On the Trail With Ted
Basketball 2014-15, March

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 Observations, notes, etc., on games I've seen during
the 2014-15 season . . . Plus some Tedbits.

If your name is misspelled on a TEAM PAGE, please speak up. Send an email to tedtee307@yahoo.com.

SPECIAL NOTE
  To all scorekeepers: PLEASE try to make sure that correct info on scoring is called into the Score Service (215-854-4570). Part of my daily routine, especially after full-scale Pub days, has turned into this: answering multiple emails from coaches/players reporting mistakes in boxscores. We are reaching the point of no return. For years I've asked the leagues to make a rule that would force scorekeepers to sit next to each other with the scoreboard operator to one side or the other. It would thus be much easier for the scorekeepers to coordinate fouls/timeouts, not to mention cross-check info on which players actually make the field goals/free throws. Supposedly, that IS now the rule in the Pub, but many refs aren't enforcing it. Please remember, we want the info to be correct and making that happen is only fair to those involved. When the game is over, the scorekeepers should confer and make sure that their point totals for all players match up. Sounds simple, right? (smile) One more thing: Generally, it's better when the winning team calls in the results. That way the papers receive info to explain HOW the game was won because representatives of the winning team will usually be in a better mood (just human nature) to provide extra details such as rebounds, assists, etc., or the identity of someone who maybe hit a winning shot. Thank you.

December reports/Tedbits
January reports/Tedbits
February report/Tedbits

AUGUST 4
TEDBIT
  Roman guard Tony Carr, a rising senior and the Daily News' Player of the Year last season, yesterday made an oral commitment to Penn State. Teammate Nazeer Bostick, also a rising senior, did so earlier while Mike Watkins, formerly of Bartram and MC&S and most recently of The Phelps School, will become a Nittany Lion in the coming season. And there could be others, of course. Not surprisingly, Episcopal grad Pat Chambers has done some heavy recruiting in the Philly area since becoming PSU's coach for the 2011-12 season. Prior to Chambers' arrival, just three DN All-City honorees (first/second/third team) had played for PSU since those teams first were picked in the 1971-72 season. Now, it's almost as if PSU should move to Philly and expand the Big 5 to the Big 6 (smile).

Penn State's Daily News All-City Players (1972-present)
Name School Year All-City Year G FG 3's FT Pts Avg.
Mike Edelman Haver. School 1978 1st Team 1979 30 147 - 49 343 11.4
        1980 28 91 - 52 234 8.4
        1981 27 86 - 28 200 7.4
        1982 27 105 - 32 242 9
          Totals 112 429 - 161 1,019 9.1
1-Troy Daniel Lamberton 1984 2nd Team 1985 12 13 - 13 39 3.3
2-Andrew Ott Gtn. Academy 2006 3rd Team 2009 25 12 0 11 35 1.4
        2010 29 33 0 23 89 3.1
          Totals 54 45 0 34 124 2.3
3-Devonte' "DJ" Newbill Straw. Mansion 2010 1st Team 2013 31 175 20 134 504 16.3
        2014 34 209 46 140 604 17.8
        2015 34 243 61 157 704 20.7
          Totals 99 627 127 431 1,812 18.3
Julian Moore Gtn. Academy 2013 2nd Team 2014 7 2 0 4 8 1.1
        2015 33 21 1 7 50 1.5
         Totals 40 23 1 11 58 1.5
Shep Garner Roman 2014 2nd Team 2015 34 104 59 46 313 9.2
1-transferred to Millersville                  
2-transferred from Villanova                  
3-transferred from Mississippi State

JUNE 30
TEDBIT
  Former Strawberry Mansion star DJ Newbill (Penn State), who went undrafted, recently made a commitment to play for the Los Angeles Clippers' summer league team. Seeing that got me to thinking . . . How many undrafted Philly guys have been able to make it into the NBA/ABA? About 20. The NBA, though it then went by a different name, did not hold its first draft until AFTER the first season (1946-47), so in fairness to all anyone who played in that first season is not included. Anyway, Dobbins product Larry Stewart played the most games among the undrafted. He also earned this distinction: first undrafted player to earn All-Rookie honors (second team in the 1991-92 season). Larry's brother, Lynard, starred at Gratz (City Player of the Year in '94) and recently stepped down as Penn Charter's coach. On the list below, rebound averages are listed for frontcourt players while assist averages are listed for backcourters. Note: Seasons are listed by the second year, as in '92 for 1991-92.

Top 10 Undrafted NBA "Our Guys" . . . Listed by Games Played
Name School College Season(s) Team(s) G Pts Reb Ass
Larry Stewart Dobbins Coppin State 1992-95, '97 Washington, Seattle 270 7.4 4.0  
Emanual "Vel" Davis Kensington Dela. State 1997-98, 2000-03 Houston, Seattle, Atlanta 226 4.9   1.8
Paul "Snoop" Graham Franklin Ohio Univ. 1992-94 Atlanta 179 8.4 2.4  
Jackie Moore Overbrook La Salle 1955-57 Syracuse, Milwaukee, Philadelphia 134 2.7 2.5  
*George Sutor Judge La Salle 1968-70 Kentucky, Minnesota, Carolina, Miami 79 4.8 5.1  
Al Guokas SJ Prep St. Joseph's 1950 Philadelphia 57 3.8   1.7
*Erv "Stu" Staggs Edison Cheyney 1970 Miami 53 8.5 2.3  
Lynn Greer Eng. & Science Temple 2007 Milwaukee 41 4.1   1.3
Rob Kurz Penn Charter Notre Dame 2009 Golden State 40 3.9 2.0  
Michael Anderson Eng. & Science Drexel 1989 San Antonio 36 5.7   4.3
*-played in ABA                

JUNE 26
TEDBIT
  The list below includes Public League, Catholic League and Inter-Ac League players drafted by NBA teams since the spring of 1947.
I am unsure on the high schools for some players from the early years, so please speak up if you know of someone I missed.tedtee307@yahoo.com.Also, there is conflicting info on rounds/selection numbers for some of the early years. The notation "Terr." means the player was a territorial draftee. Those players with asterisks next to their name transferred out of the listed school before exhausting their eligibility. (Also out of the three city leagues.)    

NBA Draftees From Public League, Catholic League and Inter-Ac League Schools
Year Name School College Team Rd.

