JAN. 21
NON-LEAGUE
Penn Charter 57, Central 44
  This was one of those arm's-length games. You know how it goes. Team A builds a somewhat comfortable but not outrageous lead and Team B never quite makes things interesting. As you leave the gym, you mutter, "Didn't get my money's worth from this one." (Oops. PC doesn't charge admission for sporting events, so that comment doesn't fit. Smile.) The teams were largely similar because almost every player was a guard. PC had more success getting to proper spots and converting while Central wound up launching lots of treys that didn't connect (2-for-14) and missing bunnies in part because guys found themselves too deep toward the basket or even beyond. That sometimes happens (even to PC) on courts with baskets far away from the end walls. Guys get disoriented. PC jumped to a 12-4 lead in the first 4 minutes and 57 seconds while shooting 5-for-7 from the floor. Sr. PG Adam Holland completed that stretch with one of his patented drive-hard-and-twist-it-in layups. Toward the end of the third quarter, Central did move within 35-30. But Holland made two free throws to push the lead back to seven points and it edged upward little by little from there. Sorry for the lack of gripping details, folks. Jr. WG Mason Williams (18), Holland and frosh WG Ryan "Pooch" Holmes (14 apiece) scored in double digits and the latter two halved four treys. Sr. F Dylan Burnett, ever the hustler, had five rebounds and three assists. Jr. WG-SF Will Samuel had two blocks. Sr. F James "Elevator" Gabor had two boards in very limited action and could have had three if he had grabbed a bouncing ball just before the clock hit 0:00. Instead, it went over the baseline. Also, frosh WG Dylan Topaz made his varsity debut with 2:34 left in the third quarter. He was asked to suit up because sr. PF-C Justus Sanders was absent due to illness. One of today's side attractions: Interesting yells by coach Jim "Flipper" Phillips. He is fighting a cold and his voice was all over the raspy map. More than once, the guys on the bench, even the assistants, had to muffle mini-laughs. Maleek View and Kwand Lang scored 10 points apiece for Central, as still coached by Haviland Harper (19th season, 17 beforehand at the original Parkway). PF Jabreel Dickens had eight. His dad, Charles, was on hand and, man, was he energetic. At high volume he yelled out instructions/encouragement throughout the game and even had a good bust on the refs. After a Central player was called for an iffy foul, he chirped, "Hey, ref, don't be their sixth man!" Ha, ha. Will Mega, the former coach at Palmer Charter, was also on hand. His son, Kasai Ashantee, is a basketball and football player (captain in the latter) at Springfield Junior High, in Montgomery County, and is being sought by several private schools. He was checking out PC. Haverford School and Shipley, among others, are also among the possibilities. Best of luck, Kasai! Will, meanwhile, is now the JV coach at Sankofa Charter. One of Central's starters was lefty G Danny Holdsman, who attended PC through the 2012-13 school year.

