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March Reports/Tedbits

JAN. 31
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 58, La Salle 47
  The Prep gave the 'Splorers the slip . . . Sorry, that was too easy. (And if you were there, you know why.) The far end of La Salle's gym sits close to the outside and, because the place was packed (not a seat to be had; numerous standees) and steamy, condensation became a major problem along that baseline and just beyond. In the first half, guys lost their footing at least a half-dozen times (mostly La Salle players who were trying to drive) and finally La Salle AD Joe Parisi was summoned to the scorers' table to speak with ref Kevin Clay. Well after the game, Parisi said that halting the proceedings had not been considered. Clay, he said, merely wanted to make sure that the La Salle folks would work like crazy to try to keep the affected area dry, or something close to that. At times, as many as three guys, both adults and students, were pushing wide mops over the area and/or using a towel during stoppages, or sometimes even when the ball was at the other end on fastbreaks. At one point, Parisi tried to open doors to the outside from just beyond the gym "but people are still trying to get in." If they'd known what was taking place, they would have ditched that effort. Unfortunately, this tilt between spirited, private school rivals was quite the dud. Thanks to jr. G-F Chris Clover, who was incredibly smooth/comfortable, the Hawks stormed to an 11-5 in the first four minutes . . . and then added eight more consecutive points into the early moments of the second quarter. Wow! (I'm 99 percent sure the JV game also began with 19-5 dominance by Prep.) Clover's early brilliance featured three treys and a twisting baseline jumper. In all, he scored 24 points by shooting 8-for-14 (4-for-6 on treys) and 4-for-4. He also collected five rebounds and two assists. In a 32-11 first half, the Prep sniped 7-for-12 from beyond the arc. The Explorers, meanwhile, shot just 3-for-14 overall and that left the door wide open for Matty Beckman to outperform them, which he did. Matty is a special needs kid and tonight, via the school's relationship with Athletes Helping Athletes, he was the honorary captain. At halftime, with great encouragement from La Salle's student section (roughly 275 kids), he lefty took a bunch of shots from the left wing and straight on. Ever the stat man, I kept track. Matty hit seven of 19 shots and that comes to 36.8 percent. Three-for-14 is 21.4 percent. Ouch. In the late going, there was only the slightest hint of drama. A follow dunk by jr. F David Krmpotich awakened the rooters, then jr. WG Shawn Witherspoon nailed a right corner threeball to make it 54-39 with 2:03 left. Witherspoon then converted a drive, but . . . oops, Krmpotich was hit with an offensive goaltending call for ever-so-slightly touching the rim. The Prep remained in a comfort zone from there, though coach Speedy Morris was none too pleased with poor shooting at the line. Overall in the fourth quarter, the Hawks were 6-for-12 at the charity stripe. Two misses came on front ends of one-and-ones, so eight points were left on the table. Not good. Thompson, a lefty, received DN ink from Ace, who wrote the story on his cell phone (yes, his phone! how did he even do that?). Thompson had 10 points, five rebounds and four steals. Sr. WG Tom Fox posted all nine of his points on threes, and added five boards. Sr. PF-C Ricky Slusarczyk had seven points and eight boards and sr. PG Alex Stewart had six points thanks to treys. No one scored in double digits for La Salle, but five guys checked in with seven to nine. Sr. G-F Sean Greenberg, the sixth man, mixed eight points and five rebounds with a switch to a soprano voice (you had to be there; smile). Krmpotich had eight and six. Jr. PG Najee Walls incurred two early personals and that did not help the cause. In all, La Salle went 7-for-27 on treys. Amauro and I camped out along the damp baseline and nearby, to my left, were ex-football stars Brett Gordon and Mike Durso. I told Mike that he and Brett should grab the mops and go to town, and that I'd take pics to create a memory for life. Mike politely declined. He has always been incredibly smart. Ha, ha. Part of the Mop Mob, briefly, was La Salle teacher Bob "Zuh-zuh" Zanneo, one of the leading career scorers in Judge's history. Prep sr. sub G John Luciano has finalized plans to head for Saint Joseph's. Here's hoping he decides to become a manager (finalize that now, Phil!) and/or a sports writer. Oh, there's now a rumor going around. La Salle's gym could wind up being the site of the 2015 Winter Classic! Skates not needed . . . Just kidding. I think.

JAN. 31
TEDBITS
  We have standings for Public League basketball going back to the 1923-24 season and in the 91 regular seasons played during that time frame, 66 new schools have competed. (Central, Frankford, Germantown, Northeast, Southern and West go back even further.) Of course, there have been all kinds of alignments, going from all-one-league to geography to classification and now to perceived strength. New Foundations Charter is one of two new schools this season (along with Penn Treaty) and it has earned the ninth best record for a first-year Pub squad over the 91 seasons. This accomplishment definitely did not appear to be possible as 2013 ended, as the Bulldogs owned an 0-3 mark. Once December gave way to January . . . whoa!, NF has not lost since (not even in non-league play). NF is coached by Ryan Kilkenny, a 1997 Judge grad who served as the team manager and spent 10 years as an assistant at D-III Arcadia University, in Glenside. His assistants are former Judge players -- Tim Ryan ('97) and Jim Reeves ('98, a first team All-City honoree). NF's top five scorers this season have been Keith Blassingale (300 points), Travon Williams (200), Matt Campbell (185), Nazir Wilson (111) and Nate Comp (91). Ed Cahoe has also been productive (60). Here are the 10 best records for first-year Pub teams since 1924, as well as the 10 worst.

JAN. 30
TEDBITS
  Four brackets of games remain to be played in the Catholic League regular season, then Carroll jr. Ernest Aflakpui will take his place on the list below. What guys, you ask, are on the list? Foreign imports (list limited to guys who were steered here) to earn coaches' All-Catholic honors. Aflakpui will wind up somewhere on the list in his second season at Carroll by way of Ghana. As you'll see, three foreigners have earned MVP honors and Adonal Foyle did so as a sophomore in '92. Alas, he then left the area after just one season and finished his high school days in upstate New York. After starring at Colgate, he enjoyed a 12-year NBA career. Also in the early '90s, a 6-7 kid from Lithuania, Mindaugus "Tim" Timinskas, was an unofficial part of Egan's program. He'd already graduated high school so he did not attend Egan, but he lived with the family of former basketball/baseball star Joe McEwing and sometimes practiced/worked out with Egan. At the time, Joe was an outfielder in the Cardinals' farm system. He later spent nine seasons in the major and is now the White Sox' third base coach. Meanwhile, Timinskas became a headliner in Lithuania's pro league and even helped that country capture bronze in the 2000 Olympics.
UPDATE: Ernest Aflakpui has been added to the list.

JAN. 29
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Neumann-Goretti 64, Carroll 58
  Mark Del Brocco has a story to tell for life. Who's Mark Del Brocco? Well, in 1997, he was a competent wing sniper for a Neumann squad that won the Catholic League championship and now he's deep into a stint as a prime assistant for coach Carl Arrigale. Tonight, however, he could only listen to this game. Only listen to the SOUNDS of the game, actually, from a spot outside not only Carroll's gym, but also the school. Brrrrrrrrrr!! "I was rooting for silence," a still-freezing Del Brocco said with a smile in the hallway outside the visiting locker room. He later added, "And boos." Like many folks, Del Brocco arrived a shade later than he'd planned to and by that time (maybe in the third quarter of the JV game?), the place was filled and the doors were locked. Even Michael Jordan would have been kept outside. All the frustrated Del Brocco could do was shiver and hope. So, what did he miss? Great entertainment! Sure, the game would have been even better if the verdict had come down to a last shot, but there were many terrific moments and all neutral observers (along with N-G loyalists, of course) headed home with feelings of satisfaction. The most amazing weird fact was that N-G lost the rebound war by 20, at 43-23, yet still collected the W. Not far behind was this tidbit: Derrick Jones, Carroll's star jr. F (and the owner of a national profile), was able to notch just three field goals en route to seven points and all three were follows. Two were hellacious dunks and the first was SportsCenter worthy. The Saints' far-and-away headliner -- you won't be surprised -- was sr. CG Ja'Quan Newton, a Miami commit. He finished with 29 points, shooting 9-for-18 (one trey) and 10-for-12. After missing his first two floor attempts of the third quarter, he went 5-for-7 (including the trey) and 8-for-8 the rest of the way and was the very definition of I'm gonna put these guys on my back, and they're going to enjoy the ride. He did most of his damage on the move, but also swished some jumpers. Not to be overlooked was Newton's contribution at the defensive end. In the fourth quarter, at a minimum, he was required to stick Jones, and prevented him from wreaking havoc. Newton's three-point play created a 44-44 tie 18 seconds into the fourth quarter and then, surprisingly, he was NOT involved in a four-point flurry that put the Saints ahead for good. That duty was performed by a frosh G, Quade Green, who has the look of a future stalwart. First he hit two free throws and then he converted a slick drive after gathering in a steal off a tipped ball by sr. F-C Jamal Custis. Another big bucket shortly thereafter was also a non-Newton production as soph backup PG Vaughn Covington (three steals) collected an assist off a fastbreak conversion by jr. WG Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble. Carroll's Newton imitator was sr. PG Austin Tilghman and, wow, did he ever slap together a goodie. This kid, who's also a football franchise, finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds and for much of the night he was in whatever-I-want, when-I-want mode. Because of a thick body, some people think Tilghman is semi-slow. Hmm. Then how was he giving guys facial/body burns early and often on explosions to the hoop? Tilghman shot 8-for-20 (one trey) and 8-for-11 and his only negative sequence came near the end. With the Patriots down by six, Tilghman missed a trey. However, the rebound scramble resulted in a jumpball and the arrow favored AC. Tilghman then failed to convert a drive and soon, N-G sr. G Troy Harper (12 points) was hitting two free throws at 20.0 to make it 64-56 and send some folks to the exits. Carroll did have some strong moments. With Tilghman scoring six points and passing for six more, the Patriots stormed to a 12-4 lead in the first 2:46. Also in that time span N-G was outrebounded, 7-0! The latter part of the third quarter also went well as sr. WG Joe Mostardi used a fastbreak layup and two treys to garner eight points. Carroll was hurt with 1:09 left in the half when Jones incurred his third personal while trying to set a pick almost 25 feet from the basket. Overall, Jones finished with seven points and 12 boards while jr. C Ernest Aflakpui had six and 15. Custis (six) and Kimble (five) topped N-G in rebounds while Kimble dished seven assists. This game was first scheduled for Jan. 2, but messy weather got in the way. As mentioned earlier that day in a Tedbit, N-G had captured 27 of the teams' last 28 meetings. Now you can make that 28 of 29. Speaking of 29, Newton's point total ranks No. 2 in these clashes over that span, second only to 30 by Carroll's Juan'ya Green in a 2011 playoff. Carroll's students filled roughly one-third of the stands on the side opposite the benches. Major energy was displayed. I camped out with Allen Rubin and Steve Keller in the front row while fans Bill Wright and Tom Bachinger and statman Amauro Austin sat pretty in row No. 2. Aaron "Ace" Carter parked himself three rows up, behind Amauro. Big Steve Reid never made it inside, either. He told Ace that some Carroll kids were yelling down score updates through the windows at the top of the stands. Ace wrote the DN story in his car, right out in the parking lot. However, just as he was about to hit the send button, Carroll's Wi-Fi died. It stopped working, he guessed, because it gets shut off when everyone finally leaves for the night? Anyway, he hightailed it to a nearby Dunkin' Donuts and connected to that store's Wi-Fi. It's not easy being Ted's replacement, folks! The adventures are never-ending. Smile.

JAN. 29
TEDBITS
  With a win yesterday over SCH Academy, Penn Charter assured it would avoid going winless in Inter-Ac play. The Quakers last experienced such a downer in '73 and, below, you can see how long all current Inter-Ac and Catholic League schools have gone since posting an 0-fer. (In the Pub, meanwhile, I have standings going back to the 1923-24 season. Southern and West Philly are at least in their 91st consecutive seasons of avoiding league 0-fers. Overbrook joined the Pub in 1927-28, so this is season No. 87. Also on long, never-happened streaks are Gratz (1930-31, 84 seasons) and Bartram (1940-41, 74 seasons).
UPDATE: B-P did go winless in 2014.

