PA – Central Athletic League | Archive | February, 2016

Ardmore – Qualifying for the PIAA Class AAAA state tournament is becoming an annual habit for Lower Merion, who clinched their sixth consecutive state tourney berth – and their 10th in the last 12 years – with a 64-48 win against No. 27 seed Upper Dublin Tuesday.

The Aces won the second-round District One playoff game fairly handily, and by the middle of the fourth quarter, Lower Merion fans were chanting, “We want ‘Stoga” once they found out the Pioneers upset third seed Downingtown West and would play the 11th-seeded Aces in the third round of Districts. Leading the way for the Lower Merion attack was 6-4 junior guard Terrell Jones, who paced the Aces with 13 points and dished out numerous assists to LM teammates under the basket.

“Some of my shots weren’t falling tonight,” said Jones, who hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to defeat Penn Wood in overtime 68-66 in the first round of Districts Feb. 12. “When that happens, I look to go to the rim, or look for the open man.”

The Lower Merion junior guard, who also grabbed eight rebounds, added, “We were looking to slow down [6-1 senior guard John Barrett] tonight – we wanted to take away his 3’s, They have a lot of guys who can score – No. 3 (senior guard Ben Abel), No. 12 (6-foot-5 Will Derr) and No. 21 (6-3 senior forward Jimmy Gallagher).” Early in the game, Upper Dublin was penetrating the Aces’ defense, and the visitors hung tough in the Bryant Gymnasium until early in the second quarter.

Lower Merion head coach Gregg Downer said, “We were trying to speed it up early in the game, with a full court man-to-man, and Upper Dublin was getting some early looks at the rim. Our defense [overall] was OK, not great.”
Early in the second quarter, Lower Merion began a 16-4 run to pull away. The Aces controlled the second quarter, with 6-foot-6 junior forward Dion Harris and 6-foot-8 senior Jeremy Horn scoring inside and KJ Helton providing long-range points. Late in the second quarter, Lower Merion senior guard Zach Magill nailed a three-pointer from the right corner; then seconds later made a nice interception of an Upper Dublin pass headed out of bounds, flipped the ball to an LM teammate and saw freshman guard Steve Payne score inside to make it 32-16.

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Lower Merion junior Terrell Jones.

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RIDLEY TWP. >> Sean Bingnear knew the start on Senior Night was ceremonial. The outcome of Ridley’s game, against fellow playoff-bound squad Garnet Valley to cap an unbeaten run through the Central League, was hardly inconsequential. And for the senior guard, the opportunity was palpable.

So much so that eight days later, with Ridley surprisingly on the brink of a premature exit from the District One Class AAAA tournament and in a more precarious position on its home court than it had been all season, Mike Snyder looked down his usually tightly-rotated bench and found a saving answer in Bingnear. Of the many surprises contained in the boxscore from that narrow, 51-49 survival over No. 29 North Penn Friday, the most glaring is the eight points attributed to Bingnear’s name. And with the No. 4 Green Raiders facing another team that’s displayed its upset potential, No. 20 Perkiomen Valley, in Tuesday’s second round, Bingnear’s postseason cameo may transform into a recurring arc.

Snyder’s methods have been fairly constant this season, opting for a six- or seven-man rotation most nights. With the Green Raiders winning a Central League title and accumulating a very unbroken 23-1 record, there was no need to fix that proposition. Bingnear, the only of the Green Raiders’ five upperclassmen to find himself outside that core, appeared in fewer than half of the team’s games this season. Before the Jaguars arrived Feb. 4, Bingnear had hit two baskets, both 2-pointers, and scored five points. His record as a junior: Four games played and two made free throws.

But given the nod on Senior Night, Bingnear responded, shooting over the GV defense to score 11 points, burying three triples. “I just wanted to prove that I can play a little bit, so I just wanted to show that I can help if they need me,” Bingnear said at practice Sunday. Ridley topped GV, 59-49. Behind Julian Wing’s game-high 29 points, Bingnear and star guard Brett Foster contributed 11 apiece, a tally that could be seen as decisive.