JAN. 20
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Haverford School 58, Penn Charter 44
  Watching a team make an admirable, get-close comeback is always nice. The thing is, you can never be sure what will happen thereafter. Will the losing team sustain the momentum and storm to victory? Or has it expended all (or at least most) of its energy and the only way to go is back down the hill? Tonight, PC went the latter route. After, frankly, giving off an odor for most of the early going -- HS roared to a 26-7 lead -- the Quakers, thanks in part to support from an energetic student section of maybe 50-60 kids, regrouped and then some. I'm not going to say the Fords were fully fearful for their perfect-so-far-in-league-play lives, but there was at least some consternation as PC rallied within nine points with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the third quarter on a fast break layup by frosh WG Ryan "Pooch" Holmes. And then within eight points with 6:03 left in the game as jr. WG Mason Williams canned a layup off a steal/dash that began at about midcourt. And then again within eight points -- this time at 48-40 -- with 3:36 remaining as Williams hit a flip shot. At the other end, however, impressive soph WG-SF Christian Ray made a free throw after getting fouled -- he missed the first shot, sub jr. C Bobby Stratts kept the ball alive on the glass, Ray got thumped trying for a put-back -- and soon soph WG Gavin Burke was threading a nice needle with a pass to classmate G Jameer "Yes, Son of THE Jameer" Nelson for a bucket. In many ways, it was amazing that the Quakers were still hanging around late in the game. They shot just 13-for-49 from the floor and 3-for-29 beyond the arc. TOGETHER, those percentages add up to only 36.8. HS helped with some sloppy moments. Not sure if PC's dogged defense was the sole cause because the Fords, after their early success, might have slipped into we're-bored, this-is-too easy territory. Not that a team should EVER allow that to happen, of course. This was my first look at Ray, a 6-5 transfer from Octorara. Down the line I think we'll find that his real surname is Rayjankowicz or Raykezonowski or something like that and that he came here straight from Poland or the Ukraine (smile). Reason: He has the classic look of a European player in that he's comfortable everywhere on the floor. He can seize the baseline with hard drives, post up on the block or drift outside and launch sweet looking threes. I like how he's aggressive, yet fluid, and that combo should definitely serve him well. Also impressive, especially early, was jr. CG Kharon Randolph. He gives off the dagger-to-your-heart aura and he was confident like crazy during a three-treys, 11-point first quarter. He wound up with 18 and four treys. Ray had 23 points while Nelson had 10. Burke hit a crucial late triple after taking just two shots all night. For PC, sr. PG Adam Holland played with authority, like always, but had to settle for six points (all from the line) while crashing quite hard to the floor at least three times. On one, he really thumped his wrist. Here's hoping he's OK. Williams had 18 points and used quick hands/good instincts to make six steals. In terms of seeing people I know, and/or their relatives, this night was an all-timer. HS coach Bernie Rogers starred for Ryan and coached there through the 2014-15 season. Assistant Jazz Williams starred for West Catholic and coached there through last season. Assistants Keith Czarny (Ryan) and Joe Rogers (Malvern) also were players and Joe's dad, Joe, played for Carroll/Villanova. Playing for HS' JV and varsity was jr. G Tom Bagnell. Francis "Reds" Bagnell, an all-time football star in high school (West Catholic/Germantown Academy) and college (Penn; Maxwell Award winner in 1950 as the nation's top college player) was the cousin of Tom's grandfather. Bobby Stratts is the grandson of George Stratts, who coached football at McDevitt, Dougherty and O'Hara. Bobby's dad, George Jr., was in attendance. He was a first team All-City lineman for Carroll in 1986. George Jr.'s brother, Chris, was a second team All-City defensive lineman in 1991. Gavin Burke is the son of Terry Burke, a first team All-Catholic guard (basketball version -- smile) for La Salle in 1988. Terry's dad, Les, coached the Explorers for five seasons through '86. One of the players on HS' JV team was a guard named Stinson (sorry I forgot to get his first name). His dad, Marvin, a Dobbins product, was in attendance and all he did was hit a 35-foot buzzer-beater to give Gloucester County CC (30-0) the national championship in 1994. The extra interaction with assorted people made this night extra enjoyable. Thanks, guys!

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Kyle McCloskey, jumping center for GA. His dad, Mike (NFL), is sitting at the right in the first row.

JAN. 19 TEDBIT   Off and on, I've been researching this one for a while. Here's the question . . . Is Germantown Academy senior Kyle McCloskey the first player in city leagues history to pass for 1,000 football yards in a season and score 1,000 career basketball points? The direct answer is yes, at least in the "modern era" (since the Daily News began publishing football stats leaders every Tuesday in 1981), and the secondary answer is yes with an asterisk. Here we go with the direct answer: McCloskey, who's bound for Villanova to play QB, owns 1,138 hoops points as of this writing. As a QB, he passed for 1,182 yards in '14, 1,467 in '15 and 1,242 in '16. Here we go with the asterisk answer: Paul Burke, who played college basketball for Speedy Morris at La Salle, finished his Chestnut Hill Academy career in 1991 with 1,363 points. In the 1990 football season, he passed for 2,010 yards. What's the problem? In that era, CHA was NOT an Inter-Ac member for football. It played in the Independence League with small-enrollment schools such as Jenkintown, Morrisville, Academy of the New Church, etc. As near as I can figure, prior to McCloskey, whose father, Judge/Penn State product Mike McCloskey advanced to the NFL, Kenny Moore came the closet to achieving the Double Thousand Feat. His grandfather, Tom Hoover, a product of Carroll (D.C.) and Villanova, played in the NBA and his mother, Dawn Hoover, starred at now-closed University City and Temple (and wound up coaching against her son as the boys coach at West Philly High). In the 2006 football season, Kenny played for U. City and passed for 1,368 yards. He played three seasons of varsity basketball, one at Bartram ('05) and two at UC ('06-'07). He scored 31 points at Bartram and

