Boys Basketball: Playoff berth worth wait for Garnet valley

Seeing the District One boys basketball tournament on the horizon wasn’t a new sensation for Garnet Valley coach Mike Brown. Two years ago, his team was 8-8 before stumbling to a 2-4 finish. Last season, six losses in the last seven torpedoed playoff hopes. This season, no such letdown materialized, perhaps because of the Jaguars’ forthright approach to the past. And the payoff came Sunday. The Jaguars, with a 14-8 record that was better than 11 other qualifying teams, snuck in with the 30th seed in the District One Class AAAA field.

It is Garnet Valley’s first playoff appearance since 2007-08, its final season before joining the Central League. As for confronting past missteps, Brown advocated a proactive approach.

“We talked a lot about it because if you don’t, you’re fooling yourself,” Brown said Sunday. “They can go on the computer at home and keep up with it as much as we can now. So to fake it and pretend like it doesn’t exist would be silly. We focused on each opponent and prepared, but we also talked more than several times about the point system and how each game can change our position.”

Garnet Valley will take on No. 3 Downingtown West (20-2) in Friday’s opener. All seedings are tentative until noon Monday. The Jags are among eight Delco teams in the AAAA field and 10 total.

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Garnet Valley’s Andrew Louden, left, is shown putting up a shot against Ridley. Louden exceeded 1,000 career points — and passed his father in the Delco scoring annals — by dropping in 27 in the Jaguars’ 64-48 win Saturday night at Radnor. (Special to the Times/Rob Dudley)