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Ridley’s Sean Bingnear, left, looks for room to maneuver against North Penn’s Lance Lindsay Ford in the District One Class AAAA opener Friday night, a game in which Ridley came back to win thanks to eight points from Bingnear. (Digital First Media/Anne Neborak)

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Whatever verdict the seeding formula spit out last Sunday, it was going to be hard-pressed to intimidate Penncrest. After all, the Lions last season took the No. 28 seed in the District One Class AAAA Tournament, snaked through two overtime games, daunting road environs like Penn Wood and Lower Merion, and made their way to states. So drawing the No. 21 seed and a date with No. 12 Spring-Ford this season may not seem too daunting. Few pieces from this year’s team experienced that run first-hand – Tyler Norwood scored seven points in the first-round win over Penn Wood, 56-53, in OT, but that was the most significant contribution.

That adversity sits at the heart of the postseason phase of the Lions’ season is perhaps no surprise. The last month has been an adjustment since losing leading scorer AJ Taylor to a finger injury Jan. 16 vs. Ridley (a game where the Green Raiders’ needed a last-second 3-pointer to eke out a 30-27 win).

Since Taylor went down, the Lions (13-9) have responded, wrapping up with five straight wins. Norwood has averaged 19.3 points per game in the last six games, upping his season average to 15.1. Shaun Norwood averaged 10.2 points per game in five games before being blanked in the season-finale against Springfield, which featured a career-high 22-point outburst by Peter Spiotta.

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If Penncrest can get secondary scorers like Mike Mallon, right, engaged, it bodes well for their upset hopes in Friday’s District One Class AAAA opener at Spring-Ford. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)

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TREDYFFRIN — A year ago Conestoga’s Dan Iredale learned an important lesson: the amount of wins one has in the past does little for what a wrestler has to do in the present. Iredale won leagues and districts and reached the regional tournament last winter with a record of 21-0, but two unexpected losses not only ruined his perfect mark, but ended his season a week early.

Now a senior, Iredale will enter the postseason undefeated once again, as his 28th win of the year helped Conestoga hold off Ridley, 42-32, at home, Wednesday in the Central League dual meet. With 43 straight regular season wins, Iredale (160 pounds) is hoping to string along enough to end his career in Hershey for the PIAA tournament.

“Honestly, I’m trying just to have fun and enjoying it and not getting caught up in the wins and losses or how far I make it,” Iredale said. “Obviously my goal is to place at states, but sometimes I get too caught up in my own head so I’m just having fun and wrestling.”

Iredale has 95 career wins, and while Conestoga’s schedule isn’t always enough to truly test him, he has beaten everyone who’s stepped in front of him, including Garden Spot’s Dan Swarr.

“His maturity level and understanding of the nuisances of the sport have improved,” Conestoga coach Tom Ellicker said. “The losses at regionals last year lit a fire under him and set him up. He’s working on every stage of his game and he’s at another level.”

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Conestoga’s Dan Iredale finishes off a pin at 160 pounds. The senior is 28-0 and heads to the postseason with an undefeated record for the second straight season. (Nate Heckenberger -Digital First Media)

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On paper, the math seems simple. Ridley has won 11 games in a row on the way to the Central League regular-season and tournament championships. North Penn has won 11 games all season and narrowly snuck into the playoffs. So when the No. 4 and No. 29 seeds collide Friday night in the first round of the District One Class AAAA Tournament, the script seems clear-cut. But the added wrinkle comes with Knights’ hot form.

North Penn has won five of seven, resuscitating a season that stood at six wins as Ridley was climbing into the teens. It took a victory over Hatboro-Horsham last time out, powered by 10 3-pointers, to get the Knights sufficient bonus points to make the field. Somehow – and the logic escapes me – North Penn finished sixth in an eight-team Suburban One Continental (that’s a division, not a conference), yet still made the playoffs. (Paging, Chichester.) The Knights can shoot and have a handful of guards, like Matt Pickford, J.J. Melchior and Reece Udinski who can score. They have some height with 6-foot-6 Derek Heiserman and 6-foot-4 Ricky Johns.

