymous Fan
  Sandwiched between a home game last Friday against Roman for Speedy's 900th career coaching victory and what should be a battle between 11-0 teams for the #1 playoff seed when N-G visits this Friday, this Monday night affair in a half-empty and very quiet (except for the rattling HVAC system) O'Hara gym was a classic trap game.  With the exception of the Lions, everyone in the gym seemed to regard the outcome as a foregone conclusion, the only suspense being whether Prep junior Stephen Vasturia would score his 1,000th career point.  It didn't seem likely early, as Vasturia and his team came out flat.  The score was just 7-5 Prep after a very quick first quarter that featured no fouls and just three whistles.  It was 18-11 at halftime and 31-23 after 3.  The star of the game for the Prep to that point was senior sniper Gene Williams, who led the way with at least four threes while Vasturia chipped in with 11 points, including his first from long distance late in the third after misfiring on his first few attempts of the night.  The Prep never pulled away in the fourth, but O'Hara couldn't get a basket when it needed one to make it a one-possession game and really make an upset seem plausible.  The Prep fans cheered when Vasturia was fouled while collecting a defensive rebound with just under 14 seconds to go -- not because (or at least not only because) the game was finally in hand but because the deadeye from the line would have the chance to hit the anticipated milestone by knocking down the front end of the 1+1.  Naturally, he made both to score the Prep's final points of the night and the 1,000th and 1,001st of his career.  He came out of the game after making the second to applause from the crowd and hugs from Speedy and his teammates.  Williams finished with at least five threes.  Former O'Hara coach Bud Gardler and current O'Hara girls coach Linus McGinty were in the stands.

FEB. 6
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Wood 66, La Salle 54
  Moments after the final buzzer, DN lensman Steve Falk walked over and asked, “Who do you need?” As in, which pictures should be submitted to go with the story? I told him, “Could be anybody. It was that kind of performance.” Wood really did receive decent contributions from all five starters while leading from start to finish. DN ink went to soph C Joe “Big Suburbs” LoStracco (I used that nickname a few years ago for another player; enough time has passed that it can go back into circulation – ha ha), who totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds and shot 7-for-11 from the floor. He really has learned how to use his wide body to shield defenders from the ball, and even clear pre-rebound space, and it’s always nice to see a kid improve from one year to the next, especially when that improvement features the addition of savvy. He’ll still need to work on his body for college purposes, especially if he hopes to go D-I, but there’s time for that and the realization is half the battle. LoStracco scored the game’s first four points on passes from jr. F Mike “In Your Hair” Neher and that chemistry set a trend. The Vikings clicked with each other all night and it’s doubtful even one measly shot was truly forced. Coach Jack Walsh used a six-man rotation. Sr. PG Kyle Adkins, of football fame, mixed six assists with nine points and, like always, lent a high amount of brass to the proceedings. Soph WG Pat Smith hit a trey to make it 10-3 and wound up netting 20 points in addition to eight rebounds. Though somehow he missed two free throws in a row, he finished 9-for-11. Soph WG Tommy Rush, a lefty, was Mr. Economical. He scored 13 points while launching just eight shots – 3-for-4 on treys, 4-for-4 at line. Neher had six stats before he even attempted a shot, and three dimes were among them. Frosh G Cody Fitzpatrick took a threeball from almost inside La Salle coach Joe Dempsey’s personal space and, bang, that baby swished straight through. (Also came close to scraping the ceiling – smile). Here’s all you need to know about La Salle’s evening: Late in the third quarter, sr. waterbug Darnell Artis (four) had more rebounds than two of the Explorers’ big guys put together (three). A shade before that, one of the La Salle guys was unsuccessfully fighting for a rebound amidst two Vikings. Seeing how that scenario was not exactly working out, a La Salle student bellowed, “Somebody give him some help!!” Jr. PG Amar Stukes had 13 points and three points. I wouldn’t say he played poorly, but his energy level seemed a shade below normal. Jr. F Matt Rodden hit five threeballs while bagging 18 points. Jr. F Ryan Winslow wound up with six points and as many boards. Artis had four assists and sub P.J. Acierno had three apiece of dishes/thefts. La Salle baseball assistant Bob Peffle used his watchful eyes and listenful ears to keep La Salle’s students in line. He had to tough-guy them a couple times, but all was mostly tame. A halftime treat was reconnecting with Jim Fitzpatrick, Cody’s uncle and my teammate 49 years ago (ouch!) on the world famous East Germantown Rams. We were sixth-graders and placed second in the city in the 12-and-under division. The following summer, our family moved to Oreland/Glenside while Jim’s remained until he was midway through the eighth grade. That year, he said he was playing for two CYO teams – Immaculate Conception in Germantown, and Nativity right next to Wood -- and was hoping to play for both in La Salle’s famous grade-school tourney. The La Salle folks weren’t havin’ it. They told him he had to pick one. “I didn’t really get to pick,” he said, laughing. “My father was Nativity’s coach.” Jim’s senior season at Wood was 1969. I just rummaged through my scoring stats from that season – see, I really do get paid to do a hobby – and Jim scored 169 points in 16 CL games for a 10.6 average. That was second among the Vikings to Bob Hartman’s 14.2. Don’t believe me? Check right below for the evidence . . .
Great to see you, Jim! And I’m looking forward to more of Cody’s moon shots.

FEB. 5
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Conwell-Egan 68, McDevitt 57
  The best news of the day was delivered before the game by C-E coach Rick Sabol: sr. WG Jamal Nwaniemeka is now receiving well deserved college attention at the D-II/lower D-I levels. This young man is held in high regard by his coaches and teammates and I’m thinking he would win any dunk contest for guys 6-2 and under. Plus, he has both varieties of ups – explosive and bi-level. I’ll try to explain that last one. At times, JN is already in the air and appears to be at the zenith when somehow he rises even a shade higher. It’s quite a sight. Also impressive is that he’s not hesitant to mix and match. If his semi-long jumper is off, he’ll make sure to go to the hole with the hope he’ll regain his rhythm. In the DN story, two sequences were mentioned and I’ll repeat them here. “Though sr. WG Markeise Chandler blocked his left-baseline jumper, Nwaniemeka had the presence of mind to track the ball's flight post-snuff and guide it to a teammate. Another time, he misconnected on a short shot and a Lancer grabbed the rebound. Zip! Within two seconds, maybe, Nwaniemeka was snatching the ball out of that player's hands and posting an easy score.” After a very entertaining first quarter (20-19 for C-E), the Eagles seized control in the second with a 19-9 advantage. The bench had good moments as jr. G Brian Carr hit a trey and sr. F Derek Jonas posted a pair of field goals. C-E remained in control until the third-fourth span and the only reason a slipup occurred was that JN needed a short rest. The Lancers got a drive from jr. PG Kenyatta Long and a bucket by soph F Tyrell Long (no relation) off a pass from Kenyatta and there they were, within 54-49. C-E jr. CG Mike Kelly followed with an impressive, but unchallenged, reverse layup and jr. PG Ryan Pepito then bolted close to the basket for a silky teardrop. JN then went nuts down the stretch to finish with 27 points. He also had 10 rebounds, two steals and three apiece of steals/blocks. Pepito added 14 points and four assists while Kelly, who plays the point when Pepito is off the floor, also had 14 points, Each hit two treys. Football lineman Bobby McTague tough-guyed his way to seven boards and sr. F Dylan Pease, though he didn’t score, mixed four rebounds with two assists and three steals. There was a downer right out of the gate for McDevitt as star sr. F Brahieme Jackson was not among the starters. He was being disciplined for one thing or another and didn’t play until minute No. 9. The Lancers did pretty well without him and T. Long was the major reason. This kid has recently come out of nowhere to earn extended minutes and, whoa, was he productive: 20 points, 12 rebounds, five blocks. Chandler, the Lancers’ usual co-star, settled for 11 points while expending major energy trying to muffle JN. K. Long dished five assists and jr. G Tymere Wilder managed four. Among today’s spectators was former Dougherty assistant Doug Sauder, who came out to see some former Cardinals (including JN). Also, two trail days in a row (Gtn. Academy yesterday) with a Vince Shervin sighting. Always cool to see him. He played at Dougherty and his son, Matt, played for Mickey D in 2008. Man, it has been four years already? Phew! One last note: C-E will host Wood Friday night at 7:30 for its final home game and coach Sabol said ex-major league outfielder Joe McEwing is expected to be in the house. VERY cool! Joe was also one fine hoopster. He earned first team All-Catholic honors and was also a second team Daily News All-City selection. That's the highest honor for an Egan/C-E guy since All-City teams first were picked in 1972. This coming baseball season, he'll serve as the third base coach for the White Sox. Likewise VERY cool.    

FEB. 4
NON-LEAGUE
Germantown Academy 58, Peddie (NJ) 42
  Well, one thing's for sure. GA's Jim Fenerty is the first coach in city (state? national? world?) history to collect his 500th win on consecutive days. Not because there was a mid-game postponement due to a leaky roof, or something. Because there was an "issue." Tuesday morning, Fenerty experienced a health problem while teaching a class and wound up spending three days in the hospital. That afternoon's game at Malvern was postponed and win No. 500 wound up being bagged, at GA, last night vs. Haverford School. Jim was at home, being bombarded by text-message updates, and the Patriots were being guided by Mike Hannigan, his long-time righthand man. Today, Jim insisted on being present because the seniors were being honored and he mostly let Mike again run the show. We say "mostly" because HE directed the timeouts and, well, he couldn't help but finally stand up a few times in the third and fourth quarters. Monday's DN story will get into more depth, but major congrats go out to Jim on this wonderful accomplishment!! As for the game, GA established control with a 22-12 third quarter and jr. PG Nick Lindner was front and center. At least when I'm around, this is the kid who decides GA's fate. And he was extra snappy beyond intermission. He showed a great mixture of skill and poise and that, in turn, got everyone rolling. The Patriots won the last quarter, 12-6, so there was nothing close to late-game drama. Lindner totaled 20 points and five assists. Springy jr. F Greg Dotson and jr. WG James Drury hit two treys apiece and jr. PF-C Julian Moore "moore" than held his own in his duel with Peddie's 7-footer, Blasé Mbargorba, who's here from Cameroon. Moore had 15 points and also was impressive in the second half. (Before I forget, let it be mentioned that Lindner scored a couple of his field goals on layups that kissed high off the glass; he knew layups shot at normal angles would have been swatted. It's called savvy.) Sr. Gs Connor Crump and Cameron Retif halved six steals. One of Peddie's players is post-grad F Xavier Harris. Yes, THAT Xavier Harris, the one who formerly played for North Catholic (RIP) and Constitution. Peddie coach Joe Rulewich, previously an assistant at Ursinus, said X still intends to stick with his original commitment to attend Penn. Niiice. In this one he had eight points, five rebounds and four assists. A few times, he worked well in high-low setups with Mbargorba. Amazingly, he took just four shots from the floor and two of his three makes were dunks. He went 2-for-6 at the line. Meanwhile, the prelim was a freshman game featuring GA and St. Joseph's Prep. And the guy who coaches the Prep's frosh, Joe Donahue, was also -- drum roll, please -- the man who yesterday handled PA duties as Speedy Morris claimed his 900th overall win. (And the guy coaching GA, as reported by Marty Weiss, Fenerty's righthand man, was Matt Dolan, a former freshman player for Donahue.) The personable Joe is not the only Donahue who's comfortable in front of a microphone. Click here to see a bio about his brother (name withheld to build the suspense -- ha ha).

FEB. 3
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Bonner 63, McDevitt 61
By Dan Phelan
  Bonner went into the game with an 0-9 league record. They had just one win overall and were determined to get another. Although the Bonner student section was not filled to capacity, the energy was still there from the students. The game did not start the way Coach Tom Meakim wanted it to as McDevitt got off to a 9-0 start thanks to seniors Markeise Chandler and Brahieme Jackson, who finished with 17 and 18 points respectively. Bonner called a timeout, and after that played with a new energy. Junior Pat Vanderslice played light out last night dropping in 21 points, 15 from three pointers. In his first game back from injury, Senior Michael Proska played a fantastic game. Although he didn’t score he had 6 assists and controlled the game, making sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to do. He was a true point guard last night. Dan “Mugsy” McLoone had 2 huge baskets for Bonner and played a good defensive game. The story of the game, though, was Mr. Kevin Sheridan and his 15 points. Sheridan came into the game 0-14 from the foul line. He was 3-5 last night including one a huge one with 5.3 seconds left. Sheridan played by far the best game of his High School career. But for everyone that was there, the play of the game happened with 29.3 seconds left. With the score 61-60 McDevitt led the game. Bonner had the ball underneath the basket. Pat Vanderslice threw the ball in to Christian Summers. Summers got the ball to Proska at the top of the key and Jack Carden came around to set a pick. He rolled off the pick, Proska got him the ball and he put it in the basket to provide a 62-61 lead. While all this was happening the big clock was staying still at 29.3 seconds. The kids played, but McDevitt's coach was going crazy, running onto the court and everything. The refs met at the scorers' table and put 20 seconds on the clock and counted the basket. This was the right call since the clock did start; it just didn’t show. Jack Carden played a fantastic game and finished with 10 points, including the biggest of his career on that layup. McDevitt had a chance with 7 seconds left to take the lead from the free throw line on a one-and-one, but the first shot was missed.  Sheridan then hit one more free throw, the clock struck 0:00 and the student section stormed the court as Bonner got their first Catholic League victory by beating McDevitt, 63-61.

FEB. 3
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 73, Roman 67
  Imagine if Roman’s late comeback had been just a little bit better. The sound of disappointment in the Prep’s extra-crowded gym would have been deafening. People came from ALL over because they knew coach William “Speedy” Morris needed one win to reach 900 in his 44-year career as a head coach of guys/gals at the high school/college levels. (He started at Roman in the 1967-68 season and has gone straight through except for the 1981-82 season, when he was a behind-the-scenes assistant to Ed Stefanski at Bonner after getting fired at Roman. Don’t ask. In all these years, no one has ever pinpointed an exact reason for what happened there. Needless to say, the person who swung that ax deserves a special place in Knuckleheadville. And, yes, I do remember that he was a man of the cloth. Sorry for going off on a tangent). Throughout today’s game, I got the sense that pretty much everyone just knew Prep would win. As in, everyone affiliated with the Prep and Speedy’s family is SO excited about this, how could it possibly not happen? Meanwhile, as a neutral observer, I wanted to see late-game drama so if Speedy did collect No. 900, it would be FULLY earned and thus make for a better story (smile). The Prep gained early control, however, and maintained it and maintained it and maintained it some more. The Hawks never ran away and hid, but they always slightly extended the lead each time Roman drew semi-close. It was uncanny. The lone exception was close to the very end when jr. F Shafeek Taylor canned a layup off a drive to move the Cahillites within 65-60 at 1:07. But just three seconds later, jr. CG Stephen Vasturia converted a one-and-one to restore the comfort level and there’d be no need to furiously scribble end-of-game details. Vasturia, who is becoming quite the off-the-backboard snatcher, scored 27 points while adding 13 rebounds. His average in that latter category is now close to 10. Sr. WG Gene Williams was close behind with 22 points and the major reason was his terrific sniping (6-for-10) from beyond the arc. Jr. WG Miles Overton went just 1-for-10 from the floor, but dished five assists. The other starters were sr. WG Kevin Oberlies (nine points, four assists, two steals) and jr. PG PJ Kelly while jr. G Kyle Thompson made a few big plays off the bench. I figured Oberlies was the perfect Hawk for ink purposes because he’s the fifth guy in his family to be part of Speedy’s program (four players, one videographer) and he indeed gave some wonderful insight. Thanks, Kevin. The oldest, John, was the sixth man on the 2003 CL title squad. Matt '04 preferred rugby, but James ’06 and Joseph ’10 were also players and Mike ’08 was the video coordinator. Very cool! For Roman, jr. G Britton Lee hit four treys en route to 20 points while jr. PG Shep Garner (13) and jr. Rashaan London (12) also scored in double figures. Puck kept track of the extra stuff, but I neglected to track him down in the post-game excitement. In the second half, a Channel 3 cameraman plopped down right in front of me beyond the east baseline and my first words were, “Don’t let me get in your way.” What a jerk! Thereafter, I took a couple pics with the flash set at its highest level and the camera inches from the back of his head, just to mess with him. Prep teacher Frank Raffa, who long has snapped great pics at school events, was sitting maybe three feet away and his view was momentarily blocked, as well. Frank just shook his head. Meanwhile, Speedy’s intimidating power was on grand display in the early portion of the game. Upset that a foul wasn’t called when Lee made a halfcourt steal and zoomed in for a layup, Speedy came at least eight feet (maybe 10) onto the court and bellowed several times, “Blow the whistle! . . . Blow the whistle!” toward the ref who was now stationed all the way over in the northeast corner of the court. If any other coach had pulled that trick, that ref and the ref no more than 15 feet away (near the scorers’ table) WOULD have blown their whistles while adding, “There you go! Tech on you!” Of course, nothing happened – hey, he’s Speedy (smile) -- and that almost sent Roman coach Chris McNesby off the deep end. Imagine if he'd gotten a tech. Next in Speedball’s sights is the city record for career coaching wins (high school level, only). He now owns 619 and Dan Dougherty had 621 at Malvern/Episcopal. The Prep’s three remaining games in the regular season are Monday night at O’Hara, home Friday afternoon vs. Neumann-Goretti and away two days later at Carroll. Very interesting . . .

