Frog's Corner Return to TedSilary.com Home Page    Mark "Frog" Carfagno, a true website legend, has concentrated on stats this season, but here's a report just so you know he hasn't lost the touch.    Frog may be reached at markcarf@verizon.net.

MARCH 21 
PIAA AAAA SEMIFINAL
Chester 67, Gratz 60
  What an experience !!!  For the first time since 1983 Mr. Ted Silary had to
call in sick. That's right. Ted actually missed a game. Can you believe it?
Well, he did end up writing the Prep Charter and Imhotep game story from his
home. Do you know what also happened in 1983? Yep. That's the last time a
Philadelphia Professional Sports Franchise won a Championship. The ' 83
Sixers with Dr. J. and Moses took Philly to the promised land. Could this be
the year our home town baseball squad does the same? So what is the
significance of this. Well, yours truly had to work side by side with Tom
"Hockey Puck" McKenna for the first time at a basketball contest. Yes I
worked with the Puckster before, but that was for a few football games. When
the "Hockey Man" stats the pigskin game he likes to do it up in the stands.
That's fine with me. I like to be close to the action and add them up from
field level. For this game Tom was encouraging me to use his method of
recording the stats. What, change now?
  Thomas, this is the State Semi Finals we're are talking about, I can't
switch now. Especially with these two squads. I've been doing basketball
stats since my college days at Wilmington College  in 1972. Our team was
fast, and I am proud to say featured the second leading scorer in the NAIA,
Phil Melillo. Melillo later went on to play in Europe and now has become a
successful coach overseas. Oh, That's right. I almost forgot. The leading
scorer at the time was a player from Guilford College in North Carolina. His
name was Lloyd Free. Who later changed his name to World B. Free while
playing with the Seventy Sixers. Don't underestimate them small schools.
Smile!! Anyway, I actually gave in to Tom and used his method. Just prior
to tip off, McKenna invites Drexel Coach Bruiser Flint to sit right next to
me at the press table.
  Bruiser occupied the end seat next to myself and Tom was beside me. Next
to "Hockey" were several other scribes and down at the far end occupying
the last seat was Daily News coverage man, Joe Santoliquito. Problems,
problems and more problems. Sitting next to Tom was a writer from another
newspaper who attempted to chart ALL STATISTICS by his lonesome. Impossible.
So what did he do? Throughout the entire game he continuously was asking
for various stats. Mostly the ones I was jotting. Rebounds, steals, assists
and blocks. Tom seemed to think that that was not a problem. It sure as hell
was. Talk about distracting. The guy would jump up from his chair and yell
down to me, "How many of this or how many of that, does so and so have?' Yo,
Dude, bring yourself a partner.  Also, if I saw a stat that was worthy of
bringing to Santoliquito's attention, I had to get up and run down to the
other end and relay the info. I'll say one thing though about Puck.
Everyone in the building seemed to know him. During any break in the action,
people would venture over towards him and ask him about stats or a certain
player, a prior game or an upcoming Tournament. "PUCK, YOU DA MAN " !  When
the game finally ended and all the stats were recorded, there was one final
thing to do: that was call in the box score. Puck made two boxes, one for
Joe Sant and one for myself.  Immediately after the game Joe went to the
Chester locker room to do some interviews. Thus another issue. Puck insisted
that Joe needed a Box. He couldn't locate him. He was freaking out. YO , YO,
Anybody see Joe? I told him that Joe wouldn't need the box and that one of
us would call it in. "NO, no, Joe's going to call it in." Well, you guessed
it. We finally locate Joe and Joe says for us to call the paper. All that
worrying for nothing. I decided the best place to call it in from was inside
my car. We get in the car and Puck says, "You call, Frog." OK. Not a
problem. I call the paper and get transferred to Ted, who's at home. I
started reading the figures, but Puck would also say a word or two and Ted
could clearly hear him. Finally, I gave the stats to Tom and said go for it.
After that it was down the Expressway to the 30th Street Station to drop Tom
off.
  Now on to the game. To put it plain and simple, I will say that Gratz could
have easily have won this game. By easy I'd say 10 points or more. What's
this guy, crazy?