913 at UC for a total of 944. Pretty close. Next in line is Roman’s Andre Sloan-El. A lefty like McCloskey, he passed for 1,324 yards in ’02 and 1,498 in ’03. His hoops career produced 834 points. 1988 Judge grad Chris Fagan passed for a whopping 2,012 yards in the ’87 season. In basketball he played varsity for three years and accumulated 751 points. Down the line a shade is ’91 Episcopal Academy grad Jerome Allen, who played briefly in the NBA and spent a stretch as the coach at his college alma mater, Penn. He scored 1,027 points at EA, so basketball was no problem. He played QB for his senior season and passed for 731 yards. (One of the coolest football games I covered, ever, was Chestnut Hill vs. Episcopal in September 1990. Burke vs. Allen. Episcopal won, 43-29, as Allen passed for 135 yards and rushed for 71. Burke passed for 234 and rushed for 52.) One more guy: Atlanta Falcons QB Matt Ryan, a 2003 Penn Charter grad. In his senior football season, he passed for 1,048 yards. In basketball, he scored 682 career points. Now let’s go back to the olden days (smile). In 1970, Paul Hutter graduated from Germantown Academy with 1,627 points after playing FIVE seasons of varsity hoops. Judging by boxscores, he was also the quarterback for his final three seasons and for at least part of his freshman year. Maybe even all of it. Amazing. Through the ’68 season, GA had franchise rushers in Bill Armstrong (’66 and ’67) and Ed Lawless (’68). It’s possible Paul had at least one season with 1,000 passing yards, but I don’t know for sure. I did find boxscores for GA’s eight games in the '69 season (5-3 record). Assuming everything was correct, Paul ran for six scores, passed for six more and scored twice on returns . . . If you know of others, tedtee307@yahoo.com. Thanks!
  UPDATE: This entry comes from Rob Roberts, a GA grad and the son of baseball Hall of Famer Robin Roberts . . .
  I’m almost sure Hutter never threw for 1000 yards. We never threw!! I should know, I was an end for three years, and caught 7 passes. The Delaware Wing T was three running backs, and at least one tight end, and sometimes maybe two. Hutter was a great athlete, and ran more than he threw. Armstrong, and Lawless my senior year, were 75 % of the offense.

JAN. 18
TEDBIT
  As noted yesterday on the homepage, Malvern Prep will honor the members of its 1976 and 1977 Inter-Ac championship teams at 7 o'clock Friday night, right before a game vs. Germantown Academy. Those were my first two seasons covering Philly-area high school sports for the long-gone Philadelphia Bulletin. (I switched to the Daily News right as the 1977-78 hoops season was beginning.) Malvern's coach in those campaigns was alumnus Fran Dunphy. Yes, THAT Fran Dunphy. He was just as great a guy back then as he is now and I hope he and his players/assistants/managers have a wonderful time reliving their title-winning moments Friday night. Meanwhile, here are my Inter-Ac scoring numbers for the Friars in those two seasons. Take note: GS means games in which a player scored. That approach considerably ups some guys' "averages" (smile).

JAN. 17
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 69, SCH Academy 42
  The Quakers recorded a knockout. Why the boxing reference? The great Bernard Hopkins was among the spectators. As rumor had it, he's friendly with the parent of a kid who played in the JV preliminary. He was way down the other end, so don't ask for a pic. Zamani Feelings was down there, though, so he definitely got one. Anyhoo, the ins and outs of this 5:30 tilt are almost completely reflected in the final score. SCH is inexperienced and some of its guys play hoops as a second sport. In the early moments, PC was not exactly impressive, either. There were some sloppy sequences and coach Jim "Flipper" Phillips at one point semi-bellowed, with a slight delay between each word, "Finish . . . the . . . play!!" The Quakers responded with another sloppy turnover, then began to click while opening an 11-5 lead. From there? Mostly perfection. OK, that description is over the top, but PC did play well thanks to correct decisions and comfortable looks on jumpers. The Quakers hit four of their first five shots in the second quarter to claim a 26-9 pad. That last bucket was a perfect step-back jumper by sr. PG Adam Holland. In their last two games, the Quakers finished with seven assists apiece. By the time "Dutch" hit his jumper, they already owned seven en route to 17. It was nice to see almost every guy look comfortable and not rushed while shooting jumpers/floaters/etc. Here's hoping that relaxed approach can be maintained even when the defenses are much more active. The game's most interesting moment came with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. Jr. WG Will Samuel let fly with a trey that, from the far end, looked like an air ball. The refs' arms soared upward. Threeeeee! Huh? Here's the deal: The net at that end was partially shredded and the ball hit nothing as it passed through the rim. Gotta love cool optical illusions. Jr. WG Mason Williams sniped 5-for-7 on treys while scoring 21 points. Samuel (13) also bombed home three triples. Frosh WG Ryan "Pooch" Holmes had a nice overall outing with 11 points, three rebounds, four assists and four steals. Sr. F Alex "Florida" Cohen, soph SF Ryan "Zingy" Maloney and jr. G Jake Nicastro notched fourth quarter buckets. Matt Rahill, SCH's QB, also hit three triples while scoring 13 points. Sr. F Zuri Peyton had nine points off the bench. He's quite thin, but has a serious wing span and could be a decent player if he fills out and keeps working. Today's first stop was PC's pool for a girls meet vs. Baldwin. Then, en route to SCH, I wolfed down a ham and cheese sandwich, as wonderfully prepared by The Wife. Made a pit stop at the girls basketball game (maybe 10 scoreboard clock minutes), then scrambled over to the other side of the campus for the boys game. Best part of that scene: A quality zebra crew consisting of Bob "Notre Dame Harvey" Sumner, Harry Edwards and Pat Tobler. Other prominent folks, no special order: Ed Aversa, Antowine Graham, Luke Stansfield, Mike Mattei, Ed Foley, John McArdle, Matt Paul, Marcel Quarterman, Aaron Sistrunk, Ted Monaco . . .