FEB. 2
PUBLIC A
Constitution 76, MC&S 66 (OT)
  Right after the buzzer sounded, MC&S assistant Will “Chilly” Williams, famous forever as one of six lefties on Southern’s 1982 team, took a brisk walk down to see us and asked right away, “What did we shoot? I know it was horrible.” The totals had not yet been figured out, but now we can tell Will and the world: 22-for-67, which is a smidgeon under 33 percent. At the line, the Mighty Elephants were much better at 19-for-28, but it’s likely almost two-thirds of those makes were bricks that bounced on various parts of the rim, sometimes more than once, before falling in. It was crazy. Constitution was 27-for-62 (decent) and 21-for-39 (ouch), so no directors of shooting clinics will ever want to show this tape to their youngsters. Directors of dunking clinics? OH, yeah!! This game, which decided the top Class A seed for the upcoming Pub playoffs, included eight throw-downs and ConHigh sr. F-C Savon Goodman had five of them. One was high on any list of dunks you could possibly expect to see by a high school player as Goodman came in from the left wing (east end of Franklin’s gym) at roughly a 45-degree angle and left his feet from a spot OUTSIDE the lane (at least that’s what everyone was saying – smile). That one was later, but you could make a strong argument that the two dunks he had in the third quarter, within a few seconds of each other, were way more important. On the first, he ran in from the right baseline and hammered it home after taking a no-look pass from driving-hard sr. PG Daiquan Walker. Next, he made a steal as MC&S tried to advance upcourt and raced in for another powerful slam. Those two changed the deficit from 35-26 to 35-30 and got the Generals right back on the beam. The momentum was sustained, too, because Con ended the period with a 41-40 lead after coming out of a halftime facing a 32-19 deficit. Goodman, who formerly played at ANC and committed to Villanova (he’s back on the market), finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds, six steals, three blocks and two assists. Amauro asked me at one point when was the last time the Pub had a big man who was this athletic and, well, that’s going to take some extended thought. A few times, off steals or rebounds, Goodman dribbled three-quarters or four-quarters court and looked point guardish doing so. Quite a sight. And if the state needs a new high jump, long jump or triple champ champion, or all three, here’s your man. Goodman’s arrival at Con created an interesting dynamic because a top-shelf player, Walker, was already in the fold, and he’s to be commended for how he has handled this. Some guys would pump away to try to maintain top-dog status. And remember, big guys usually don’t get the ball unless the guards give it to them. But Walker has stayed within himself and, truthfully, has even stepped back a little. He made some of his best plays right near the basket, drawing two/three defenders so he could then drop off the ball to Goodman. Walker finished with 14 points, eight assists, three steals and seven rebounds. As the game started, sr. PF Craig “Poppy” Slade was sitting all the way at the end of Con’s bench and I wasn’t sure what to make of that. Was he in trouble? Would we not see him all night? Soon, however, he was checking in and maybe the early-sub role agrees with him because he contributed 12 points and five boards. Sr. G Tamir Bolger had six points and three assists. Sr. G Amonie Holloman, whose main purpose in life is to knock down treys, fired blanks in that area (0-for-7), but he did wind up with eight points and four were important free throws in a key fourth quarter stretch. Jr. PG Malik Starkes, who oozes The Look, had 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. A few shots were ill-advised, but he was hardly alone for the MEs. He has a wide wing span and decent strength and all kinds of great things could happen for him. Jr. F-C Jeremiah “Lump” Worthem, another goody with "greaty" possibilities, had 14 points and nine rebounds. Jr. WG Abraham Massaley wound up with eight points and four apiece of assists/steals, but was just 3 of 17 from the floor. He’s still finding his way in this star-studded cast. Sr. F Quentin “Tree” Davis had seven points and eight boards. Soph F Basil Thompson had eight and three. The Generals led, 60-55, with 36.6 seconds remaining in regulation. MC&S prolonged the action with a trey from Starkes and a buzzer-beating follow by Worthem, which followed same-possession misses by Massaley (flip on the left side of the lane) and Starkes (fall-away trey, left wing). ConHigh scored four quick points to begin OT -- Goodman from Walker; two free throws by Slade -- and the MEs faded badly. Barring upsets, these squads will meet again in the Pub quarterfinals, then probably in the state playoffs, as well. The JV game was played before the varsity tilt and, like the last time, Con coach Rob Moore guided both squads. Pretty amazing. How tired was this guy by the end of the night after teaching all day, then coaching two emotion-packed games?

FEB. 2
NON-LEAGUE
Hope 73, Bodine 48
  Anyone have some extra ankles? Shakoor Woodson could use 'em. Woodson is a jr. WG for Hope Charter's hoops squad and mostly was tremendous as the Hawks slapped around WAY undersized Bodine at East Germantown's Lonnie Young Rec Center. But in the fourth quarter, as Woodson and sr. PG Shaheed Holmes were double-teaming Bodine star Nadir Matthews, a sr. G, in front of Bodine's bench, Matthews dribbled back and forth a few times, quickly, and oooooops, there went Woodson, backward, right onto his butt. A decent crowd was on hand and everybody went NUTS. One guy even went running onto the court, right through the players, and a few more rushed up against the sideline. At first, Woodson went the stone-faced route, trying to pretend nothing special had happened. But the moment was too big. Soon, he was smiling and laughing, too, and after the game he acknowledged Friday could be a rough day in school due to lots of cube-busting. Thanks for being a good sport, Shakoor, and beyond that, congrats on a strong performance. Woodson had 25 points, nine rebounds, three assists and six steals and, through most of the game, played excellent defense on Matthews, who is quite the scoring machine. As the game began, jr. CG Zahir Firby mostly covered Matthews and he did a good job. But Woodson is taller and longer and he was mostly responsible for seeing to it that Matthews hit just one of his first 10 attempts from the floor. In fact, Matthews did not post his second field goal until midway through the third quarter. So, you ask, how did he finish with 31 points? By scoring 18 during a fourth quarter that was nothing but garbage time. Though it faced a HUGE deficit, the Ambassadors kept fouling on purpose and the final eight minutes took forever. I suspect coach Lynn Greer Sr. chose this strategy so Bodine would keep getting the ball back and have a chance to get Matthews his points. Also, I know Lynn was upset about the fact that Nadir was sometimes semi-mugged away from the ball late in the first half. Anyway, Matthews got it rollin' down the stretch with a mixture of drives and jumpers (and a BUNCH of free throws) and Friday he'll have a chance to win the Pub scoring title in a makeup game with Lamberton. (Greer's son, Lynn, a 1997 E&S grad, accomplished that feat before starring at Temple and advancing to the NBA. He now plays in Russia.) For Hope, sr. PF-C Tramayne Brooks powered his way to 10 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks and he's getting some D-II/III interest. Sr. PF Jalil Shafi, a lefty, added 14 points, 12 boards and three steals. Holmes totaled 13 points, five assists and three steals and Firby added four thefts. It was amazing to see how small the Ambassadors were. Soph F Joseph Lockley did have seven points and eight rebounds and jr. G Dominick Daniel hustled for four steals before fouling out. Frosh Troy Richardson also had eight boards. One of the refs was website legend Mark "Frog" Carfagno (and he was working under the basket, not out front, when the manhandling of Matthews was taking place -- smile). Great job, Frogster! Before the game, I mentioned to Bodine's two female managers that Kaiem Frink, the brother of Michael Vick's fiance, formerly played basketball for Bodine. Then, I accessed the website on my phone and showed them a team picture from 2002 that included Kaiem. (Man, I had a crappy camera back then -- ha ha). Not sure if Kaiem's sister went to Bodine. That's for the gals to find out, right?

FEB. 1
PUBLIC C
Northeast 74, World Comm 56
  For today’s Only in the Pub tidbit, we give you this: World Comm is located five blocks south of City Hall, yet this WC home game was played at Belfield RC, right by La Salle University’s campus and about 7.5 miles from WC’s location. Say what? Game time was 3:15 and neither team had arrived by 35 minutes beforehand. Both refs were there, however, so I was confident (kinda) a game would indeed take place. “Game” wound up being a loose term, however. Northeast stormed to a 13-2 lead and never looked back. Jr. PG Deryl “Not Darryl” Bagwell, who played only JV at Imhotep, was a game-long bright light and came close to a triple double with 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. This was my second look at him and there’s much to like. He’s a tough cover due to respectable shooting skills and the ability to not only find the open men, but to make sure he first creates space for them. Early, the two main beneficiaries of Bagwell’s approach were sr. SF Walt “White Boah” Archer, a lefty, and jr. WG Daquan Bohannan, one of the Vikings’ numerous QBs. Each had eight first quarter points en route to 15 and 16, respectively. Bohannan also led in treys, 5-2; they did most of their shooting from the corners and near wings. Sr. F Yusef Savage had 13 boards and was steady with that production throughout. He reached 16 points by posting 12 in the up-and-down, defense-was-a-rumor fourth quarter. Sr. PF-C Daquan White, also a football guy, added seven boards. When I saw WC last week, coach Mike Carpenter used just five guys. Guess what? He almost did so again! The first sub, sr. G George Baxter, didn’t enter the game until 4:29 remained. Soph WG Quamier Johnson and jr. PG Fa’Teem Glenn, a lefty, halved 34 points. Glenn also had four assists and six steals. Soph WG-SF Darius Moore mostly camped out behind the arc and bombed away. He went 3-for-11 on treys while managing 13 points. He also snagged eight rebounds. While waiting to interview Bagwell, I heard coach Dennis Engelman solidify plans for a 6:15 practice – yes, a.m. – tomorrow for the Vikings. Deryl says he gets up at 4 o’clock on practice mornings and loads up on Toaster Strudles. I’ll have to try some of those bad boys. The English muffin routine is getting’ a little old (smile).

FEB. 1
  Here are the overall seedings for the upcoming Public League playoffs . . . and the matchups for Tuesday's play-in games.
  All games at higher seed.
CLASS AAAA
No play-ins: 1, Fels. 2, Bartram, 3, King.
Kensington (13) at Frankford (4)
Lincoln (12) at Washington (5)
Gratz (11) at Olney (6)
Southern (10) at Northeast (7)
Overbrook (9) at Central (8).
CLASS AAA
No play-ins: 1, Phila. Elec. 2, E&S. 3, Boys' Latin. 4, Univ. City. 5, Franklin. 6, Franklin LC.
Dobbins (10) at Bok (7)
West Phila. (9) at Roxborough (8)
CLASS AA
No play-ins: 1, Imhotep. 2, Vaux. 3, Del-Val.
Phila. Acad. (13) at Comm Tech (4)
Mastery North (12) at Esperanza (5)
Hope (11) at Prep Charter (6)
Sayre (10) at Freire (7)
Masterman (9) at Straw. Mansion (8).
CLASS A
No play-ins: 1, MC&S/Constitution. 2, MC&S/Constitution. 3, Robeson. 4, Palmer. 5, Lamberton. 6, Sankofa. 7, New Media.
Parkway West (9) at World Comm (8).
Note: MC&S and Constitution meet 2/2, 7 o'clock, at Franklin.

JAN. 31
PUBLIC E
Rush 57, CAPA 31
  A classic was not expected and surely was not offered. Both teams were winless in the Pub’s worst division, but Rush had captured a non-league tussle between the two and CAPA had to play this one with its top scorer, Mike Lauer (ankle). It was hard to believe so many WAY off-target shots could be launched in one game and once the deep subs took over, it was almost as if the basket had been moved to the ceiling (smile). Luckily, many of these kids have incredible talent in music and/or art and won’t need sports to get to college. Hopefully, some will be able to run up and down in college intramural leagues and still have fun with a sport they obviously like. Perhaps the best moment was watching the kids go through the post-game handshake line. Even the CAPA players were enthusiastic, assumedly because they realized that Rush’s had endured the same troubles all season. DN ink went to sr. G-F Anthony Galdo, a percussionist who drummed up (sorry, couldn’t help it – smile) 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and eight steals. His brother, Matt, a soph, had six boards though no points. It was great speaking with Anthony and hearing about his passion for music and the school and his mom, Carmen Colon, a single parent, and I couldn’t wait to get back downtown and start writing the story. If that feeling ever ends, I’ll know it’s time to retire. A sliver of ink also went to sr. PF-C Javon Campbell, who was given a Senior Day start by coach John Creighton and said he hadn’t been on the court since early December. When Javon scored on an early follow, his teammates expressed unmitigated joy and, who knows, maybe he’ll be the toast of the school tomorrow. Very cool to see your big moment, Javon. Also for Rush, sr. G John “Johnny Almost Arrived Too Lately for the Team Photo” Kinning-Graves had 12 points and four steals while jr. F Will Madden scored 13 points and swept 18 rebounds. For CAPA, only one player had a reasonable chance of scoring with any kind of consistency and that was sr. WG Charles Ganges. While hitting three treys, he scored 17 points. Bryant Turner managed to snag 11 rebounds and Marcus Bryant (not sure of the years for those guys) posted five blocks. The deep subs didn’t appear until the final 5:58 and it was heartwarming to see the starters very involved on the bench, cheering them on (and laughing on occasion – ha ha) through some outrageous moments. Madison Mitchell, a Rush student, did a tremendous job with the National Anthem. She was standing near the scorers’ table shortly before the game began and appeared to be in great distress. I almost walked over and asked her if she needed to speak with a teacher, administrator, someone. (At this point, I had no idea she’d be singing the NA.) Guess she was just nervous. Once she got out to halfcourt (there was no music), the lyrics flowed and everything was perfect. DN lensman Dave Maialetti was perched nearby and said, “That’s the best job I’ve heard on that in a long time.” Agreed. After the game, manager Pertrise Harris said she’d recruited Madison to sing the anthem to make the season’s last home game special. At halftime, three dudes came out and did a dance routine. Pertrise recruited them, too. In case you’re wondering, Rush, a former middle school, is WAY up there on Knights Road, very close to Franklin Mills Mall. There were no stands and the spectators – most of 'em, anyway – sat on the floor with their backs against walls. Best wishes to all players on both teams!

JAN. 30
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Ryan 53, Carroll 42
  Though I keep a record of every shot (made/missed) and also kept full stats for this one (rebounds, assists, steals, blocks), I don’t write down the details of every scoring play; just the ones that are part of key moments. However, it’s pretty safe to assume that Ryan sr. PG Kyle Slawter, a lefty, helped other guys score close to 30 points. He had nine assists and that’s a minimum of 18 right there, of course. But at least four or five of the field goals were treys and he made a couple more passes that led to free throws. Slawter attempted just three shots all night and when the last one, a layup off what was basically an uncontested drive, eased through the net, I was kind of disappointed (smile). It would have been cooler to write about a kid who’d gone scoreless. That has happened at least twice in all these years and once was just last season, against Ryan. That ink recipient was Wood G Kyle Adkins, who’s now a senior and the other, back in January of 1991, was Episcopal’s Toebe Hinckle. Anyway, Slawter did a great job of making penetration and then dishing to the wings or corners for twos or threes by the likes of jr. WG Bryan Okolo or sr. SF Nick Augenbaugh. At least twice, if I remember, Slawter zipped hoopward from a certain spot and then passed the ball back to someone in the exact spot where he’d just been. He also had one or two of those classic back-doors. Obviously, guys only get assists if their teammates are hitting shots and that definitely happened tonight. And when some of those shots are early treys, all the better. The confidence can really mushroom. Okolo and classmate Tyler Reed hit one trey apiece in the first quarter, then Okolo (two more) was joined by yet another jr., Gage Galeone, in the second quarter. Third quarter? Offense wasn’t really the story. Defense was. The Raiders held Carroll to ONE point. The Patriots went 0-for-3 from the floor and were victimized for four steals in what was truly a puzzling eight minutes. Ryan maintained control through the fourth. Okolo (three treys) and Augenbaugh (two) scored 13 and 12, respectively, while Reed and Galeone, a sub, halved 20. Galeone, the son of Ryan's former football coach, Glen Galeone, added four rebounds and two apiece of assists/steals while Reed had four boards and three thefts. Sr. C Christian Rivera finished with six points and his first shot wasn't attempted until 3:17 remained. Okolo keyed the defense, holding sr. WG Alec Stavetski to nine points and just six attempts from the floor. Carroll did get 12 points and nine rebounds from frosh F-C Derrick Jones, a spring lefty who appears to have major potential. In the fourth quarter, jr. PG Yosef Yacob showed much of the friskiness that had brought him some attention in previous seasons. Sr. Tom Rymal, a backup G, dealt two assists. Shortly into the game, my cell phone rang and something told me it had to be answered (I usually don’t bother with that stuff while games are taking place.) Good thing I did because the caller was SJ Prep QB Skyler Mornhinweg. He was ready to talk about his commitment to Florida and, well, I was definitely ready to listen . . . as long as we could continue the conversation at halftime. The instant the buzzer sounded, I called him back and we talked for maybe four minutes. Then, I started writing the story on a pad of paper while the teams prepared for the second half. Luckily, there were no issues on the Schuylkill Expressway while rolling back downtown, so there was no problem meeting the deadline with the stories on Skyler and Kyle. Meanwhile, what's with the scoreboard at the end of Carroll's gym where fans first enter? When there are 4 minutes remaining in a quarter, it looks like 9. And 1 looks like 7. Huh? Also, Tom Ingelsby, son of Carroll's former coach, Tom Ingelsby (star at O'Hara/Villanova/played in NBA), is now a member of the coaching staff for the Patriots' freshman team. Best of luck, Tom the Younger!