  No, I'm just telling it like it saw it, with a little assistance from a
Division 1 College Coach. At one point during the game I said to Bruiser
Flint, "Boy, if they could just make their Foul Shots, they (Gratz) would be
right there." Bruiser replied, "Foul Shots? What about Layups?" He's right
. The Bulldogs missed numerous chippies around the basket. Their big men or,
for that matter, their not-so-big men had no problem at all getting shots
off or hauling in rebounds. Granted, Chester's 2 big men were in foul
trouble, but even when they were in the game Gratz was able to penetrate.
Early on, the Bulldogs killed themselves with 8 first quarter turnovers. As
a result they trailed 16 to 6 at the end of the first stanza. Gratz shot
just 11 of 20 from the Free Throw Line and 22 of 51 from the field. However,
they out rebounded the Clippers, 47 to 34.
  The man of the day was Chester's 5' 8" point guard, Karon Burton. Burton had
a career evening, scoring 35 points. The Junior playmaker shot 12 of 22
overall and 5 of 11 from 3 point range. He was 6 of 8 at the Charity Stripe.
If Burton didn't go off on this particular evening, I don't know how the
Clippers could have won this game. I know of their history; they are a
basketball powerhouse. However, when one player does all or most of the
scoring, and we know it too well here in Philly, the rest of the players
have a tendency to just stand around. Oh, yeah, they came up big when they
absolutely had to. In fact, Gratz was ahead 44-40 early in the fourth
quarter, when the Clippers 2 big men and leading scorers, Nasir Robinson and
Russell Johnson, came to the rescue. Robinson, a 6-5 junior, already has
committed to the University of Pittsburgh. He had to sit out some of the action
while in foul trouble and finished with just 9 points and 7 boards. Johnson,
also the same height and year as Robinson, scored 11 points in the final
quarter to help prevent a Bulldog comeback. Gratz would get within 2 with
just under 4 minutes remaining, 50-48, but Burton had most of the answers to
keep the 'Dogs at arms length. The back breaker came with the Clippers ahead
58-55. With just under a minute to play the District One squad swiftly
passed the ball around, not allowing Gratz to foul. Burton took control of
the ball, found a small opening and headed towards the hole. Result. Layup
and a foul and a 61-55 advantage with 38.8 seconds remaining.  Charles White
quickly responded with a 3 point jumper at the 31.7 mark, cutting it once
again to 3. After a Gratz foul, Rahjir Jefferson made his first but missed
his second Free Throw attempt and a mad scramble was made for the ball.
Guess who got the ball on the floor. Burton, and he was fouled in the
process. His 2 FTs with just under 20 seconds left put the Clips up 64-58
and on to the State Finals at Penn State University. The Delco team will
take on Schenley High School. Schenley features DeJuan Blair. Blair, also
headed to Pitt, is 6' 8'' and averages 16 points a game. If Chester couldn't
keep Gratz off the glass, with their tallest player being only 6' 6", Lord
knows what Blair will be able to do. Schenley won a previous match up
between the schools. Look for them to win another.
  Gratz's Josh "Scrap" Martin was an absolute pleasure to watch. The Senior
Guard never stopped giving 100%. He was all over the place and gave his team
the chance to a least play a meaningful 4th quarter. In a 2-minute, 3rd-
quarter span, Scrap recorded 4 steals, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 4 points.
Can you say… Bugs Bunny ?  He finished with 15 points, 9 assists, 4 steals
and 5 rebounds. Ish McFadden had 16 points and 7 boards. Charles White
finished with 15 and 6 RB's.