JAN. 28
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Penn Charter 66, SCH Academy 43
  Not too often is a game decided in the first 29 seconds, but a strong case could be made that we saw such an occurrence today. After jr. WG Julian Johnson opened the proceedings with a layup, PC went with a press and, at 7:31, SCH had to call a timeout as jr. F Pat(rick) McCain and jr. F Eric Stahlheber applied great pressure around a Blue Devil in the backcourt. That was the first example of SCH's inablility to get into a flow. There'd be MANY more, folks, as the BDs seemingly committed hundreds of turnovers. PC won the first quarter, 17-10, and was in command by halftime at 38-21. Third quarter? Did you have to ask? The Quakers won that one, 19-2, and with 5:43 left coach Jamie Chadwin removed all five players and sent in subs. I'm not a big fan of punishment substitutions, so to speak, but this move was justified. Literally nothing was going right and new faces HAD to make an appearance. Unfortunately, the new guys also had problems stemming the tide. It was just one of THOSE days. Squared, even. PC's lead soared (at least) as high as 32 points, at 53-21. The heroes among PC's starters were sr. PG Sean O'Brien (Colgate), sr. CG Demetrius "Meech" Isaac (great waterbug moments, especially early in the third quarter) and Stahlheber, who's back in action after injury woes. Stahlheber scored seven points in the second quarter and after he notched his second inside field goal, SCH student rooter Jeffrey Mikalonis-Lieberman, a football player, yelled out with the proper sarcasm, "Somebody has to guard him! So, um, why don't we do that?!" M-L wasn't finished (though he did leave the gym at halftime -- smile). Late in the second quarter, PC sr. WG Alex Schwarz was walking past M-L's perch during a stoppage and Jeffrey called out to him, "Red hair? Not so nice." Alex smiled broadly and Jeffrey added, "But you're handsome in a special way." Ha, ha, ha. All kinds of deep subs saw action through much of the fourth quarter and PC's highlights were a right-corner trey by sr. G Drew Murray, a pair of free throws by jr. F Frank McGlinchey and a layup by frosh G Adam Holland. O'Brien scored 14 points -- with a four-point play included -- and his career total now stands at 992. The chance for the special moment will come Friday night at PC vs. Haverford School; the Quakers' last 1,000-point scorer was Sammy Zeglinski in 2007. Only sr. WG Jordan Watson (18, four treys) scored in double figures for the Blue Devils. A late-game highight was watching deep sub Xavier Bell, a soph G, hustle for six points. Great to see all the special SCH folks and to have chats with: Neil O'Brien, Sean's dad; John Parsons, a football star at Judge and the father of SCH jr. G (and football star) Dylan Parsons (currently slowed by an injury); and Alyssa Parsons, Dylan's sister and a former basketball star at Wood/Rider. Also loved speaking with Mr. O'Brien (not sure I've ever known his real name; sorry), father of Neil and Chris O'Brien, a whirlwind point guard for La Salle High ('81) and Drexel. We talked every so often at games back in the day -- Neil (baseball star) and the youngest brother, Doug (later a rowing stalwart), also attended La Salle -- and it was great to do so again after so many years. Hard to believe this win was PC's first this season in league play. The Quakers have not experienced an Inter-Ac oh-fer since 1973 (0-10).

JAN. 28
TEDBITS (Mid-Morning)
  Undoubtedly, every person who ever interacted with the late, great Tom Gola has a wonderful story to tell. Here's mine, with proof. In the 1964-65 school year, I was an eighth grader at Penn Charter and one of my teachers was a great guy named Phil Maroney. He coached wrestling, among other duties, but was also an avid autograph collector (athletes, movie stars, politicians, etc.). One of our assignments was to write a letter to someone famous and ask for an autograph. The best thing to do, he said, was to enclose three 3x5 cards so then you could trade the extras with classmates. By this time Mr. Gola was with the Knicks, but, being a sports-crazed kid, I knew all about his Philly roots and overall greatness and decided to contact him (among others). A short time later . . . he not only signed and returned the cards, but also penned a letter. From a Boston hotel, no less, that was used by the Knicks when they'd travel to Beantown to play the Celtics. Can you imagine how excited such a wonderful response made me feel?  I wound up writing to lots of athletes that winter (and later) and many 3x5 cards came flying back at me. Mr. Gola was one of only three players to also write letters. (The two others, Steve Courtin and Larry Jones, were rookies with the 76ers. Jones even sent back autographed cards from two teammates, Chet Walker and Ben Warley. How cool was that?! Warley's sons, Carlin and Jason, wound up starring at Frankford.) Anyway, below are the letter and primary 3x5 card from Mr. Tom Gola. They will forever be treasured. Thank you again, sir.

JAN. 28
TEDBITS
  Elsewhere on this site there's a list of all guys in Pub/Cath/Int history who've racked up 1,000 career points, and a breakdown for those who are trying to reach the magic number this season. There's another grand assault in progress, however, and it's quite unusual. It goes back a decade and involves many guys! Between the Fox (three brothers) and Stewart (four brothers) families, seven guys have played at St. Joseph's Prep for coach Speedy Morris and their combined career total stands at 913. (The Fox family patriarch, Joe, an assistant to The Speedster, played for Archbishop Ryan and was a senior in the 1976-77 season. His career total is unavailable, but in CL play he notched 121 points as a senior and 14 as a junior. Should we count those points? Smile.)
UPDATE: Chart below is FINAL; updated through 2013-14 season.

JAN. 27
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 61, West Catholic 45
  Can we just go back to roughly the midway point of the fourth quarter and call it a game? Let's pretend the roof started leaking or the electrical system blew every fuse. That way, the Prep would still have a win and West would still be able to feel good about coming close to pulling off an upset. The reality? The stretch run was an absolute mess and things nearly got ugly. The Hawks scored 16 of the game's final 17 points and, as West's frustration mounted (almost every borderline call, rightly or wrongly, favored the Prep), so did the problems. Over a 34-second period from 1:02 to 0:28, the Burrs were whistled for three "extra" fouls -- two intentionals and a tech. The intentionals included the grabbing of jr. WG-SF Chris Clover's shirt (by jr. PG Devonta Peterie) as he leaped to try what had been shaping up as a breakaway layup, and a forearm thump to Clover's chest (by jr. F Brandon Cole) as he tried to play keepaway out near midcourt. Then, Clover was doing some fancy-dan dribbling near the Prep's bench when tough defense by sr. F Jalil Branch caused him to lose the ball out of bounds. Branch did a celebratory clap-clap-clap in Clover's fence, drawing the tech. Thankfully, the negatives ended there. Until the implosion, the West kids made lots of great decisions on offense and played admirable defense and you never would have known they were playing without soph F Josh Townsend, who was unavailable due to a one-game school suspension. (According to Huck, who was on hand, Townsend is averaging 9.5 rebounds in CL play. In this one, only one Burr claimed more than two.) But down the stretch, they were stabbed in the heart by unforced or barely-forced errors and the Hawks managed to get some open looks. With the Prep ahead, 45-44, sr. WG Tom Fox caught a feed from sr. PG Alex Stewart and nailed a right-wing trey. That sent the Hawks on their way and there'd be no stopping them. For today's Tedbit, I did a note on the late, great Tom Gola, which detailed how, in 1950-51, he scored 46 percent of La Salle's points in the 13 league games in which he played. As this one started, Clover scored nine of the Prep's first 10 and the mind began to race. Oh, well. So much for that. Clover did finish with 19 points, but he notched just three field goals as Branch, sub sr. G Matt Davis and jr. F Stefan Jones took turns pouring their hearts into defense. Which guy took over, mostly? Sr. WG Kyle Thompson. Using an assortment of drives, treys and stop-and-pops, Thompson scored 19 of the Hawks' final 51 points and that comes out to 37.3 percent. Not bad. (He also had six boards and three apiece of assists/steals.) Fox tallied nine of his 12 in the fourth quarter. In the who'll-be-first contest between the guys who rarely shoot, sr. PF-C Ricky Slusarczyk (seven rebounds) got the win by trying a jumper just 1:24 into the game. Sr. PG Alex Stewart finally launched a shot as the first quarter ended. "Stewie" wound up winning the pair's scoring contest, 6-5. Peterie, who showed impressive body control on more than one occasion, scored 16 points. Branch and jr. WG Jahmil Harris, who thrived with some spinners, halved 20. Harris added six rebounds and five assists while Branch managed four steals. Before the game, Prep assistant Dov Grogshal walked over with a student named George Pierce. He's a manager with the JV team and, guess what, he wants to become a writer! Niiiiiiice. He'll soon be doing website reports. Student reporters are always welcome. Honestly, anyone who can come close to slapping together a sentence can join our nutty club (smile). Looking forward to your first report, George. Thanks!

JAN. 27
TEDBITS
  Six-plus decades after he played his final game for La Salle High, Tom Gola still owns the seventh-best league scoring average in Catholic League history. His senior season was 1950-51 and he scored 333 points in 13 games (missed one due to injury or illness) for a 25.6 average. Here's an amazing fact: In the 13 games in which Gola played, La Salle totaled 721 points. So, his 333 points represented 46.2 percent of the team's! His high game was 40 points and his lowest output was 17 (half of the team's 34). He also had dominant games of 26 of 43 (60.5), 28 of 48 (58.3), 40 of 70 (57.1), 28 of 58 (48.3) and 27 of 56 (48.2). As always, thanks to Tom Taylor, who long ago provided me with league scoring numbers going back to the 1949-1950 season. In that campaign, Gola scored 260 points in 14 games for an 18.6 average. He was remarkably consistent, scoring 20 to 24 (his high mark) in eight of those games.
UPDATE: McDevitt's Tyrell Long has been added to the list below.

JAN. 26
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Judge 56, Ryan 45
  Sometimes, the best way to explain why one team beats another is outrageously simple. So, with that in mind, here we go . . . Judge shot 17-for-35 from the floor (48.6 percent) and 17-for-18 at the line (94.4 percent). In the same categories, Ryan shot 15-for-42 (35.7) and 10-for-17 (58.8). OK, if you're only interested in basics, there is no need to continue reading this report . . . If you're still with us, it was kind of disappointing that this game lost its juice too early. Ryan's gym was quite close to packed, with the stands at both ends pulled out, and we would have seen some serious electricity if the outcome had still been in doubt down the stretch. After last year's game, played at Judge, there was an ugly disturbance outside the school, according to many, between fans of these neighborhood rivals, and even though Sunday afternoon games often are not well attended, especially by students, today's turnout was impressive. One problem: Ryan's rooters failed to completely dominate the scene, despite occasional requests by the fathers of Raider players to increase the noise level. Oh, well. You can't MAKE kids do something if they're not fully in the mood. The first half ended with Judge on top, 19-17, and through those first 16 minutes I jotted down hardly any notes because, frankly, nothing sensational/odd was happening. As the third quarter opened, Ryan coach Bernie Rogers went with a man-to-man defense, which is usually a good way to prevent three-pointers. Instead, soph WG Quincy Reed freed himself for a pair of early treys (and another bucket) as the 'Saders used a 12-5 outburst to create some breathing room at 31-22. Then, jr. PG Will Brazukas turned a hard, not-challenged-much drive into an easy layup and Judge was living on This Is Lookin' Rather Easy Street at 33-22 midway through the quarter; coach Sean Tait's squad was 5-for-6 from the floor to that juncture. Bruzakas scored 12 points in all and notched eight in the fourth quarter. Two came on another impressive drive with his left (off) hand. Then, just (perhaps) when the Raiders were expecting Brazukas to again head in that direction, he switched things up and canned a righthanded layup off a drive. Judge, by the way, shot 11-for-15 and 11-for-12 beyond intermission. Ace's DN ink was issued to sr. G-F Jon O'Connor, who contributed seven points, eight rebounds and three assists. On almost all other teams he'd be a full-blown guard, but Judge is short on inside guys and O'Connor's positives were needed even more today because jr. F Pat Mulville (six rebounds) experienced foul miseries. Reed (15, three treys) and frosh WG Marc Rodriguez (12, two) combined to shoot 5-for-10 beyond the arc. If I remember correctly, both guys were way off with their first deep attempts (maybe even launched airballs?), so their eventual success was a great example of how to shake off early failure in a difficult environment. Rodriguez also had three assists and worked well with Reed. For Ryan, only sr. WG Brendan Horan (18) scored more than six points, but his shooting was slightly off throughout (5-for-15; 2-for-9 on threes). Because it was Senior Day, Rogers gave a start to sr. F Chris Marshall, usually a deep sub. He played the first 3-plus minutes and departed with the score at 2-2. He then returned in the late going and was able to sink two shots for four points, doubling his output for the season. That was nice to see. Ryan's JV and varsity cheerleaders were on hand. Got to hang out with Roman's biggest fan, Aurelius "Cous" (pronounced Cooz) Cousar, who was on hand, in part, to watch soph Bernard Jones get some playing time for Ryan's JV. Oldheads alert: That name ring a bell? It should! Jones' dad, also Bernard, was a star at Roman (first team All-City in '91) before playing his college ball at St. Joseph's. After a strong sophomore season (he averaged 11.6 points and 6.5 rebounds), his career was derailed by a devastating knee injury. Thereafter, Bernard received major praise for how he kept supporting the team while overcoming other assorted setbacks. As well, it was great to see Bob Dillon, a former CL football ref (and most recently, a clock operator) who has been battling back from injuries suffered in two falls. The first happened when he was playing softball; for years he was a dominant pitcher in a league for, ahem, older guys (smile). Best of luck, Bob! The coaches of Ryan's other two main sports, football (Frank "Five" McArdle) and baseball (Jerry Eck, about to start his first season as the head man), were also on hand. It's not too often that the coaches of a school's three main sports are grads, but that's the very-cool case at Ryan.