JAN. 30
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 61, West Catholic 46
  Remember what I'm about to tell you and when Stephen Vasturia becomes famous some day, you'll be able to win money in a bar bet. Here's the setup: In the 2011-12 season vs. West Catholic, Vasturia had to briefly wear another jersey because his usual No. 32 got stained with blood (cut finger). Now for the question: What number did he wear in the second quarter and how many points did he score? The answers: No. 15 and two. That's right. Though he finished the game with 22 points and had an incredible stretch in the third quarter (again wearing No. 32; they cleaned it somehow at halftime), the jr. CG, who has already committed to Notre Dame, had just two points (on 1-for-3 shooting). If I'm still alive when you win major bucks, make sure to cut me in, OK? (smile). Though the final spread wound up being semi-large, West was able to take some positives from this tilt. The Burrs used some impressive one-on-one drives, out of a mini-spread, to provide the Prep with some fits in the second quarter and they even charged within three, at 29-26, with 4:43 left as jr. PG Marquese Daniels drained a trey on a pass from sr. WG Mark Perez. Vasturia then went berserk and we'll get to some of the details later. In the fourth quarter, West  created a hint of consternation as two free throws by Daniels and one of two by sr. WG Jaleel Reed (FB quarterback, off a steal and drive) sliced the deficit to 54-46. This time, jr. WG Miles Overton took a nifty pass from soph G-F Kyle Thompson, the sixth man, on the right baseline and wound up posting a three-point play. During his aforementioned outburst, Vasturia got things rolling with a tight bucket and then a three-point play off an inbound pass from jr. PG PJ Kelly. After allowing sr. F Kevin Oberlies to score on a follow (smile), Vasturia again seized the game by the throat with a three-point play, another basket and a feed to sr. WG Gene Williams for two more points. Just like that, the score was 43-30. Overton then become the dominator, posting a steal and dunk for two roaring points and a floater off a drive for two more. Vasturia wound up shooting 8-for-12 from the floor while scoring 13 points. In his latest Shaq impersonation, he also claimed 13 rebounds. Overton had a terrific overall outing with 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Oberlies (eight points) made all three of his field goal attempts and added eight boards. Daniels showed very quick hands and feet while shaking defenders, especially early, and finished with 14 points and three steals. Reed managed 15 points (two treys), two assists and four steals. No one for West had more than four rebounds (phew). I wrote the first part of this report in the basement at Carroll, shortly before Ryan-Carroll began. While walking downstairs, I got to see a bunch of Carroll football players huffing and puffing like crazy while running the steps under the watchful eye of coach Joe Powel. Later, some guys were spotted lifting weights. Once the computer was turned off, I headed to the snack bar and bought a diet coke and a slice of pizza. Well, the very nice lady behind the counter put two slices on the paper plate while saying, “We’ll call this two for one.” All riiiiight! Thank you, ma’am. Frosh coach Joe Donahue was the PA announcer and, while he was at it, supervised the stat crew. One problem: the mini-printer right at the stat table was broken and Joe, supposedly, went somewhere else in the building to make printouts. He came back about SIX hours later (rough estimate; ha ha). I waited about 15 minutes, then bolted for Carroll. Joe Turkos, of the Roxborough Review and one of our football stat guys, wound up taking a cell-phone pic of the stat sheet Joe eventually produced and sent it to my email. Thanks, Joe! (I’d kept West’s extra stuff during the game.) Speedball now owns 899 coaching victories, counting high school and college gigs. He’ll go for No. 900 Friday afternoon when the Hawks host Roman. You might want to arrive verrrrrry early.

JAN. 29
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
La Salle 71, McDevitt 58
  Much to its chagrin, McDevitt has become quite the expert at losing CL games by a reasonably close margin. The Lancers have fallen by eight points to Roman, by 13 to Carroll, by 11 to Judge, by 11 to Wood and now by 13 to La Salle (and it suffered beatdowns by Prep and N-G, as well). In effect, this one was over early as La Salle stormed to an 11-2 lead thanks mostly to DN inkster Amar Stukes, the jr. PG who within the last week received an offer from La Salle and is also a great enough student to go Ivy, if he prefers. VERY cool. Stukes scored 10 points in the 22-12 first quarter and used his long limbs and varied-pace dribbling to pretty much have his way. McDevitt also had trouble handling La Salle’s collection of tall wing shooters and those same guys kept sr. F Brahieme Jackson from enjoying any early success. The Explorers went on to claim leads of 35-18 and 44-23 and it just wasn’t a pretty tilt, folks. More like a friendly pickup game or summer league outing. Here's the feeling I had: La Salle’s going to score at a pretty good place and McDevitt’s going to score at a somewhat good pace and finally the buzzer will sound and the spectators will head home not exactly satisfied. Then, as the fourth quarter opened, La Salle decided to hold the ball. Not in complete-stall fashion, but just to work it around, etc. All momentum was lost. The Lancers finally HAD to play defense – if they still wanted to score, that is -- and, hey, what do you know, the extra hustle paid off. McDevitt registered some quick steals/baskets and with just a little over three minutes left, with the score at 51-43, there was a hint of uh-oh in the air. On a drive, Stukes then had a layup blocked by soph F Tyrell Long, who had a very productive weekend pretty much out of nowhere. However, jr. F Ryan Winslow, of K/P fame, claimed the offensive rebound and posted a three-point play and the ‘Splorers eased home from there. Stukes finished with 17 points, four assists and two steals, and one of those checking him out was La Salle U. coach John Giannini. Also on hand was former La Salle High star Matt Mihalich (Class of ’76), whose brother, Joe, is the coach at Niagara. (This was alumni day, but Matt’s allowed to scout for his brother, right? If that’s what he was even remotely doing – smile.) Amar had two big plays. Right as the second half started, a Lancer made a steal and embarked on what could/should have been a three-quarter-court drive for an easy layup. But, no! Stukes hustled down there, soared and smacked the ball at the last possible instant. Later, he turned one of HIS steals into an emphatic dunk. Jr. SF Matt Rodden (two treys) added 16 points for La Salle while Winslow had 12 points and seven rebounds and jr. F Steve Smith claimed 12 boards (five-six in very rapid fashion quite early). The most heartwarming performance, however, was turned in by sub sr. G P.J. Acierno. P.J. is one of those scrappy kids who probably wondered if he’d be able to make it through all four years in the program. Well, not only is he still around, but now you can find him in the rotation. Love it! He rang up nine points in the FIRST half thanks to two treys and a three-point play and through the course of the game he also snagged three rebounds. Sr. WG Markeise Chandler topped McDevitt with 15 points. Jackson managed 13 while Long and jr. G Wilder, off the bench, had 12 apiece. Jr. PG Kenyatta Long hustled for five assists and four steals. I wish I’d known about the alumni game. Luckily, I got there just before it ended and childhood buddy Joe Magarity (East Germantown Rams 4-ever!!) was able to convince the players to line up for a group shot. All-time QB Brett Gordon was among the participants; people forget he was also a quality point guard. Also running up and down was ex-website writing legend Jack “In the Box” Crouse. Jack said there were two games, one for older grads and another for more recents, and that he wound up playing in both. He poured in five points in each game with a pair of treys. Niiiiice. Also had a fun pregame talk with former McDevitt guard Jay Connaghan (’78, pretty sure). He was telling stories about his days at Villanova and how he played for an intramural team that not only competed in a national tournament, but won it! How cool is that?! He said Rollie Massimino approached him one day about maybe joining the Wildcats as a walk-on. Considering the way Rollie almost completely IGNORED Philly guys through his stint on the Main Line, if he’d found out Jay was from McDevitt, he probably would have told him, “On second thought, maybe you should stick with intramurals.” Don't get me started . . .

JAN. 28
NON-LEAGUE
Boys' Latin 64, Del-Val 51 (OT)
  First some facts: BL sr. G Maurice "Doo-Wop" Watson (Boston U.) owned just six points 20 minutes into the game and he finished regulation with no points on free throws (0-for-4; he guessed that was a lifetime first). Jr. PG Yahmir Greenlee, another quality Warrior, did not score his first point until 1:04 remained in OT. Maybe you read those opening tidbits and thought, "No way Boys' Latin could have won that game. The score line must be a lie." Incorrect. The Warriors DID win. Though he tends to get lost in the shuffle, BL has an excellent sr. F in Carlos Taylor (D-II UMass Lowell) and he was the major reason the team stayed afloat. Honestly, a letdown for the Warriors probably should not have surprised in light of how much emotion was spent on Thursday, when Watson lifted his career total to 2,016 points with 22 vs. Gratz. And that's not to say Del-Val was merely lucky because these Warriors (yes, same nickname) played hard and mostly together. (We say mostly because there were some knucklehead moments.) Anyway, Watson exploded for 20 points over the final 16 minutes to finish with 26. He also totaled eight rebounds, three assists and eight steals and his best contribution, arguably, was a three-point play off a dazzling lefthanded layup to start OT. About a minute later, there was a huge flurry of steals and buckets, with Watson front and center, and BL owned a 55-45 lead; it coasted home from there. Taylor added 22 points (three treys) and 10 boards and Greenlee had five assists, three steals. For D-V, sr. WG-SF Khayri King posted 15 points and 14 boards, sr. PG Fateem Brockington had 11 points, three assists, and sr. PF-C Antwan Scriven battled for 15 rebounds. Sr. CG Clayton "CJ" Wolfe, who has come on lately, managed four assists, but had the misfortune of missing both ends of a tech package with 0:11 left in regulation after BL's coach, Maurice Watson Sr., called a timeout his team did not have. (There was a long discussion about the ins and outs and things almost got nasty; if all of this had decided the game, I would have checked into it more.) On the tacked-on possession, Wolfe made a hard drive and delivered a perfect drop-off pass on the right block to sr. G Richard Burton, who'd provided good energy down the stretch. As Burton caught the pass, the instant thought was: This'll be an easy layup and it'll end in the game. Instead, jr. F Eddie Powell appeared seemingly out of nowhere and registered a block. It was a great moment for Powell. D-V, no doubt, is still kicking itself for having gone 12-for-32 at the line. Yes, 12 makes and TWENTY misses. Admittedly, BL was not a whole lot better at 16-for-32. Among the spectators was former D-V star Troy Blue, who's Khayri King's brother.

JAN. 27
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Haverford School 53, Malvern 50
  I’m not sure how long Haverford’s “new gym” has been in use, but this was my first visit. In however many seasons, I’d only seen the Fords in road games and/or the Inter-Ac’s opening tripleheader on college campuses. Anyway, I like this place! There are full stands only on one side, but there’s a balcony above those and there are two sets of mini-stands beyond the baselines at each end. Of course, the overflow crowd probably helped to make such a positive impression! Ha, ha. This was a great night. Lots of energy from large student sections and the teams REALLY went at it. HS has made major headway under first-year coach Henry “Doug” Fairfax, the star guard on the Fords’ last title team in ’99, and this was its first win over Malvern since the 2007 season (when future N-G stars Tyreek Duren and Danny Stewart were still around). Cyber attention went to sr. G Rashaan “Ray” Hollman, who held Malvern sr. WG-SF Brendan Kilpatrick (Vermont) scoreless in the second half and posted the final basket on a long inbound pass from frosh PG Sammy Foreman. Well, Kilpatrick did score two points beyond intermission, but Hollman can’t be held accountable because they came off a steal and quick dunk. Otherwise, Brendan was 0-for-3. Ray is also a football player and possesses good strength and he put that to good advantage. Foreman had a strange night. He took no shots in the first half, then was dominant thereafter. He finished with 17 points (two treys) and again and again made HARD drives from the right or middle that he often finished with his left hand. Foreman also had six rebounds, three assists and four steals and I suspect someone’s going to find out this “kid” is really 30 years old (smile) because of the impressive calm/maturity he shows. Sr. G Zach Thomas, who’s similar to Hollman, drilled two treys en route to 12 points. Jr. PF Sema’j Reed bulled for eight points and six boards in a solid outing. Jr. Tao Xu, the 7-foot Chinese import (the student section is now called Tao’s Zoo), settled for four points and two boards. He did have two blocks, as did soph F Eric Anderson. For Malvern, sr. PG Steve “Heart and Soul” Perpiglia scrambled for 20 points, four assists, two steals and even six rebounds. Kilpatrick hit three consecutive treys in the second quarter and wound up with four assists, two steals, two blocks. Sr. PF-C Tom Pitt had eight points and as many rebounds and sr. G-F Dennis Gabert sank all four of his field goal attempts while totaling nine points. Reed’s follow gave HS a 40-33 lead with 6:01 left, but the Friars rallied (but of course) and Perpiglia’s three-point play made it 49-49 at 1:28. Foreman canned a layup at 0:58 after making a steal and driving three-quarters of the way downcourt. Soon, Perpiglia was being fouled and three/four seconds were slipping off the clock AFTER the whistle blew. No adjustment was made and Malvern coach Jim Rullo was thoroughly hissed. Finally, during a timeout, five seconds were put back on the clock. The teams then combined to miss four free throws in three foul-line visits and Perpiglia followed with a miss on a fall-back trey from the left side. The ball went over the baseline and HS inbounded at 7.2, having to go the length of the court (well, if it wanted to). Foreman whipped the ball long and Hollman caught it in stride, canning the layup while absorbing contact from Perpiglia. He missed the free throw, but Perpiglia’s last-ditch trey, launched a shade to the left of straight-on after a timeout, clanged off the right side of the rim. In at least one way, it was amazing Haverford won: the Fords went just 1-for-9 at the line over the final three quarters. Not good. Meanwhile, do all of the kids in Haverford’s student section need to be punished? After all, they began a chant with the word “youse.” Youse? At an Inter-Ac school? (smile) The Malvern kids had a funny response near the end of the game when Haverford’s began to bust chops. All roared, “Let’s play football! Let’s play football!” Then, a few more added in, at lower volume, “Let’s play soccer!”

JAN. 27
NON-LEAGUE
West Phila. 64, World Comm 56
  Think of the things you've probably never seen at a basketball game, even if you're kinda old (smile). Try this one: World Comm used no subs. This game was played as part of a JV-varsity doubleheader at West and as the JV tilt wound down, WC coach Mike Carpenter was saying to some the JV guys things like, "Hey, No. 22. Stay here . . . No. 33, don't leave . . . " In all, four JV players went through the layup lines with the varsity players. But they were merely window dressing. They sat on the bench and watched. Carpenter said the usual negatives (but mostly poor academic performances) had reduced his squad to SIX players and one guy would be unavailable due to health reasons. That kid, sr. George Baxter, did arrive after a doctor appointment, but remained in street clothes. The Iron Five included four guards -- jr. PG Fa'Teem Glenn, jr. Aaron Searight and sophs Quamir Johnson and Darius Moore -- and a forward/center, soph Robert Moore. Meanwhile, West boss Jermaine Snell used THIRTEEN players and there was a story there, too. By halftime he'd used nine and when the second half began I was stunned to see four new guys out there along with one of the original subs. After the game, Snell comfirmed my suspicion: He'd been unhappy with the mainstays and was trying to send a message. "And it worked, right?" the former Mastbaum guard said, smiling. Yes. The starters showed much more hustle and common sense when they returned and the final moments were mostly comfortable. Two of West's second-half starters were also JV players. Bernard Benjamin, a freshman G, hit two threes while jr. Devon Jackson grabbed eight rebounds in the third quarter alone. Nice work, guys. In the fourth quarter, football star Desmond Sams collected six of his eight points, five of his eight rebounds and two of his three steals. Also, fellow sr. Cameron Estrada (15 points) hit another trey to raise his total to four. Another leader, with 12 points and seven boards, was sr. Marquese Hill. For WC, all but seven points were scored by three guys -- Glenn with 17 points and Searight/Johnson with 16 apiece. Glenn is a little guy with all kinds of spunk. He's mostly lefthanded, but often uses his right to finish drives and is truly a two-way force. He had eight steals while mixing in six assists. Searight is a blossoming WG with decent pop-around skills; he had 11 rebounds. Johnson was similar and had some aggressive drives. R. Moore had three blocks. D. Moore (no relation) looked confident while launching treys, but hit just one of seven. My original plan was to attend Bodine-Bartram to get a look at Bodine's scoring-machine sr. G, Nadir Matthews. At roughly 2:15, I was sitting in my car outside Bartram when I made one last check of e-mails. One was from Bartram's coach, James "JB" Brown. He said Bodine coach Lynn Greer Sr. had canceled the game. Ugh! I remembered West was scheduled to play World Comm and called Snell to confirm. En route to West, I happened to drive down Kingsessing Avenue and -- oh my goodness! -- what a mess there is at 62nd Street. The ol' Mount Moriah Cemetery appears to be abandoned and long, rough grass covers some of the graves. Also, the fence is torn down in some areas. The entrance was unattended, so I drove inside and looked around a little. What a shame. My heart goes out to those whose loved ones are buried there. Click here for pics, from inside and outside.