MARCH 10
PIAA CLASS AA FIRST ROUND
Prep Charter 46, Trinity 45
 Well, first of all, it's nice to be officially back on the Site. I knew my
man Joe McFadden would cover for me real well. Also, condolences to Joe and
his family on the recent passing of his Mother.   On this report I put
together as much info as possible, since my primary job was serving as the
Public Address Announcer. I thought that  someone from Ted's crew would
arrive and do the duties. As the game began I didn't see a DN Rep, so I
started logging rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots. I figured later
on someone would come to the rescue, but that was not the case. I didn't log
much play-by-play action in the first half, but I can tell you the
highlight of the opening half was a break away slam by Markieff Morris, who
was fouled on the play and made the free throw. On the play, his brother,
Marcus, rebounded a Trinity miss and outletted a two-handed, over-the-head
pass to his twin to break a 16-16 tie with 2:01 left in the half. The Huskies
scored 5 more unanswered points to complete an 8-0 run and head to the
locker room up, 24-19. The third quarter started off somewhat zany as a
result of a hand injury to the Prep's Markieff Morris. 'Kieff had to leave
the game with 6:50 left in the quarter. When play resumed, Charter coach Dan
Brinkley attempted to force the Shamrocks out of their zone. The 'Rocks
didn't respond so the Huskies just held the ball. Held, as in literally held
under guard Kevin Radford's arm. It looked like he was waiting for his
local Rec Center to open so he could shoot some hoops. Actually, he was
waiting for the return of his teammate, who was getting his hand worked on by
the Trainer. At the 5:10 mark Brinkley called time out and Markieff returned
to action. Yep, 1:40 of standing still . Man, at least he could have tossed
the ball to the other side of the court to one of his buddies. So, as you
could see the period didn't start out too exciting and when it ended Trinity
outmatched PC, 8-6. Oh Boy!.  When the teams actually played, if that's
what it was called, there were many turnovers as a result of bad hands and
passes by both squads. Throw in some steals and what you got was a 30-27
Charter edge at its conclusion. Trinity would grab the lead, 33-32, when
Frank Kuntz hit a jumper from just inside the free throw line with 5:42 to
go in the game. Radford would get the lead right back when he stole the ball
and went uncontested for a layin.  The Shamrocks responded by outscoring
the Huskies, 7-2, over a 2 minute span, highlighted by 2 FT'S and a 3 pointer
by Tyler Storch, the game's leading scorer with 16, and forcing Brinkley to
call time out with his team trailing, 40-36. After the T.O., Charter got 3
quick ones when Marcus Morris tipped in his own miss and was fouled with
2:42 to go. Morris made the freebie, cutting the deficit to 40-39. Trinity
got sloppy on its next possession and the result was a bad shot and a PC
rebound. Parrish Grant got the ball inside to Markieff, who turned and hit
a popper from close range to give his South Philly teammates a 41-40 lead
with 2:20 on the clock. Marcus added one more to the total, making
one of two FT'S with 1:50 showing and a 2 point Prep advantage. The
next time down Trinity went inside to one of their big men,
who was collapsed on by the Morris Towers and missed from close range.
Grant grabbed the floor board and raced to the hole for a short pull up
giving the Huskies some breathing room, 44-40, with 1:24 to play. Kuntz would
hit a 2 pointer from the wing to cut it to 2  just under the one minute
mark. PC played keep away, before Markieff was fouled. Morris made one FT to
give the Shamrocks hope on their next possession. Looking for the three and
a tie, Trinity had difficulty freeing up one of its shooters as Radford
and Grant fought off picks to stay with their man. Eventually, Storch
lofted an air ball from beyond the arc and Marcus snatched the rebound with 4 ticks
on the clock assuring the Huskies at least another game. Marcus knocked down
one FT and the Shamrocks' Matt Donahue bombed in a useless 3 to end the game 46-45.  

 PC Stats: Across the board will indicate. Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks and Points.
 Kevin Radford: 3-4-3-0-4pts.  Parish Grant; 3-2-2-0-11pts.  Ferg Myrick:
2-0-0-1-0 pts.  Jessie Morgan: 3-1-3-0-6pts. Tyree Harris; 1 RB.  Marcus
Morris: 13-3-1-3-12 pts. Markieff Morris: 9-2-2-4-11pts. Shaquille Duncan: 2 pts. 

  Notes:  The game of course featured the Morris Twins, but blood lines
weren't too bad on the other side. The Shamrocks had two brother combo's.
Joe and Eric Kindler and Frank and Christian Kuntz. With 3:12 to go in the
game an altercation broke out in the stands between 2 adults. The officials
directed both teams to sit on their respective benches until the
participants were removed from the facility. The delay was about 8 minutes.
That's 2 nights in a row at Southern HS where a problem occurred. Friday was
somewhat funny, since it was two adults, both supporting the visiting school
who got into it. Good line by the Trinity head coach. After watching a Prep
Charter substitute not report officially to the scorer's table, he jokingly
said; "Come on, son . . . Flyers played this afternoon." Line change. Get it??!!