JAN. 26
TEDBITS
  Two schools that already own spots on the city-leagues list for most seasons with perfect league records since 1923-24 (not counting playoffs) have a chance to again achieve the feat. We're talking Roman in the Catholic League (8-0, with five games left) and Germantown Academy in the Inter-Ac League (6-0, with four games left) and, yes, it won't be easy because quality foes remain for both teams. Below is a list of the schools that posted at least five perfect seasons in the 90-season time frame (1924-2013) and the names of the coaches who enjoyed the most success. I started with 1923-24 because that was the Inter-Ac's first season. (Note: The CL began in 1919-20 and Roman also was perfect in '22 under coach Billy Markward, so he and Dennis Seddon are tied at four apiece overall.)
UPDATE: Roman did finish 13-0. The list now reflects that. GA finished 9-1.

JAN. 25 (Evening)
TEDBITS
  The Public League's Division A, often called the Power Division, includes just six teams and, by design, those six teams are supposed to be the best in the league. The six teams feature roughly 25 transfers in their rotations and 14 played last season in city league schools. Four were forced to find new schools -- two apiece from Vaux and Comm Tech -- after their previous schools closed. Can't help that, right? Below is a breakdown of the 14 city guys and how their scoring numbers in 2013-14 compare with what they were in 2012-13. A few have found that the grass is not greener on the other side, at least when it comes to scoring. In fact, it's dark brown. Scoring isn't everything, of course, but almost all 10 of the not-forced-to-find-a-new-home guys would be starring this season if they'd remained at their previous school. And don't forget, a guy's average almost always goes up from one season to the next; all part of natural progression. (Averages are not listed for guys who have not scored consistently). Meanwhile, transfers have also come into A from Abington Friends, Plymouth-Whitemarsh, Girard College and Wilmington Friends (Del.), as well as from New York City and even foreign countries.

JAN. 25
TEDBITS
  What are the chances? . . .
  In the 2007-08 season, McDevitt had a senior point guard named Matt Davis (also a website writer) and he wore No. 10. West Catholic this year has a player named Matt Davis and he wears -- but of course -- No. 10! . . . Scoring his first points of the season Thursday for Bodine was a kid named -- major drum roll, please -- Justice Understanding. That takes a spot on the list of my Top 5 coolest names ever in Philly high school hoops, joining Alibaba Odd (Gratz), Jack Rabbitt (North Catholic), Haston Pigg (Central) and Alton Laughinghouse (Franklin) . . . Five guys scored for Germantown Academy last night in its win over Penn Charter, and their names can be found, one right after the other, on the Inter-Ac Team Page (Devon Goodman, Tim Guers, Sam Lindgren, Evan-Eric Longino, Kyle McCloskey) . . . In O'Hara eight CL games, Carl Pola has scored two or five points in seven of 'em.

JAN. 24
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
West Catholic 58, Wood 56
  As the fourth quarter of the JV game began, I walked over to WC coach Jazz Williams and asked if it would be OK to head to the locker room and take the team pic. He said sure, we walked over there together and and it took a while for the kids to get organized, and in proper position. Williams, a former Burr star in his first season as the head coach, finally cracked, "Imagine what it's like to run a play with these guys." . . . Funny he should mention that! After waving bye-bye to an eight-point lead in just 59 seconds, West had the ball with the clock running down and the score tied at 56-56. The play? Nothing tricky. Jr. F Jahmil Harris, one of six lefties to play in this tilt (three per team), had the ball out front, a shade to the left of straight-on, and with roughly 4 seconds left he uncorked a semi-stepback jumper and splashed it through the net! The clock showed no more time and the Burrs, who've been through a difficult season, went properly berserk. But soon, the refs were deciding that 1.1 seconds should be put back onto the clock. Wood had to go the length of the court and soph G Tom Funk whipped a long pass with the hope of finding star sr. WG Pat Smith (Cornell). Nothin' doin'. At the right portion of the lane, sr. F Jalil Branch (six rebounds) made a leaping interception and somewhere Jack Buck was yelling, even though this wasn't baseball, "Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!" Before this one, more than a few people, with connections to both schools, asked why I'd chosen to attend THIS game. Their thinking was obvious: It probably wouldn't be competitive. I had not seen the Burrs all season, however, and I hoped, in their own gym, they'd at least be able to hang. Then they surrendered 12 of the first 16 points (coming off blowout losses in the freshman and JV games) and the uh-oh feeling took command. At halftime, West was down, 31-22, but then the climb-back commenced. The Burrs won the third stanza, 15-7, and hey, whaddya know, we had a ballgame. Along with the continuation of a wrestling match and/or football game. This game was extremely physical. On pretty much every possession, the refs could have called three-four fouls and that would have been before shot attempts. Bodies were crashing to the floor at a record pace and mayhem almost took place each time guys tried to set or fight through picks. I'm tellin' ya, it was nuts. Anyway, after several missed opportunities, West finally seized a lead, at 47-44, when sr. WG Jalen Roberson-Cosby drained a trey with 4:26 left. Soon, it was 50-45 and then 52-45 and then 53-45 (at 1:21) and the thought became, "Will West actually coast home from here?" Hardly. In rapid fashion, jr. F Luke Connaghan posted a three-point play and, after a traveling call, jr. WG Cody Fitzpatrick converted a flip shot in the lane to help the Vikings storm within 53-50. With the score at 56-52, Smith went to the line for two shots and hit the first. The second shot was missed and an offensive rebound was claimed by sr. G Matt Funk, Tom's brother. Matt quickly targeted Smith and, bizzzzang!, he drilled a trey from a shade to the right of straight-on to create a 56-56 tie at 0:22. West held for that "last" shot and Harris proved to be a Big Boy for the second time this season (also a buzzer-beater to top Esperanza). One of West's primary heroes was Ahkil Crumpton. Wait, does he play basketball? I thought he was a football star. True dat. But at halftime, after a girl had performed the mascot duties through the first 16 duties, Crumpton wound up in the costume and was vital to the W. How? In the fourth quarter, he stood behind Wood's basket and uncorked all kinds of distractions during free throw attempts. Crazy dances, mostly, but he also slapped together giant-sized gloves and made quite the racket. In the fourth quarter, Wood went an unsightly 6-for-16 at the line (and was 10-for-24 for the game). West didn't exactly visit Marksmanshipville, going 7-for-14 in the fourth and 12-for-24 in all, but its crappy performance was at least better than Wood's. Soph F Josh Townsend, who plays with a mean streak and could be The Next Tyrell Long as his career proceeds, totaled 12 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Harris and jr. PG Devonta Peterie halved 22 points. Harris added five rebounds and six assists (four in the last quarter) while Peterie had five boards. Roberson-Cosby had nine points, four boards and three dimes. Jr. F Stefan Jones, who fouled out with 2:38 left, was very dogged in his attempts to control Smith. Aside from the free-throw miseries, Wood was hurt by an eye injury to sr. PG Tommy Rush. That happened 5:22 before halftime and he did not return. Smith (17 points) took no shots in the first quarter and didn't get his first bucket (reverse layup off a nice pass from Connaghan) until 4:57 remained in the first half. He added six rebounds. Fitzpatrick managed 10 points, five assists and one thump. The thump came in the third quarter when one of his lengthy moonballs finally hit one of the kinda-low rafters. Somehow, amazingly, that didn't happen in the first half. Connaghan had eight points, three pilfers. Sr. C Joe LoStracco had seven points and as many rebounds. Tom did all the Funk brothers' scoring (six points) while Matt managed four boards. Frosh G Mark Webb had four points/rebounds and three assists. Best buddies Huck and Cauls were in the house, keeping stats and mostly keeping quiet, respectively (smile). It was good to see them for the first time since football season. Had nice talks with footballers Romeo "I Treat 'Em Like Dominoes" Gunt and Greg White. Never got to chat with Crumpton. He was too busy bustin' many moves. Ha, ha.

JAN. 24
TEDBITS
  Robeson has three games remaining and nothing is guaranteed, but for now its tandem of Jihaad Fluellen and Leron Epps is on target to make fill-it-up Pub history. What variety? Both guys are averaging at least 20 points. Here are the other Pub combos that have accomplished the feat in the last 25 seasons. Some notes: E&S' John Cox is Kobe Bryant's nephew and his dad, John "Chubby" Cox also advanced to the NBA. The son of UC's Anthony "Chop" Harris, also named Anthony, is playing this year for Philly Electric after transferring from Mastbaum. Central's Wise guys, Craig and Charles, are brothers. The primary sport for Uhuru "Joby" Hamiter was football and he advanced to the NFL; even played for a spell with the Eagles.
**UPDATED FEB. 5 WITH FINAL AVERAGES FOR FLUELLEN/EPPS.**

JAN. 23
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Roman 71, Neumann-Goretti 64
(At Phila. University)
  Considering how infrequently N-G loses a Catholic League game, this report could easily start with details on how the Saints did not succeed. But to do that would not exactly be fair to the Cahillites, correct? And, rest assuredly, they're feeling pretty darn happy about this triumph, achieved before a crowd that was limited (the place was maybe 85 percent filled) by a 5 o'clock starting time. Aaron "Ace" Carter's DN ink will go to sr. WG Rashann London (Drexel), who totaled 17 points. The team's other Gs, soph point Tony Carr (15) and sr. combo Shep Garner (14, Penn State) also scored in double figures and those three combined to shoot 11-for-12 at the line in the fourth quarter. But for my money, for what he did starting midway through that last session, the difference maker was jr. F TreVaughn Wilkerson. For assorted reasons, Wilkerson had not seen much activity through three quarters, and had attempted just two shots. But with roughly 3 1/2 minutes remaining, he provided the Cahillites a 57-52 lead by posting back-to-back, post-ups buckets -- first from the right side, then from the left. Those field goals were especially important because jr. PF-C Manny Taylor, so effective against Carroll in the other game Roman played at Philly U., was pretty much neutralized throughout. Later, with about 90 seconds remaining -- can't read my darn scribbling; sorry -- Wilkerson took a feed from Garner and used his left hand to finish a crafty mini-drive that provided a 61-58 lead. Next, he snatched a key defensive rebound. Jumping ahead a bit, jr. WG Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble, who was terrific throughout, turned a drive into a three-point play at 48.6, drawing N-G within 63-61. From there, however, Roman sniped 8-for-8 at the line -- two for Garner, two for London, two for Carr (love the variety), two more for Garner -- while N-G received only a trey from star sr. G Ja'Quan Newton (Miami). Roman had dropped its last six decisions vs. N-G -- regular season games in '11, '12 and '13, semis in '11 and '12, and a final in '09. There were no meetings in '10 when Red/Blue still existed (divisions based on enrollment) and the teams did not happen to bang heads in the playoffs. In '08, back in the North/South era, Roman swept both regular season contests. After that second defeat -- the score was 62-60 -- N-G merely reeled off 67 consecutive CL regular season wins before falling to La Salle in game No. 4 last season. It had since won 14 more in a row (nine last season, five this season), so this was only loss No. 2 in the last 83 CL regular season games. Pretty amazing. This game was semi-strange. At times it had the look of a summer league contest, thanks to a lack of full-blown intensity. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't vintage, cut-your-heart out stuff. N-G was coming off two days of inactivity and three days earlier, in a special showcase event in Massachusetts that was televised on ESPNU, it had fallen to one of country's top-ranked teams, Mater Dei of California. In other words, the Saints were vulnerable. Also, they received a subpar performance, for one of the few times EVER, from Newton. Newton always plays with lots of juice, but today he came off as somewhat subdued. No doubt that 4-for-19 struggles from the floor (11 points) can do that to a guy. Ja'Quan had just seven points through three quarters, then went 1-for-9 in the fourth. He had the brass to take many big shots down the stretch, but the ball was not in the mood to tickle twine. I can only imagine how spectacular some of his upcoming performances will be as he bounces back. Kimble, meanwhile, was thoroughly Newtonesque. He poured in 26 points with a mixture of treys, pullups and impressive drives. Overall, he shot 10-for-18 from the floor and 4-for-5 at the line. For Roman, Taylor (eight) and Carr (seven) were the rebound leaders while Carr add six assists and three steals. For the Saints, sr. F-C Tony Toplyn (Campbell) snagged nine boards; soph Vaughn Covington, the backup PG, distributed four assists; and sr. PG Troy Harper (also Campbell) shot 6-for-9 en route to 14 points. Last year, the Saints shook off the La Salle loss and stormed to a fifth consecutive championship. Will they up the streak to a half-dozen? It'll be interesting to see how everything plays out. Former NFLer Scott Paxson, who also played hoops during his Roman career, was among the witnesses. Ditto for former hoops stalwarts Donnie Carr, Alan Watkins and Clayton "Stink" Adams. Best wishes to former NBAer Lari Ketner, who recently was an assistant at Roman. As mentioned before the pregame prayer, he's battling cancer. Chatted at halftime with former Dobbins star Brent "McAdoo" Hawthorne. His son, Bryton, who completed his career at New Media Charter in 2010 (and way back wrote for this website), is now living in NYC and learning the ins and outs of producing video documentaries. Dad said Bryton is even doing some writing. Very cool. Keep it rollin', Bryt! At one juncture, N-G's lineup included Nos. 0 (Covington), 1 (soph G Quade Green), 2 (Toplyn), 3 (Harper) and . . . nah, not 4. The fifth guy on the court was Newton (No. 20).