JAN. 26
PUBLIC A
MC&S 64, Prep Charter 56
  You won’t find MC&S’ team pic in the photo set. Won’t find it with the other squads on the Division A TEAM PAGE, either. Coach Danny Jackson asked if we could do it some other time. Reason: Four players were in street clothes, having been suspended for varying degrees of knuckleheadism. Not just any four players, either. The unavailables included three starters and a guy who’s usually the sixth or seventh man. No matter. Even though this game was played on the road, and PC has fared much better lately after starting the season 0-13 (or maybe 0-12; I forget for sure), MC&S claimed a victory. DN ink went to sr. F Quentin Davis, who sometimes starts but is more often a rotation sub, and he mentioned that he spent 3 hours Wednesday night, until midnight, practicing his mid-range jumper and other shots on the outdoor court at a playground near his house. Guess what? He has a rather soft shot with good form, etc., and he was able to hit from even beyond the foul line. He had 16 points (8-for-11, one dunk), seven rebounds and three blocks despite missing almost a quarter due to foul trouble. All the state schools are on him and Boston University is at least sniffing. Another key Mighty Elephant was jr. PG Abraham Massaley, who scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, thanks mostly to hard drives that got him to the line. Honestly, Massaley got a little too swept up in trying to impress the players, coaches and spectators at his former school, and was even selfish at times, but he did add a feisty demeanor and presented matchup problems for the slower Huskies. Soph F Basil Thompson, a pogo-sticker, had 14 points and nine rebounds. Jr. F Maurice Stevens added 10 boards and frosh CG Tyrese Hester had nine points, two assists, three steals. He’s small and slight, but brings it. I liked him. For PC, sr. G-F Laquan Stephens had 19 points, seven rebounds and three apiece of assists/steals/blocks. Before the game, he was a shooting a giant-sized ball (same weight as a regular one) that’s supposed to boost a player’s confidence. As in, if you can hit jumpers with this thing, you’ll have a blast with a regular ball. Stephens did fare well early, but went cold in the fourth quarter. He had a great approach in times of trouble, however. When he saw he was off on jumpers, he instead went with drives or made sure to really look for even mildly open teammates. That’s what a heady player SHOULD do. Nice job. Soph PF Raheem Liggins, a lefty with strength, had 15 points (though just four boards). Another soph PF, Mustapha Traore, made all four of his shots for eight points. Sr. WG Byron Whiting claimed seven boards. The run-the-show guy was soph Malik Smith. He scored no points (hardly shot, either) but zipped around for eight assists and four steals. PC hung around until the very end, but was always at least four points in arrears. On a very cloudy day, PC’s gym was dark like crazy! When I arrived for the game maybe 50 minutes early, one of PC’s players was in the hallway outside the gym, promising a teacher/administrator/somebody that the Huskies would win. Didn’t quite happen, of course, but the brass was cool. There was an interesting battle of wills late in the game. Jackson called over Massaley to diagram something on a small board and PC coach Rahim Washington told one of his players to go over and stand right next to Jackson/Massaley, so he could listen and maybe even sneak a peak at the diagram. Legendary!

JAN. 24
PUBLIC D
Swenson 62, Randolph 61
  This one had The Look. Know what I mean by that? Here’s the definition of The Look: Team A (usually playing at home) falls behind by roughly 10  to 12 points, and then begins to chip away. The crowd gets louder and louder and something very important of a negative nature affects Team B late in the contest. And by the time the buzzer sounds, Team A has found a way to claim the win. In a nutshell, that’s what happened today in the sunlight-splashed Pelbano RC, in Rhawnhurst. The Lions' stars were sr. PG Haneef Hardy and sr. WG-SF Jay Hardy. Haneef’s main sport is track and Jay’s is basketball and they go back and forth, back and forth, helping each other succeed. Shortly before the end of the third quarter, Haneef received a big shock when Jay (seven points, eight rebounds) incurred his fifth personal. The Lions trailed by 11 but a BIG play happened immediately as two lesser lights combined for a three-point play. Off an inbound-play pass from soph G Naykwon Phillips, sr. G Damian Bagley drained a right-corner trey for his only points of the game. In the fourth quarter, after promising to have his brother’s back, Haneef scored eight of his 15 points, made three of his seven steals and drained the decisive free throw with 1.3 seconds remaining. Not bad, eh? The early loss of Jay Hardy wasn’t the only problem Swenson had to overcome. On the game’s very first play, sr. SF Da’Quan Bellenger suffered what appeared to be a serious ankle injury. He had trouble even standing, at first, then went to another part of the building to get ice. He did make it back into the game, briefly, in the third quarter, but had just two points and was obviously holding back. Randolph is very small, so Swenson was able to own the boards. Sr. C-PF Marcus Tillery, the 6-6 son of King football all-timer Wayne Blassingame, had 11 boards and nine points while jr. SF D’Andre Parmley had 12 and 15. Jr. G Dervin Buckery went 4-for-4 at the line in the final minutes and did a great defensive job on Randolph’s franchise player, sr. CG Eugene Lett. Lett, who’s maybe 5-7, finished with 25 points, five assists (six more went unconverted) and six steals before fouling out with 1:33 left. It was amazing to watch him go through/around anybody/everybody with VERY crisp dribbling skills and a just-TRY-to-stop-me aura. Alas, his shooting was subpar as he went 10-for-29 from the floor. Many of those misses were “almosts” off hard drives. The gym has those dreaded double rims, which give rolls to no one. Eugene’s dad, Gene, who had some great guard moments for the old Parkway, was in attendance and Son broke his ankles in a pre-game photo shoot arranged by your truly (smile). No one else scored in double figures for ‘Dolph, but undersized jr. F Jamal Phillips and jr. G Deontae Richardson had nine points apiece. They also bagged 13 and nine rebounds, respectively, and Richardson mixed in four assists with three steals. The Raptors had just eight players. Another father-son team was also in the house. On Swenson’s bench, in fact. Pat Durkin is the Lions’ coach and Dave is his assistant. I’d pay to see a game of 2-on-2 between the Lettses and Durkins. Two short guys against potential NFL linemen. Both teams would score on every possession (smile).

JAN. 23
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Judge 81, McDevitt 70
  Maybe I'm reading far too much into something here, but there was one nugget I noticed during warmups. Not one McDevitt player EVER attempted a free throw. The Lancers shot only layups and jumpers while Judge kids took turns at the line while the usual stuff also happened. So, then, in the game, McDevitt was pretty shabby at the line (13-for-27, 48 percent) while Judge, though hardly terrific, was 17-for-28 for 61 percent. Nine of McDevitt's misses came in the final quarter, during which it was outscored, 27-20. Before the game and again at halftime, wouldn't it help to shoot at least SOME free throws? If nothing else, just to get acclimated to the gym's assorted quirks? Just a thought, folks. I mean, they're called FREE throws for a reason . . . Meanwhile, LOTS to like about this game. It was almost like a Pub game between quality teams, one where everybody goes hard and shows no fear and entertainment is offered on almost every possession. Thanks for the show, guys! DN ink went to sr. WG-SF Brian Hennessey, who is a good, long-distance shooter but is assuredly not a one-trick pony. He shot 7-for-14 (three treys) and 1-for-5 (how'd that happen?) for 18 points while adding 10 rebounds and two apiece of assists, steals and blocks. Among his field goals were two dunks -- go, white boy! go, white boy! (ha ha) -- and they brought his season's total to 11. Brian once was Judge's QB and I appreciate that he gave some thoughtful answers to questions about what had gone wrong -- he lost the job to Rob Daniels -- and why he'd decided to stick things out. After all, his dad, Fran, is a basketball assistant at Judge, so if he'd ditched football everyone would have understood. As the third quarter was about to expire, Hennessey was 0-for-4 from Threeball Land. But he took a pass from jr. F Jeff Seigafuse, released an off-balance, left-wing trey in a big-time hurry and, splash!, it found nothing but net. From the exact same spot, though in comfortable fashion, Hennessey drained another trey to start the fourth quarter. And less than two minutes later, this time from the corner, he was reeling in another pass from Seigafuse and, you got it, giddily hitting another treyball to make it 60-52. The Crusaders maintained control from there. Jr. CG Steven Griffin led Judge with 24 points as he shot 7-for-16 (three treys) and 7-for-10. He was mostly on the wings in the early stages as jr. Sean Hanna handled the point. Later, in crunch time, he operated from up top and was pretty much able to do what he wanted, when he wanted. He truly drives with skill and brass and it's hard to keep him from getting where he wants to go. I would like to see more of a well-rounded effort, though. Steven had just four other stats and only one of those was an assist. Hanna (12) and jr. F-C Joe Robinson (10) also scored in double figures while soph F Malik Robinson mixed eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks). Seigafuse (six boards, four assists) and sr. sub G Connor Donohoe (seven points, four assists, three steals) also made prominent contributions. Only four players scored for McDevitt. Sr. F Brahieme Jackson shot 7-for-16 and 10-for-17 for 24 points. Six times, he did the make-one, miss-one thing at the line. He did have some great sealoffs in the low post. Sr. WG Markeise Chandler had 19 points, six rebounds and two assists. He carried the Lancers early as Jackson had trouble getting untracked. Carl Garner, a thin jr. F, had 14 points, five rebounds and three steals while jr. WG Jordan Watson, a lefty, scored nine of his 13 points in the second quarter. Sr. C Mike Newns grabbed six boards. The night's far-and-away highlight was seeing ol' family friend Jim Berghaier, who is one of the most famous ex-policemen in Philadelphia history. (Google the name with the number 6221). Jim was a quality umpire and I used to see him on the baseball trail. Also, his son, Jason, was a prominent catcher and linebacker at Judge. Jim, all these years later, I'm still humbled to be in your presence. You have more courage in your little finger than most of us would be able to summon from three bodies. Thanks for coming over to say hello and best of luck with EVERYTHING.

JAN. 23
PUBLIC C
Northeast 65, Central 54
  **Good player alert! Good player alert!** This was my first look at Northeast and, though the game itself was nothing off-the-chartsish, the glance itself was well worth it because of jr. PG Darryl Bagwell. Dude can play, folks. Not only did he score 28 points. He added six assists and five steals and reacted well to a hint of discipline. Coming out of halftime with a 33-26 lead, Northeast coach Dennis Engleman wanted to hold the ball and make Central chase; mindful no doubt that Bagwell borders on the un-chaseable. Instead, Bagwell launched an early trey and was yanked. During Bagwell's, uh, vacation, Central rallied and cut the deficit to 35-34. Having properly learned a lesson, Bagwell led the Vikings to 10 points before the end of the quarter and he was part of eight of them (scoring five, passing for three more). Admittedly, Central had no one who could truly get in Bagwell's face, but I suspect he'd be successful against pretty much anyone. He has a wide base as he dribbles and that makes guys instinctively back off. He also has a good dribbling tempo, switching from quick to slow and back again, as needed. Plus, his buckets came on a mixture of treys (four), pull-ups and drives and he was near-money (6-for-7) at the line. Only the starters scored for Northeast and the others posted from eight to 11 points. Jr. G Daquan Bohannan, one of the many football QBs, hit three treys from the corner while managing 10 points. The kid with the only hint of size, jr. PF Keith Fletcher, had eight points and five boards. Jr. WG Kyree Simpson, a lefty, worked well with Bagwell en route to eight points, two assists and even eight rebounds. Sr. G-F Yusef Savage had 11 points, six boards and two dimes. Like the first time I saw Central, the most productive player was jr. WG Kyle Lafferty. He sniped 4-for-6 on treys while scoring 25 points and also dealt six assists. When a WG does that, it's a sure sign that he isn't selfish and that he knows what to do when doubled. Soph PF-C Chris Bing posted nine points, but his lack of strength continued to hamper his efforts to rebound; he settled for four. Soph PG Walter Pegues got the start at PG and dealt five assists. Off the bench, sr. F Corey Edwards-Fuller snagged four rebounds and jr. WG Romario Dorlus had eight points. As always, I had a nice talk before the game, about all things Pub, with athletic director Jim Sinnott. Also like always, Central's gym resembled a cave and all kinds of dots appeared on the photos. I have no idea why, but that ALWAYS happens at Central. Two baskets by Lafferty, one off an assist by Pegues and another off a spin-around jumper, pulled the Lancers within 59-54 with 1:02 left. Bagwell added two free throws and, following an empty possession by Central, Bohannan hit one of two to create comfort. I wrote this in the cafeteria at Judge, awaiting the game vs. McDevitt.

JAN. 22
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Lansdale Catholic 44, Bonner 38
  All connected with Bonner and Prendie hope the schools stay open. But let’s face it, nothing is guaranteed and this is likely the Friars’ last season. No CL wins have yet been claimed (nor overall wins, for that matter) and the opponent, Lansdale Catholic, was also carrying an oh-fer in league play. Bingo! Count me in! I’m always a sucker for these Somebody’s Gonna Be Happy affairs. As the tipoff for the varsity contest approached, there was literally NO ONE in the last two sections of the stands (except for me) across from Bonner’s bench. So much for the thought that maaaaaybe Bonner’s student rooters would show up in force, mindful that perhaps they’d see the last CL win in school history. Seconds before the tipoff, three kids did appear. Then three more. And then six more. Along with three girls. But that’d be it. As the game unfolded, there was almost no actual cheering. Just a lot of funny, biting remarks directed at LC’s players. As for the game itself . . . Hardly a classic, but respectable. LC’s coach is Ed Enoch, one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet and my ex-teammate at Penn Charter. (Actually, I was HIS teammate because he was great and I was at least the last man, maybe lower than that – smile). Ed was a freshman when I was a senior and even played some varsity then. He went on to become a stalwart at PC and Penn and it was GREAT to see him for the first time in forever. Early, Ed had the Crusaders lookin’ like Ryan. They had great success with ball movement and back-door cuts and claimed a 17-10 lead in the first eight minutes. The early hero was soph G Brian Rafferty, a rangy kid who shot 4-for-4 in that frame. Also vital was the play of soph G Andrew Riviello, who added five points and three steals. As evidenced by the score line, Bonner did regroup and the prime mover and shaker was sr. G-F Paul Pfeffinger. In the second quarter, he posted a pair of three-point plays to total eight points. From there it was rather evident that Bonner would find a way to threaten hard and, indeed, that happened. The tie, at 34-34, occurred with 6:55 left as jr. F-C Pat Vanderslice converted a pass from Pfeffinger. LC added the next five points (Riviello had four of 'em) -- over 4 ½ minutes, no less – and the Crusaders eased home from there. With 21.4 left, the second of two free throws provided LC a 42-38 edge. Good defense prevented Bonner from getting a good scoring opportunity early in the possession and spunky/feisty/purposeful sr. backup PG Dan McLoone, who entered 2:06 into the game and remained on the floor throughout, wound up barely missing a trey from a shade to the right of dead-on at 0:09. Riviello added two more free throws to wrap things up. DN ink went to sr. PG Alex Talarico, LC’s lone senior. He had seven points and three assists, but more importantly he boasts a 4.0 GPA and is likely headed for Navy. VERY cool. Rafferty had 15 points and two apiece of assists/steals, and he missed just one shot from the floor. Riviello (12 points) had only two field goals while being dogged by McLoone and, in fact, was able to get free for just four shots. Jr. G Cole Sagan had five points and two assists. (Remember, folks, this wasn’t exactly a statfest – smile). Vanderslice (two treys) and Pfeffinger finished with 12 points apiece and the former added six rebounds. Jr. G Bliss Harris, a recent addition to the squad, was second on the team in boards with three, despite limited duty. He also made his two shots for five points. The rest of Bonner’s league games will be Judge, Wood, McDevitt, N-G, La Salle and Ryan. Doesn’t look good for a CL triumph, but the Friars will visit Perkiomen Valley this Wednesday night and coach Tom Meakim is looking to schedule one other non-league foe. Though I’m not allowed to root, I do NOT want to see this Bonner squad finish 0-22. Does anyone? (Except maybe some folks from bitter-rival O’Hara – smile).

JAN. 21
NON-LEAGUE
Vaux 64, Haverford School 55
  Late in the first half, star jr. G Rysheed Jordan came down awkwardly and then went, hop, hop, hopping toward the southwest corner of Vaux' gym. The injury didn't LOOK serious, but who knew for sure? Would we see him in the second half? Yes, but in different sneakers. Gone were the low-cut greens. In their place were high-top blacks with blue trim. As the game continued, Jordan looked fine. He scored 19 of his 31 points beyond intermission and had some big moments as the Cougars assumed command, then eased into a comfort zone. In all, 'Sheed shot 8-for-15 (two treys) and 13-for-15 and most of his free throws were dead-center splashes. He also had six rebounds and three apiece of assists/steals. To boot, Jordan was responsible for all 10 of the points coming out of halftime as he scored seven and passed to sr. WG James Cole (20 points) for a right-corner trey. The last time I saw Vaux, Cole poured in 36 points and made seven consecutive threes. In this one, he went 4-for-6 from Out There. So, with yours truly in attendance, he has drained 11 of his last 13. Phew! Simeon Chaplin, a 6-9 sr. C, was barely on the court due to foul trouble. He had three boards and never took a shot. Sr. F Corey Morris picked the slack by hustling for eight rebounds. Sr. PG Shawn "Skate" Williams had just five points and all four of his assists were posted in the first quarter. Though I love Williams' skills and toughness, today I felt he got too swept up in trying to outdo whichever player was guarding him (usually sr. Zach Thomas). Hopefully, such an approach will not be repeated because the Cougars need him to be his ol' self, the one who makes the ball talk. For HS, frosh PG Sammy Foreman mixed 14 points with five assists and everyone agrees: this kid will be VERY good. Tao Xu, the 6-11 (or 7-foot) import from China, had 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks. No. 1, he needs to grab more boards. No. 2, he needs to receive more passes! He took just six shots, hitting five. One was a deadly jumper from maybe 17 feet. Elsewhere, on the left block, he used a perfect drop-step to easily deposit a layup. Thomas had eight points and went just 2-for-11 on treys. Sr. WG Rashann "Ray" Hollman had nine points and seven rebounds. Soph G-F Eric Anderson totaled six points and eight boards while showing a decent wing span and hops (especially for a white boy -- ha ha). That aforementioned drop-step bucket by Xu drew the Fords within 55-51 1:35 from game's end. Williams hit two free throws 10 seconds later and then Jordan's steal/assist combo with Cole (layup) pretty much clinched things. Impressively, especially considering the 4 o'clock start and icy roads, the stands on the north side of the gym were pretty much filled (there ARE none elsewhere in the gym). Among those spectators were two excellent point guards, Darrell "Heat" Gates and Gregory "Fatty" Cunningham, for Public League champs. Heat was the brains for the 1985 Dobbins squad that featured Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble. Fatty filled that same role for Strawberry Mansion in 2000. When those guys watch games, I wonder if they just enjoy or constantly try to dissect everything through the eyes of a point guard?