No.
2015 *Rakeem Christmas North Catholic Syracuse Minnesota 2

 36
2014 None          
2013 None          
2012 None          
2011 Markieff Morris Prep Charter Kansas Phoenix 1 13
Marcus Morris Prep Charter Kansas Houston 1 14
2010 None          
2009 Gerald Henderson Episcopal Duke Charlotte 1 12
Wayne Ellington Episcopal North Carolina Minnesota 1 28
2008 Sean Singletary Penn Charter Virginia Sacramento 2 42
2007 None          
2006 Kyle Lowry Dougherty Villanova Memphis 1 24
Mardy Collins Gratz Temple New York 1 29
2005 *Hakim Warrick University City Syracuse Memphis 1 19
2004 None          
2003 None          
2002 Ronald "Flip" Murray Straw. Mansion Shaw Milwaukee 2 41
Rasual Butler Roman La Salle Miami 2 52
2001 Eddie Griffin Roman Seton Hall New Jersey 1 7
2000 None          
1999 Larry Ketner Roman Massachusetts Chicago 2 49
1998 Cuttino "Cat" Mobley Dougherty Rhode Island Houston 2 41
1997 *Adonal Foyle O'Hara Colgate Golden State 1 8
Marc Jackson Roman Temple Golden State 2 37
Jason Lawson Olney Villanova Denver 2 41
Alvin Williams Gtn. Academy Villanova Portland 2 47
1996 Shawn Harvey West Phila. West Virginia St. Dallas 2 34
Malik Rose Overbrook Drexel Charlotte 2 44
1995 Rasheed Wallace Gratz North Carolina Washington 1 4
Jerome Allen Episcopal Penn Minnesota 2 49
1994 Aaron McKie Gratz Temple Portland 1 17
1993 None          
1992 Randy Woods Franklin La Salle LA Clippers 1 16
1991 Doug Overton Dobbins La Salle Detroit 2 40
1990 Lionel Simmons Southern La Salle Sacramento 1 7
Greg "Bo" Kimble Dobbins Loyola Marymount LA Clippers 1 8
1989 Jerome "Pooh" Richardson Franklin UCLA Minnesota 1 10
1988 None          
1987 Dallas Comegys Roman DePaul Atlanta 1 21
Nate "Day-Day" Blackwell Southern Temple San Antonio 2 27
1986 None          
1985 Steve Black Overbrook La Salle Philadelphia 3 67
Albert "Truck" Butts Southern La Salle Boston 5 116
Daryl Lloyd University City Drake Philadelphia 6 136
Ralph Lewis Frankford La Salle Boston 6 139
1984 Tony Costner Overbrook St. Joseph's Washington 2 34
Richard Congo Overbrook Drexel Philadelphia 7 160
Greg "Box" Brandon West Phila. Creighton Seattle 10 219
1983 Joe Brown Gratz Georgia St. Cleveland 9 187
1982 *Dino Gregory Gratz Long Beach St. Washington 3 81
Jeffery "Monk" Clark Frankford St. Joseph's Indiana 6 123
George Melton Gratz Cheyney Philadelphia 9 204
1981 Gene Banks West Phila. Duke San Antonio 2 28
Lewis "Black Magic" Lloyd Overbrook Drake Golden State 4 76
Kevin "Butch" Lynam Carroll La Salle New Jersey 6 118
Darryl "City Lights" Warwick West Phila. Hampton Atlanta 6 121
Joe Schoen North Catholic St. Francis (Pa.) Detroit 8 163
John Smith Neumann St. Joseph's Portland 8 176
1980 Michael Brooks West Catholic La Salle San Diego 1 9
Randy Owens Germantown Phila. Textile Indiana 6 124
Leroy Berry Olney Wilmington (Ohio) Cleveland 7 147
Jim "Mo" Connolly Judge La Salle Phoenix 8 175
Joe Hand La Salle King's Philadelphia 10 213
1979 Charlie Floyd Malvern High Point Washington 3 66
Greg Joyner Northeast Middle Tennessee San Diego 5 99
Rodney Lee Edison Memphis Detroit 8 150
1978 John "Chubby" Cox Roxborough San Francisco Chicago 8 159
Tim Claxton Germantown Temple Washington 9 181
Dennis James Southern Widener Philadelphia 10 201
1977 Rich Laurel Overbrook Hofstra Portland 1 19
Phil Walker Central Millersville Washington 2 39
George Gibson Frankford Winston-Salem Philadelphia 6 129
Emery Sammons St. Thomas More Phila. Textile Buffalo 8 153
1976 Maurice "Mo" Howard SJ Prep Maryland Cleveland 2 32
Barnes Hauptfuhrer Penn Charter Princeton Houston 3 44
Andre McCarter Overbrook UCLA Kansas City 6 89
Phil Walker Central Millersville Philadelphia 7 117
Ed "Shot" Stefanski Bonner Penn Philadelphia 10 168
1975 Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant Bartram La Salle Golden State 1 14
Jimmie Baker Olney Hawaii Philadelphia 3 39
Andre McCarter Overbrook UCLA Cleveland 8 136
Freddie Stokes West Phila. Barber-Scotia New Orleans 9 145
Romie Thomas Edison Wisc.-Eau Claire Milwaukee 10 165
1974 Mike Sojourner Germantown Utah Atlanta 1 10
*Rubin "Tuner" Collins Edison Md.-Eastern Shore Portland 2 36
Roland "Tree" Grant Southern New Mexico St. Detroit 3 51
Joe Newman Dougherty Temple Detroit 5 87
Greg Newman West Phila. Drexel Detroit 8 141
1973 Mike Bantom Roman St. Joseph's Phoenix 1 8
Tom Ingelsby O'Hara Villanova Atlanta 2 27
Joe Cafferky Bonner N. Carolina St. Boston 6 103
Lynn Greer Edison Virginia St. Phoenix 11 170
Ed Hastings Bonner Villanova Boston 11 174
1972 Ollie Johnson Southern Temple Portland 2 30
Hank Siemiontkowski North Catholic Villanova Cleveland 4 50
Mike Krawczyk Judge Loyola (Md.) Washington 13 178
1971 Willie Sojourner Germantown Weber Chicago 2 20
Isaiah "Bunny" Wilson Southern Baltimore Detroit 2 29
Mike Gale Overbrook Elizabeth City  Chicago 3 47
1970 Carlton Poole Overbrook Phila. Textile Philadelphia 7 114
Fran O'Hanlon St. Thomas More Villanova Philadelphia 8 131
Greg Fillmore Franklin Cheyney New York 8 136
Mike Hauer Bonner St. Joseph's Philadelphia 9 148
1969 Larry Cannon Lincoln La Salle Chicago 1 5
John Baum West Phila. Temple Chicago 2 23
Fred Carter Franklin Mount St. Mary's Washington 3 43
Jim Bowles Dobbins Trinity (Texas) Philadelphia 8 112
1968 Joe Heiser Central Princeton Washington 6 68
Clarence Brookins Bartram Temple Philadelphia 9 118
Bill Soens Penn Charter Miami Philadelphia 11 145
Ted Campbell Dobbins N. Carolina A&T Philadelphia 12 158
John Baum West Phila. Temple LA Lakers 15 187
George Mack Edison N. Carolina A&T Philadelphia 15 189
Joe Crews McDevitt Villanova Philadelphia 16 197
Nate Ware Overbrook Tennessee St. Philadelphia 17 203
1967 Earl "The Pearl" Monroe Bartram Winston-Salem Washington 1 2
Richie Moore Bartram Hiram Scott San Diego 3 29
Cliff Anderson Edison St. Joseph's LA Lakers 4 35
Tom "Trooper" Washington Edison Cheyney Cincinnati 5 50
Frank "Watusi" Card West Phila. S. Carolina St. Philadelphia 7 77
Ted Campbell Dobbins N. Carolina A&T Philadelphia 11 121
Frank Gaidjunas La Salle Villanova Cincinnati 12 129
George Mack Edison N. Carolina A&T Philadelphia 13 139
1966 Matt Guokas Jr. SJ Prep St. Joseph's Philadelphia 1 10
Tom Duff SJ Prep St. Joseph's Philadelphia 5 49
Richie Moore Bartram Hiram Scott New York 10 85
1965 Jim Washington West Catholic Villanova St. Louis 1 6
Richie Moore Bartram Villanova Philadelphia 5 40
1964 Walt Hazzard Overbrook UCLA LA Lakers Terr.  
Wali Jones Overbrook Villanova Detroit 3 18
Steve Courtin St. James St. Joseph's Cincinnati 3 24
Frank Corace Bonner La Salle Philadelphia 4 29
1963 Herb Magee West Catholic Phila. Textile Boston 7 62
1962 Wayne Hightower Overbrook Kansas San Francisco 1 5
Hubie White West Phila. Villanova Philadelphia 2 14
1961 Ray Scott West Phila. Portland Detroit 1 4
1960 Bill "Pickles" Kennedy Lincoln Temple Philadelphia 2 15
Bobby McNeill North Catholic St. Joseph's New York 3 19
Joe Gallo West Catholic St. Joseph's Philadelphia 9 69
1959 Wilt "Dippy" Chamberlain Overbrook Kansas Philadelphia Terr.  
John Richter Frankford N. Carolina St. Boston 1 6
Joe Spratt West Catholic St. Joseph's Philadelphia 6 41
Joe Ryan SJ Prep Villanova Philadelphia 7 49
1958 Guy Rodgers Northeast Temple Philadelphia Terr.  
Jay Norman Mastbaum Temple Philadelphia 7 52
1957 Kurt Englebert Lincoln St. Joseph's Detroit 4 26
1956 Hal Lear Overbrook Temple Philadelphia 1 8
Joe Belmont Northeast Duke Philadelphia   50
John "Misty" Fannon St. Thomas More Notre Dame Philadelphia   52
1955 Tom Gola La Salle La Salle Philadelphia Terr.  
Bob Schafer Roman Villanova Philadelphia 3 19
Jack Devine West Catholic Villanova Philadelphia 5 33
Harry Silcox Lincoln Temple Philadelphia 7 46
1954 Rudy D'Emilio Northeast Duke Philadelphia 5 39
Fran "Wacky" O'Hara La Salle La Salle Philadelphia 11 92
1953 Ernie Beck West Catholic Penn Philadelphia Terr.  
Norm Grekin West Phila. La Salle Philadelphia 3 15
Fred Iehle Olney La Salle Philadelphia 4 18
1952 Charles "Bud" Donnelly La Salle La Salle Syracuse    
1951 Jim Phelan La Salle La Salle Philadelphia 8 77
1950 Paul Arizin La Salle Villanova Philadelphia Terr.  
Larry Foust South Catholic La Salle Chicago 1 5
Brooks Ricca Roman Villanova Philadelphia 8 92
1949 Nelson Bobb West Phila. Temple Philadelphia 3 28
1948 George Hauptfuhrer Penn Charter Harvard Boston 1 3
1947 None          
 *-did not finish high school career at listed school        