JAN. 23
TEDBITS
  In a Jan. 22 Tedbit, it was mentioned that Judge is the only CL school without a 1,000-point scorer. True, but with an asterisk (smile). Lansdale Catholic has produced 1,000-point scorers, but those guys accomplished the feat before the school joined the CL for the 2008-09 season. Below is a list of the Crusaders' top five career scorers over the last six seasons, counting ONLY those points. Guard Brendan Stanton racked up all 404 of his points in that first season. I wrote a story about him after LC topped McDevitt for its first CL win and he mentioned he'd thought about going to La Salle High. Hmmmm. Three Stanton brothers (Chris, Dennis, Mike) had played there. Was Brendan related to them? "Distant cousins. Very distant," he  said. He then added with a laugh, "We don't go to the same family parties."

JAN. 22
TEDBITS (Evening)
  At two schools this year in the Catholic League (Bonner-Prendie, Higgins, Dylan following Tyler . . . and La Salle, Stukes, Jarrod following Amar), guys have matched their brother's accomplishment by scoring points in a varsity game as a freshman. Below is a list that details the points scored by brothers in their freshman varsity seasons. Requirement: At least one of the brothers must have played in the CL or Inter-Ac from 2001 to the present. The Zeglinskis enjoyed a trifecta. In fact, Joe scored some varsity points as an eighth grader at Penn Charter before entering Ryan as a freshman. Cantrell "Man-Man" Fletcher, who later starred at Neumann, spent his freshman season at West Philly and was part of, perhaps, the most amazing game in city history. The Speedboys fell to Washington, 130-127, in four OTs, in what was then the highest scoring game in state history! (Still might be? Not sure.) All Man-Man did was contribute 25 points, nine assists and seven steals. Before this season ends, perhaps the Storm brothers will join the club. Brett was a prominent frosh for PC in '97. Cole is a frosh at Germantown Academy. Their graduations will be separated by 17 years. Very cool! If I missed any combos, you know the deal -- tedtee307@yahoo.com. Thanks.  

JAN. 22
TEDBITS
  If you have ever checked this website's lists of the city's 1,000-point scorers and school records for one game, you have noticed something unusual -- Father Judge is the only Catholic League member without a 1,000-point scorer AND its one-game record (34) is the lowest. Through the years, the school has had very few three-year starters. Below is a list of Judge's top career scorers, as near as we can figure (with great help from Tom Taylor, the long-time city scoring guru). Back in the day, boxscores for non-league games were not published in Philly's newspapers. So unless a guy was a leading scorer, his point total would not be listed in recaps. Bill Fox, who coached Bob Convey (and all players on the list except for George Sutor and Bob Zanneo), said he believes Convey finished with about 950. Bill Koch, the forever JV coach and still part of the program as an assistant to the guy who should undoubtedly be No. 2, '95 grad Sean Tait, said he wasn't sure if back-in-the-day scorebooks might be tucked away somewhere at the school, but that he would try to find out. Some notes: '98 grad Jim Reeves racked up 677 points at Judge (one game missing) in what amounted to only 1 1/2 seasons. He played for La Salle through 10th grade, then transferred to Judge and was ineligible for league games as a junior after league officials ruled he transferred for athletic purposes. These days he's an assistant at New Foundations Charter, a new Pub member, to Ryan Kilkenny, a fellow Judge grad. Counting his La Salle days, Reeves notched 1,205 points. Steven Griffin, who would have graduated last June, instead played his final season in the Pub for Phila. Electrical & Technology Charter. He posted 670 Judge points in two seasons after notching four for North Catholic, which then closed, as a freshman. He finished with 1,030, counting PET. In 2002, senior Ryan Haigh scored 414 points in 24 games for a 17.3 average, Judge's best during the website era. Career total? A mere 418. Reason: The 2001 rotation featured nothing but seniors and Haigh, a classic late bloomer, had to wait his turn. After his breakout senior campaign at Judge, he stayed nearby for college (Holy Family) and scored 1,679 points, the most of any HF player in this century. He's still with the Tigers as an assistant to Roman grad R.C. Kehoe. Also, Mike Krawczyk ('68) is one of the guys who holds the school record for points in one game with 34 (two times). He also had to wait his turn, witness that he scored just seven points in CL play as a junior.
  **UPDATE: I misread Sean Tait's total from sophomore year. It should have been 98. I misread it as 93. So now he's up to 831.**
  **ANOTHER UPDATE: The program for the Alhambra tournament in '94 listed Sean's season total as 323. He scored 27 total points in those three games, thus finalizing his number for that season at 350. He had 98 as a soph and 422 as a senior.**    

JAN. 21
TEDBITS
  Every son hears stories about dad's sporting exploits. This season, at least seven Catholic League guys have gotten to perform against the school where their dad was prominent (though not necessarily in hoops) and below is a chart that shows how they've fared. B-P's Tom "Cloooooooon!" McLoone seized the top spot last night with a season-best 20 points vs. La Salle. SJ Prep's Ricky Slusarczyk (eight vs. Judge) has also notched his highest point total against dad's ol' school. Meanwhile, Wood's Luke Connaghan (19 vs. McDevitt) and SJ Prep's Tom Fox (16 vs. Ryan) have posted their second-best league totals vs. dad's alma mater. Hmmmmm. If I missed anyone, please let me know at tedtee307@yahoo.com. Thanks!
**UPDATED on Jan. 23 & Feb. 4.**

JAN. 20
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Lansdale Catholic 49, O'Hara 43
  It didn't happen on the court, but perhaps back in the locker room sr. F Tommy O'Connor pulled a Richard Sherman and got very emotional (smile). Thrice in the last 68 seconds, O'Hara specifically targeted O'Connor as the guy it wanted to send to the line. O'Connor was a sub and, who knows, perhaps he'd struggled from the line when O'Hara's coaches had scouted LC. But in this time frame, with everything on the line (pun intended), O'Connor converted a one-and-one (cool), missed a one-and-one (oops) and nailed both ends of a double-bonus (holla) at 23.7 to provide a 48-43 lead. Want more? So did he. O'Connor then made a steal and whipped the ball far ahead to sr. WG Andrew Riviello, who sank a back end at 11.8 to provide a six-point lead. When O'Hara came up empty on its possession, coach Ed Enoch's Crusaders owned a satisfying road victory. After a back and forth first half, which ended with O'Hara on top at 21-20, the third quarter featured dominant runs by first LC and then the Lions. End result: O'Hara was up by 36-35. The fourth stanza was mostly back and forth until Riviello (15 points, four treys) curled in a layup off a jailbreak (sorry, I forgot to write down the name of the teammates who fired the outlet pass) to make it 44-41 with 2:14. As O'Connor would later, Riviello followed the offense with a steal and LC was able to wind down the clock to 1:08 after O'Hara could not offer a scoring answer. Though the 'Saders often like to nail treys, tough inside play got them rolling in that early-third-quarter hot streak. They were possible, in part, becuase O'Hara sr. F Carl Pola was on the bench after incurring his third foul just seconds into the session. Props to Pola, meanwhile, for the brass he showed upon his return. Risking his fourth foul at 2:56, he set up shop along the baseline and took a full-body charge. Sr. PG Brian Rafferty, who sometimes handles other duties because of his versatility, scored 12 points for LC, and twice he notched and-ones. O'Connor tallied six of his eight points in the fourth quarter, and his contributions were important due to the foul trouble incurred by the starting F, sr. Brendan Schneider. Three players combined for all but four of O'Hara's points. Jr. SG-WF Tom "Tip" Swartz used two treys and a three-point play to get to 15, sr. F Mark Plousis went 8-for-9 at the line en route to 14 and soph WG Andrew Louden had 10. The Lions look a little different now because star sr. QB Dashawn "Day-Day" Darden has opted to put hoops in his rearview mirror. Thus, pretty much all point-guarding is now done by frosh Kairi Jones. I love his old-school approach -- make plays, run the team, make plays -- and he could have a lot of fun over the next three years if paired with the proper playmates. In the first half, from a spot almost at the arc, he made one of the snappiest, threaded-right-through-everybody passes you could ever hope to see. Plousis, meanwhile, uttered the night's best comment. After missing a shot, he thought (perhaps correctly), because he'd been bumped, he semi-looked at the nearest ref and said only, "Dude." The rest of it would have been, "Didn't you see me get fouled on that play?" (smile) Maybe 30 players from nearby CYO teams were in attendance and they scrambled down from the stands at halftime to participate in a shooting contest. Among the jerseys I spotted: St. Kevin, St. Francis, Notre Dame, St. Pius X and St, Madeline. While the kids, simultaneously, fired away at the baskets at each end, "Sweet Georgia Brown" played over the sound system. With 24 seconds left in the third quarter, Plousis had to remove his jersey because a ref noticed splotches of blood. He switched from No. 32 to No. 34. Earlier, though very briefly, No. 34 (soph F Alvin Eburuoh) had played in the game. Can't remember having seen that. Usually, guys with blood-stained jerseys wind up borrowing replacements from very deep subs that have no chance of getting onto the court. Sr. Corey Kirk, one of LC's starters, is the son of football coach Tom Kirk. Soph G Ryan Quigley, who'd recently enjoyed some good moments in varsity hoops appearances (after doing well last fall in varsity football; he led the team in scoring with 80 points), hurt his ankle in the JV game. The ding did not appear to be serious. 

JAN. 20
TEDBITS
  In honor of Martin Luther King Day, here are all-time Philly teams with players whose names include Martin (or Marty), Luther (or Luke, nobody qualified) or King.

JAN. 19
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
SJ Prep 64, Ryan 56
  This game offered multiple Almost Nevers . . . as in, things you almost never see. For one, there were a whopping 10 and-one opportunities with the Prep going 3-for-6 and Ryan going 3-for-4. For two, a pair of Prep starters took forever to attempt their first shots. Not until 5:16 remained in the third quarter did sr. PG Alex Stewart, after some hesitation, launch a short, right-baseline flip shot that wound up getting blocked. Sr. PF-C Ricky Slusarczyk waited even longer, making a layup with 3:47 left in that same session off a pass from jr. WG-SF Chris Clover. For three, Clover scored 15 of the Hawks' 25 first half points, continuing a season-long trend of domination, and I couldn't help but think of Brian Daly. In 1988, Daly posted 38.1 percent of Bonner's playoff points (in three games) while willing the team to the Catholic League championship. Perhaps you can guess what's coming. I didn't notice him until the third quarter, maybe even the fourth, but Brian Daly was in attendance today! He's now an assistant at Penn State and was on hand to evaluate -- but of course -- Chris Clover! This was the only CL game played today and the turnout was pretty respectable, especially since TVs everywhere were offering the latest battle between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. DN stalwart Aaron "Ace" Carter and statman Big Steve Reid (along with his 7-year-old daughter, Saniya) also witnessed the proceedings and Ace's interview subject was sr. WG Tom Fox, the son of assistant Joe Fox and the nephew of Judge's former coaching wizard, Bill Fox. Tom, come to think of it, also provided an Almost Never. In the third quarter, won by Prep, 20-16, he rang up nine consecutive points by hitting treys from the exact same spot -- on the right wing, 45-degree angle from the basket. Those buckets made the score 39-31, 42-33 and 45-38 (yes, Ryan was providing some answers) and Fox was not finished with his contributions. His 10th, 11th and 12th consecutive points came shortly into the fourth stanza on a left-corner triple off a feed from Clover. A short time later, with the Hawks ahead, 50-42, Fox passed to sr. WG Kyle Thompson for an and-one that did not include a successful free throw. Thanks to five treys, Fox wound up with 16 points. Thompson, a lefty, also fashioned a fine performance with 12 points, eight rebounds, five assists and tremendous defense on dangerous Ryan soph WG-SF Austin Chabot. Chabot hit his first attempt, a trey, but was able to free himself for just one more shot thereafter (it missed). Clover wound up shooting 10-for-15 (one trey) and 4-for-6 for 25 points while adding four boards, two assists and four steals. In seven league games, Clover has scored 172 of the Hawks' 393 points (43.8 percent). Amazing. Sr. F Ryan Wall, a sub, was extra efficient, shooting 3-for-3 and 2-for-2 for eight points. Soph PG Austin Slawter, mixing the occasional three-pointer with aggressive drives, totaled 19 points for Ryan. Also thanks to drives, sr. G Nick Heuser, the sixth man, packed nine of his 11 markers into the fourth quarter. Soph C Fred Killian was the Raiders' leading rebounder (five) while sr. WG Brendan Horan managed 13 points despite a frustrating second half (one early trey; no more points). Sr. SF Matt Dever attempted just two shots, both treys, and hit 'em for six points. Though Ryan battled within six points in the late going, the Hawks hit enough free throws to maintain control. It was great to see Anthony Magallanes, a former Ryan player and coach (and website reporter . . . holla!) and now an assistant at Central Bucks East. The head coach there is Erik Henrysen, formerly a star guard at Ryan (and later an assistant), and another of Erik's assistants is Jonmike McArdle, yet another former Ryan player/assistant (and the brother of the Raiders' head football coach, Frank "Five" McArdle). In the JV game, SJ Prep soph Pete Gayhardt turned in a masterful performance. He has size and footwork and is quite determined, even relentless. The word is he's quite a lacrosse standout. One last thing: Loved seeing Prep sr. G John Luciano get a little playing time in the varsity game. He lives not far from Ryan and knows all their guys, I'm guessing, so it must have meant the world to him to be part of the rotation. John almost nailed a right-side trey in the second quarter. His brother, Vince, is a soph G on the JV squad.