JAN. 20
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 56, Malvern 44
  This day and night were just too eerie. This upset unfolded in the exact same fashion as SCH’s win over GA. The home team got off to a great early start, withstood the visitor’s rally and, mostly, was able to feel comfortable as the game wound down. One big difference: SCH sr. G Billy Dooley was absent throughout due to injury (concussion) while PC jr. C Mike McGlinchey missed the final 12:47 of the first half due to foul trouble. Come to think of it, the first half was not a good time to be Irish (smile). While McGlinchey only watched and no doubt steamed, Malvern sr. WG Brendan Kilpatrick went scoreless while missing all four shots. Though McGlinchey rallied hard in the second half to finish with 14 points and 12 rebounds, Kilpatrick never did get untracked. The Vermont signee did manage to score 10 points, but went just 2-for-15 from the floor and one of those buckets came on a follow. The defensive credit goes to soph PG Sean O’Brien, who also did a terrific job of floor-generaling. Cyber attention went to sr. WG John Moderski. Remember him from football? He was the guy who spent part of the season playing with casts on both hands! Moderski also plays lacrosse and that’ll be his college sport, but he’s a darn productive hoopster as well thanks to brass and non-stop energy. He had 24 points, three assists and two steals and packed 14 of his markers into the last quarter, thanks to 9-for-10 marksmanship at the line. Sr. WG Nick Lamb added five points and three apiece of assists/steals and the play of sr. F Grant Shaffer was very important during McGlinchey’s absence. He had four points, five rebounds and the same number of steals in those first 16 minutes, and seemed to be involved in every big moment. This was Malvern’s first loss in 18 outings, and the Friars deserve major props for taking perfection deep into January. There’d been some VERY close calls along the way and I guess a loss was to be expected at some juncture. In this one the best Friar was sr. F-C Tom Pitt, who contributed 11 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Sr. G-F Dennis Gabert hit all four of his shots, one free throw included, for seven points and sr. PG Steve Perpiglia had 12 points, three assists. PC had outrageously loud support from its Quaker Crew (student fans) and at one point one of the guys came trotting across the court with a sense of urgency. It was football star Daryl Worley and the reason was this: Part of the wooden stands had experienced a mini-collapse and Daryl had cut his hand while falling. He was treated by the trainers, then scrambled back into the stands to an exuberant welcoming committee. At game’s end, the kid came STORMING across the court and engulfed the players right at the bench area. It was quite a sight. Among the visitors: former Gratz stars Keith Walls and Michael Blunt. Each was a starter for a Pub champion and each is tight with PC’s new coach, former Gratz all-timer Lynard Stewart, our Player of the Year in ’94.

JAN. 20
INTER-AC LEAGUE
SCH Academy 53, Gtn. Academy 48
  When a decided underdog opts for the play-carefully approach, every early possession is crucial. Missed shots can sap all confidence -- not to mention lead to fastbreaks for the stronger opposition -- and, poof, there goes the chance for an upset. In this one, the already shorthanded Blue Devils were forced to go without sr. CG Billy Dooley (American U.) due to the lingering effects of a concussion. After the Blue Devils opened the game by holding the ball for a shade more than a minute, jr. G Michael Hayes hit a trey on a pass from jr. G Bobby Keyes. GA came up empty and downcourt came the BDs again. This time Keyes did the beyond-the-arc launching and . . . bang! A quick 6-0 lead. The tone was set and the good vibrations remained throughout in front of an overflow afternoon crowd. (A night game was nixed because of fan scuffling at a recent hockey game between these schools.) With 2:42 left in the third quarter, GA did force a tie, at 29-29, on a pair of free throws by jr. F Greg Dotson, but as the session ended, Keyes got the ball on the left baseline and embarked on a hard drive to the hoop. He finished on the right side of the hoop and used an impressive amount of spin to bounce the ball home off the glass. Keyes and Hayes were hardly a couple-moments flashes. In fact, the football stars halved 38 points! In addition to his 19 points, Keyes dealt six assists and Hayes' 19-point outing featured 5-for-6 sniping on treys. He packed 17 of his points into the first half. Imagine that, right? Thirty-eight points by prime gridders. Great to see that multisportism is still a staple in the Inter-Ac. SCH's original PG, sr. Luke Mulvaney, has been out with a major knee injury since early December. So, aside from the fact that Mulvaney and Dooley were missing from this one, sr. G-F Malik Garner (UMBC) spent part of the afternoon limping around and so did sr. G Ryan Smith (big brace on knee). SCH took a 42-33 lead with 2:21 as Keyes hit two free throws. It was maybe 5:08 at this time and the game didn't end until 5:30. There were all kinds of fouls and offense-defense substitutions, with some referee/coach discussions mixed in, and the waning moments just took forEVVVVer. GA did charge within 51-46 and had a chance to really create drama at 0:12. But sr. Cameron Retif, after having to readjust his feet (Garner caused that), couldn't hit a right-corner trey and Hayes added two free throws at 0:08 to seal the win. Off the bench, jr. G-F Andrew Dowds and jr. G-F Tom Higgins had big moments. Dowd grabbed some tough offensive rebounds and Higgins managed two boards and an assist almost immediately upon entering the game. Uusally for GA, jr. PG Nick Lindner and sr. WG James Drury are death-and-taxes on jumpers. But in this one, the former shot just 3-for-9 and the latter was 0-for-8. The active Dotson (20 points) was the only remotely reliable option on offense. Afterward, I decided to bolt for Penn Charter and write the Daily News story there before the PC-Malvern game. But there is major construction on roads near SCH and that forced a zig-zaggy trip that required roughly 25 minutes. Ugh. I wound up sitting on a folding chair in PC's downstairs wrestling room. As I was typing away, a whole bunch of girls and ladies walked in. Huh? Well, this room also turned out to the halftime meeting room for Notre Dame Academy's girls' team, which was playing PC in the preliminary. Then later, guess who else showed up? Malvern's players and coaches! I guess the upstairs locker rooms are extra small and the larger space for meeting just feels more comfortable? Anyway, by this point the SCH-GA game had been over for maybe 90 minutes, but . . . the Malvern coaches were unaware that SCH had pulled off the upset. Hard to believe in this era of instant info everywhere, right?

JAN. 19
PUBLIC B
University City 57, Lincoln 54
  Though the DN ink went to sr. CG Diante Lunsford, a good player and kid with aspirations of playing Division II ball, the beginning of this report HAS to focus on Lincoln’s Michael Bowlers, a 6-7 sr. C. All he did was explode for 35 points and 26 rebounds while adding five blocks. From what I understand, Bowlers will likely have to go the JV route, so here’s hoping he lands someplace where the coach will care and turn him into a D-I player. Bowlers is highly intriguing to watch. He’s a lefty (I think – ha ha) and I say it that way because he uses his right hand to dribble and even shoot just as much, and even on free throws it’s tough to tell which hand is dominant because his release is seriously funky. He’s kinda thin and not a skywalker (at least not today), but he’s deceptively strong and he doesn’t camp out nonstop on the blocks. In fact, several times he made authoritative moves to the hoop from outside the arc and showed great body control as he weaved around/through people. Very cool to watch him play! There was an interesting development before the game began. Lincoln’s gym has a partition at the west end and another mini-gym beyond that. UC coach Tim Castanza took his team back there to work on a few things and then the game began and . . . bingo, the Jaguars rolled to a 13-0 lead. Lunsford hit two treys in that rush to early glory and followed them with a three-fingers-by-the-mouth gesture made famous by NBAer Russell Westbrook. At home games, Diante said, the fans always go “Booooom!” when he drops his hands to his side. Legendary. Lunsford had 18 points and four apiece of rebounds/assists/steals and showed equal skill on the wing, and at the point. PG will be his college position and UC’s coaches, Castanza and former boss Ken Gritter, are really in his corner for the way he handles himself as a player/person. They’re now reaching out to college coaches. Another prominent Jaguar is sr. WG Marcus Lyles, the lil’ guy who tore up the Pub receiving world this past fall. Marcus went 9-for-13 at the line en route to 13 points and showed poise in traffic. Jr. PF-C Quahdire Gordon, the one guy with bulk, had 14 points and the same number of rebounds in a solid performance. Jr. WG Khayri “Cheese” Washington nailed a pair of treys and sr. Joshua Fenwick, who wound up being UC’s starting quarterback, mixed five rebounds and two blocked shots. The Lincoln players not named Bowlers combined to shoot 8-for-35 (ouch). Sr. WG Jarmel Kenan did manage 10 points. None of the other Railsplitters had more than four boards, two assists or two steals. With 3:02 left, UC expanded its lead to 50-46 on Lunsford's three-point play (assist to Lyles). Lincoln never quite went away, but there was no true drama in the waning moments; the last bucket was a freebie. Lincoln’s gym is very bright, so most the pics were snapped without the help of the flash. Big Steve Reid and I sat at the east end of the gym and beautiful dueling photographers spent part of the game to our sides. Sarah Glover of the good, ol’ Daily News to our right and Jenny Swigoda of the Northeast Times to our left. Big Steve was distracted Big Time. Since I’m married, I wasn’t allowed to be . . . At least that's my story (smile). Thanks to Ed McGettigan, Lincoln’s AD and football coach, for his commonplace hospitality. The only thing he couldn’t do was turn down the thermometer. I was sweating just sitting in a chair.

JAN. 18
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Roman 54, Ryan 48
  When playing against Ryan, it’s often not the second or third pass that gets you. It’s the seventh or eighth . . . or 12th. Until the stretch run, when the Raiders finally created some room for themselves and began knocking down shots, Roman played defense about as well as it can be played. In the middle two quarters, Ryan went almost 13 minutes without a field goal and that’s simply incredible considering how hard the Raiders work TO free themselves for back-door layups or open treys. The Cahillites are to be commended for digging in time after time to perform duty that redefines boredom but is absolutely necessary if the eventual goal is truly a W. DN ink went to jr. G-F Raquan Brown-Johnson, who now finds himself part-time in the frontcourt because he continues to grow and grow. He’s now a shade over 6-4 and the family physician said he can expect to hit 6-7 before he starts his senior year. Whoa! RBJ missed the first four games of the season due to an academic slip and I’m sure he learned a lot about himself, in a positive fashion, while coping with game inactivity (he WAS allowed to practice) and enduring daily tutoring sessions. RBJ finished with eight points and put Roman ahead for good, at 16-15, by hitting a free throw 3:37 before halftime. He was also part of what was likely the play of the night. In Ryan's offensive end, soph CG Shep Garner made a steal and whipped a pass far downcourt. With a leap across the baseline, sr. G Britton Lee gained control in midair and guided the ball to Brown-Johnson, whose layup made it 23-17. Garner was largely terrific en route to 25 points, four assists and three steals. He showed a combination of strong, through-traffic moves along with rock-a-bye-baby jumpers that included three from behind the arc. Knowing how competitive he is, however, I’m sure he wasn’t happy about missing five (of 13) foul shots in the fourth quarter. He did drain his last four, however, and they were needed because of Ryan's late-game push. Jr. F Shafeek Taylor added nine points and eight rebounds. Ryan scored 28 of its 48 points in the fourth quarter, though the scoreboard showed 49 at game’s end. On one occasion, jr. G Bryan Okolo hit a right-wing jumper and the nearest ref clearly pointed to the floor to indicate the bucket was not a trey. Somehow, Ryan’s point total jumped by three and no one at the table caught the boo-boo. Dave “Not the Hammer” Schultz, a big scholastic basketball fan, was also keeping a scorebook, high in the stands across from the benches and, like me, made a beeline for the scorers’ table at game’s end. He also had 48 points for Ryan. Not sure what happened, discussion-wise, because I left to head for Roman’s locker room as the proceedings were getting started, but Dave much later walked over and said, while I was interviewing RBJ, that the issue had been resolved. By the way, before and after games, Ryan’s players and coaches meet in a classroom way down at the front end of the school. Then, eventually, they make it back to the locker room adjacent to the court. The interview with RBJ started in that locker room and then, guess what happened. Ryan’s whole team walked in because that was where their belongings and/or street clothes were kept. Zoom. We were outta there. I knew the last thing the Raiders wanted to hear was an interview with a kid from the other team (smile). Meanwhile, Okolo went borderline berserk in the fourth quarter, hitting three treys and scoring 15 of his 20 points. Sr. PF-C Christian Rivera was also productive, posting 11 of his 13. They also wound up being Ryan’s rebound leaders for the game: five for CR, four for BO. I watched the game, which followed a 43-40, double-OT JV win for Ryan, from the pushed-back stands at the south end of the gym, sitting with the great John Quinn, former head football coach at Ryan (three stints) AND Roman (as well as Conwell-Egan and North Catholic). John goes back to Ryan’s very beginning and some of his basketball memories are quite distinct. Always VERY cool to spend time around John. Plus, he had the line’s best night. Not sure if you’ve seen the Cahillites yet this season, but they’re wearing bright yellow sneakers. John said, “It makes them look like Mummers.” Ha, ha, ha!

JAN. 18
PUBLIC C
Audenried 59, Bracetti 44
  This game was a makeup from last week and Bracetti's gym is something from another world (smile). To say it's dark is somehow insufficient. There are only eight lights and bulbs in my living room are probably brighter. Plus, the walls are the out-of-bounds lines at both ends (even though baselines ARE painted onto the court) and the three-point arc meets the sideline maybe 2 feet from the foul-line extended. So, yes, this court is even thinner than Roman's! Anyway, Audenried has been back in the Pub for two years now and rookie coach Wali Smith has an interesting group. A year ago, I did a story about Juawann Mason, who had to play center at maybe 5-11. He now goes roughly 6 foot and is able to play on the wing/baseline because sr. Cole Askew goes about 6-4/6-5 and has a decent amount of bulk. Mason finished with 13 points and, oddly, nine of them came on three-point plays. Yes, plays, not treys. Two of them came off steals at the end of the third/beginning of the fourth and helped the Rockets (the nickname was Warriors in the old, knocked-down building) create some space. Mason finished with five steals and six boards. Askew, who didn't really look to score, had six boards and three blocks. Jr. WG Qaadir Nock scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and, like last year, had the look of a confident shooter. Off the bench, sr. PG Maurice Wiltbanks showed great energy and a take-that mentality. I'd be shocked if this kid does not live somewhere in the heart of South Philly. His chief stat: four assists. Sr. Daquan Jones, the PG starter, had three dimes. One of Audenried's subs was sr. G Kyseem Townes and old heads are going to ask a certain question immediately. Yes, he IS related to Southern all-timer Kareem "Rab" Townes, who was a flat-out scoring machine. In fact, Kyseem is Rab's son. (Even has the same ultra-thin build and face.) I hope you're doing well, Rab! For Bracetti, sr. WG-SF Luis Cirilo battled for 26 points. Though he's a lefty, his right hand is also impressive and he has a good grasp of how to use quick/slow/quick dribbles to free himself. He also possesses decent strength and plays hard no matter what. His field goals included two treys, but he'd probably be a better fit with a college team that gets it and goes due to his talents in the open floor. Jr. WG Jorge Quinones had a rough day, going 0-for-10 before posting a late bucket. He's also a lefty, as is sr. C Christopher Morgan (six rebounds). Jr. Zamir Boney and soph F Edward Booker added six and five boards, respectively. A telling fact: jr. PG Hasson Harrington managed no assists. Quinones' rough outing was part of that. Next year, it's expected that Bracetti will be housed in the former North Catholic. It'll be fun to go to that gym again!