MAY 6
TEDBIT
  Coach Bernie Rogers, formerly of Archbishop Ryan, has decided to make the Catholic-to-Inter-Ac switch. He's the sixth basketball coach in city history to do so. Two others have done the opposite and good, ol' Speedy Morris has followed BOTH paths -- CL to I-A and back to CL. For whatever reason, four guys have coached at Penn Charter. Lefty Ervin (La Salle),Jack Kraft (Villanova) and Speedy (La Salle) coached in the Big 5.

Guys Who've Coached in CL/I-A
Name Schools Seasons
Steve Cloran Haver. School 2004-11
  *O'Hara 2014-15
Ed Enoch *Penn Charter 1978-82
  Lansdale 2012-14
Lefty Ervin La Salle 1978-79
  Penn Charter 1988-89
Jim Fenerty Egan 1982-89
  Gtn. Academy 1990-15
Jack Kraft Neumann 1948-59
  Malvern 1960-61
Bill Michuda La Salle 1980-81
  Penn Charter 2009
Speedy Morris *Roman 1968-81
  Penn Charter 1983-84
  SJ Prep 2002-15
Bernie Rogers *Ryan 2001-15
  Haver. School 2016-??
*-alma mater    

APRIL 29
TEDBIT
  Most of the top basketball players from the Philly area will participate -- May 5 and 6 at Imhotep Charter -- in the All-City Classic Clash of the Classes. May 5: 2016 vs. 2018 at 6:15, 2015 vs. 2017 at 7:30. May 6: Third place game at 6:15, championship at 7:30.

  2015         2017      
No. Name Height School   No. Name Height School  
15 Derrick Jones 6'6" Archbishop Carroll   1 Quade Green 5'11" Neumann-Goretti  
1 Chris Clover 6'4" St. Joseph's Prep   23 David Beatty 6'2" Archbishop Carroll  
20 Samir Doughty 6'4" Math, Civics and Sciences   3 Daron Russell 5'9" Imhotep  
10 Levan Alston 6'3" Haverford School   15 Koby Thomas 6'3" Mastery Charter  
33 Mike Watkins 6'9" Phelps   5 D'Andre Vilmar 6'2" Roman Catholic  
3 Kimar Williams 6'1" Constitution   2 Marc Rodriguez 6'0" Father Judge  
24 Sammy Foreman 5'10" Martin Luther King   10 Dhamir Roundtree-Cosby 6'9" Neumann-Goretti  
11 Traci Carter 6'1" Life Center   32 Nick Alikakos 6'6" Episcopal Academy  
5 Ahmad Gilbert 6'6" Constitution   24 Jamar Sudan 6'5" Chester  
0 Lamarr Kimble 6'0" Neumann-Goretti   12 Jaquan Arrington 6'4" Imhotep  
4 Mustapha Traore 6'8" Phelps     Alternates      
            Eli Alvin 6'1" Mastery Charter  
            Izaiah Brockington 6'0" Archbishop Ryan  
                   