JAN. 19
TEDBIT
  The Public League includes four kinds of schools -- neighborhood, special admission, citywide admission and charter. In case you're wondering, the list right below shows how the members of each group are doing in league play. There are five divisions, based on strength, so a great record in E is not exactly equal to a great record in A, but I just thought I'd throw this out there. Citywide admissions are leading the way, big time, at 42-21. Only Randolph (0-8) has a losing record and Constitution (6-0) is atop Division A.

JAN. 18
TEDBITS (Evening)
  The coaching staffs involved in last night's Gtn. Academy-Haverford School game included four players who scored at least 1,000 points during their high school careers. Also involved were three other guys who enjoyed successful high school careers. I can only provide close-to-exact numbers for one of the other guys, and the total for the first five guys (minus three games) is 6,828 points!! (If we can come up with at least pretty-close career numbers for the last two guys on the list below, an update will be made at a future time.)

JAN. 18
TEDBITS
 In last night's OT win over Haverford School, Germantown Academy junior WG Tim Guers exploded for 35 points. In Inter-Ac league games only, that ties him for the third best outburst over the last 14 seasons. Penn Charter's Zeglinskis, Zack and Sammy, are brothers. GA's Matt Walsh reached 30 four times in '02. HS' Cameron Youngblood is now an assistant there. Interestingly, 16 of the outbursts have involved GA, either for (10) or against (six).
**UPDATE: Complete through 2014 season.**

JAN. 17
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Germantown Academy 73, Haverford School 65 (OT)
  Not sure I've ever seen/heard this. With 1:15 left in regulation and the score TIED at 58-58, the Fords' student rooters belted out the "I Believe" chant. This happened during a timeout so . . . There was time, and enough quiet, for GA's kids to respond with the identical chant. The HS kids shot back, "We just did that! We just did that!" GA's young-'uns hollered, "So did we! So did we!" Ha, ha. Great stuff, competing sections! Ditto for the game and the overall experience. This was played, at HS, before an overflow crowd that was treated again and again to special moments. Going in, the Fords probably deserved to be at least a slight favorite due to their experience and the fact that the game was going to be played on their home court. So much for those variables . . . Though GA trailed all the way until frosh G-F Kyle McCloskey converted a follow to make it 54-53 with 4:08 left in the fourth quarter, it never was left completely in the dust and the Fords wound up paying a dear price for never making that happen. If you've followed all three major sports in the Inter-Ac for at least a few years, the surname Guers might ring a pretty large bell. As a junior in the 2010 baseball season, making his first start, Greg earned DN ink for going 3-for-3 for NINE RBI in a 12-2, five-inning win over Penn Charter. He had a two-run double, a grand slam and a three-homer homer. By his senior year, Greg was earning second team Daily News All-City honors and he now plays his baseball at Penn State after transferring from USC-Upstate. Well, in the Guers house now I guess a nine-RBI performance is still going to own top-dog status when it comes to bragging rights, but Tim, his junior brother and a wing guard, certainly slapped together a sterling performance to make the Patriots winners of six straight vs. HS. All he did was ch-ching his way to 35 points while shooting 11-for-17, 6-for-9 (treys) and 7-for-10 at the line. He saved 10 of his markers for OT and he made the bucket that put GA ahead for good, at 65-63, with 1:28 left. What kind? A trey? Anything weird about it? Yes, the ball was launched from the left corner and slightly scraped against the backboard before finding net. Incredible. It's better to be lucky AND good! Guers' outing was especially terrific because he was feelin' it from the start. Pretty much no other Patriots could say that, so without Guers' brass the night likely would have turned into a disaster. Eventually, pretty much every starter on both squads had special moments -- some short, some extended -- and that fact added to the game's appeal. Back to the rooters for a moment. The GA kids wore pajama pants (some even went with tops, as well) while many of HS' sported high-water shorts and suspenders for something they called Oktoberfest. One of the kids, at very high volume, tried to distract GA's foul-shooters by reading portions of speeches by President Kennedy (ha ha). At first he did so from in front of the first row. The refs then chased him into the stands and he held court from the third row. The GA kids had a bad moment that helped get the game to OT. With 3:25 left, soph F Lamar Stevens missed both ends of a two-shot foul. But right as he was launching the second attempt, a GA kid offered a sound that resembled a horn on a tugboat. (It came out of one of those long plastic horns that, rumor has it, make pro soccer games so annoying. Not that I'd ever watch soccer. Even on my front lawn. Smile.) Stevens badly missed that second shot and ref Tom Hoban immediately stopped play. Ultimately, Stevens was awarded another attempt because noisemakers are banned. He sank the redo. The last two buckets of regulation were a left-wing jumper by GA soph PG Devon Goodman, who waged great war all night with counterpart Levan "Shawn" Alston, a jr. PG and the league's co-MVP in 2012-13, and a straight-on two by Alston. Then, there was an incorrect call (for my money, anyway) that could have sent the Fords merrily into the night. GA attempted a pass from the right corner to the extreme right wing and the ball went over the sideline. The nearest ref said it hadn't been touched. Even from down the other end, my eyes said it HAD been touched. Ever so slightly, the ball's path had changed. The nearest ref conferred with his partners, but they could offer nothing to alter the call. After GA coach Jim Fenerty nearly jumped out of his skin, in distress, his squad then played great defense and no heroics were forthcoming. In OT, GA's lead went to four as Goodman hit two free throws and then to six as Guers did likewise. HS' possessions featured misses by Alston, who fouled out (at 49.1) on the play that sent Guers to the line. The Patriots maintained their stranglehold on the lead and afterward had great fun storming across the court to greet the student rooters. Goodman had 14 points and continually made good decisions in running the show. Jr. F Sam Lindgren overcame a no-show start to contribute 11 points and 10 rebounds. Frosh F Evan-Eric Longino had nine and nine. Alston went 7-for-19 en route to 17 points. Two of his FGs were stepback, fadeaway treys from corners. Jr. G-F Derek Mountain was the early force, packing 13 of his 16 points into the first half (and playing great D as well). Stevens scored 12 of his 16 beyond intermission. Sr. F Eric Anderson managed eight points. Eighth-grade WG Cameron Reddish sent the Fords into intermission with momentum off a last-second follow. Due to health issues, GA subs Bobby Taggart and Gabe Alter were not on site. Assuming the plan worked, they watched the game via Face Time feeds. Wound up watching the game next to Mark Snyder, who played for the Overbrook 1958-59 team that sent three guys to the pros -- Wayne Hightower, Walt Hazzard and Wally (later Wali) Jones. Had lots of fun mixing in talk of back-in-the-day and current stuff. Mark is buddies with Larry Shane, the Fords' pitching coach and the father of Brian Shane, who led HS to its most recent Inter-Ac hoops crown in 1998-99.

JAN. 17
TEDBITS
  In recent Pub games, Parkway West's John Herndon has exploded for 48 and 40 points. Below is a list of the Pub's top 15 scorers, by average, over the previous 14 seasons, along with columns for their high game that season as well as their second-best effort. Only seven had two games with at least 40 points. Herndon's current average is 27.3. (Note: During this time frame, others have twice reached 40. I limited the research to the top 15 scorers.)
UPDATE: Complete through '14 season.

JAN. 16
TEDBITS (Evening)
  Had some extra time, so . . . Below is a list of all games I've covered so far this season where the final spread was 15 points, or fewer. Coaches, of course, are always ordering their teams to start strong and finish strong. Does it really matter? Judging by the list below, indeed. Only one win was claimed by a team (Germantown Academy vs. Del-Val) that lost the first AND last quarter.

JAN. 16
TEDBITS
  Back on Jan. 10, the Tedbit listed each Catholic League school's highest point output in league play, counting playoffs, over the last 20 seasons and the nugget finished with the fact that N-G (nee Neumann) had scored at least 85 an outrageous number of times. How many? Counting last night's frolic past O'Hara, that number is now 40! (There were nine in the 2009-10 season). Here are all 40 . . .
UPDATE: Now includes 102 vs. McDevitt in next-to-last league game of 2014.

JAN. 15
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
McDevitt 52, Ryan 51
  When a game's outcome is decided on the very last possession, it usually makes sense to put the details at the top of the report, right? So, here we go. Buckle up . . . With 42.3 seconds left, sr. WG Brendan Horan hit both ends of a one-and-one to hand visiting Ryan a 51-48 lead. At 28.2, sr. G James Bogans scored for McDevitt on an up-and-under layup. At 26.9, Horan missed a front end and McDevitt frosh G Qadir Burgess claimed the rebound. McDevitt called at 16.5 and then franchise sr. F Tyrell Long inbounded the ball from a spot near the scorers' table. Long took a return pass and had the ball up top. He then whipped it into the left corner, where it was caught by jr. G Jayson Clark. Clark made a swift drive along the baseline and canned a layup. From the other end, on the stage, I immediately looked at the scoreboard and saw 7.3 at that instant. Buckle up tighter 'cause things are gonna get hairy. As Ryan coach Bernie Rogers explained later, the Raiders were NOT trying to call time. Rogers figured his team's best move would to be inbound quickly and beat the Lancers down the floor. One problem: While turning to head back downcourt, a Lancer kinda chest-bumped the bouncing ball after it came through the net and there was no way Ryan could inbound it. Finally, whistles blew at 2.1 and, after a discussion, the time remaining was changed to 3.8. Sr. G Nick Heuser inbounded to soph PG Austin Slawter, who quickly pushed the ball upcourt. Slawter then made a drop-off pass on roughly the right block to soph PF-C Jack Killian, who attempted a flip shot. Swat! Long batted it big-time. Game over. (Much later, McDevitt coach Jack Rutter said a ref informed him Killian's shot was launched after the buzzer sounded, and would not have counted.) Very interesting finish to what became a whale of a battle. At halftime, it would not have been sensible to predict such drama; McDevitt held a 32-21 lead. But in the third quarter, Ryan began to bottle up Long and one trey apiece from Slawter, Horan and soph G-F Austin Chabot helped to make things interesting. The last session began with McDevitt up by just two, at 41-39, and good juice was offered the rest of the way. Juice with an asterisk, that is. Only basketball purists likely enjoyed the span from about 6:30 to 4:30. With just a one-point lead, Ryan bobbed and weaved again and again in flawless fashion to keep the ball away from the Lancers. Then, Horan accepted a pass from Heuser and nailed a 15-foot, left-baseline jumper. While getting fouled! He hit the free throw and Ryan was up, 47-43. There were also some nifty moments before we hit the true stretch run, but you're probably play-by-played out (smile). Long totaled 15 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks while Clark posted 14 points (only 1-for-5 at line), six assists and five boards. Jr. F Matt Reed scored eight points in the first half on fully identical plays. He somehow got open right to the side of the hoop and accepted passes for easy layups. It was freaky. Horan rang up 19 points despite going 6-for-17 from the floor. Pretty much all of his misses were "almosts." It was as if someone decided, "He will come close to scoring time and time again, but guess what, I'm gonna make sure that somehow the ball does NOT go in." The capper: On one shot, the ball rolled maybe three-quarters of the way around the rim before falling off. Chabot (three treys) scored 15 points and he might be the calmest shooter in world history. Slawter (two treys) had all 10 of his points in the second half. Killian led the Raiders in rebounds (11) and Heuser dealt six dimes. Pat Manzi, McDevitt's football coach and AD, sat nearby in the stands and at one point was joined by Ryan's former grid boss, Glen Galeone. Snap went the camera, of course. Now I just have to think of a goofy caption. In the first half, a McDevitt fan (probably a parent?) was not too thrilled after Ryan kept getting chances for put-backs. He bellowed, "If you're scared to rebound, put on a skirt!!" Had a nice before-game chat with Jay Pierce, productive sixth man for Dougherty's 1992 finalists. That squad featured future NBAer Cuttino "Cat" Mobley and Jay said some of the guys are planning to soon meet for dinner. He'd better send me pics for website posting! (smile) At halftime, it was nice to speak with Tim Sawick. His sons, T.C. and Luke, were quality athletes at McDevitt AND entertaining basketball reporters for the good, ol' TS.com. Now, both are in the Marines. Thanks for your service, guys! Also, special props to David Luby, McDevitt's JV coach. After his team dropped a close decision in one of the more emotional JV games you could ever hope to see, David served the varsity by keeping stats and handling PA announcer duties. He teaches at McDevitt and his classroom serves as the team's "locker room." So, no doubt he had tidy things up in there at the end of a long day/night. And then get right back to it all Thursday morning. 