JAN. 17
PUBLIC A
Phila. Elec. 58, Constitution 56
  A while before the game began, Tom Davidson, ConHigh’s principal, said hello while waking past and asked whether I’d spoken to coach Rob Moore about what was going on. I told him no and figured maybe one of the Generals’ two franchise players, sr. G Daiquan Walker or sr. F-C Savon Goodman, was ready to announce a college commitment. Big Steve Reid and I were sitting footsteps from the Generals’ warmup basket and at one point I mentioned to him, “What the heck is going on here? This could be a classic battle and these guys are lifeless.” BSR agreed and soon we found out what was happening. For the center jump, Moore sent out his fifth starter, sr. PF Fajion Jones, and four very little guys no one has ever heard of. That’s right. Moore picked this day to send a message to Walker, Goodman, sr. F Craig “Poppy” Slade (transfer from Bonner) and sr. PG Tamir Bolger. In recent games, they’d been selfish and/or unfocused and/or lazy and/or inclined to go off half-cocked, so Moore decided to sit them. His original plan, as he mentioned at halftime, had been to discipline the Not-So-Fab Four for the first half, then to go with them if the score was tight. Know what? ConHigh led at halftime, 34-32! And Moore decided to let the young bucks finish things out. I agree with that decision, completely! The Generals were brassy throughout, but trailed by 20-10 after one quarter mostly because they committed eight turnovers and had six shots rejected. Then, amazingly, they stormed to the first 10 points of the second quarter and it was game on from there. Jones, a lefty with decent strength, showed game-long gonads amidst PET’s trees and finished with 26 points, 18 rebounds and five steals. The other mainstays were frosh G Akeem King (15 points), frosh G Haneef Vaughn (nine points, four assists, three steals), frosh G Kimar Williams (four assists) and sr. G Shaire Tolson-Ford (six rebounds). Those four had combined for just 18 points all season. Early in the game, Big Steve saw King make a hard drive and gushed, “They ballin’! They ain’t scared!” No doubt. These kids deserve major credit for almost pulling off what would have been, perhaps, the No. 2 upset in city history (No. 1 is the win by North Catholic’s JV over Bishop McDevitt in a 1968 Catholic League quarterfinal at the Palestra; the entire varsity was suspended for cutting classes). If PET had been sensible/disciplined enough to turn this into a halfcourt game, it would have dominated. It could/should have run high-low plays on every possession with 6-9 jr. Jai Williams and 6-8 sr. David George. Instead, the Chargers got swept up in lunacy and that was why the issue was still in doubt until the very end. DN ink went to George, who collected 15 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks. He’s a great student and Colgate assistant Mike McGarvey, former star guard at Penn Charter, drove all the way down to watch him play. Late in the game, George made a leaping attempt at a dunk and – God in heaven! – it appeared he took off from maybe 12 feet away. Unbelievable! Alas, the ball hit the heel of the rim. Williams had seven points and just four boards. Huh? Just four boards? Sr. WG-SF Emmanuel Brown posted three wolf-downs en route to 18 points (also had nine rebounds) and sr. PG Hakeem Baxter mixed 14 points with seven assists and four steals. With 2:31 left and ConHigh down by four, Moore received a tech for chirping at one of the refs. As Baxter prepared to shoot one of the free throws, Moore added at somewhat high volume, “You missed three calls!” A Generals’ supporter was sitting almost directly across the court from Moore. That guy added, “He missed FIVE calls!” ConHigh rallied into a 56-56 tie, then Williams canned a layup from Baxter at 0:27. The final visual was this: Baxter missed a one-and-one at 0:02 and the rebound was grabbed in the lane by Tolson-Ford, who wound up for a baseball-like heave. His arm became interlocked with the arm of a PET player as he whipped the ball kinda downcourt, but . . . there was no call! Imagine if the whistle had tweeted. T-F would have gone to the line with a chance to tie it or win it. Phew! By the way, Moore said the suspended guys, who WERE part of pregame warumps, would be back in action for the next game. Whether they’ve learned a lesson, well, that remains to be seen.

JAN. 16
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
West Catholic 49, Bonner 41
  We’ll assume you’ve heard of the movie White Men Can’t Jump. Well, it might be take for another . . . Not All White Boys Shoot Jumpers. Jr. PF-C Pat Vanderslice and soph WG Jack Carden hit one trey apiece for Bonner, but here’s a strong assumption that every other field goal was a layup off a hard drive or a follow. Amazing! The Friars attempted only six other treys despite the fact they trailed by a lot very early. Hey, if your guys are not good shooters from even medium distance, no sense launching those shots and/or treys, right? This was an emotional night because both schools are going to close. Congrats to West’s co-AD, Mary DeMasi, for making a mini-speech beforehand. West’s hoops history goes back to the CL’s very beginning in the 1919-20 school year. Bonner, briefly known as Archbishop Prendergast, joined the crew in 1955-56 and its first league season produced an 0-13 record. Unfortunately, those exact same numbers are possible this season (and so far, the Friars are winless overall, as well). Bonner did not post its first field goal until 1:19 remained in the first quarter; it was a layup by jr. sub F Christian Summers on an inbound pass from Vanderslice. FG No. 2 (off a hard drive by Carden) didn’t come until 2:02 before halftime and, up to that point, the Friars were 1-for-18 from the floor. Wow! Major kudos, though, for mounting a comeback (and we’ll get back to game details momentarily). DN ink went to sr. PF-C Anthony Fleet, who’s a GREAT representative of West! He had eight points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks. That’s merely scratching the surface, folks. Anthony also maintains a 4.0 GPA and is the student president of the school’s WestNet closed-circuit TV station. Very cool. With only 170 pounds on his 6-5 frame, Anthony is quite gangly and, as he acknowledged, his hands sometimes fail him. But there’s potential and any D-III coach would wind up calling it an honor to have him in the program. Sr. WG Mark Perez led West with 16 points despite a shaky performance (4-for-9) at the line. “Burr”-ly football lineman Jaryd "Burger" Jones-Smith claimed seven rebounds while jr. G Marquese Daniels (four) and Perez totaled seven assists. Summers (14), Carden (11) and Vanderslice (eight) topped Bonner. Sr. F Paul Pfeffinger (eight), Vanderslice (seven), jr. G Bliss Harris (six) and Summers (five) were the rebound leaders. Summers scored almost exclusively on VERY authoritative baseline drives. I’m told he’s the nephew of Dan Summers, a former first team All-City football player for Bonner and, man oh man, he looks exactly like Dan, facially. After inching back little by little, Bonner slipped into storm-back mode and cut the deficit to six with 1:16 left as Summers made a leaping steal of an inbound pass – it was thrown from right in front of him -- and deposited a layup. Impressive. But West flew right upcourt and Daniels hit sr. G Jaleel Reed, the football quarterback, for a provide-some-comfort layup. Bonner sr. G Dan McLoone, one of our Best Teammate ’12 candidates, did some impressive, leaping side-bumps with teammates during the introductions of the starters (smile). Lots of current West football players were in attendance, as was former star WR Jaelen Strong-Rankin (’11), whose late father, John, was a standout Burr hoopster. Carroll coach Paul Romanczuk followed me on the trail today; he was also at Prep to scout the Hawks-McDevitt tilt. Prep coach Speedy Morris also wound up in the building; not sure what time he arrived. The Puckster rode over with me from Prep to West. As we approached the table where Mary DeMasi and Brian Fluck were seated, selling tickets and pretzels/sodas, I asked them, “Is there a holding cell in here somewhere? If so, please put Puck in it!!” No such luck. My goodness, was he ever babbling today/tonight.

JAN. 16
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 77, McDevitt 53
  McDevitt is better than it has been in a while, but you wouldn't have known that today. The Prep cruised from start to finish and the lead ballooned to as many as 30 points. (Well, close to it, anyway. Wasn't keeping play by play at that point.) You'll never believe this, but Prep coach William "Speedy" Morris was vehemently against the rule allowing three-point baskets when it was instituted roughly 25 years ago. Now? He LOVES it. Mostly because his squads have always boasted three-point snipers. Check out this fact: In this game, the Prep owned EIGHT treys (on just 11 attempts) before McDevitt posted its first (on just the second attempt). Sr. F Brahieme Jackson did the honors 2:17 before halftime and the bucket could only move the Lancers within 42-28. All game, the Hawks showed great ball movement and, coupled with nifty back-door cuts, that led to a lot of barely contested layups. The Prep finished with 21 assists on 29 baskets as sr. G Kevin Oberlies led the way with seven. Jr. CG-SF Stephen Vasturia powered the pointfest with 23 on his usual assortment of smooth moves/feathery jumpers. Plus, he snagged 15 rebounds! Sr. WG Gene Williams shot 5-for-8 while ringing up 22 points. Jr. WG Miles Overton had 14 points and nine came on three treys in very quick succession to begin the second quarter. Oberlies added eight points. If McDevitt shot five true jumpers, I'd be stunned. The Lancers again and again tried to go hard to the hole and success was not always realized. Jackson did score 20 points and showed a good left hand on several occasions. Sr. WG Markeise Chandler had 10 points. Amazingly, no Lancer grabbed more than four rebounds (Jackson and sr. C Mike Newns each had that many). Jr. PG Kenyatta Long had five assists. Ex-Prep star Reggie Redding (Villanova) was among those in attendance. Sorry for the brevity. I'm writing this in the cafeteria at West Catholic and the Burrs' game with Bonner is drawing nigh.

JAN. 15
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
N-G 72, Carroll 56
  Here’s something I’d love to see: a long-distance shooting contest between N-G sr. WG Billy Shank and Carroll sr. WG Alec Stavetski. Not so much to see which guy would drain the most shots, but to see which guy could LAUNCH the most shots, say, in 1 minute. These guys are all-timers when it comes to quick release. Shank finished with 18 points and hit four of eight from Threeball Land. Stavetski totaled 21 points and went 3-for-8 out there. His early successes helped to nudge N-G into man-to-man and Stavetski had just two field goals on four attempts beyond halftime. He got good looks on the misses, but couldn’t quite nail them. It might have been one of these deals: “Hey, this is cool, but I know someone will be jumping in my face momentarily . . ." and thus the concentration is slightly affected. One of those defenders was sr. CG La’Quan Coaxum and what a day he had! Coaxum, now an important sub two years after transferring from Dougherty (RIP), scored a career high of 18 points by shooting 6-for-7 (one trey) and 5-for-5. Plus, he claimed a game-high nine rebounds. At least twice, he crashed hard to the floor off tough drives and on one of them, I was surprised he didn’t break 57 bones. Oh, my goodness, did he ever land hard. He did make it back into the game and his one miss from the floor occurred thereafter, so it won’t be held against him (smile). Sr. F Derrick Stewart (Rider) got off to a quick start with a three-point play and a dunk, but soon the foul bug bit him hard. He did finish with 12 points and five blocks. Jr. F John Davis totaled eight boards and four blocks while going mostly unnoticed in the offensive sets. Soph WG Ja’Quan Newton used nine free throws to reach 13 points; he added three apiece of assists/steals. Jr. PG Hanif Sutton had four assists. The most interesting Patriot was frosh Derrick Jones, who’s listed at 6-5 but appears to be even taller (maybe because he’s thin?). He’s a lefty and is comfortable out on the floor; he even tried three treys. Honestly, a couple were somewhat ill-advised, but I did appreciate the brass/confidence. Late, he made a TERRIFIC no-look pass to Stavetski for a layup. Temple coach Fran Dunphy walked over at one point to ask, “Who’s No. 24?” His eyes became enlarged (smile) when I told him Jones is a freshman. It’ll be interesting to watch his progress. Jr. PG Yosef Yacob had eight points and seven assists. Sr. PF-C Pat Finnegan made some nice contributions. An effective pick here. A sturdy seal-off there. He had six points and two assists. Sr. F Francis Jackson and jr. G Isaiah Warren posted four boards apiece. N-G created room by winning the fourth quarter, 22-13, and a big edge at the foul line (10-1) was instrumental . . . Website legend Amauro Austin was on hand for stats purposes and, lo and behold, guess who joined him. His 13-month-old daughter, Saige Elize!! Talk about well-behaved. She didn’t fuss even one little bit. Amauro sat with Saige on his left leg and his stat pad, usually, on the right. There was never an issue. He told me later, “She can be a handful for others, but not for me.” Ha, ha. Nice!! Mark “Frog” Carfagno, another website legend, was also in attendance, hanging out with sidekick Joe McFadden. Kudos to coach Nikki Badessa and the ever-amazing N-G cheerleaders. Thanks to Nikki for gathering the gals in the hallway shortly before the start of the varsity game, so we could take a picture in decent light.

JAN. 13
INTER-AC LEAGUE
SCH Academy 30, Episcopal 24
  It’s 12:18 as I start this report and my blood pressure is just returning to normal. What a ballgame! Oh, the excitement! . . . Not quite. Know what, though? This was still fun, despite the almost total lack of offense. The teams played hard and SCH’s very large and animated student section – about 150 kids, roughly one-third of the school’s enrollment -- provided constant entertainment. Great job, kids! You guys might have set a city record for most enthusiasm displayed while cheering for a squad with a winless league record. OK, so the Blue Devils were only 0-2, but still, it takes a lot of gumption/passion to show up in such numbers when things aren’t going so great, and to be so involved all night long. Again, you are to be commended! Philly.com cyber attention went to sr. F Malik Garner, who has signed with UMBC and Roman product Randy Monroe (’81). Like always, Garner has to play relatively close to the basket for the smallish BDs, but at UMBC he’s hoping to play small forward, at a minimum, and perhaps even some wing guard. The springy Garner was the only one with meaningful stats in this one, totaling 14 points and eight rebounds. He also had THE assist of the game, hitting jr. G Bobby Keyes for a layup, out of a delay offense, that made it 28-24 with 0:30 left. The BDs had been holding for a while and were only going to take a sure thing, or instead go to the line for a one-and-one. Keyes hit two treys en route to 10 points while adding seven rebounds and three steals. Sr. G Billy Dooley (American U.) settled for two points and four boards as he continues to recover from a mild concussion. The BDs suffered an early season blow when sr. PG Luke Mulvaney was lost to a knee injury. The assorted pieces have never quite fit together since then, but there’s still lots of time for this squad to have an effect on the I-A. Sr. F Brian Metzler topped EA with eight points and halved four treys with jr. G Matt Angelos (six). Sr. F Adam Strouss grabbed four of his six boards in the first quarter. Frosh PG Mike Jolaoso had three assists. Mindful that MP-GA was taking place tonight, one member of each coaching staff asked why I’d chosen to attend this game. Hey, how often do you get to see 30-24 classics? (smile). Some recent Chestnut Hill athletes (the heck with SCH, I’m sure they’d say) were in attendance. Some names, as they come to me: Tim Gramlich, Nick Boyle, Pat Connaghan, Todd Cramer, Don Houck . . . No doubt there were others. Sorry to those I missed. The SCH student rooters are not too happy that next Friday’s home game with Germantown Academy has been moved to 4 o’clock. There was a dustup, rumor has it, at a recent hockey game (ice, not field) between the schools. Thanks to Janet Giovinazzo, who works in student support at SCH (and used to handle the clock/scoreboard) and is my sister’s lifelong best friend, for coming over to say hello at halftime; her brother, Steve Bonnie, is Penn Charter's admissions director. Ditto to Joe Mulvaney, Luke’s dad and a tough-nut guard for the ol’ Bishop Egan in the mid-1970s. What a day-night on the trail. Roman scores 50 points in the first half vs. C-E, then EA-SCH barely top that total over a full 32 minutes . . .

JAN. 13
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Roman 64, Conwell-Egan 49
  Roman built a 30-23 halftime lead. Wait. Perhaps you attended the game and you're thinking, "That wasn't the halftime score. Roman's bulge was much bigger than that." You are correct. The 30 points are only those that were scored on treys and dunks! That's right. People tend to think no one shoots threes in Roman's tiny gym, but the Cahillites bombed away for eight (on 12 attempts) in the first 16 minutes and six more markers were added on wolf-downs. Thereafter, things got very strange. Very much thanks to sr. WG Jamal Nwaniemeka, C-E imposed its will on the game and stormed within nine points before Roman regrouped enough to win in comfortable fashion. One has to wonder what might have happened if Nwaniemeka had been healthy throughout. Just 2:18 into the game, before he'd even attempted a shot, JN (let's save a little time here; Nwaniemeka is too long a name to keep typing -- smile) went limping off the court after taking a knee to the right thigh. The first quarter ended 31-6 (ouch!) and Roman added two more points to start the second quarter. JN then went berserk. He scored 11 points in the second and 14 more in the third and was burying all varieties of shots. Except treys, that is. He tried just one and missed it. Overall, he shot 9-for-17 and 7-for-8 for 25 points and, yes, that means he didn't score in the fourth quarter, either. In the third quarter, four different Roman players took cracks at trying to shut him down -- soph G Rashann London, jr. SF Raquan Brown-Johnson, jr. F Shafeek Taylor and soph PG Shep Garner. Garner kept JN off the board at the end of the third and blanked him from there on. JN, who boasts great (and quick) leaping ability, is a master of the off-balance, lean-this-way, lean-that-way shot. But Garner persevered, even forcing him to be extra off-balance. Plus, by that time, no doubt JN was exhausted. C-E played sticky, aggressive man-to-man in the second half and even had the Cahillites backing up slightly to run their offense. Pretty amazing. I might be slightly off with this statement, but I'm pretty sure Roman did not score its seventh point of the second half until 90 seconds remained in the game! It finished with just 14. Garner, who hit four treys before halftime, totaled 17 points and four assists. With a late semi-burst, jr. WG Britton Lee lifted his point total to 16. London had six assists while Taylor grabbed eight rebounds. JN added seven rebounds and four assists to his 25 points while star football lineman Bobby "I Was Bob During Football Season" McTague snagged nine rebounds. Jr. WG Mike Kelly and sr. F Dylan Pease added seven and six points, respectively. Well before the game began, Roman coach Chris McNesby summoned Garner and asked him to show me cell-phone footage of Tom "Hockey Puck" McKenna on a treadmill. It's a classic, and I hear there's much more. McNesby said he's still trying to get somebody to throw it up on YouTube. When that happens, we'll do our best to make The Puckster a national treasure (ha ha). With news of its impending demise, C-E has experienced a rough week. Coach Rick Sabol, who also played for C-E, said JN is taking it the hardest among the players because this will be his second shutdown; he first attended Cardinal Dougherty. All the best to the C-E guys. I hope to see at least one more Eagles game as the season continues.