  2016         2018      
No. Name Height School   No. Name Height School  
10 Tony Carr 6'4" Roman Catholic   22 Cameron Reddish 6'6" Haverford School  
1 DeAndre Hunter 6'7" Friends Central   33 Marcus Little 6'8" Academy of New Church  
11 Lamar Stevens 6'6" Haverford School   4 Antwaun Butler 6'0" Strawberry Mansion  
3 Josh Sharkey 5'9" Archbishop Carroll   23 Tyree Pickron 6'1" Archbishop Wood  
4 Nazeer Bostick 6'3" Roman Catholic   10 Justin Anderson 6'2" Springside Chestnut Hill  
3 Zane Martin 6'3" Neumann-Goretti   3 Damon Wall 5'10" Doane Academy  
23 Stevie Jordan 5'11" Conwell-Egan   5 Bernard Lightsey 5'10" Imhotep  
22 Jabri McCall 6'0" Martin Luther King   21 Seth Pickney 6'8" Archbishop Wood  
21 Lapri Pace-McCray 6'4" Conwell-Egan   1 Sam Sessions 5'9" Shipley  
0 Jaekwon Carlyle 6'0" Imhotep   31 Ahmad Williams 6'1" Cardinal O'Hara  
  Alternates         Alternates      
  Xzavier Malone 6'4" Plymouth Whiemarsh     Kharon Randolph 6'0" Haverford School  
  Devon goodman 5'11" Germantown Academy     Quentin Johnson 6'5" Springfield  

APRIL 19
TEDBIT
  While killing time last night, I was checking out old clippings of games that decided Inter-Ac championships. And I found the nugget below to the left . . . In an Inter-Ac game near the end of the 1956-57 season, Germantown Academy and Penn Charter combined to shoot 103 free throws! (Or maybe 101 - smile. GA's total says 57, but the individual numbers add up to 55.) The recap, as published in the Inquirer, says four players from each team were ejected. Not sure if that's a misstatement. Maybe they meant four players from each team fouled out? If eight players had been tossed, it's hard to believe all 32 minutes would have been played. Either way, what a messy game! Meanwhile, in quarters/semis/finals/CTs involving Public and Catholic teams going back to the mid-1970s, the highest number of free throw attempts has been "only" 75. And that game went overtime. As did others on the Top 10 list. Going back a little further: in a '69 Pub semi, Edison and Gratz combined to shoot 77 free throws. Then, in the City Title that followed shortly thereafter, Edison and Roman combined to shoot 70 free throws.












 
No. Year Occasion Winner/Loser FT-FTA Pct.
75 1996 Pub final Edison 74  (OT) 26-47  
      Gratz 68 15-28  
        41-75 .547
74 2010 Pub quarter Bartram 89  (4 OT) 24-36  
      Frankford 87 21-38  
        45-74 .608
73 1990 Pub quarter Franklin LC 90 24-33  
      Washington 86 23-40  
        47-73 .644
72 1988 Pub final Frankford 71  (4 OT) 18-32  
      West Phila. 64 24-40  
        42-72 .583
72 2002 Pub semi Northeast 76 21-35  
      Central 72 26-37  
        47-72 .653
69 1992 Cath final Roman 77 32-38  
      Dougherty 68 23-31  
        55-69 .797
69 1994 Cath quarter Roman 67 19-32  
      Neumann 56 24-37  
        43-69 .623
69 2009 Pub quarter Southern 69 12-27  
      Bartram 65 22-42  
        34-69 .493
69 2009 Pub quarter Imhotep 72 28-36  
      Prep Charter 49 19-33  
        47-69 .681
68 1996 Pub quarter Gratz 66 18-31  
      Frankford 64 27-37  
        45-68 .662
68 2015 Pub semi Constitution 70 27-44  
      Audenried 57 16-24  
        43-68 .632
68 2015 Pub final Imhotep 77 29-40  
      Constitution 75 22-28  
        51-68 .750

APRIL 16
TEDBIT
  The Donofrio Classic, held each spring in Conshohocken, honors two MVPs -- one apiece from the teams that advance to the championship game. Below are "Our Guys" (Public/Catholic/Inter-Ac) who've won MVP honors going back to 1982.

"Our Guys" MVPs in This Century in the Donofrio Classic
Year --- Winning Team in Final --- --- Losing Team in Final --
2015 Tony Carr Roman Team Hardnett      
2014 Lamar Stevens Haver. School Old School Cavs      
2013 Ja'Quan Newton Neumann-Goretti I-3 Rysheed Jordan Vaux Team Philly
2012       Rysheed Jordan Vaux Team Philly
2008 Novar Gadson Bartram Waterview Phoenix *Maalik Wayns Roman Team Philly
2007 Kashief Edwards Imhotep Positive Image      
2006       *Wayne Ellington Episcopal Playaz
2005 *Gerald Henderson Episcopal Playaz Ameer Ali Gratz Sonny Hill Srs.
2004 Mark Tyndale Gratz Sonny Hill Srs. *Rob Kurz Penn Charter Playaz
2003 Wayne Marshall King Positive Image      
2002       Micheal Blackshear Gratz Waterview
2001       *Steve Smith Northeast Waterview
2000 #special situation     Mike Slattery Gtn. Academy Conshy Express
1999 Jermaine Robinson Gratz Hunting Park Khalid Bray Central Waterview
1998       Kevin "Buzzy' Forney Straw. Mansion D-V Blazers
1997       Chris Krug Gtn. Academy Conshy Express
1996 Petrick Sanders Frankford Sonny Hill Srs. Donnie Carr Roman PI Point Breeze
1995       Donnie Carr Roman PI Point Breeze
1994 Fred Warrick Bok Sonny Hill Srs.      
1993       Tyrone Weeks Franklin LC Sonny Hill Srs.
1992 Rondell Turner Univ. City Sonny Hill Jrs. *Adonal Foyle O'Hara R/Way Gasket
1991       Paul Burke Chestnut Hill Sonny Hill Srs.
1990 *Aaron McKie Gratz Sonny Hill Srs.      
1989 Carlin Warley Frankford Sonny Hill Srs.      
1988 *Randy Woods Franklin Sonny Hill Srs.      
1987 Clayton "Stink" Adams Roman Austin's SG      
1986 *Lionel Simmons Southern Sonny Hill Srs. @Brian Shorter Gratz HBA Crusaders
1985 *Greg "Bo" Kimble Dobbins Sonny Hill Srs. *Paul "Snoop" Graham Franklin HBA Crusaders
1984 Howard Evans West Phila. Sonny Hill Srs. Jody Johnson Southern Canaan Baptist
1983 Rico Washington Franklin Sonny Hill Srs.      
1982 Darren Keith Mastbaum Moore Funeral Home      
*-advanced to NBA      
#-Sonny Hill Srs. won title; all players on team named MVP to honor the memory of long-time coach/mentor Tony Samartino, who'd
passed away in October of 1999.
@-named a tri-MVP; team did NOT advance to the championship game.

APRIL 15
TEDBIT
  Here are the top scoring performances by Pub/Cath/Int guys in Donofrio Classic championship games over the last 16 years. Four of the players -- Episcopal's Wayne Ellington and Gerald Henderson; Penn Charter'sRob Kurz; Northeast's Steve Smith -- advanced to the NBA. Let's hope a couple more join that club.