JAN. 15
TEDBITS
  To slightly alter a popular advertising slogan used by UPS a few years ago, What can the Browns do for you? Well, they can make city history! Bartram's coach this season is Andre Brown, and he's the son of James "J.B." Brown, who coached the Braves for seven seasons ending last March. It's the first time in city leagues hoops annals that a son has replaced his father as a head coach. (JB is still around, by the way, serving as Andre's assistant.) Andre did his playing at Shipley, a private school in Bryn Mawr, and wound up being that school's head coach. He and dad banged heads six times, going 3-3. In the '96 and '97 seasons, J.B. was coaching West Philly and Andre was starring for Shipley. Shipley won in '96, then the Speedboys got revenge in '97. In the combo's four meetings as coaches, Bartram won in '08 and '09 while Shipley achieved success in '10 and '11. Near as I can figure, the Browns are one of only three father-son combos in city leagues history. Special notes: R.C. Kehoe, grandson of Charles "Jerry" and son of Tom, is the head coach at Holy Family University. Just last spring in Catholic League baseball, Jim DiGuiseppe Sr. was officially succeeded as Wood's head coach by his son, Jim Jr. (They'd long considered themselves to be co-head coaches, but you get my drift -- smile. Dad has remained on the scene to help son). If I missed any father-son hoops combos, please let me know at tedtee307@yahoo.com. Thanks!

JAN. 14
INTER-AC LEAGUE
Episcopal 57, SCH Academy 46
  Coach Craig Conlin had to be especially satisfied with this victory because it featured quick bursts of effective play from assorted contributors . . . along with the steady-throughout play of jr. PG Mike Jolaoso. Jolaoso is fun to watch and I'd imagine it's wonderful to be his teammate. He's quick and beyond frisky and his body is the team's body. Two times, at least, Mike went crashing to the floor in really hard fashion and it was hard not to wince while watching. After No. 2, he badly air-balled a free throw and it was easy to think that maybe he'd suffered a concussion. Seconds later, however, he strolled back to the line and nailed both ends of a double-bonus to provide a late, 10-point lead. Jolaoso finished with 15 points, five assists and two steals. Jr. WG Mike Hinckley, a lefty who can give Jolaoso plenty of quality help with ballhandling, scored the first basket just four seconds into the game, via a jumper, and packed eight of his 10 points into the initial quarter. Late in the third quarter, jr. SF Kyleel Cosby converted a follow then quickly added a layup off a steal and three-quarter-court drive. In the fourth, sr. WG Connor Martin hit a big trey from the left corner while frosh F-C Nick Alikakos missed the second part of a double-bonus, outbattled about 27 guys (including teammates) for the rebound and lifted himself right to the rim for the follow. Alikakos' final stats showed 12 points and 10 boards, and he's coming along nicely after dealing with an injury. Unfortunately, the injury bug again bit the Churchdudes. With 2:25 left in the third session, the left shoulder of star sr. WG Chris McNeal crashed hard into SCH sr. PG Frank Jackson. McNeal appeared to be in a great deal of pain, and he did not return to action. Here's hoping he did not suffer a serious injury. For SCH, sr. WG Jordan Watson, a lefty who began his high school days at McDevitt, was active and aggressive throughout. He knew how to get his shots and did not hesitate to launch them, going 5-for-12 (four treys) and 8-for-10 for 22 points. Sr. F Owen McAdoo, a sub, used a seven-point quarter to finish with 11. No one else had more than five. Jr. WG Dylan Parsons, like McAdoo a highly productive football receiver, also contributed sacrifice-the-body hustle. With three minutes left and EA ahead, 43-37, Conlin yelled out to his squad, "Only layups and free throws!" Orders were followed and the Churchfolks won sorta going away. Forever in the Inter-Ac, Tuesday afternoon games always began at 3:45 and the JV followed at roughly 5:15. Now, the order is sometimes reversed and that was the case today. EA did not have a big student section (understandably, the I-A has millions of multisport athletes, so the kids were playing/practicing elsewhere), but there were some funny lines. All were directed at the refs, natch. Not in a vicious way. Just to bust chops in a fun, sarcastic way. Among the goodies: "You should have a guilty conscience after that one! How do you sleep at night?!" . . . "Sir, I don't like a lot of these calls." Also, early in the game, the net on Episcopal's basket was looped over the rim. A kid began yelling, "Somebody fix the net!" Perfect timing. A Churchkid swished a jumper. "THAT'S the way to fix that!" For this one, I sat in a folding chair along one of the baselines. In the second quarter, I happened to look down at the floor and . . . holy cwap, as Puck would say, a rather large bug was inching its way along no more than a half-foot from my sneaks. Couldn't believe it. Soon, ref Kevin "Cat" Compton, who starred at Frankford and played his college ball at Rhode island, was standing nearby and I pointed out the bug. Cat quipped, "Hopefully, it won't come into play." Ha, ha. It didn't. Lord only knows where it went. As always, it was good to see EA teacher Bill Gallagher, who formerly was the head football coach at EA (to finish) and Chestnut Hill (to start) with his longest stretch, at Penn Charter, in between, and now guides all-star teams that head overseas for games/lifetime experiences. Also, thanks to Bill's wife, Mary, who works in the athletic department. Due to incorrect wording in an email, there was some mid-day confusion about whether today's game would be played. I called EA, got switched to Mary's line and she untangled the mess.

JAN. 14
TEDBIT
  As mentioned in last night's report for Conwell-Egan's win over visiting Judge, that was the only second time in 43 seasons that I stood while covering a game. Due to difficult angles, it would have been a strain to take pics, keep the scorebook and jot down notes while seated in the second floor room made available by Billy Everett, the goodwill ambassador for C-E's program. Standing would have also been dicey if not for a case of Diet Pepsis. I set the case on the window brackets, then placed the scorebook/clipboard on top. Ah, there we go. Worked out fine . . . Now for the other time I stood, which was the ONLY time I watched a game from OUTSIDE the gym. Let's go back to Feb. 13, 1975, when 18-0 Overbrook visited 19-0 West Philly. At that time, West was located at 48th and Walnut and its old gym, which made Roman's seem as large as the Palestra, was still in use. 'Brook-West was THE rivalry in Philly for decades and sophomore/ future pro Gene Banks, in the process of pacing the Speedboys to a 79-2 overall record in his three-year career (Pub schools did not have ninth graders in that time frame; one of the two losses was to La Salle at the start of the 1975-76 season), was already creating a major buzz, here and even nationwide. I was still working for a suburban newspaper chain, based in Ft. Washington, during that school year and by the time I arrived, the doors had long been closed. If I remember correctly, there was no seating anywhere in the gym. People could stand one-deep on one side and there was a balcony behind/above the basket at the east end -- the gym was in the back of the school, along Locust Street -- where the West students, depending upon how close they were to the front, could see the game, or most of it, while standing. In newspaper stories, the gym's capacity was always listed as 100. One way to enter the gym was from the second floor of the school building, and there was an outdoor area to the right of that. In that area was a window that enabled you to look down into the gym. Thank goodness. That's where I stood to watch this game. If memory serves, it wasn't bitter cold, but it certainly wasn't spring-like. There was one problem with this northwest-corner locale. The court's extreme northeast corner wasn't visible. But I survived, thanks to Mike Flynn. Mike, who later became famous as the coach/director of the Philadelphia Belles' AAU girls program, at that time was a stat sidekick for Julius Thompson, of the old Philadelphia Bulletin. (Julius and I worked together at the Bulletin for two years, starting in December '75.) Any time a shot was taken from that area, I could tell whether it hit or missed -- cheers, boos -- by the reaction of the West students. Mike was stationed right below the window. During timeouts or stops for free throws, he'd step out slightly onto the court and signal up the uniform numbers of guys who'd hit/missed corner shots. Pretty cool, right? So, like always, I have a record of what every guy shot from the floor and foul line in that game. (I have every scorebook I've used since the start of the 1973-74 season. Wish I'd used scorebooks in the '72 and '73 seasons, but instead I used legal pad papers and neglected to save them. Ugh.) West won the game, 79-70. In the first quarter, there are no markings next to the names of Banks and center Wilbert Lorick. Reason: They were benched for missing practice. Banks wound up shooting 5-for-14 and 5-for-6 for 15 points. That's day hero was forward Mark Dwight, who shot 10-for-16 and 5-for-12 for 25 points. Along with Mike Flynn.

JAN. 13
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Conwell-Egan 53, Judge 36
  In 43 seasons of reporting on high school basketball, I have watched games just TWICE while remaining on my feet the entire time. This was No. 2 (and occasion No. 1 will be the subject of tomorrow's Tedbit. Exciting, right? Ha, ha). The fact that I stood was hardly the only unusual circumstance. Here are some others: C-E's first- and third-leading scorers on the season, soph G-F LaPri McCray-Pace and jr. F Chase Kumor, combined for ZERO points in the first half and attempted just three total shots. For the game, C-E went 23-for-25 at the line. Judge notched just FIVE regular field goals and its leading rebounder, with THREE, was soph sub G Justin Fleming. But here's the most outrageous factoid: C-E posted, in effect, a SEVEN-point play. With 3:22 left, Kumor was fouled and Judge soph WG Quincy Reed was hit with a tech after bouncing the ball with a little too much oomph. (The ref who called this truly messed up, in my opnion. It was a frustration bounce. Not a hissed-off-at-the-zebras bounce. And it wasn't as if the ball soared into the rafters. Nor could the bounce be heard miles away.) Anyway, Kumor drained four consecutive free throws and, on the tacked-on possession, soph PG Stevie Jordan drove for what turned out to be a three-point play. Zoom, just like that the score went from 39-28 to 46-28. Meanwhile, the worst thing Judge did in this one was claim a lead, at 23-20, on a right-corner trey by sr. WG Jon O'Connor (assist to jr. PG Will Brazukas) with roughly five minutes left in the third quarter. The semi-sleepy Eagles immediately snapped to attention and, do the math, racked up 33 points over the final 13 minutes (while holding Judge to 13). Just before the buzzer, McCray-Pace was way short with a right-wing trey but jr. F Jordan Burney was there to can a follow. Burney had another clutch play in the fourth quarter. On a steal/jailbreak play, the pass ahead was inches from going over the end line. It didn't because Burney used a late leap to save it backward, thus providing jr. G-F Sean Kelly with the opportunity for an easy layup. Despite its early offensive miseries, C-E did play respectable defense throughout and Judge was ice cold even on respectable looks. The 'Saders shot 12-for-36 overall and 7-for-24 on treys. Jordan, now wearing his hair in Gumby style, totaled 18 points and three apiece of assists/steals. Kumor added 13 points and nine boards. Soph C Vinny Dalessandro (six) and McCray-Pace (five) were next in line in rebounds while the latter had four assists. Brazukas dealt six assists and frosh G Marc Rodriguez took two charges. (Thanks to C-E's Leon Mazian and Judge's Mike O'Connell for the extra stats.) The crowd was decent, not tremendous, and C-E's students showed brass by belting out the "I Believe" chant with 5:21 still on the clock and the lead at "only" 10. The Sixers' Lavoy Allen was on hand because he's still tight with the man who coached him at Pennsbury, C-E first-year boss Frank Sciolla. Allen posed for pics with fans beforehand, then sat behind C-E's bench. He could not have been nicer to everyone. Former major leaguer Jeff Manto, a product of nearby Bristol High, was also on hand. His son is a frosh at C-E, rumor has it. I watched this from a second-floor room that overlooks the baseline closest to where people enter the gym. Thanks to Billy Everett, the team's goodwill ambassador, for pointing it out. It's still being worked on, but will become something of a meeting room/skybox. Billy said it was once the office used by Egan's wildly successful football coach in the 1960s, the late Dick Bedesem. Janet Dollard, C-E's energetic president, also watched part of the game from the lofty outpost. Tom Davidson, the principal at Constitution High, of da Pub, was also on hand. He's a known hoophead. As always, it was good to listen to PA announcer Rich Papirio, C-E's former baseball coach. After the game concluded, he intoned, "Drive home safely . . . do your homework . . . Come to school tomorrow."

JAN. 13
TEDBITS
  In yesterday's loss to Neumann-Goretti, Chris Clover, a junior at St. Joseph's Prep, scored at least 20 points in a Catholic League game for the fourth consecutive time. Look below for a list of all guys who've accomplished that feat over the last 15 seasons. Some players had streaks of more than four games. The total lists their best four-game output. Some notes: Eddie Griffin's streak in '00 was eight games. Fran Grandieri had another four-game streak in '00 (for 103 total points). Mark Zoller's streak in '03 was five. Jeff Jones had another four-game streak in '06 (for 89 total points). Jones' total streak in '07 was six games. Joe Nardi's streak in '10 included three playoffs. Juan'ya Green's streak in '11 was five games. Jamal Nwaniemeka had two long streaks in '11; seven and then five with an 18-point outing in between.
UPDATE: Tyrell Long and Ja'Quan Newton have been added; through '14. Newton had a five-gamer to complete the regular season.