JAN. 17
TEDBIT
  Young bucks will find this fact impossible to believe: The individual records for one-game scoring in LEAGUE play in the Public, Catholic and Inter-Ac Leagues have stood for a total of 168 years! The marks, respectively, are 90 by Overbrook's Wilt Chamberlain in 1955, 51 by McDevitt's Bobby Haas in 1968 and 63 by Penn Charter's Bill Soens in 1963. Below is a breakdown for how the CL record reached 51 from first-guy-with-at-least-40 on up. That first guy, North Catholic's Bob Devenny (his name was sometimes misspelled as Devenney in newspaper accounts), wound up playing for Michigan State. Meanwhile, Joe Heyer holds the CL record for most points in consecutive league games with 88. He scored 49 on a Friday and racked up 39 two days later at Judge on the final day of the regular season. In that one he shot 17-for-34 and 5-for-8. He owned 37 points after three quarters, so he could have broken his own mark if he had not become a spectator shortly after adding two more points in the fourth. The CL record for most points in three consecutive league games is 116 by Carroll's Barry Bekkedam in 1986. He went for 37 vs. Neumann, 38 vs. West Catholic and 41 vs. St. James, breaking the school record each time. He then became ill and missed the Patriots' quarterfinal loss to O'Hara.

JAN. 16
TEDBIT
  In a loss to La Salle yesterday, O'Hara sr. G Jaye'lyn Peebles scored 40 points to not only claim the school record (Mike O'Hara had 38 in 1987) but also become the first CL guy to score as many as 40 points in league play since 2011 (Wood's Joe Getz had 41 vs. West Catholic). It's unlikely that any CL players scored as many as 40 points prior to the 1949-50 season. In the 1947-48 season, according to a story that appeared in the Inquirer three years later when Bob Devenny scored 42, Tom Stoeckel scored 36 points to claim the CL record. Both guys played for North Catholic. Stoeckel later played for St. Joseph's College. Devenny played at Michigan State.  

JAN. 15
TEDBIT
  Yesterday, Archbishop Wood sr. G Collin Gillespie made an oral commitment to play his college hoops at Villanova. The list below includes the "Our Guys" (Public, Catholic, Inter-Ac) who have played for the Wildcats over the last 45 seasons (1973-2017). Some didn't stay and transferred. Some came IN as transfers. The two Malvern guys were walk-ons. Six of these 'Cats wound up advancing to the NBA. Freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity until the 1972-73 season. If I missed anyone, you know the deal. tedtee307@yahoo.com. Thanks!
  UPDATE: With a nudge -- OK, a shove (ha ha) -- from long-time website loyalist Jim O'Connor, we have upped to the list to 50 seasons (1968-2017). His North Catholic boahs are now included!
  UPDATE: Bonner grad Jay Rattigan provided the names of two Friars who played for 'Nova as walk-ons. Thanks for the hustle, Jay!

JAN. 14
TEDBIT
  Cole Storm, a starting combo guard, is now a senior at Germantown Academy and his name was first mentioned in the Daily News sports section in February of 1999. How, you're wondering, did THAT ever happen? Well, my story focused on Brett Storm, then a star junior guard for Penn Charter, and it mentioned how he'd been a shade off his game through the first two months of the season because of concerns for his mother, Donna, and Cole. On Dec. 4, as the story detailed, Donna had been hospitalized with pregnancy complications and ordered to remain in bed. On Jan. 9, the same day the Inter-Ac tripleheader was held at La Salle University, Cole was born six weeks premature at just five pounds. Due in part to a collapsed lung, he was placed on a respirator, remained in the hospital until late January and even after making it home could not be taken outside for a while. With a big smile during that interview, Brett noted, "I like just looking at him. He's cute." Ha, ha. Now, Cole is described by all as a great kid and it's always nice to see him and at least exchange hellos. Via an email, Brett let me know that Cole -- also a lefty, like co-franchise teammates Evan-Eric Longino and Kyle McCloskey -- is receiving Division III interest and works on his game a lot. He added, "He kept me in shape all summer because we would play one on one." Brett played his college ball at Drexel and Philadelphia University (nee Textile) and his older brother, Larry, also a PC product, attended St. Francis (Pa.) and Ursinus. A star quarterback at PC, his grid career was shortened due to shoulder miseries. Their dad, Larry, was a productive starter for Speedy Morris' first championship team at Roman in 1969. Larry Sr.'s brother, Chuck, was a first team All-Catholic honoree for Roman in 1963 (20.1 ppg.). They played in the Big 5 for Villanova and La Salle, respectively. Boxscores for all high school games were not published in newspapers in the '60s, but thanks to Tom Taylor's research we do have league points. The breakdown for LEAGUE points, not counting playoffs, for the five Storms is below and the total is a shade over 1,500. Niiiiiice. And, of course, the Inter-Ac schools only play 10 league games each season. As you'll note, Brett scored league points in five seasons and Larry Jr. did so in four. Meanwhile, my first story about Brett was written in December 1997 after Penn Charter played a holiday game in Wildwood, NJ. In that game, Brett lost part of a tooth. As noted by his father, the chip popped out of Brett's mouth along the baseline and wound up at PC's bench. Whoa! That story also included this nugget: Because it was cold and rainy and very windy, strolls on the boardwalk would not have made a whole lot of sense. So, the Quakers killed time by heading to a bowling alley. From the story: Picking up a ball for the first time in a year, Brett rolled a 172 to win a small pot of money. A very small pot. "I got $15. We have a cheap team," Storm said, smiling. . . . Guess what? One of Brett's PC teammates was current Inquirer/Daily News sports writer Aaron "Ace" Carter! Hopefully, he made the largest donation (ha ha).          