Name Team School Pts Year
Rysheed Jordan Team Philly Vaux 48 2013
Ja'Quan Newton I-3 Neumann-Goretti 42 2013
Rysheed Jordan Team Philly Vaux 34 2012
*Wayne Ellington Playaz Episcopal 33 2006
*Gerald Henderson Playaz Episcopal 33 2005
Tony Chennault Team Philly Neumann-Goretti 32 2008
Brandon Austin Team Philly Imhotep 28 2013
Ameer Ali Sonny Hill Srs. Gratz 28 2005
Micheal Blackshear Waterview Gratz 27 2002
Tony Carr Team Hardnett Roman 27 2015
Shaun McKie Sonny Hill Srs. Gratz 26 2000
Ahmad "JR" Gilbert Team Hardnett Constitution 26 2015
Brian Wanamaker Positive Image Roman 25 2007
*Wayne Ellington Playaz Episcopal 25 2005
Mark Tyndale Sonny Hill Srs. Gratz 24 2004
Wayne Marshall Positive Image King 24 2003
Novar Gadson Waterview Bartram 21 2008
Velton Jones Team Philly North Catholic 21 2008
Jamal Wilson Team Philly Neumann-Goretti 21 2008
Kashief Edwards Positive Image Imhotep 21 2007
Scott Rodgers Sonny Hill Srs. Central 21 2005
*Steve Smith Waterview Northeast 21 2001
Bradley Wanamaker Positive Image Roman 20 2007
*Gerald Henderson Playaz Episcopal 20 2006
*Rob Kurz Playaz Penn Charter 20 2004
Sharif Bray Waterview Central 20 2002
*advanced to NBA  

APRIL 11
TEDBIT
  Below you'll see my choices for (to borrow -- smile -- from baseball specialist Randy Seidman) the Hometown Philly College Basketball Team. The top player nod goes to Penn State sr. guard D.J. Newbill. To be considered for this list, a player must have played in the Pub/Cath/Int through his senior year of high school.

HOMETOWN PHILLY COLLEGE BASKETBALL TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Player College Year High School Conference Record Honors
D.J. Newbill Penn State Sr. Strawberry Mansion Big 10 18-16 2nd team
  First in scoring (20.7); first in assists (3.1) and steals (1.3); shot .455 percent from floor; averaged 37 minutes per game
Juan'ya Green Hofstra Jr. Carroll Colonial Ath. 20-14 1st team
  First in scoring (17.0); first in assists (6.5); tied for first in steals (48); posted first triple-double in school history (15 P, 10 R, 10 A)
Earl Brown St. Francis (Pa.) Sr. Imhotep NEC 16-16 1st team
  First in scoring (15.9); first in rebounds (8.0); first in blocks (31); first in FG percentage (.539)    
Savon Goodman Arizona State So. Constitution Pac-12 18-16 None
  Second in scoring (11.2); first in rebounds (7.6); shot .578 from floor; sat out first nine games due to transfer rules
Jerrell Wright La Salle Sr. Dobbins Atlantic 10 17-16 None
  Second in scoring (12.1); second in rebounds (6.5); shot .524 from floor      
SECOND TEAM
Player College Year High School Conference Record Honors
Ameen Tanksley Hofstra Jr. Imhotep Colonial Ath. 20-14 2nd team
  Second in scoring (16.2); third in rebounds (5.5); tied for first in steals (48); shot 40 percent on threes    
Rysheed Jordan St. John's So. Vaux Big East 21-12 None
  Second in scoring (14.1); first in assists (3.1); second in steals (54)      
Nick Lindner Lafayette So. Germantown Academy Patriot 20-13 3rd team
  Third in scoring (12.5); first in assists (5.2); shot 85 percent at foul line; led team in minutes played (32.1)    
Stephen Vasturia Notre Dame So. St. Joseph's Prep Atlantic Coast 32-6 None
  Fifth in scoring (10.1); averaged 1.7 assists; first in FT percentage (.864)
John Davis Towson So. Neumann-Goretti Colonial Ath. 12-20 3rd team
  Second in scoring (11.8); first in rebounds (8.1); first in FG percentage (.468)      

APRIL 7
TEDBIT
  Like myself and others going back to the early '70s, Aaron "Ace" Carter again decided to list his All-City selections in what he saw as the proper order. With that in mind, here is an updated list that shows which guys have accumulated the most All-City "power points." In most years, the three teams have included 16 players. So, the Player of the Year earns 16 points, the runnerup 15 and so on. Co-Players of the Year split 31 points (or 29, in years when only 15 players were honored). The top spot, and oldheads won't be surprised, was claimed by '77 West Philly grad Gene Banks with 46 points. This year's "most honored" senior, SJ Prep's Chris Clover, checks in with 30 points (all earned in the last two seasons).

Leading "Power Points" Guys on All-City Teams, 1974-2015
Name School Class Points Sr. Jr. So.
Gene Banks West Phila. 1977 46 16 16 14
Rasheed Wallace Gratz 1993 44 16 16 12
Maureece Rice Straw. Mansion 2003 41.5 15.5 15 11
Eggy Tillman West Phila. 1978 40.5 15.5 15 10
Tyrone Weeks Franklin LC 1993 39 14 14 11
Ja'Quan Newton Neumann-Goretti 2014 38 16 13 9
Lynn Greer Eng. & Science 1997 33 16 9 8
Eddie Griffin Roman 2000 32 16 16  
Meatball Hand Franklin LC 1992 32 15 13 4
Stephen Vasturia SJ Prep 2013 32 15 14 3
Maalik Wayns Roman 2009 31 16 15  
Wayne Ellington Episcopal 2006 30.5 15.5 15  
Rodney Blake Bonner 1984 30 16 14  
Chris Clover SJ Prep 2015 30 15 15  
Gerald Henderson Episcopal 2006 29.5 15.5 14  
Reggie Jackson Roman 1978 29.5 15.5 14  
Charlie Floyd Malvern 1974 29 13 13 3
Sean Singletary Penn Charter 2004 28 16 12  
Jason Lawson Olney 1993 28 15 13  
Pooh Richardson Franklin   1985 28 16 12  
Rico Washington Frankford/Franklin 1983 28 15 13  
Tyrone Garland Bartram 2010 27 14 13  
Tony Chennault Neumann-Goretti 2010 27 16 11  
Kareem Townes Southern 1991 27 16 11  
Derrick Jones Carroll 2015 27 14 11

2
Lonnie McFarlan Roman 1980 26.5 14.5 12  
Pappy Owens Dobbins 1979 26 16 10  
Rick Jackson Neumann-Goretti 2007 26 14 12  
Donnie Carr Roman 1996 26 16 10  
*Carlin Warley Frankford  1989 26 X 16

10
Lionel Simmons Southern 1986 26 16 10  
Samir Doughty MC&S 2015 26 13 13  
*-transferred out of city leagues after junior season