JAN. 12
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Roman 54, Carroll 46
(At Philadelphia University)
  Ah, that's more like it. An overflow crowd, lots of student involvement and enough guys with size to keep things from becoming a behind-the-arc contest. Let's face it. If the best players down through the years had only been guards, do you think basketball would have become such a popular sport? No way. Sure, watching outrageous sniping can be cool, but I miss the days when the big guys would do game-long battle and not have to beg, almost on their knees, to receive entry passes from the way-out-there little guys. Roman won this one largely (pun intended) because jr. PF-C Manny Taylor turned in a consistent performance through every quarter. Taylor plays football and his conditioning has improved, but he's still a big-'un and that was very important due to the presence in Carroll's lineup of 6-6 jr. F Derrick Jones and 6-9 jr. C Ernest Aflakui. In many games this year, they have dominated at both ends, and they'll undoubtedly do so again. But today, Taylor thrived because he was able to blend his bull-in-china-shop act with the kind of savvy shown by a borderline wing. More than a few times, Taylor faced up 8 to 10 (maybe 12) feet from the basket -- just far enough away that Aflakpui didn't come all the way out to stick him -- and impressively hit jumpers. Overall, he went 8-for-13 and 4-for-6 for 20 points while adding eight rebounds. Chemistry was also a big factor in this one. Roman usually had it. The guards and inside guys did a nice job of working together and, say, passing up 10-footers for 3-foot flips. Sr. CG Shep Garner and sr. WG Rashann London are bound for Penn State and Drexel, respectively, and it would have been easy for them, especially with so many people watching, to become a shade selfish and try to make fans' eyes pop out. To their credit, they maintained we're-just-two-of-the-guys attitudes. Garner had 10 points and four assists while London had nine and two. Soph PG Tony Carr had four dimes and jr. F TreVaughn Wilkerson claimed seven rebounds in addition to hitting all three of his floor shots for six points. Wilkerson was also part of the game's BEST sequence. Late in the third quarter, sub soph G Josh Starkey missed a shot for Carroll and -- oh my God! -- Jones soared high, cupped the carom with his left palm and flushed the ball through the hoop. That, of course, created quite a stir throughout the gym. But at the other end, within moments, Wilkerson likewise scored -- oh my God! -- on a tomahawk follow dunk to make sure that Carroll would not enter the fourth quarter with loads of momentum. Roman soon stretched that 35-29 edge to 44-33 (with 4:33 left) as Garner posted a three-point play. Carroll was hardly dead then, but its collective health was deteriorating. There'd be a two-pronged last gasp. At 0:56, sr. WG Joe Mostardi hit the Patriots' only trey (0-for-11 beforehand) to draw them within 47-42. At 32.9, after some back and forth, frosh G Dave Beatty drew contact while converting a pass from sr. PG Austin Tilghman and went to the line with the chance to make it a one-possession game. However, he missed the free throw, Taylor rebounded and, after the long walk downcourt, made both ends of a double-bonus for 50-44 math. A turnover became Carroll's pulled plug. Also important to Roman's success were great starts to the game (9-2 edge) and second half (11-4) and a switch to a 2-3 zone beyond intermission. After semi-frolicking early, Jones had to deal with more traffic and since the wing players weren't hitting jumpers . . . Jones totaled 17 points and five rebounds. Tilghman, also a football star and a guy who does pretty much everything on the go, had 11 points and five dishes. Aflakpui had five points and 10 boards. Roman's students played the "Silent Night" card. Many showed up in costumes and the whole group stayed quiet until the Cahillites reached 10 points. The kids then went crazy and remained energized throughout. Their leader, as the Gladiator, was football co-captain Phil Forrence. Their best line came early when they shouted at Jones, "Pull your shorts down! . . . Pull your shorts down!" Hey, they WERE lookin' a little high-waterish (ha ha). I got to watch this one with Amauro Austin, who was working for the Daily News. Ace was at Neumann-Goretti, covering the Saints' win over SJ Prep. Amauro kept stats/details for this one, then got a phone number for Taylor so Ace could interview him later. Many other hoops-trail mainstays (reporters/scouts/fans) were in attendance. It was like renew-your-membership day for the likes of Allen Rubin, Norm Eavenson, Dave Kehler, Dave Schultz, Josh Verlin, Bill Wright, Tom Bachinger . . . and apologies to anyone I've forgotten.

JAN. 12
TEDBITS
  Here's hoping we see a goodie this afternoon, 2:30 start, at Philadelphia University when Roman meets Carroll. Since the coaches are Chris McNesby (Roman) and Paul Romanczuk (Carroll), we probably will. Those guys did their playing for the same schools and even graduated in the same year, 1995. They met six times then -- four times in the regular season and twice in playoffs -- and their teams have met four times since McNesby became Roman's coach for the 2008-09 season -- three times in the regular season and once in a playoff. Chris leads Paul, 6-4. There was one blowout. That occurred in the second regular season meeting in '94. The margin of victory in the other nine games has been just 4.4 points. Look below for a breakdown. McNesby and Romanczuk also played in the 1995 All-Star Labor Classic. Who won? Chris and City bested Paul and Suburbs, 62-61. Because so many players are selected for each squad in the LC, playing time is limited. Chris had one point and two apiece of rebounds/assists. Paul went scoreless (took no shots) while adding two rebounds and one steal.
UPDATE: Regular season meeting has been added.

JAN. 11
TEDBITS
  Thanks to almost perfect shooting -- 6-for-7 on treys, 1-for-1 on regulars, 6-for-6 at line -- Judge soph guard Quincy Reed last night scored 26 points in a Catholic League game vs. Bonner-Prendie. Look below for a list of the CL sophs who've notched at least 25 points in a league contest over the last 15 seasons. Roman's Charron Fisher did so five times in '02. Right behind with four apiece are Bonner's Jeff Jones in '05 and SJ Prep's Stephen Vasturia in '11. Jones and Wood's Pat Smith (in '12) lead the pack with 34 points.
UPDATE: Andrew Louden's 32-point effort has been added; through regular season.

JAN. 10
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Judge 73, Bonner-Prendie 44
  Is there a new law in Philadelphia? Are all Catholic high schools based in the Northeast now required to run Princeton's basketball offense? Opponents, it appears, can now get "Ryaned" or "Judged." With soph G Jahmir Coleman, who goes 6-5 and can score on the inside, still unavailable due to back miseries, coach Sean Tait is going the copycat route. In this one, at least, the Crusaders sometimes had no one on a high or low post and just weaved/worked like crazy to get open shots, whether treys or backdoor layups. Talk about crisp play. Judge had 25 field goals and 18 produced assists. One first-half possession was a thing of beauty. At least four guys (maybe five?) were in position to take sensible shots, but instead made passes to teammates who could have taken even better shots. Of course, any offense can look tremendous if guys are nailing their shots, and the 'Saders were certainly doing that. Leading the way to a 35-18 halftime lead were a pair of soph WGs, Quincy Reed and Justin Fleming. They combined for 27 points while sniping 9-for-10 from the floor! Reed went 5-for-6 on treys (missed his last one) and 2-for-2 at the line. Fleming shot 4-for-4 from the floor (two treys) and somehow went 1-for-4 at the line. Reed's is a feel-good story. His dad, also named Quincy and a true class act, was the first coach at Mastery South in the '06 and '07 seasons, but then had to step away due to health problems. He was in attendance tonight and was sitting in the first row across from B-P's bench. Behind him? B-P's frisky student rooters. As the game began, they razzed Quincy Jr. because I guess they didn't think that Quincy was the coolest first name ever (smile). Quincy Sr. had a bemused look on his face as his son nailed one trey, then a second trey, then a third trey. After that third one, Quincy Jr. gave the B-P kids a hard stare as if to say, "Hope you're havin' fun enjoyin' my long-range bombs!" For the game, he finished with 26 points while missing just ONE shot in all -- he was 6-for-7 on treys, 1-for-1 on regulars and 6-for-6 at the line. Fleming added one bucket beyond intermission so he finished with 13 points. Orchestrating the show were jr. PG Will "My Lifetime Percentage on Opening Taps Is Higher Than Wilt Chamberlain's (1-for-1)" Brazukas, who dished seven assists, and sr. G-F Jon O'Connor, who dealt five. Reid added five steals while jr. F Pat Mulville snagged five rebounds. (Thanks to assistant Mike O'Connell for the extra stats.) As the third quarter ended, there was a telltale moment. Fleming missed a deep trey, frosh G Marc Rodriguez missed a mid-range jumper on the follow and then, you know what's coming, a buzzer-beating follow was canned (by 6-7 jr. C Aaron Curry, a sub). Jr. PG Danny Ings and jr. F Tyler Higgins halved 20 points for B-P, which had a woeful shooting night (15-for-49). Higgins had a nice moment when he caught a rebound at his hip and all-in-one-motioned the ball off the glass and into the basket. After going 0-for-4 on treys, jr. WG Tom "Clooooooon!" McLoone made a savvy decision: Drive to the basket. He did so from maybe 16 feet out and used his left hand to convert a layup. Late in the game, it appeared as if B-P had twins on the court in small lefties Ryan Germany-Hill (soph) and Christian Lane (frosh). Christian's dad, Waverly, formerly coached the wrestling teams at Girard College and Roman and I've known him since his days as a multi-sport athlete at Gratz. He's cut from the Quincy cloth! Also on hand was the always entertaining Matt "Masked Man" Sheehan, who's now an assistant with Valley Forge Military Academy's junior college program. At Episcopal, he starred in football and then played hoops for La Salle University as a walk-on. He wants Philly guys and he wants 'em now!! One of the refs was John Przybylinski, who was mentioned a few times on the site in recent days. One of his partners, fellow Dougherty grad Pat Tobler, kiddingly held his spread-out hands above his shoulders to indicate that all this, ahem, fame is giving "Prez" a big head. Doubtful! Ha, ha. My first hoops stop today was Roman for the Cahillites' game vs. La Salle. Couple items: Right before the game, a guy, from floor level, approached two students seated in folding chairs next to me on the stage and offered them $5 for their seats. They immediately accepted. He then said it would be $5 total, not $5 for each. No sweat! And then came this classic . . . La Salle was taking a long time to inbound the ball and a kid behind me yelled, "Six seconds, ref!!" There was no whistle and the kid said to a buddy, "What is it? Six seconds, or seven?" Another kid seated nearby piped up, "It's five!!" The original kid said, "I don't know. I don't think I've ever played in a basketball game in my life." Ha, ha, ha, ha. Only on the Stage at Roman!! Lastly, today was DN reporter Aaron "Ace" Carter's first-ever visit to Roman's gym. He was duly impressed/amazed and wound up taking a bunch of cell-phone pics. His dad, ex-NBA player and coach Fred "Mad Dog" Carter, attended Roman (he played varsity as a soph in the 1960-61 season) before transferring to nearby Franklin.

JAN. 10
TEDBITS
  Are you still thinking about how cool it was that Wood racked up its top point total over the last 20 seasons in that game Wednesday night vs. McDevitt? Me, too!! Were you wondering what the best efforts for the other Catholic League schools have been, in league play during that same span? Me, too!! Look below for a list. Even the schools that are no longer with us have been included. Some notes: Paul Romanczuk is now Carroll's coach. Chris Palmero is now an assistant at McDevitt. Dougherty also scored 109 points in '03 (also against McDevitt!). On Feb. 16, 2007, N-G (89), SJ Prep (86) and Roman (84) all scored in the 80s. Neumann/N-G has scored at least 85 points an outrageous number of times. That'll be a future Tedbit.

JAN. 9
TEDBITS (Evening)
  Back on Jan. 5, I posted a story about referee John Przybylinski (click here) as part of new feature called "Before They Wore Stripes." Thereafter, an email arrived from Dan Greenberg, former player at McDevitt (class of '88), the son of Judge's back-in-the-day coach, Charley Greenberg, and a relative of the millions of other CL basketball Greenbergs (smile). Dan, who earned DN ink one night for scoring 16 points in the Lancers' 87-75, like-a-track-meet win over La Salle, is now good buddies with "Prez" and wondered whether he's the only guy in history to play in a Catholic League championship game AND ref in one. Hmmmmm . . . Przybylinski was a wing guard for Dougherty in the 1986 season, when the Cardinals fell to Roman in the final. He then reffed last year's final between N-G and SJ Prep. We know of two other guys who achieved the feat. Mike Brophy was a starting guard for Carroll in the '77 game (the Patriots lost to Judge), and he reffed the '97 final. (Thanks to Carroll's current coach, Paul Romanczuk, for confirming that these were the same Mike Brophys.) Joe Hannan was a star guard (second team All-Catholic) for South Catholic in '44, and he scored 13 points in the championship game as the Pirates topped West Catholic, 47-41. He definitely reffed finals in '70 and '72, and perhaps did others. Others came close. Bob Pembleton worked the '09 final. He started for Dougherty teams that fell in semis in '95 and '96. Harry Edwards worked the '11 final. He started for Judge's semifinalist in '70. Joe Lindsay, at a minimum, worked the final in '84. He started for Bonner's semifinalist in '64. (His son, Joe Jr., a Malvern product, worked the '96 and '97 finals en route to becoming a prominent college ref). Wally Rutecki started for Bonner's semifinalists in 1977 as a soph. He worked finals in '99, '02 and '03, also before becoming a prominent college ref. I strongly suspect other guys matched the play-in-one, whistle-in-one feat, or came close. Please don't hesitate to let me know. Updates will gladly be made! Thanks!
tedtee307@yahoo.com.