JAN. 13
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Germantown Academy 71, Penn Charter 47
  This is hoops season No. 18 for this website and rarely has a report about a game with a 24-point victory margin included play-by-play details. But this one's gonna, and it won't take long. With a shade over three minutes left in the second quarter, PC owned an 18-17 lead and there was hope -- repeat, hope -- that this game would provide quality, back-and-forth entertainment deep into the second half, at least. Nope. Wasn't to be. Mostly because the Patriots posted three consecutive three-point nuggets. Maybe you're thinking, "Wow, they drained three treys in a row? Pretty cool." But they didn't. The outburst did start with a trey, as hit from the left wing by sr. F Josh Brownstein. But the next six points were racked up the old-fashioned, three-at-a-time way and senior CG Evan-Eric Longino did the honors. First he drove very hard through traffic and absorbed contact while canning a layup. He then hit the free throw. Next, he dropped in a third-chance field goal while again getting pounded and proceeded to again add the free throw. Those nine points were scored in 62 seconds to make it 26-18 and soon sr. CG Cole Storm was knocking down a jumper for a 28-18 pad. The game was as good as over . . . But the entertainment was NOT. In the first half, GA sr. F Kyle McCloskey, like Longino and Storm a lefty (and bound for Villanova to play quarterback), was semi-quiet, notching just six points. But in the second half, he racked up exactly one point per minute and six resulted from vintage dunks. I'm tellin' ya, he wolfed those suckers DOWN and on one he even managed to do so while getting fouled. Plus, McCloskey came within a whisker of recording a fourth slam. While heading to the bucket, somehow he veered slightly off-course and his jump also looked a little disjointed. Anyway, the ball clanged off the rim. Though Kyle is listed at 6-5, I suspect he's closer to 6-4 or maybe even 6-3 1/2. But he was UP there and appeared to be on a mission to prove wrong the title of a 1992 hoops-themed movie starring Woody Harrelson (smile). McCloskey finished with 22 points and fellow franchise Longino had 25. Storm (10) also hit double figures. Soph swingman Brian Basile added eight points and at least two, if not all three, of his field goals came on follows. PC was led by sr. PG Adam Holland (14), jr. WG Mason Williams (13) and frosh WG Ryan "Pooch" Holmes (12). Sr. PF-C Justus Sanders grabbed four of his six rebounds in the first four minutes. The Quakers did win the JV game, 43-41, as soph Ryan "Zingy" Maloney, a lefty, converted a late drive down the lane after taking a pass from jr. G Terence "TT" Thompson. TT had caught the right-wing inbound pass from Zingy. Before the game, the music playing via the sound system was quite loud and GA coach Jim "Mr. 600" Fenerty ordered a turn-it-down. "I know I'm old," he said, laughing, "but that was ridiculous." Agreed. GA had a large and beyond-energetic student section. The kids were wearing black shirts. Of course, they busted on the PC kids over the fact the Patriots had won the football game.

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JAN. 13 TEDBIT   Sometimes you have to take care of your own, right? Granted, Jim Ottomano is not a relative, but he supports this website by advertising his business, an Allstate insurance office in Maple Glen, Montgomery County, and we're going to pay him back by providing a breakdown of his family's involvement with basketball. His three sons have played for Lansdale Catholic. We'll go in reverse order. Jack is a member of the Crusaders' freshman team. Mike, a senior, is in his second year of starting for the varsity and currently leads the team in scoring with an average just short of 12 ppg. And then there's AJ. The 2014 grad was a deep sub, but he loved the game and found a great way to stay involved. How? He's in his third year of serving Penn State coach Patrick Chambers (Episcopal) as a manager and, like all involved, he recently got to experience a lifetime moment when the Nittany Lions played, and beat, Michigan State at the fabled Palestra. Very cool! **He's second from the left among the white-shirted managers in the picture over there <<<<.** As Jim let me know, the boys' grandfather is George May and members of the Up There in Age Club (yes, my hand is raised -- smile) will know that name if they followed Philly high school/college ball in the 1960s. George was a star at Abraham Lincoln and later played for Villanova. George was a senior at Lincoln in 1965 and the Railsplitters, thanks in large part to the great Larry Cannon, seized the Public League championship. One problem for George: He was not around for all the late-season fun. Back then, Pub schools had TWO senior classes each school year and George was a mid-year diploma-earner. Before departing, he scored 89 points in five league games. In non-league games, he racked up 33 points vs. Dobbins and 31 vs. Penn Charter. In the 1963-64 season, he scored 243 points in 13 games for an 18.7 average with a high of 34 vs. Germantown. He was a sub in the 1962-63 season, finishing with 59 points in league action. His best outing was a 19-pointer vs. West Philadelphia. As always, we were able to provide those numbers thanks to Tom Taylor's great historical work. All the best to the Ottomano family and thanks again for your support, Jim!