JAN. 12
PUBLIC A
Vaux 67, Frankford 50
  Since all of the teams in Division A are good, ostensibly, concern wasn’t dominant when Vaux jumped to a 15-4 lead. The thought was, “Frankford will settle down and get back into this and, in time, we’ll have a classic.” Not exactly. The Cougars led by THIRTY before Frankford slapped together a mini-rally against deep subs in the last couple minutes, primarily behind two star players – sr. WG Imire Taylor and sr. F Chris Lewis -- who were permitted to finish out the contest. Though ‘Nova coach Jay Wright and La Salle assistant Horace “Pappy” Owens were on hand to check out jr. CG Rysheed Jordan, owner of a national profile, by far the biggest buzz was created by sr. WG James Cole, a transfer from Strawberry Mansion. He missed his first trey, from the southwest corner, then hit SEVEN in a row the rest of the way. Every make was perfect. In the exact center of the rim. It was amazing. James said he goes to the Abington YMCA every day (or night) and shoots 500 jumpers from various locales. I believe it (ha ha). After scoring nine points in the first quarter, he missed his first two shots (regulars) in the second. He then made his last TEN shots, with the seven treys and a dunk among the successes. Amazing! A few times this season I’ve seen low point totals for Jordan and wondered whether he’d played poorly or gotten into deep foul trouble. No idea, but even though he had “only” nine points today, he was terrific. Took only sensible shots and worked for the greater good. His other stats were six rebounds, nine assists and four steals. I also loved the approach of sr. PG Shawn “Skate” Williams. He’s a semi-strong kid with multidimensional skills. He’s brassy enough to make guys back off and he, too, makes smart plays. He just comes off as a true floor leader. Vaux also has a 6-9 sr. C named Simeon Chaplin. He had four points and 11 boards. Very raw, but there’s already some strength and this kid could be a monster, build-wise, as he gets older. He went 2-for-4 at the line, but the makes came after misses and that’s a good sign. His one field goal was a dunk. Taylor, a lefty, went 0-for-6 on treys, but he’s known for long-distance sniping so we’ll just consider it one of those days. He has added a significant amount of quickness (at least to these eyes) and really SPED past/around defenders on a few occasions. Plus, unlike many lefties who have no right hand, he was adept from both sides. He finished with 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals. Lewis had 13 points, nine boards and four assists and one of the spectators was Chris’ uncle, Cori Lewis, a starter for Frankford’s ’89 Pub champs. (That means he’s around age 40. Damn, where does the time go!? Good to see you, Cori!) Cori was the sixth man for the ’88 Pioneers, who also won the Pub crown. A senior starter on that team was none other than – drum roll, please – Jamie Ross, who’s now Vaux’ coach. Via Kisha Thompson, former star for Frankford's girls' squad, we've learned that Cori's son, Quadir, a freshman, plays JV for Vaux and that Barry Lewis, who played for Frankford in '07, is Chris' older brother. Meanwhile, these guys are all cousins: Cori Lewis, Ralph Lewis (Frankford '81, NBA) and Alvin Abner, point guard for the Pioneers' 89 title squad. He had one of those cool Pub nicknames -- "Brother." Thanks for the extra info, Kisha! (Yes, she's part of the family, too.)

JAN. 11
NON-LEAGUE
Sankofa 75, FitzSimons 38
  Not much to say about this one, folks. FitzSimons, which supposedly will close this June, had only eight players in uniform and one was NOT Isaac McBride (school issue), who has been something of a scoring machine when available. Oh, well. Can't evaluate a guy when he's not even there. Very frustrating. On the good side, Sankofa had a few respectable players and coach Isaiah Thomas ran a tight ship with patterns on offense and lots of passes to open people. Soph WG Luis Martinez (13 points, three treys) looked to be a classic zone-buster, the kind who launches with the utmost confidence. Jr. PF-C Jaleel Williams (12 points, 12 rebounds) showed an inside presence and got off his feet pretty quickly. Jr. PF James Jefferson (10 and 10) was similar. Jr. swingman Juwan Milliner had 14 points. CG Dache Talbert (not sure what grade he's in) mixed 10 points, five assists and four steals. For Fitz, sr. swingman Robert Days, a recent addition to the squad, scored 14 points and was rather skilled at knifing his way to the bucket. Jr. WG Brandon Jiles (solid build) mostly shot treys. He hit his first two, then missed his last six. Soph F-C Shyeim Saunders, though very thin, battled for nine boards. Jr. WG Gary Nicholson also hit two treys. The Warriors rang up 51 points by halftime and could have easily dropped 100. Thomas mostly called off the pressure even way before intermission. Shortly after taking the pic of Sankofa's cheerleaders, I told them about the coolest cheer ever, which goes back to my son's youth football days. I demonstrated for four or five of them and they laughed like crazy. Then they did it a few times during the game! Ha, ha. Tailored to Sankofa, here it is: "We are the Warriors . . . You know the deal . . . You think you're gonna beat us? . . . Whatever! Get real!" While doing that last part, you have to flash your right hand, as in "stop, forget it" and add that little noise of dugust (puhhh) with your lips. The gals did it perfectly. The trip was not in vain (smile). Sankofa plays its game at the Gambrel RC, which is part of the Whitehall housing units behind Harding MS, in East Frankford. Right next to the gym is the turf football field used by the nationally famous Frankford Chargers. Though the gym is decent, the court was somewhat slippery.

JAN. 10
PUBLIC C
King 44, Hope 41
  Think of the ways two female basketball fans could decide to celebrate an exciting victory. Well, two gals at this one opted for: Let’s  beat the crap out of each other!!! The mini-brawl followed what turned out to be game-winning, left-corner trey by sr. WG Malik Paulk off a pass from sr. G Gerald Scott. The shot snapped a 41-41 tie and appeared to be the very last thing that would happen. But nooooooo. As King’s bench players rushed the court to celebrate with Paulk and the other four guys, these girls started pummeling each other at the front of the stands near midcourt. Much later, we were told by several school employees that the combatants were a current King student and former King student and that one was “stomping the hell” out of the other, and that their grudge extended back to last summer. The incident took place in the same area where several Hope fans had been cheering all game and once the commotion intensified, Hope’s players ran over because they thought some of their own were in jeopardy. All in all, the incident wasn’t THAT bad. But as calm was restored, the officials – one was former Germantown Academy baseball coach John Duffy – decided that 2.6 seconds should have been showing on the clock. As the gym was cleared, in orderly fashion, of pretty much everyone, and Hope players were tucked into an office right behind their bench, the questions became . . . Should we finish the game? If so, should King’s players receive techs for having run onto the court? Come to think of it, should Hope’s be punished for leaving the bench area? A call was placed to Ben Dubin, the Pub hoops honcho. Wait, had he not been spotted at the west end of the gym, watching the game in person? Yup, but he’d left with about six minutes remaining. Oh, baby! Anyway, via cell phone, Dubin was informed of the assorted variables and he came to this decision: Finish the game. No techs/punishment. I completely agree! After a 19-minute delay, Hope had to go the length of the court. Jr. WG Shamear Townsend took an inbound pass from jr. G Walter Ransome near midcourt and wound up launching a leaping, right-wing trey from about 5 feet behind the arc. The ball came oh-so-close, hitting the heel of the rim. Ballgame. By the way, King got a free point near the end of the first half. There was a mixup on team fouls and a Cougar hit the front part of a one-and-one when the ball, instead, should have been inbounded. That mistake wasn’t noticed until a couple possessions later, so the point stood. I picked this game to cover, in part, for family reasons. My grandmom’s house once stood on what’s now King’s property and my uncle’s house was right up the street, roughly between Hope and the back of the adjacent McDonald’s. I got there early and took some pics of the Hawks walking over to King, a journey that required, what, all of three minutes? The game itself? Rough on the eyes, mostly. Anyone ever hear of a jumpshot? (smile) Guys kept driving and driving and driving and misses FAR outnumbered makes. Paulk’s game-winner, in fact, was only the second trey of the game. The best part of this visit to King was getting a look at Hope sr. PF Tramayne Brooks, who’s a strong 6-5 and can truly leap his butt off! Though he previously spent time in court-adjudicated schools, he’s now on the honor roll at Hope and will graduate this June. Slippery Rock is said to be involved and here’s hoping other schools take a long look. Brooks had 16 points and almost broke the rim on three dunks. He also kissed a fade-away jumper off the glass and registered three blocks on one King possession: one on a layup, another on a corner trey, and the last on a jumper near the foul line! Alas, he nudged the shooter after that last one and was called for a foul. He wasn’t very successful at drawing entry passes, but he showed terrific form on a couple of his jumpers and there’s much to covet. Go get him, guys! For King, the scoring leaders were jr. F William Leak (12, 5-for-5 from floor), jr. PG Aaron Jackson (11, also six rebounds) and Scott (10). Sr. F Nafis Streeter had just three points, but mixed eight rebounds with three assists and two blocks. Brooks added 10 boards and three apiece of steals/blocks and jr. SF Shakoor Woodson went 8-for-8 at the line while notching 10 points. Jr. WG Zahir Firby hit the game’s other trey and that got Hope off an 8-0 schneid 1:55 from the end of the first quarter. Before leaving the area, stat whiz Big Steve Reid and I hit the Checker’s drive-thru across (and up, slightly) Stenton Avenue from King. I love their fries! Just don’t tell the McDonald’s people we went there, OK? Ha, ha.

JAN. 9
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 71, Judge 57
  It’s not too often you can see CL games on back-to-back days with three guys ringing up roughly 30 points. Yesterday against McDevitt, O’Hara sixth man Sean Havink drained seven treys and tallied 27 of his 29 points in the second half. Tonight’s pointfest guys reached their heights in much more normal fashion. Well, kinda. Judge jr. G Steven Griffin ch-chinged 13 of his 29 onto the scoreboard in the first quarter while SJ Prep jr. G-F-C Stephen Vasturia, who’s already committed to Notre Dame, packed 15 of his 31 into the second stanza. Vasturia received the DN ink, natch, and much was made of how versatile he’s been forced to become. Speedy Morris’ ballclubs almost never have height and this one, truly, starts five guards. Since Vasturia is now 6-4, yet retains his very fluid ways, he makes occasional appearances on the low blocks to play with his back to the basket, accept entry passes and do his thing from there. Impressive! Vasturia shot 12-for-19 (2-for-5) and 5-for-5 while adding 13 – yes, 13 – rebounds and four assists. He was quite nimble a time or three and several times used his left hand for crafty layups. No doubt all spectators left Judge saying, “Man, that kid really IS good.” Griffin shot 11-for-18 (5-for-11) and 2-for-2 and also enjoyed numerous crowd-pleasing moments. One problem: He incurred his second foul on a reach 44 seconds into the second quarter and wound up sitting down for a decent amount of time. When he returned, he picked up No. 3 on another reach and this foul occurred maybe 70 feet from the basket. As Steven well knows, that just can’t happen and here’s hoping there are no repeats as the season moves on. He’s too important to everything Judge does due to his scoring and the THREAT that he’ll score, which of course opens things for others. Jr. WG Miles Overton added 18 points for Prep, thanks to 8-for-13 (two treys) from the floor. Sr. WG Gene Williams is the other member of The Big Three. Though he did finish with nine points, he had zero until midway through the third quarter. The good part was, the Hawks were still able to craft a 10-point lead. Williams also finished with six rebounds, two assists and three steals. Sr. WG Kevin Oberlies shot 4-for-6 (two treys) while posting 10 points, and he halved six assists with jr. PG PJ Kelly. Griffin’s primary help came from jr. F Joe Robinson (10 points, 12 boards). Sr. WG Brian Hennessey, usually a reliable scorer and accomplished mad bomber, settled for one point while going 0-for-7 from the floor. Jr. CG Sean Hanna had seven points and three assists. Jr. SF Jeff Seigafuse had eight and two (same categories). I started the game in the corner of the gym right by Judge’s bench, but it was kind of cramped . . . Plus, the manager spilled a hint of water on my leg and scorebook! Ha ha. I figured if I stayed there, it could wind up being one of those circus kinda nights, so . . . zoom, over to the opposite corner. A nice post-game moment was getting to chat briefly with Judge parent Marc Ross, star back-in-the-day pitcher for George Washington High. All-time Judge coach Bill Fox was on hand, as were his sons and former Crusader players, Brendan and Brian. Also, I’m 99 percent sure Jim Reeves was in attendance. (That WAS him a couple rows behind, and to the side of, Judge’s bench, right?) He was a first team All-City player for Judge’s CL title team in ’98 and he must laugh himself silly when he sees all the unchallenged transferring that now goes on. Jim began his high school years at La Salle, then departed for Judge as a junior. CL honchos determined he’d transferred for basketball reasons – instead of financial, which his mom had cited -- and he was ineligible for CL varsity play as a junior. That’s right. He could only play in JV games, even though he’d already been an accomplished varsity player at La Salle. The situation got a lot of media attention, some of it detailing ugly developments, and the most mature person through all of it was . . . Jim Reeves. I hope all is going well, Jim. You deserve it. (Extra tidbit: Jim’s uncle, Ron Marinucci, was the line judge in Super Bowl XLI in Feb. 2007.)

JAN. 8
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
McDevitt 68, O’Hara 57
  With 4:28 remaining, I wrote “VICTORY MARGIN!” on my note sheet as a reminder to check out, upon getting in front of a computer again, how long it had been since McDevitt had posted a CL win by as many as 20 points. The score at that juncture was 63-41. O’Hara jr. G Sean Havink, the sixth man, then proceeded to go nuts, nailing three after three to finish with SEVEN total and five in the fourth quarter en route to 29 points, so the VM wound up being only 11. Just for the heck of it, I went back through the league results going back to the 2000-01 season and McDevitt has won no league games by more than 15. Admittedly, the Lancers have not exactly been a powerhouse during this stretch, but the 2011-12 squad is talented, frisky and entertaining and opponents are advised not to sleep on 'em (is that phrase still acceptable? – smile). Mickey D was in attack-and-swoosh mode from the start and O’Hara had major problems avoiding turnovers even though the starting lineup included four guards. One BIG fact must be mentioned: This was a rough weekend for the squad due to the passing (after a long illness) of Kathy Kelly, wife of coach Tim Kelly. Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Tim and family/friends. Assistant Ryan Wolski guided the JV Lions and then was the main X-and-Oer for the varsity, as well. Aside from the sloppiness, the Lions missed their first 12 attempts from behind the arc and the lone big man, sr. Ed Allen, had trouble converting inside opportunities. Incredibly, the starters combined for just 15 points. DN ink went to sr. F Brahieme Jackson, though sr. WG Markeise Chandler and jr. PG Kenyatta Long also would have been wonderfully worthy choices. I gave some detail on Jackson’s skills in the Roman-McDevitt report, and found out today that Philadelphia University, among others, is on him hard. He went for 18 points, 11 boards and three blocks. Chandler, whose performance at Roman was affected to some degree by the flu, went nuts in the first few minutes of the first and third quarters, posting 14 of his 20 points. While trying for one offensive rebound, I swear he appeared in the lane out of nowhere. My goodness, he was UP there. Chandler wound up with 20 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Long, a lefty, whirlwinded his way to 15 key stats BEFORE he hit the scoring column; his only points came on a layup with 4:28 left. The stats were nine assists and six steals! Jr. WG Jordan Watson, another lefty, added 10 points. Also impressive was the fact that the deep subs showed good unselfishness. The passes were snappy and plentiful. Havink was unconscious. By the end, there was no way he was going to miss. He could have shot blindfolded. Or with his left hand. Or he could have kicked the ball toward the basket. In all, he went 7-for-11 on treys and two of those misses came in the first half. Allen finished with 15 rebounds and sr. G Pat Hagenbach managed three steals. The highlight of the day, meanwhile, was seeing Mary Beth Driscoll, a serious go-getter and the president of McDevitt’s Alumni Association. She is beyond thrilled that Mickey D avoided the Archdiocese’s meat cleaver and is trying harder than ever to make sure that graduates support the school. MB lived around the corner from the Northwoods/Glenside home where I spent part two of my childhood (after East Germantown) and my sister used to babysit her. Rumor has it she always behaved (smile). Best of luck with your assorted projects, MB!

JAN. 6
INTER-AC TRIPLEHEADER
Malvern 60, Episcopal 43
  What are the chances? Because the lighting in Cabrini College's gym is very good, almost all of the pics were taken sans flash. Then, toward the end, I decided to take a few WITH the flash just to see how they'd look. So, what happened? Two Malvern guys dunked!! Sr. WG-SF Brendan Kilpatrick was first. Sr. PF-C Tom Pitt was next. Incredible. There was also a legendary moment in the first half. Sr. WG Dennis Gabert, who did an absolutely tremendous job on EA's leading scorer, sr. F Brian Metzler, suffered a cut on his head. He sat down maybe five feet from where I was seated and I kept thinking, "Please take that towel away from your face, and make sure to leave some blood." (smile) Sure enough, he did. At first, Dennis had the towel in the area of his right temple. Turned out the cut (not sure what caused it) was at the part of the head where side meets top. At first, there was some serious gushing, but all turned out to be OK and he returned to action later wearing a different number. Gabert had an unusual defensive approach. He'd start off standing right in front of Metzler, bent over at about a 45-degree angle, with his head almost in Metzler's belly. Metzler wound up taking just three shots and his only field goal came on a follow. As for Kilpatrick, he 9-for-14 (one trey) while posting 20 points. Sr. PG Steve Perpiglia was a whirlwind, especially in the second half, while finishing with seven assists and four steals. Pitt had 13 points and 14 rebounds and most of those caroms were clutched in traffic. Episcopal's only problems are youth and experience. Though he's tiny, there's much to like about frosh PG Mike Jolaoso. That kid is going to produce a lot of happy moments as time goes on. In this one, he tended to overdribble but that was mostly a byproduct of the fact his teammates had trouble freeing themselves. Soph WG Chris McNeal (two treys) showed some smooth tendencies and jr. WG Matt Angelos hit a pair of threes, as well. I liked him last year and was wondering why he hadn't made an earlier appearance. He had a pretty long sleeve on his arm: maybe he's coming off an injury? (He is, though it was his ankle, not anything arm-elbow related.) After camping out in a corner of the gym to write a SportsWeek story on GA sr. PG Nick Lindner, I was able to catch only about the last 10 minutes of the HS-SCH game, so there won't be a report. Sorry 'bout that.