But they face a tremendous team in Ridley. The Green Raiders’ only loss came to the team a seed ahead of them, Downingtown West, in the second half of a back-to-back. They’ve won 10 games over districts foes, including three in a row. They manhandled Conestoga, the 14 seed, by a 62-38 margin in the Central League title game Monday. Ridley is a team that, in the words of coach Mike Snyder, consistently makes “really good basketball plays.” Sounds like coachspeak, but consider the ways they can break teams down

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Fresh off cutting down the nets as Central League champions Monday, Kylon Hicks and Ridley are ready for the challenge of North Penn in the first round of the District One Class AAAA Tournament Friday. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)

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By way of praise, Mike Brown is quick to admit his team’s, um, shortcomings. It’s an obvious point of pride for Brown that his Garnet Valley team compiled a 14-8 record and qualified for the District One Class AAAA Tournament for the first time in the school’s Central League epoch, snapping an eight-year drought. But even more gratifying is how the Jaguars earned Friday’s trip to No. 3 seed Downingtown West (21-3), against some tall odds.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a smaller team physically in the area,” Brown said Sunday. “But we’re a very tough team. Looks can be deceiving.”

That toughness will be required in spades Friday. The Whippets made mincemeat of their division (albeit a ridiculously top-heavy Ches-Mont National represented in the postseason by two of the top three AAAA seeds, one AAA entrant and nothing else).Two of the three losses have come to top-seeded Coatesville – a 47-42 loss at home Feb. 2 and a 38-37 setback last week in the Ches-Mont final. Seeds as they are, West would have to wait for the final to renew acquaintances with the Red Raiders. The only other loss is to Phoenixville early in the season.

As a 10 seed, Downingtown West made states last year via playbacks.

Now for the measurables: The Whippets’ front line is high scoring and runs 6-foot-6 (Dom Guerrera), 6-foot-7 (George Gordon) and 6-foot-8 (Cornell-bound Josh Warren). From the backcourt comes Ryan Betler, the 6-foot-5 Penn commit. The Garnet Valley roster, meanwhile, tops out at 6-foot-4 (reserve forward Keith Morey, averaging 1.7 points in 20 games). The starting lineup is all under 6-foot-1, Ryan McCrossan the presumptive post player.

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Garnet Valley’s Ryan McCrossan, left, here driving against Springfield’s Nick Fox in a December game, will have his hands full with Downingtown West’s lanky front line in the District One Class AAAA opener Friday. (Times File)

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It’s difficult to imagine where Garnet Valley would be without its underclassmen starters. Seniors Sam Tomasetti and Maddie Ireland acknowledge that the youngsters have performed key roles for a 21-win team. The Jaguars wrapped up their third straight Central League championship Monday night with a 53-36 rout of Springfield and earned the No. 3 seed in the District One Class AAAA tournament. GV hosts 30th-seeded Oxford in a first-round game Friday night.

Coming into the season the Jags looked to fill the void left by All-Delco Jordan Ireland and Macy Goldbach, both of whom averaged better than 11.5 points per game as seniors. They were two of the Jags’ leading scorers a season ago, along with senior guard Maddie Ireland. Tomasetti will never be mistaken as a pure scorer. She makes the occasional big shot, but her job is to play excellent defense and rebound. She does that very well. Maddie Ireland is the engine, and the weight of carrying the team could have fallen entirely on her shoulders this season. But freshmen Emily McAteer and Brianne Borcky as well as sophomore Nicole Barnes, made sure that wouldn’t be the case.

The winner of Oxford-Garnet Valley plays the winner of No. 14 Spring-Ford and No. 19 Plymouth-Whitemarsh in the second round.

In other District One Class AAAA first-round games:

Saturday
No. 32 Penncrest at No. 1 North Penn, 1:30 p.m.

The Lions (11-11) are a heavy underdog against the Maidens (20-2). An example of how good North Penn is: the Maidens pummelled Garnet Valley, 73-41, at the Blue Chip Super Showcase Classic in late-January and captured the Suburban One League championship by defeating Central Bucks West.