APRIL 1
TEDBIT
  Yesterday brought great news for all folks who know the wonderful Clark family! Jeffery (a k a "Monk") was chosen to referee one of the games in the upcoming Final Four. Monk starred at Frankford (first team All-City) and St. Joe's and was preceded by two brothers, Dana (Olney '73, also first team All-City, Cheyney) and George (Edison '74, three-year starter, Slippery Rock). George's son, Chris, was a first team All-City honoree at St. Joseph's Prep and then played at Temple. He's now an assistant at Campbell, of the Big South Conference. I decided to figure out how many points were scored by the Clarks just in league play (not counting playoffs) and the total came to 1,855. Pretty darn impressive. (If playoff points can be nailed down, I'll add those later. Perhaps the total will rise to 2,000!)
  UPDATED at 10:30 . . . The final total is 2,158!! Aside from the playoff points, Chris' 77 CL points as a freshman have been added. On more modern computers, website pages from 2001 turn up as gibberish (ugh). I was able to nail down the number with a search on my older computer.
  UPDATED on April 7. Monk was an alternate for all three games at the Final Four.

Points Scored by the Clarks in League Play and Playoffs
Name School Frosh Soph Jr. Sr. Frosh Soph Jr. Sr. Total
    ---- Regular Season ----  ---- Playoffs ----  
Dana Olney '73 none none 38 *273 none none none +58 369
George Edison '74 none 81 #143 150 none none 5 none 379
Jeffery Frankford '77 none 153 234 324 none none 17 37 765
Chris SJ Prep '04 77 109 151 199 none 38 24 47 645
 Totals   77 343 566 946 0 38 46 142 2,158
*-includes 118 points in Sonny Hill Winter League
#-includes 245 points in Sonny Hill Winter League
+-all points in Sonny Hill Winter League playoffs
  Note: In the 1972-73 season, a teachers' strike ended the official PL season after two games. The SHWL took over, with each PL school competing under Hill League coaches. Olney lost to Gratz in the final.
  Note: In the 1970s, ninth grade was not part of public high schools.

MARCH 31
TEDBIT
  Below is a chart that shows the overall records, year by year in this century, for all Catholic League schools. The four lines at the bottom show wins, losses, winning percentage and ranking based on that winning percentage. N-G is No. 1 at .815, followed by Roman at .751 and St. Joseph's Prep at .731. N-G has averaged just over 24 wins per season. Records highlighted in yellow are each school's best during this time frame (by percentage). Three schools -- Conwell-Egan (21-8), Roman (29-2) and Wood (18-6) -- this season posted their best records of the century. 

  B-P Carr C-E Doc Jud K-K Lans La S McD NC N-G O'H RC Ryan SJP West Wood
'00 9-16 14-13 3-21 21-6 15-10 5-20   19-8 12-13 15-10 26-5 11-15 25-7 5-20 10-16 14-12 11-14
'01 9-16 16-9 6-19 13-13 21-5 8-17   14-11 9-16 5-19 23-8 18-8 23-7 17-10 17-11 13-12 7-17
'02 19-7 17-10 4-21 22-5 16-10 6-19   10-15 10-15 8-16 21-7 10-14 16-9 16-12 24-6 7-18 13-13
'03 11-14 14-12 7-18 24-4 15-11 0-24   14-13 9-16 5-19 18-8 9-14 19-8 15-12 30-2 9-16 16-10
'04 9-16 9-16 7-18 26-6 12-13 1-21   19-8 6-19 14-12 19-8 6-18 22-7 16-9 27-4 17-9 15-12
'05 11-14 12-13 10-15 17-10 17-10 3-21   4-21 8-16 11-15 27-3 14-11 21-9 16-10 26-5 14-12 20-7
'06 14-12 12-13 15-10 21-6 16-10 11-14   8-17 6-19 14-11 22-6 12-13 26-6 19-7 24-5 8-17 2-23
'07 17-10 10-16 10-16 25-3 14-13 0-26   16-12 7-19 22-6 26-10 8-16 28-3 16-11 22-8 9-17 13-13
'08 18-8 14-11 13-11 14-11 15-10 3-21   15-11 12-12 22-5 15-10 10-14 19-6 17-10 16-11 12-12 9-15
'09 10-13 27-3 11-12 7-15 7-15 7-15 8-14 11-13 6-16 17-9 26-3 2-19 18-9 10-13 14-9 16-11 16-7
'10 8-14 24-5 14-9 12-12 9-13 5-16 8-14 20-6 4-18 11-12 30-1 5-17 18-9 7-15 17-8 11-15 16-8
'11 9-13 21-6 10-13   16-6   4-18 21-6 10-12   27-4 6-15 17-9 11-13 14-9 7-17 14-10
'12 2-19 20-8 12-11   13-10   3-19 11-13 12-13   28-3 13-11 17-10 18-5 21-6 8-14 14-9
'13 5-17 23-7 8-16   10-12   12-12 15-8 14-10   23-6 8-14 19-7 14-9 24-6 2-20 14-10
'14 2-20 23-5 15-8   8-15   10-12 23-7 12-13   27-4 6-16 23-5 10-12 16-7 12-14 11-12
'15 12-11 23-7 21-8   15-9   5-17 21-7 5-17   29-2 6-16 29-2 10-13 18-5 7-15 18-6
                                 
W 165 279 166 202 219 49 50 241 142 144 387 144 340 217 320 166 209
L 220 154 216 81 172 214 106 176 244 134 88 231 113 181 118 231 186
Pct. .429 .644 .435 .714 .560 .186 .321 .578 .368 .518 .815 .384 .751 .545 .731 .418 .529
No. 12 5 11 4 7 17 16 6 15 10 1 14 2 8 3 13 9

MARCH 26
TEDBIT
  What are the chances? Though the circumstances of their high school/college careers have contrasted in big-time fashion, Ja'Quan Newton and Jesse Morgan are only five points apart as they prepare for Tuesday night's NIT semifinal at Madison Square Garden. Newton owns 2,088, counting 1,972 at Neumann-Goretti and 116 so far this season at Miami. Morgan owns 2,083 -- 601 in three years at Prep Charter, 559 in one at Olney, 608 in three at Massachusetts and 315 so far this season at Temple. Best of luck to these Philly guys Tuesday night!

Ja'Quan Newton
Year School Pts
2011 Neumann-Goretti 277
2012 Neumann-Goretti 492
2013 Neumann-Goretti 533
2014 Neumann-Goretti 670
2015 Miami 116
    2,088
Jesse Morgan
Year School Pts
2006 Prep Charter 31
2007 Prep Charter 275
2008 Prep Charter 295
2009 Olney 559
2010

DNP

  
2011 UMass 253
2012 UMass 367
2013 UMass 188
2014 DNP  
2015 Temple 315
    2,083

MARCH 25
TEDBIT
  Carroll's Derrick Jones did not conclude his career as the Catholic League's top scorer in state playoffs, but he was in the ballpark, er, arena. Jones wound up scoring 281 points, nine short of the total racked up by N-G's Ja'Quan Newton, now a freshman at Miami. N-G senior Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble (152) now owns a spot in the top five, also. The Pub's top spot now belongs to Constitution senior Ahmad "J.R." Gilbert (239) and fellow 12th grader Samir Doughty of MC&S is right behind at 232 (191 with the Mighty Elephants; 41 at now-closed Comm Tech in '12-'13). The top spot previously belonged to '13 Imhotep grad Brandon Austin (215). 