JAN. 12
TEDBIT
  What's the biggest chip you've ever seen on a shoulder? Maybe the size of a cinder block? Last night at Holy Family University, here's guessing the chips on the shoulders of Neumann-Goretti's players closely resembled the size of city blocks. In the last two Catholic League championship games, the Saints were topped by Roman. In this meeting, N-G sliced and diced the Cahillites by 87-53. No other way to put it, folks. Thanks to historical pages on this website and info from long-time helper Tom Taylor, I have easily accessible final score info on CL games going back through the 1994-95 season. This 34-point setback eclipses a 33-pointer in the 2009 final. That year the teams did not meet until that game. Roman had captured both meetings in the 2008 season, however. A breakdown of the losses by at least 10 points are below. Eleven occurred from 2001 through 2004.

Roman's CL Losses by at Least 10 Points, 1995-2017 Seasons
Regular Season Unless Noted -- Q: Quarter; S: Semi; F: Final
Year	Beaten by . . .	Score	Margin	Winner's Leading Scorer	Pts
2017	Neumann-Goretti	87-53	34	Quade Green	23
2009	F-Neumann-Goretti	86-53	33	Tyreek Duren	26
2002	Carroll	73-48	25	Kashif Payne	22
2005	Q-Neumann	61-41	20	D.J. Rivera	25
2001	O'Hara	67-49	18	Gene Willard	27
2016	Neumann-Goretti	85-68	17	Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree	22
2012	S-Neumann-Goretti	73-56	17	Ja'Quan Newton	17
2013	Neumann-Goretti	68-52	16	Ja'Quan Newton	21
2004	SJ Prep	74-59	15	Chris Clark	20
2003	SJ Prep	60-46	14	Mark Zoller	25
2016	Carroll	64-51	13	Ryan Daly	20
2003	Neumann	62-49	13	Antwain Wynn	18
2003	Neumann	72-59	13	Antwain Wynn	19
2002	O'Hara	57-44	13	Harry Dougherty	20
1997	Q-Neumann	71-58	13	Victor Thomas	16
2002	Neumann	76-64	12	Tabby Cunningham	21
2002	Bonner	63-52	11	Badir McCleary	24
2002	SJ Prep	67-56	11	Mark Zoller	23
2010	La Salle	59-49	10	Troy Hockaday	13
2004	Q-Neumann	57-47	10	Tabby Cunningham	16

JAN. 11
TEDBIT
  Check out current numbers for the Fine Nine of coaches who have guided teams only in the Catholic and/or Inter-Ac Leagues. "Speedy" Morris (700) and Jim Fenerty (600) have hit milestones this season. Carl Arrigale has a way to go reach his next milestone number, but his percentage is No. 1.

Name	School(s)	Years	W-L	Pct.
Wm. "Speedy" Morris	Roman/Penn Charter/SJ Prep	32	702-200	.778
Dan Dougherty	Malvern/Episcopal	36	621-285	.685
Jim Fenerty	Egan/Gtn. Academy	36	600-352	.630
Bud Gardler	Kenrick/O'Hara	39	560-413	.576
Bill Fox	Judge	29	545-269	.670
Charles "Obie" O'Brien	La Salle	34	541-248	.686
Dennis Seddon	Roman	22	516-128	.801
Carl Arrigale	Neumann/N-G	19	438-99	.816
Mark Heimerdinger	Dougherty	27	428-287	.599
*-does not include seasons at schools outside CL