Penncrest qualified for the district tournament for the first time in 13 years. The Lions began the season with a 9-2 record, but have lost nine of their last 11 games. They are led by junior guard Katie Russo and sophomore forward Grace Harding.

No. 29 Radnor at No. 4 Mount St. Joseph’s, 1:30 p.m.

The Raiders (11-11) dropped five of their last seven decisions and enter districts on a three-game skid. They fell to Mount in the second round of last year’s tournament before winning in playbacks to take ninth place and earning a spot in the PIAA tourney. Senior forward Kristin Hamill averages a team-high 13.0 points per game.

MSJ fell to Gwynedd Mercy in the Catholic Academies League championship game Tuesday, 35-28. Ashley Smith led with 12 points in the loss.

No. 25 Haverford at No. 8 C.B. South, 1:30 p.m.

The Fords (12-10) are back in the district playoffs for a second year in a row following an up-and-down regular season that concluded with three consecutive defeats. They’ll go as far as senior point guard Mollie Reynolds will lead them, but the Fords also have sharpshooting senior guard Ashley Murphy, one of the best 3-point shooters in Delco, and power forward Amanda Battista to lean on.

The Fords will have their hands full against C.B. South, which had won eight straight before falling to C.B. West in the SOL playoffs last week. Senior guard Jordan Vitelli is one to watch.

No. 24 C.B. East at No. 9 Springfield, 1:30 p.m.

The Cougars (18-5) were one of the county’s best comeback stories in 2015-16. Under second-year coach Ky McNichol, they are back in the postseason on the heels of their run to the Central League title game. Junior guard Maggie O’Connell is an ace floor general and freshmen Belle Mastropietro and Jordan D’Ambrosio continue to emerge into standout players with bright futures. Springfield is vying for its first district playoff win since 2013, when they beat Upper Darby in a first-round overtime thriller.

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Sophomore Nicole Barnes (22) has become a key player for No. 3 seed Garnet Valley, which starts its District One Class AAAA tournament Friday night against Oxford. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)

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NETHER PROVIDENCE >> When Dave McFadden talked to his Strath Haven players for the first time late last spring, he wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room.

“Coach from the minute he came in said, I know what y’all did last year; we’re going to leave that in the past and start fresh right here,” point guard Jahmeir Springfield said Tuesday. “That’s one thing he emphasized.”

So in that spirit, let’s get the background out of the way quickly: McFadden’s first head coaching job was to take over a team that went 3-19 last season, 5-39 over the past two under coach Tom Dougherty. They endured a 19-game losing streak in the Central League around a winless league slate in 2013-14. That history, no matter how maddening, was just that. There was no changing it, McFadden told his group. The only alternative was to prevent history from repeating itself. One win at a time, McFadden’s bunch has suppressed any hint that this is substantially the same group that endured last year’s pains. That path leads them to Friday’s first-round District One Class AAAA contest in which No. 25 seed Hatboro-Horsham visits the No. 8 Panthers. Even the most optimistic prognosticators couldn’t have expected McFadden to transform this team into a 19-4 outfit. They were one of the Central League’s most consistent teams, resisting the weekly pitfalls against inferior teams and losing to Ridley, Lower Merion and Conestoga in the Central League playoff semifinals. The only outlier was a 53-42 setback to Upper Darby in December.

The recipe for that success lies in the jelling of Haven’s core. They have six scorers who can contribute nightly. They’ve won when no one has gotten out of single-digits, comfortably executing in the halfcourt and defending. They have multiple post options in John Harrar and Josh Singleton, plus Cooper Driscoll off the bench.

Alex Ischiropoulos and Jayvon Green-Springfield can hit 3-pointers, and Jahmeir Springfield is the floor general that ties it all together. “Everybody’s chemistry is above the roof,” Springfield said. “That’s the one thing about us: We do have chemistry. We really love each other.”