CL's Leading Career Scorers in State Playoffs
  Ja'Quan Derrick John Tony Lamarr
  Newton Jones Davis Chennault Kimble
  N-G Carroll N-G N-G N-G
2009 x x x 61 x
2010 x x 0 99 x
2011 53 x 62 x x
2012 76 33 79 x 7
2013 54 76 35 x 33
2014 107 49 x x 50
2015 x 123 x x 62
 Total 290 281 176 160 152

MARCH 24 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  Here are the rosters for Friday night's Public League Coaches' All-Star Tripleheader, at Ben Franklin High.

1st Game 5:30PM
Must report at 4:30
Marcus Bryant, CAPA
Hyzeem Banks, PKWY CC
Deion Hamilton, RUSH
Isaiah Lewis, Motivation
Ahanri Briggs, Parkway NW
Jeremiah Alston, Tacony
Isaiah Riddick, Rush
Ibn-Haneef Nelson, SLA
Cole Ruley, Parkway CC
Walter Smith, Roxborough
Robert Lafayette, Mastbaum
Larry Edwards, Mastery S
Zahir Gillis, Randolph
Nehemiah Hodges, World Comm
Edens Dorstal, New Media
Robert Sample, Edison
Alex Rodriguez, Swenson
Saleem Thompson, Mastbaum
Shafi Meachum, Palumbo
Troy Richardson, Bodine
Jirveese Thomas, New Media
Chase Davis, FLC
Kameron Gilfilian, Future
Shawn Morrison, Future
Dashaun Johnson, Franklin
Quadir Norman, Mansion
Ishmael Marshall, Lincoln
Brandon White, Sayre
Willie Grant, Robeson
Devon Adams, Fels

2nd Game- 7PM
Must report by 6PM
Justin Johnson, Tacony
Zahir Stewart- Maritime
Jerrell Richardson- Kensington
Montrell Gilliam- Edison
Rahim Washington- Prep Charter
Lavelle Harper- West
Antwan James- Sayre
Maurice Waters- Bartram
Marvin Bell- Southern
Greg Holdsman- Central
Tyriq Wilson- Northeast
Akeem King- Constitution
Nick Jones- MCS
Leo Gardiner- Boys Latin
La’Trelle Wilson- Southern
Jerome Blume- Washington
Umar Saaba- Boys Latin
Deshan Brown- Northeast
Johnathan Hall- E&S
Demetruis White- Frankford
Calil Moultrie- Freire
Joseph Burnett- Gratz
Quadire Truesdale- Frankford
Shawn Bailey- Bartram
Kahlil Williams- Central
Dymir Logan- Del Val
Bysil Northern- Del Val
Don Barnes- MCS
Mike Cooper- PET
Chase Rodgers- King
Somah Slewion - Swenson

3rd Game- 8:30PM
Must report by 730PM
Kimar Williams- Constitution
Samir Doughty- MCS
Ahmad Gilbert- Constitution
DaShon Giddings- Del Val
Sammy Foreman - King
Devonta Peterie- PET
Chad Andrews-Fulton- Constitution
Jihad Barnes- PET
DeAnte Robinson- Imhotep
Devin Liggeons- Imhotep
Khalief Tinley- Imhotep
Tyheem Harmon- King
Tyere Marshall- King
Cananchet Jordan- Imhotep
Karl Lewis- Del Val
Haneef Vaughn- Constitution
Charles Brown- Washington
Elmange Watson- Washington
Dom Morales-- Future
Devon Jacobs- Audenreid

3 Point Contestants- Must report at 4PM





 

 

MARCH 24
TEDBIT
  Neumann-Goretti's dominance of Carroll continued through the just-completed season, but there was little margin for error. The Saints edged Carroll by two points in the regular season and again by two in the Class AAA final. Starting with the 2001 CL quarterfinal, N-G has captured 30 of the teams' last 31 meetings. The lone exception was the '09 state quarterfinal. Carroll rolled onward to win the state title. N-G has won five of the last six state crowns (missed in '13). Here are N-G's 10 closest wins among the 30.  

N-G's Ten Closest Wins vs. Carroll
Among 30 Total (in Last 31 Meetings)
Year Occasion Margin Score N-G's Leading Scorer(s) Pts
2015 Reg Season 2 71-69 Quade Green 26
2015 3A Final 2 69-67 Zane Martin 26
2001 Reg Season 4 43-39 Brandon Brigman 13
2011 CL Final 4 59-55 John Davis/Lamin Fulton 16
2011 Reg Season 6 74-68 Lamin Fulton 22
2014 Reg Season 6 64-58 Ja'Quan Newton 29
2003 Reg Season 8 60-52 Tabby Cunningham/Adon El 15
2010 Reg Season 8 66-58 Danny Stewart 16
2004 Reg Season 9 58-49 Adon El 15
2008 Reg Season 10 66-56 Tony Chennault 21

MARCH 23
TEDBIT
  Below are lists that show the Top 10 Pub/Cath champs, by overall winning percentage, over the last 41 seasons. Interesting to note: An overall Top 10 list would feature only one Cath team (N-G's 30-1 squad in '10). Roman's 2015 squad (29-2) now owns the No. 3 spot. Neumann-Goretti achieved the same overall record, but fell in the CL final before storming onward, as did Roman, to win a state championship.

Pub Champs With Best Overall
Winning Percentages, 1975-2014
Team Year W-L Pct.
Overbrook 1980 34-0 1.000
Gratz 1993 31-0 1.000
West Phila. 1977 30-0 1.000
West Phila. 1975 25-0 1.000
Overbrook 1979 34-1 .971
West Phila. 1978 33-1 .971
Imhotep 2009 32-1 .970
Mastbaum 1982 27-1 .964
Franklin 1984 27-1 .964
Gratz 1991 27-1 .964
Cath Champs With Best Overall
Winning Percentages, 1975-2014
Team Year W-L Pct.
Neumann-Goretti 2010 30-1 .968
SJ Prep 2003 30-2 .938
Roman 2015 29-2 .936
Roman 1980 31-3 .912
Roman 1991 28-3 .903
Roman 2007 28-3 .903
Neumann-Goretti 2012 28-3 .903
Roman 1990 27-3 .900
Roman 1996 27-3 .900
Neumann-Goretti 2005 27-3 .900