JAN. 10
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Malvern 60, Penn Charter 58
  How often do you see this? In the first quarter, the teams combined to use 19 players . . . and 10 of those guys attempted three-pointers. Malvern captured both "contests" -- 10-9 in players and 6-4 in long-distance launchers. Considering the Friars won the game by an also-close score, there must have been an omen in there somewhere. Let's head to the (painful for PC) stretch run. The Quakers owned a 53-49 lead with 2:13 remaining, thanks to a three-point play, off an ever-hard drive, by sr. PG Adam Holland. Malvern frosh G Rahdir Hicks soon nailed a trey (52-53), PC frosh WG Ryan "Pooch" Holmes converted a double-bonus (55-52), sr. G Tommy Wolfe canned a drive (54-55) and Holland hit the second part of a d-b at 1:01 (56-54). With 47.7 left, Malvern seized a 57-56 advantage as superfrosh Deuce Turner drained a trey from beyond the top of the key. PC decided to work clock. Eventually, Holmes made a spin move into the lane, momentarily lost possession then recovered and guided a pass to sr. WG Mike "Neeko" Hnatkowsky on the right wing. The lefty had a good look and the shot, during its arc, had the look of something that was going to be successful. It slightly missed, though, and Malvern sr. WG Ray Baran was thumped while grabbing the rebound. Wonder what was going through his mind during the long walk to the other end? Good thoughts, I guess, even though he had attempted just two shots all game -- good trey in the first quarter, missed two in the third. This was a one-and-one, not a d-b. The lefty was perfect with both shots, putting Malvern up by 59-56 at 15.8. PC's possession featured a made jumper by Holland . . . that was ruled no good because he was fouled a split-second beforehand. He hit both ends at 4.1. Turner made a front end at 3.5 and missed the second attempt with the rebound going to PC jr. G Terence Thompson. A timeout was called at 2.2. The Quakers had to go the length of the court. During the timeout, Holmes' father, Keith, expressed hope that Christian Laettner would walk through the door (smile -- Google his Philly heroics, if you're unaware). Neeko, PC's sensational lefty QB, was the inbounder. He launched the ball to the opposite foul line . . . but a catch-and-shoot did not unfold. Buzzer. Punch to the belly for the Quakers. The Friars, as guided by John Harmatuk, go the Energizer Bunny route. They run and run some more and every player has permission to fire from deep or scamper to the hole. Substitutions are a constant -- often as many as three at a time -- and chemistry is always hoped for. In this one, just one Friar player (Turner, with 21) scored more than seven points. Ah, but seven scored from three to seven. This was my first look at Turner, who has been putting up impressive numbers. He went 0-for-4 in the first quarter, but nailed nine of 16 shots thereafter and the field goals came mostly on quick (yet seemingly carefree) jumpers and terrific drives. Turner has the always desirable swivel and often knifes between defenders as if, somehow, they're barely there and as if he's taking his time, though he isn't. That's a rare quality. This kid has it. PC played very Malvernish today. There were many aggressive drives, not just by Holland, and fast break opportunities were mostly accepted. Rebounds wound up being plentiful (39) at both ends. If only the shooting had been better overall (19-for-52, 36.5 percent) and from beyond the arc (3-for-15, 20 percent). Holmes had a nice effort with 17 points, 11 rebounds (10 in the first 17 minutes), three assists and four steals. Holland shot 5-for-5 and 5-for-7 for 15 points. Jr. SF Owen Pighini and soph SF-WG Ryan "Zingy" Maloney had nice moments off the bench. It was nice seeing Malvern folks such as AD Kurt Ruch, dignitary Joe Redican and assistants Joe Hoban and Matt McManus. Ditto for Bonner-Prendie assistant Bill Cassidy. This game started at about 5:30. Afterward, Bill headed down School House Lane to watch Philadelphia University. His nephew, O'Hara product Mike Louden, plays for coach Herbie Magee's Rams. Bill's son, Billy, plays for ex-Malvern star/coach Jim Rullo at Neumann University. Today's overall cool moment: My first stop was the swimming pool for meets vs. Haverford School (boys) and Agnes Irwin (girls). At one point late during warmups, when many of the kids were already finished and awaiting the start of the meet, The Temptations' "My Girl" (released in 1965) played over the sound system. Guess what? A decent number of swimmers, standing right next to the pool -- girls AND boys -- wound up singing along. When I was a senior at PC in 1969 (ouch), I can't remember singing along to songs from 1917! Motown STILL rules! (Along with the Philly sound -- smile).

JAN. 10
TEDBIT
  Thanks to Twitter, we can tell you that West Catholic last night beat Lansdale, 67-61, in three OTs, in a Catholic League game. How common are CL games with multiple OTs? Assuming we didn't miss any, that was No. 14 in this century. Details are below. And once the boxscore becomes available, a name will be posted in the "Leader for Winner" category. If we missed any qualifying games, you know the deal. Thanks. tedtee307@yahoo.com.
  UPDATE: An entry for 2010 has been added. That was the final hoops game in Kennedy-Kenrick history. the school closed that June. Thanks to McDevitt assistant Dave Luby, who was a two-year member of K-K's staff.
  UPDATE: Thanks to LC's Patrick Albanese for providing the scorebook pages for both teams. Also to WC coach Jason Hasson.