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Strath Haven’s Kyree Fuller lays one in during practice Tuesday. Fuller is playing with torn cartilage in knee to help the No. 8 Panthers in Friday’s District One Class AAAA opener. (Times Staff/Robert J. Gurecki)

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UPPER DARBY >> The energy with which Upper Darby wrestled Garnet Valley Wednesday night belied a trying week that saw the Royals endure physical and emotional strain. Over the weekend, they claimed fourth in the District One AAA Duals to earn the school’s first trip to the state tournament. They also watched as their coach Bob Martin, in his 35th season with Upper Darby, left Saturday’s match with Pennridge after passing out on the bench. A blowout defeat to state power Central Dauphin followed on Monday with Martin absent. So one could have expected the Jaguars to jump on a fatigued Royals team. Instead, the hosts won five of the first seven bouts, on their way to a 41-27 victory over Garnet Valley that all but clinched Upper Darby’s 14th Central League title and 11th under Martin.

“Our guys knew what was on the line,” Royals senior captain Pete Augustin said. “We just showed up and did what we had to do.”

That commitment showed in the 152-pound bout after Matt Mortimer (145) pinned Simranjeet Singh to spot the Jags a 6-0 lead. Upper Darby’s Max Livingston faced Paul Gartman of Garnet Valley with each wrestler sporting an identical 23-9 record. A battle of attrition ensued. Gartman earned the first point by peeling away from Livingston’s control in the second period. That 1-0 lead held until late in the third when Livingston did Gartman one better. He spun out of the junior’s grip and assumed back control to secure two crucial points. Livingston rode out the final seconds and the Royals were on their way.

Coltrane Mosley-Jones (182) and Brian Kennerly (195) produced back-to-back pins. Then, in a theme of the night, Dante Daniels (220) fought off a near-fall from the Jags’ Tommy Mahoney to prevent bonus points in a 4-3 decision. The loss, according to Martin, was really a win. Augustin followed with yet another dominant performance to push his season record to 31-1.

“I kind of like wrestling on my feet,” Augustin said of his bout with Ryan Rushton. “If I take him down early, I let him up. Then I go for a pin.”

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Garnet Valley’s Griffin Salus goes for the pin on Upper Darby’s Dante Daniels in the 220-pound bout Wednesday. Daniels and the Royals gained the upperhand for the Central League title with a 41-27 decision over the Jaguars.
(ANNE NEBORAK-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA)

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NEWTOWN SQUARE >> If you had told Garnet Valley girls basketball coach Joe Woods that his senior floor leader, Maddie Ireland, would not get a field goal in the Central League championship game at Marple Newtown High Monday night, he might have expressed more than a little concern.

Ireland finished with seven points, all from the foul line, including six in the fourth period. What made a big difference for the Jaguars in their 53-36 victory over Springfield was the play of sophomore Nicole Barnes, freshmen Brianne Borcky and Emily McAteer, and junior reserve Sydney Fail. With the win, Garnet Valley (21-3) earned its third consecutive Central League title and will enter the district playoffs as the No. 3 seed. Springfield (18-5), which handed the Jags their lone league loss, is seeded ninth in the Class AAAA district tournament.

Barnes scored GV’s first seven points and shot 5-for-5, including a 3-pointer, from the floor in the opening period for 11 of the Jags’ 16 points. “They were face-guarding me,” said Ireland, who totaled seven points, three assists, two rebounds and one steal. “So it was really what we needed having Nicole step up like she did.

“We changed up our defense on them from the last time. It was great going up that ladder (to cut down the nets after the game) for the third time. Now we have to do something about getting to states and getting past that first game then.”

Barnes missed the only two shots she took in the second half and made one free throw to bring her point total to 12. She also had five steals and added an assist. “We were just working together better than the last time we played them,” Barnes said. “The way they were guarding (Ireland), we knew we’d have someone open. I had some open shots, and I was making them.”

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The Garnet Valley girls basketball team celebrates after winning the Central League Championship, 53-36 over Springfield Monday night. (Digital First Media/Robert J. Gurecki)

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