JAN. 6
INTER-AC TRIPLEHEADER
Gtn. Academy 69, Penn Charter 67
  Honestly, I expected GA to pull (at least slightly) away at some point, but that never quite happened and that made for an enjoyable opener to this tripleheader played at Cabrini College. PC has some peppery players and, you know what, a game of one-and-one between sr. WG John Moderski and GA jr. PG Nick Lindner would be worth a significant price of admission. Lindner was the subject of the story that appeared in SportsWeek and he has made quite a change from 2010-11. Not in terms of talent. We're talking emotions. He now goes the stone-faced route and feels it really helps him to maintain an even keel. Sounds good to me, though I'd rather see him act a little nutty (smile). Hey, every spectator likes to see emotion, right? Linny-Lind contributed 24 points, three assists and seven steals (counting two resulting from 5-second calls; we also call charge-takes "steals" because the defender has done something to take the ball away) and the highlight of his outing was a 11-for-11 performance at the line. Actually, I thought Nick could have taken as many as five-more six shots from the floor without being viewed as a pump. He was pretty good at freeing himself. He knows he's a point guard, though, and that he's there to direct, not just score. Greg Dotson, a 6-5 jr. F, also was impressive. He showed good swivel/leaping abilities while collecting 17 points and nine rebounds. Julian Moore, a 6-9 jr. C, had 15 and nine; he's still quite gangly but strength is being gained and he appears to have a better grasp of what can/can't be done (especially against someone with as much strength as PC jr. Mike McGlinchey). Jr. WG James "Popeye" Drury, a true character (check out GA's team pic), sniped 4-for-5 on treys for 12 points. Moderski Energizer-Bunnied his way to 25 points, five assists, four steals and even a team-high five rebounds. McGlinchey experienced severe foul troubles and had to settle for 14 points. PC was up, 18-12, when he sat down with foul No. 2 6:21 before halftime. GA led at intermission, 31-30, thanks to a buzzer-beating trey by Lindner. He incurred his third personal 28 seconds into the third quarter and then his fourth at 5:44 BEFORE an inbound play. It happened at the other end of the court, but "Glinch" was called for something. This time, the Quakers fared better thanks to Moderski (nine points in period) and sr. G-F Nick Lamb (two treys). McGlinchey could not quite get back into the flow in the fourth quarter, going 1-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-6 at the line. One of those free throws misses was a doozy. With 0:19 left, PC trailed by three. After missing the first half of a double-bonus, McGlinchey, of his own volition, fired the ball at the hoop with the hope of getting the bounce-back and depositing a layup. One problem: he entered the lane too quickly and was called for a violation. Lindner's two free throws upped the spread to five, then Moderski beat the buzzer with an unchallenged trey. Soph PG Sean O'Brien had 10 points and two assists, and exhibited good chemistry with Moderski. Sr. F Grant Shaffer mixed four points with as many rebounds in his dirty-work role. GA had a decent student turnout. Points are deducted, though, because the guys and gals were clapping in rhythm to a song that was played during a timeout (smile). Shortly before the game, Drury soared WAY above the rim for a dunk. Check out the pic. (Explanation: the basket is portable and the whole thing was briefly lowered so an issue could be resolved.)

JAN. 5
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Neumann-Goretti 82, La Salle 53
  Yes, you read that score line correctly. La Salle is a pretty good ballclub, and it was playing at home, and the fan support was strong, yet it got skunked to the tune of 29 points. How’d this happen? Two main reasons: N-G’s effective man-to-man defense hounded the mostly-slower Explorers into 6-for-26 miseries from behind the arc. And when shots at both ends missed, the rebounds invariably went to the Saints. While building a 55-36 lead, N-G claimed 21 of the 29 available rebounds and the final tally in that department was 36-17. No need for play by play, folks. DN ink went to sr. CG Billy Shank, and we use CG instead of WG because he is now displaying point guard skills as he prepares for college ball. He actually drove – yes, drove – a few times and was also perfect on treys (4-for-4) en route to 17 points. Soph WG Ja'Quan Newton was also impressive, zigging and zagging to 23 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. What a prospect he’s turning out to be! Sr. PF-C Derrick Stewart, who's committed to Rider, totaled 12 points and nine boards. Jr. SF John Davis was largely quiet early (no sweat, his heroics weren’t needed tonight), but he finished with 11 points, eight rebounds. Those four are returning starters from a team entered the season with 54 consecutive CL wins (regular season and playoffs; the total now stands at 56). The new fifth wheel is 5-9 jr. PG Hanif Sutton, who had some nice moments even as a soph. This kid is one of the all-time defenders and it’s fascinating to watch him damn near attach himself to people. His assignment tonight was jr. WG Amar Stukes, and Sutton was so determined to count Stukes’ fillings, it actually got him in trouble. Right in front of N-G’s bench, Sutton stepped right up to Stukes and got popped in the nose by a swinging elbow. Amauro and I were on the opposite side, so it was tough to tell exactly what happened. From our vantage point, I actually thought the BALL hit Sutton’s face as Stukes swung his arms. However, N-G assistant John Mosco said afterward that an elbow was definitely the culprit. Sutton wound up leaving the gym and didn’t return for more than a quarter. Though Stukes did wind up with 12 points, only one of his field goals was scored vs. Sutton and that was a very deep trey after the issue had long ago been decided. Jr. Fs Matt Rodden (a transfer from N-G) and Ryan Winslow scored 10 points apiece for La Salle while Stukes (four) and sr. PG Darnell Artis combined for seven assists. La Salle’s student section was big and noisy and at halftime the guys razzed the Saints by chanting “Neumann football! . . . Neumann football!” As in, you’re beating us in this sport, but don't forget we kicked your butt in that one. (By 39-7.) Someone (might have been me, actually) told a few of the La Salle students that N-G’s QB, Shane Thomas, is also on the hoops squad. They then chanted, “Sorry, QB . . . Sorry, QB,” drawing laughs from Shane and his teammates. Flash ahead to the game’s late moments. Thomas embarked on a drive and, pow, sr. F Colin Buckley, star football receiver, hammered the layup attempt all the way up to Paper Mill Road. Then, Buckley made a steal and layup and the La Salle kids went nuts. Ah, but Thomas would not go meekly. He came down and hit a mid-range jumper and shortly thereafter made a hard drive along the baseline that he finished with a reverse layup. Niiiiiiice! Mostly, La Salle’s night could be summed up by what happened on a possession with about 5:30 remaining. Jr. SF Steve Smith saw a trey completely rim the hoop and not go in. The ball remained in play at that end and Rodden tried another trey. It, too, completely rimmed the hoop while not connecting. Rough. Temple coach Fran Dunphy was among the spectators. I told him, “Fran, congrats on the great win last night. You guys put up your dukes!”

JAN. 5
PUBLIC E
New Media 65, Future 59
   Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!! I first report this report in a classroom at La Salle, between this game and the start of La Salle/Neumann-Goretti. Unfortunately, somehow I didn’t save it and the entire report was lost!! It’s now 11:42 at night, and here we go again. Right before the center jump was about to take place, DN stats whiz Big Steve Reid surveyed the situation and said, “Layup for No. 22. Right away.” NM sr. PF-C Marquise Singleton won the tap, knocking the ball to sr. G-F Keenon Johnson, and his pass ahead indeed led to a layup for, drum roll, please, No. 22, jr. WG Ahtiff Govan-Wheeler. I laughed and looked at Big Steve and he said, dryly, “You thought I was playin’?” The man’s a genius! And for a while, it appeared this game would be an all-time stinker. Something long the lines of 80-40 would not have surprised after Future, looking scared and devoid of talent, missed its first eight shots, most badly, and allowed NM to seize a 10-0 lead. The drought was finally broken with 3:22 left in the quarter when sr. PG Davone White made a steal that led to two free throws. Thereafter, Future fared well and used the quickness of Smith and sr. G Domonique Williams to get back in the game and make things sufficiently interesting. DN ink went to Johnson, who mixed authoritative baseline drives with pull-up and stand-still jumpers to post 21 points. He also snatched a game high in rebounds (nine). Singleton was an interesting dude. He wore small goggles almost completely pressed against his eyes, but even with those appeared to be having vision issues. He was bouncy, though, and was able to spread out to create room for himself, and he went for 13 points and six rebounds. Govan-Wheeler used two fourth quarter treys to lift his total to 14 points. Future is missing 10 guys due to grade/behavior issues and coach Henry Hunt had four freshmen (of nine guys total) in uniform. The leaders were the seniors, White and Williams, but three of the young bucks also fared well. White scored 15 points, the same number achieved by frosh WG-SF Dominick Morales. Williams was right behind with 13 points. Morales had four steals. Beefy frosh Chauncy “Baby Barkley” Scott (he wears No. 34; can’t imagine that’s a coincidence), bagged six points and the same number of boards while yet another ninth-grader, Nick Miles, grabbed eight rebounds in minimal minutes. Plus, he canned a layup maybe five seconds after entering the game. Thanks to goodwill ambassador Bob Peffle,  I was able to write the DN story, crop all the pics and write the original website report in a classroom. Bob later mentioned that foreign languages are taught in there. Made perfect sense since a lot of wall posters were not exactly written in English. High on one wall, however, was a sign: “Boys Will be Boys, but La Salle Boys Will Be Gentlemen.” I told Bob I thought that was pretty cool. He said, “That sign’s in every classroom.” So much for that teacher being an innovator (smile). Oh, and here’s how the late stretch went: Down by 57-55, Future held for a chance at a tie, or even a trey that might have won it. But Johnson stole an entry pass on the side of the lane and motored all the way downcourt for a clinching layup at 0:15. The final two points came on free throws by sr. G Aatif Clark at 0:02. Taron Barnes, former NM hoopster (’11) and home on break from Indiana (Pa.), was in attendance and begged to be mentioned in the report. There ya go, buddy (ha ha).

JAN. 4
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Roman 66, McDevitt 58
  Well, son Kevin has finally seen Roman’s gym. All is right with the world. I’ve always told him how cool it is and today he made the trip since he doesn’t have to return to college for another couple weeks. We sat right on the stage in the first row and Roman students, mostly football players, completely surrounded us to provide non-stop entertainment. Star rusher Marcus Kelly was right next to Kevin – well, in the first and third quarters; we switched places for the second and fourth so Kevin could take pics – and guys such as Taishan Tucker, Kenny English and Tyrone Brown were right nearby. The best moment happened late in the game with the score at 64-54. One kid looked at the board and said, “We’re up 11.” Another said, dryly, “That’s 10.” Much earlier, somebody told a joke and a kid not far away didn’t catch on for 30/40 seconds. English (I think it was) told him, “Go get a late pass!” Ha, ha, ha, ha. In many other seasons, this would have been a crush job. But McDevitt has some talented returnees and no doubt walked away with some positive thoughts, despite the loss. It’s always interesting to watch visiting players walk into Roman’s gym and become truly bug-eyed. The McDevitt kids were even checking out everything in this-place-is-amazing fashion as they walked up the steps toward their, ahem, locker room (actually a classroom). The Lancers were a little overwhelmed early as Roman fast-tempoed its way to a 25-13 lead after eight minutes. The guards, soph PG Shep Garner and jr. SG Britton Lee, were major buzz saws, and did some serious swooshing. The second quarter was mostly lull time. In the third, Roman again took command and ballooned the lead to 20. The next stop would not be 30 (or even more), thanks to the day’s most relentless performer. Brahieme Jackson, a 6-3 forward with strength and gonads (Spanish word; look it up), was terrific for the Lancers. Though he was almost always double-teamed and sometimes triple-teamed, he powered for 26 points while shooting 11-for-16 from the floor. Alas, he did go just 3-for-8 at the line and I noticed that the ball was completely settled into his palm, which was why his shots looked so “heavy.” Fingertips, my man. Fingertips. Jackson also claimed eight rebounds and I look forward to seeing him again (probably Sunday). Anyway, DN ink went to Garner, who lives in Chester and constantly gets asked by fans to ditch Roman and play for the Clippers. In the story, we had fun with the fact that his mom, Kim, sings the National Anthem before Roman’s home games. Garner is one of those energetic, always-goin’-forward guys and his contributions included 10 points, seven assists, five steals. He already has offers from Penn State and Rutgers and Villanova assistant Doug West was among today’s spectators. A few Roman students were calling Garner “Shep Wayns” and, well, maybe he will become the next Maalik Wayns for the Wildcats (though they’d have to make do without either in the 2013-14 season). Lee, mostly in transition, totaled 23 points and 12 came in the third. He also had six assists and four steals overall. Jr. F Secean Johnson added eight points and as many boards and 6-6 TreVaughn Wilkerson, a much discussed frosh, had four points and six boards as the sixth man. Once, he took a little too long to gather himself on a would-be dunk and had the shot blocked. Another time, however, he was very quick off his feet and got a piece of a jumper out on the floor. Jr. F Shafeek Taylor had a steady 12 points. McDevitt’s other leader is sr. G-F Markeise Chandler. He had trouble getting rolling today, but eventually managed eight points and was central to the late comeback within seven points. He claimed 10 rebounds. Jr. PG Kenyatta Long, a lefty, had four assists and I also liked jr. WG Jordan Watson, another lefty. He gives off the late-bloomer aura and could be very interesting as one of those born-sniper guys who can also rock you back and forth off the dribble.  Sr. F-C Mike Newns claimed eight rebounds. Mike’s dad, Dave, was an All-Catholic guard for a McDevitt squad that made it to a fourth place playoff in ’73. He was a third team coaches’ honoree even though his scoring average was low (8.3); that was a testament to his brass and multiple contributions. Anyway, I’ve known Dave forever and we happened to walk down from the gym toward the street with our sons. At one point I heard Dave say to Kevin, “Luckily, I can tell you got your looks from your mom.” Ha, ha, ha, ha. Good one, Dave!! And, oh so true . . . Meanwhile: I just called the office a shade after 10 o'clock and spoke with Drew McQuade, who maps out the sports pages every night. It turns out that Dave Newns is his cousin. Legendary! 

JAN. 3
PUBLIC B
Strawberry Mansion 63, Del-Val 58
  So, you walk into Simon RC, ready to watch a Pub game and . . . Who’s Who in Philly Sports breaks out. OK, we’re exaggerating a little, but a bunch of recent stars were involved in a spirited pickup game that kept on going and going and, honestly, cut down on warmup time, slightly, for the kids from Mansion and Del-Val. Off to the side, not playing, were two recent headliners: West Catholic QB all-timer Curtis Drake (Penn State), and his good buddy, Denzel Yard, the former FLC hoops stalwart (first team All-City) who happens to live across the street from my childhood home on the 900 block of East Rittenhouse Street, in East Germantown. It was great to see them and the pickup participants and since the game wound up being highly entertaining, as well, this was a VERY enjoyable afternoon. For whatever weird reason, D-V kept proving to be allergic to leads. The Warriors would forge ahead by five, four, six points, whatever, and then allow Mansion to get right back in the game. It happened again and again and if just one of those leads had been expanded to 10-12 points, one has to think Mansion would have been hard pressed to rebound. DN ink went to 6-3 ½ sr. C Karon Keene, who’s more of wing player but has to serve in the big-boah role because the Knights have no true bigs (that get on the floor, anyway). Keene mostly camped out on the high post or to the sides of the lane and often was able to take a dribble or three before launching flip shots that went mostly unchallenged. D-V had a couple of guys with size, and even girth, in 6-6 jr. PF-C Antwan Scriven and 6-6 sr. PF-C Shaquille Ford, and that’s extremely rare in any Pub division below A (even there, really). But Keene was able to fare well en route to 17 points, eight rebounds and two apiece of assists/steals/blocks. On defense, Mansion mostly used a 1-3-1 and Keene was at the top, using his instincts and long arms to be disruptive. Jr. PG Ronald Nesmith had a very nice day, exhibiting control and making sure the instructions of coach Matthew “Moo” Johnson were followed. Nesmith had 14 points (3-for-5 on treys) and seven assists. Sr. F Jermain Gregory tried just five shots . . . and made 'em all for 10 points. Sr. WG Arthur Bines, like Gregory a lefty, also had 10 points while sr. G Vernon Holt, the seventh man, had eight. Five were crucial to one of the important comebacks. With D-V up, 40-35, he hit a first free throw, missed the second, claimed the rebound out of a scramble and immediately stuck a jumper. Then, he posted a steal and layup to – just like that – make it 40-40. From there Mansion stormed to a 59-51 lead and Bines provided the capper with a three-point play at 1:35. Allergy time! For Mansion, on this occasion. The Knights didn’t know how to handle prosperity and gave D-V an easy road to a comeback by missing 10 free throws down the stretch. Yes, 10! Finally, Keene converted the back end of a double-bonus at 6.3, then Nesmith recovered a deflection to thwart the Warriors' last gasp and followed with two free throws at 0:01. Stat man Big Steve Reid was giving me the evil eye right before D-V’s last possession. He’s a former Mansion player and, of course, he wanted to see the Knights triumph. When I mentioned that D-V was 0-for-9 on treys going into that last (meaningful) possession, Steve said, “Damn, Ted. Now you gonna jinx it.” Overtime was not to be. Scoring 17 apiece for D-V were sr. PG Fateem Brockington and sr. WG-SF Khayri King. Brockington, sporting orange socks AND sneakers, was a ferocious driver, challenging anybody and everybody. A few stop-and-pops might have helped him, but it’s hard to find fault with a guy who boasts such passion. King is more of a smoothie and there’s much to like about his 6-3 frame. Scriven had 13 points and seven boards. Ford managed eight and seven. The other Warriors combined to go 1-for-14 from the floor. Pub hoops chairman Ben Dubin and D-V AD Will Cambria were among the witnesses. One of D-V’s players, meanwhile, was jr. G-F Richard Burton. Sadly, we can’t report any Cleopatra sightings (smile).