Multiple-OT Catholic League Games in This Century
Season	Date	Winner	Loser	Score	OTs	Leader for Winner	Pts
2002	1/13	La Salle	North Catholic	68-56	Two	Rob Sullivan	26
	2/10	Wood	Ryan	65-63	Three	Greg Arrow/Mike Spadafora	17
2003	1/5	Ryan	Judge	68-62	Three	Jim Welsh	22
2004	2/22	Bonner	O'Hara	71-67	Two	Derrick Graff/Randy Reid	18
	*2/27	Dougherty	Wood	66-63	Two	Tim Smith	17
2005	1/14	SJ Prep	Bonner	66-55	Two	Reggie Redding	27
2006	2/17	Judge	Conwell-Egan	76-75	Two	James "J.J." Franklin	27
2007	2/15	La Salle	North Catholic	64-62	Two	Clay Penecale	26
2009	12/12	Conwell-Egan	West Catholic	68-63	Two	Isaac Robinson	27
2010	2/14	Lansdale	Kennedy-Kenrick	59-56	Two	Mike Barr	31
2012	2/3	O'Hara	West Catholic	80-75	Two	Mike Louden	21
	2/12	Carroll	SJ Prep	67-66	Two	Yosef Yacob	29
2015	2/8	SJ Prep	La Salle	79-74	Three	Chris Clover	37
2016	*2/12	Carroll	Wood	77-70	Two	Ryan Daly	30
2017	1/9	West Catholic	Lansdale	67-61	Three	Imere Harris	24
*-playoff

JAN. 9
TEDBIT
  The question was posed early yesterday afternoon by Blair Klumpp, former player and assistant coach for Wood. He was wondering when the Vikings had last beaten Carroll. The search was on! Back and back and back through TEAM PAGES, then results of non-league games. Didn't take too long on the computer, but it did in real life. Wood had not beaten Carroll since Dec. 2003 and the losing streak was 16 games. It ended a shade before dinnertime yesterday at Holy Family University as Wood claimed a 76-68 win thanks in large part to Seth Pinkney (seven points, nine blocks), Collin Gillespie (28 points, seven assists) and Tyree Pickron (16 points, eight boards). The game was played at that site because on Friday cinder blocks at the top of a side wall in Wood's gym had come crashing down. Click here for a pic. Last night, to flesh out this nugget, I still needed particulars on that last win. I only had the fact that Wood had triumphed. Like always, Tom Taylor came through. Wood won, 53-31, and the leading scorer was . . . Brian Klumpp, Blair's brother! He racked up 17 points. No one else had more than seven. Kevin Springman (six) led Carroll. Below are scores/high scorers for Carroll's 16 consecutive victories. Derrick Jones has already made his NBA debut. 

Details of Carroll's 16 Consecutive Wins Over Wood
Year	Kind	AC	AW	Carroll's Leading Scorer(s)	Pts
2005	NL	47	41	Taney Willcox	10
2006	NL	53	64	Mike Logue/Darrell Floyd/Dutch Gaitley	11
2007	NL	58	24	Ellis Rogers	11
2009	CL	54	45	Andre Wilburn	15
	CL	65	58	Kasheef Festus	20
2010	CL	55	50	Juan'ya Green	15
	CL	63	44	DJ Irving/Ben Mingledough	15
	Playoff	61	40	Ben Mingledough	17
2011	CL	50	42	Juan'ya Green	20
2012	CL	64	49	Isaiah Warren	14
2013	CL	58	32	Nick Jones	16
2014	CL	83	52	Derrick Jones	21
	Playoff	64	44	Derrick Jones	24
2015	CL	77	47	Derrick Jones	29
2016	CL	67	65	Ryan Daly	26
	Playoff	77	70	Ryan Daly	30
		996	767
		62.3	47.9

JAN. 7
TEDBIT
  The Inter-Ac's Opening Tripleheader, named in recent years for former Malvern/Episcopal coach Dan Dougherty, is in the books and the all-time details are below.  Germantown Academy still owns it, but a loss to Haverford School dropped its winning percentage to .826. Look below for each school's record and a list of the assorted sites. The first tripleheader to open league play would have taken place in January 1994, but a wicked snowstorm intervened. Yesterday, no one scored enough points to make the Jan. 6 list. In the first game of the initial tripleheader, played on Jan. 6, 1995, at St. Joseph's University, Chestnut Hill Academy beat GA, 48-32, as Nelson Henry (14) and Chris Davis (13) led the way.

Records in I-A's Opening Tripleheader
Germantown Academy	19-4
Malvern Prep	15-8
Episcopal Academy	11-12
Haverford School	10-13
CHA/SCH Academy	7-16
Penn Charter	7-16
Sites of I-A's Opening Tripleheader
1995	St. Joseph's Univ.
1996	Palestra
1997	Drexel
1998	Haverford College
1999-2003	La Salle Univ.
2004-09	Arcadia
2010-12	Cabrini
2013	Neumann Univ.
2014-17	Phila. Univ.