JAN. 9
TEDBITS
  A couple minutes after last night's whirlwindish Wood-McDevitt game, won by the former, 89-72, this thought popped into my mind: Better take a picture of the scoreboard, just in case we just saw a school record. Well, DID coach John Mosco's Vikings ring up the most points in school history? Not positive, but 89 are their most points in a Catholic League game over the last 20 seasons (and overall, too!) Last night's outburst was led by Luke Connaghan and Joe LoStracco, with 19 apiece. Also scoring in double figures were Pat Smith (18), Cody Fitzpatrick (16) and Tommy Rush (10). Below is a list of the top scoring performances for Wood in CL games dating back to the 1994-95 season. In the 2009 (under Sean Tait, now at Judge) and 2010 seasons (under Jack Walsh), Wood scored at least 70 points in league play five times apiece. After last night's game, I texted DN managing editor Pat McLoone, a sniping wing guard for La Salle in '77, to tell him about the score and he responded, "Always proud we put up 93 points (no three-pointers, remember?) in a win at Ryan my senior year. Run and gun, baby!" That night is my first memory of the legendary Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna! I was working at the long-gone Philadelphia Bulletin then and he called me in the office to babble about the great performance (40 points, nine short of Joe Heyer's school record 49) by senior point guard "Fwan MuhCaffwey." Yes, the same guy who's now Iowa's coach. Pat's first memory of Puck also dates to that season. Also at Ryan. It was after the Explorers lost there to Dougherty in a preplayoff to decide fourth place. "He bounced right between me and my mom and said, 'Hey, Pat! Pat! Ted ha you wit fouh uhsists. I ha you wit five!' My mom thought he was crazy and started swinging at him." Ha, ha. ha. No memories of contact being made. (Pat had 17 points in that preplayoff, by the way). Anyway, here are Wood's top scoring outbursts in CL play over the last 20 seasons.
  **With help from Tom Taylor, who has long provided great help with city leagues scoring info, we hope to be able to update this posting later today/tonight.**
UPDATE: Complete through '14 regular season.

JAN. 8
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Wood 89, McDevitt 72
  One thing was obvious very early. Wood, coming off a 30-point road win in its first CL game, was positive it was better than McDevitt and McDevitt, coming off a surprise conquering of St. Joseph's Prep, was positive it was better than Wood. Also evident was that each team thought it could out-athlete and out-run the other. Result? Many, many points off many, many fastbreaks. This tilt, played before a somewhat disappointing non-crowd (not too many students, even for Wood), was highly entertaining and at times the court resembled a pinball machine. (Geez, do pinball machines even exist anymore? Hope so!) Wood triumphed because it took more sensible shots in transition while often finding that Option B was much better than Option A. Meaning: the Vikings often kicked the ball out or to the side, instead of trying to take it straight to the hoop, and wide-open jumpers/set shots wound up splashing through the net. The DN's Aaron "Ace" Carter was in attendance and his ink went to sr. beefy C Joe LoStracco, who's now serving as the sixth man. All he did was shoot 9-for-10 and 1-for-2 for 19 points while adding eight rebounds. In the two games played two nights apart, LoStracco shot 15-for-19 and, if I'm lyin' I'm dyin', 14 of the buckets were seal-guys-off layups. The one shot that wasn't was launched from maybe 5 feet away along the left baseline and it provided a 70-59 edge. Joe was soooooo far from the hoop, he must have felt like jr. WG Cody Fitzpatrick (smile). "Fitz" added 16 points and his two successful treys were launched from Horsham and Bensalem, respectively. At some juncture this season I'd like to see a shootout between Cody and referee John "Prez" Przybylinski, who routinely hit bombs from a different zip code for Dougherty's 1986 CL finalists. Cody's right-winger opened the door to at least slight comfort, making the score 32-23. His left-winger made it 36-23. Jr. F Luke Connaghan (forever active/springy) added 19 points and 10 boards, sr. WG-SF Pat Smith (Cornell) overcame foul trouble to rack up 18 points (three treys) and sr. PG Tommy Rush used a 4-for-4 showing at the line in the fourth quarter to reach 10 points. Sr. WG Matt Funk and Fitzpatrick were the assist leaders with six and five, respectively. McDevitt's bold-relief headliner was sr. F Tyrell Long. All he did was hustle his way to 27 points (9-for-20, one trey, 8-for-10) and 19 rebounds (12 offensive); thanks to Wood aide Blair "Statman Extraordinaire" Klumpp for the extra stuff. Yup, 27 points and 19 rebounds. That's all. Tyrell was so hyped about playing, he worked his way through McDevitt's layup lines during halftime of the JV game. There's so much to love about this kid's future. Though he's athletic and exhibits decent amounts of polish, he's also still a shade gangly. So when it ALL comes together, and he adds more strength, watch out, folks. The Lancers' other double-digit scorers were Gs Jayson Clark (jr., 17), James Bogans (sr., 11) and Qadir Burgess (frosh, 10). As a team, McDevitt managed to snipe just 4-for-21 beyond the arc. With 5:06 left, Clark notched a three-point play off a feed from Burgess and the Lancers trailed by just six, at 70-64. LoStracco's follow and Connaghan's bucket off a break nudged the lead up to 10 and Mickey D was out of B's (bullets). Ace and I sat near the end of McDevitt's bench and three team moms were up behind us. They offered game-long support and even got a shade direct/ornery, when necessary. With the deficit at 17 points, one yelled, "Act like y'all wanna play!" When the starters were finally removed, one noted, "Tough day in the neighborhood. Don't worry about it." Love the enthusiasm, ladies. Keep it rollin'. Wood grad Michael Drumm, Best Teammate '13, was on hand and I was honored to introduce him to long-time friend Vince Shervin and his son, Matt. They played at Dougherty and McDevitt, respectively. The Puckster was on hand to film for Roman and, yup, I wound up driving him home to the Far Northeast. At one point we were coming down Byberry Road and I said to him, "Does this go through the Boulevard?" He responded, "Couhse it do. How you tink it get to othah side?" I kept driving straight ahead, against all instincts, and of course Byberry did NOT continue onto the other side of the Boulevard. "Tuhn weft," Puck said. Within a block he was saying, "Gwant Avnew wight up dere." Wrong again. "Grant is back the other way, strapper! Even I know that." He shot back, "Juss go up dat way, tuhn somewhehe and fine you way back." For the Puckster? Anything. Ha, ha, ha.

JAN. 8
TEDBITS
  In a Public League Division E game yesterday, Masterman freshman Liam Shanahan -- found out Jan. 9 that he's the son of long-time, good-guy Philly ref Pat Shanahan, a former guard at Neumann!! -- poured in 33 points in a crush-job of Rush. That got the mind a spinnin' . . . How many other freshmen have posted impressive high-game totals in league play as a frosh? Here are the Top 15 performances we could find for guys who've played during the website era. Interestingly, some took place in playoffs. Also, some of these guys later transferred. I'm thinking Watson's 41 points are an all-time record. Pub high schools did not even have freshmen until the early '80s (ninth grade was still part of middle school). If we missed someone, please speak up -- tedtee307@yahoo.com. Thanks! (We have added another current Masterman frosh, Jesse Turkson. Thanks to his teammates, Liam Shanahan and Jack Winner, for pointing out that oversight. Also added is Bob Pembleton, who scored 25 points for Dougherty in his varsity debut in '93! Like Liam's dad, Bob became a ref. Another: Wood's junior mad bomber, Cody Fitzpatrick (thanks to Blair Klumpp). Another: West Catholic's Rob Hollomon, better known for football, in '06 (thanks to Huck Palmer). Another: North Catholic's Andrew Pomager (thanks to Huck.) Another: Penn Charter's Travis Robinson in '07. Another: Chestnut Hill's Anthony Cafagna in '04.
**UPDATED: Updated through end of regular season.**

JAN. 7
CATHOLIC LEAGUE
Neumann-Goretti 82, La Salle 58
  Late comebacks are always possible, of course, but there's a reason coaches forever emphasize the importance of getting off to a good start. That's especially true for road games in challenging environments, let alone those that are played against opponents looking for serious revenge. Exacccccctly one year ago, the host Explorers, by a 65-62 score, snapped N-G's 73-game winning streak against Catholic League opposition, counting playoffs. The Saints recovered in fine fashion, thank you, finishing 12-1 in league play and then storming to a fifth consecutive championship. Unintentionally, no doubt, the Explorers got dissed before the game even started when the PA announcer intoned, "Tonight's lineup for Lansdale Catholic . . . " Oops. Then, in roughly the first five minutes, N-G forced lots of turnovers and posted three dunks. The first, by sr. F Jamal Custis, was a semi, because he pounded the ball against the rim but was able to then force it through. Those by sr. CG Ja'Quan Newton (Miami commit) and jr. PG Troy Harper were full-blown flush jobs off steals. Harper did a chin-up with a half twist and, as cool as it looked, he was lucky not to incur a tech. To its credit, La Salle tried to be every bit as aggressive as N-G, and did get many of its buckets on tough drives or dump-off layups. But there were just too many errors -- some barely forced, honestly -- and the Saints had no trouble marching in. You'll find this hard to believe, but Newton was mostly in understated mode while scoring 19 points. That was a good thing, really, because he'll never produce a title as a one-man band. He let the other guys shine while adding in his occasional big-boy moves -- a late dunk was ESPN worthy. He also had four assists. Custis, the football star, had some terrific, game-long moments while totaling 21 points and five rebounds. Who knows? Maybe he'll pull a Donovan McNabb and also play hoops once he gets to Syracuse. More than a few times, he looked very athletic and one of his nifty, lengthy drives caused everyone on the bench to smile broadly. Harper had 14 points and four steals and jr. WG Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble wound up being his team's leading rebounder (seven, according to assistant Pat "Patsox" Sorrentino). An early sub, after playing in the JV game, was frosh G Quade Green. Wow! He's already good, and smooth, and will have all kinds of fun as a Saint. He nailed two treys en route to 12 points. For La Salle, sr. PG Najee Walls (13) and sr. WG Sean Greenberg (10, two treys) scored in double figures while jr. F Dave Krmpotich (nine) and sr. F-C Jalen Herdsman (eight) came close. Walls, in particular, was very aggressive and that mindset will serve him well going forward. Greenberg, I'm guessing, enjoyed his best outing as an Explorer. He received extended playing time and made the best of his opportunity. Aside from hitting his own shots, he made several crisp passes that could have produced assists. N-G's student rooters had fun riding sr. WG Shawn Witherspoon. Every time 'Spoon touched the ball, they roared "Shaaawwwwnnnn!!" or "Shawn! Shawn! Shawn" in quick fashion like Mike-Mike-Mike in the Hump Day commercial. Afterward, one of the rooters said 'Spoon was targeted because "we heard he was good." Late, they switched their cube-busting to the other Sean, Greenberg. At least once Greenie looked in their direction and smiled broadly, as if to say, "Hey, this is pretty cool. Some games I haven't played that much but now I'm doing well enough to get razzed by the fans of the five-time defending champion." Sr. C Langston Ellison, who's been out with a knee injury, scored his first points of the season on a three-point play (assist by Herdsman) with 4:29 left in the third quarter. But with 2:43 left in the game, he was writhing along the north baseline and it was impossible not to think, "Has he hurt the knee again?" Luckily, he hadn't. I think he'd taken a shot to the belly/chest while trying to defend against a high-flying Saint. During the course of the evening, there was much buzz about Lansdale Catholic's near-upset -- on the road, no less -- of Roman Catholic. Ultimately, the Crusaders fell in OT. The best pregame moment occurred in N-G's locker room as I prepared to take the team pic. I was wearing reading glasses and one of the players, probably thinking I wouldn't hear him, quipped to his teammates, "They look like grandma glasses." I shot back with a smile, "They're my readin' jawns." After the game, while I was heading to my car in the parking lot, a kid yelled from a filled-to-capacity car, "Ted, it's Moose! Put me in the paper! Paper, Ted! Moose! Put me in!" Can't help you, dude. Retired from the Daily News at the start of football season. Is website attention enough? (smile)

JAN. 7
TEDBITS
  I decided to flesh out the Jan. 5 list to include all CL coaches who made their debuts at the listed school in this century. Some only coached for one year while filling in for guys on medical leave. N-G's John Mosco is still the king with a plus-30 victory margin.