MARCH 21
PIAA CLASS AAAA FINAL
Roman 62, King 45
(At Hershey's Giant Center)
  Thank goodness Roman's victory celebration was very pleasing to the eyes. The ballgame certainly wasn't. For now, here's all you need to know about the latter: King missed 27 of its first 29 shots in the second half. Ouch. When the buzzer finally sounded, the fun began. Great sights were everywhere as the Cahillites rejoiced with themselves and then with their rabid student/adult supporters. As teacher John Pensabene happened to mention, "When your school's 125 years old, you can't do too many things for the first time." Roman has won millions (slight exaggeration) of championships in many sports, but this was the first state title in the school's PIAA era, which began in the 2008-09 school year, as it did for all Catholic League schools. The coolest visual involved the interaction between the players and students, and those groups just kept having fun and more fun and MORE fun even though the students had to stay behind the hockey boards. Finally, the lights dimmed slightly and the security guards let it be known that everyone needed to depart. Otherwise the great vibrations might have continued 'til midnight (smile). There was also a wonderful moment in the last half-minute. Waved to the scorers' table was sr. F TreVaughn Wilkerson (Hartford commit), who'd been sidelined since early December due to a severe knee injury. (To honor TreVaughn, assistant Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna spent much of the day/night wearing a Hartford shirt. Classy move, Puckster!) The coaches and starters were hoping the ball would find its way to TreVaughn, who was camped out near the bench on the left side. But things were so crazy by that point, I'm not even sure the deep subs realized TreVaughn was out there. The ball went to the right and soon the buzzer was sounding again. TreVaughn, who's still limping slightly, left the game and exchanged a healthy hug with coach Chris McNesby. Here's the answer to the trivia question, How long did TreVaughn Wilkerson play as Roman won the state championship in 2015? 16.1 seconds (from 26.7 to 10.6). Well before the game began, there was interesting viewing. For all championship games in the Giant Center, rooting sections are catty-corner. But the Roman kids wound up right next to King's and it didn't take long for PIAA officials to stride over and say, quite forcefully, "Go back to the other end, guys. Now!" As for the game itself . . . It just never truly got going. Even though the score was close throughout the first half, rarely did we see two consecutive special moments, let alone three or four. A classic just wasn't in the cards, folks. Off an inbound play that started with a half-second remaining, sr. PG Sammy Foreman drilled a trey to draw King within 30-29. No doubt all neutral observers, mindful that the recent City Title had produced a 58-57 win for Roman over King, were thinking, "OK, that sets up a great second half." Phew, talk about wrong. The Cougars shot 2-for-17 in the third quarter and then missed 10 more shots to open the fourth. The thoughts became, "Maybe this shot has a chance . . . Nope. Maybe THIS shot has a chance . . . Nope. Look at this shot. It's definitely going in . . . Nope." It was unbelievable. Maybe King's bad luck non-charm was Shep Garner. Shep, who starred for Roman and is now a Penn State frosh, was among the spectators throughout. Shortly into the third quarter, he sat between PSU coach Pat Chambers (Episcopal product) and assistant Brian Daly (Bonner) not too far from the Roman kids, who acknowledged his presence with wild applause. Soon, sr. swingman Gemil Holbrook (Rider) was nailing a left-corner trey to make it 39-31 and the game was en route to becoming a non-game. (Later, Shep scrambled over to greet the students.) Before the fourth quarter, the PA announcer, reminding the fans that championship shirts would later be available, said something like, "We know the colors on the shirts will be purple and gold. We just don't know what name will be on them." Alas, King never slapped together a hint of a run and Roman's fans safely were able to belt out the all-time jinx chant, "I Believe That We Will Win," with 1:56 remaining. The spread was 15 points, at 56-41. No chance for an epic collapse. Roman attempted just 28 shots from the floor (and made 17!) because major hacking took place; the Cahillites went an unsightly 23-for-41 at the line. King was very good at the stripe (10-for-12), but woeful (15-for-55) in other locales. Roman's top defender was soph WG D'Andre Vilmar, who was mostly responsible for making jr. G Jabri McCall go 0-for-9 from the floor. Starting PF-C Tyere Marshall also failed to notch a field goal (0-for-4), but his night was severely limited by foul trouble. Holbrook (20), jr. PG Tony Carr (14) and Vilmar (10) scored in double figures. Jr. WG Nazeer Bostick and sr. sixth-man PF-C Manny Taylor (Rutgers for football) claimed six rebounds apiece. Carr had six assists and three steals and missed just one shot total (4-for-5 floor, 4-for-4 line). Foreman (20) and sr. WG Tyheem Harmon (10, three treys) reached double digits for King and Foreman was the rebound leader with seven. This was quite the weekend for District 12. "Our Guys" won the title in every classification and that's a first since the expansion from three to four in 1983-84. Great job! Except for wrapup endeavors, this concludes my 44th season of covering high school hoops. Thanks to the website visitors for paying attention and to my assorted sidekicks for all the great help they provide.
ADDED MARCH 22 . . .
  Thomas "Hockey Puck" McKenna, Roman's legendary assistant, video-taped the game from high above the stands. To come downstairs and join the players-coaches, he took n elevator. As the doors opened, he quickly scrambled through, looked around, saw a door and pushed it open. That left him outside the arena. "What da hell I doin' out hehe?" Puck barked at himself. He had to walk around the building and convince a security guard that he indeed deserved to be back inside.
  Guard D'Andre Vilmar was en route to Roman via public transportation when the bus broke down in Camden. Knowing he was pressed for time, Vilmar hustled off the bus, then ran across the Ben Franklin Bridge and nine more blocks to Roman, so he would not miss the team bus to Hershey.
  (Thanks to former coach Dennis Seddon and current AD Dan DiBerardinis for these nuggets.)   

MARCH 21
PIAA CLASS AA FINAL
Conwell-Egan 62, Aliquippa 51
(At Hershey's Giant Center)
  The script could not have been written in more fitting fashion. With Aliquippa charging hard and threatening to cause major tears for C-E's players and fans, a big play was needed. The Terrific Trio obliged. PF-C Vinny Dalessandro, CG-SF LaPri McCray-Pace and PG Stevie Jordan -- juniors all -- have been starting for the Eagles since their freshman season. With C-E in front by only 50-48, Dalessandro blocked a follow and the rebound went to McCray-Pace. Already a good way downcourt on a leak-out, Jordan received a whipped-ahead pass and canned an easy layup. See, told you the script was good. More happened, of course, but for this man's money that was THE play and all three guys will no doubt remember it forever. Conwell-Egan, state champ. Let that sink in for a moment. Hard to believe, right? Impossible not to feel great about it, even more right? A short time ago, C-E (nee Bishop Egan) owned just one playoff win since joining the Catholic League for the 1963-64 season. And that one was claimed in a '64 semifinal. No. 2 came recently vs. Freire in the AA City Title. Five wins are needed to win a state crown and, boy, were they ever seized. C-E won every game by at least double digits and averaged a 21.2 margin. The release of major emotion was everywhere as the buzzer sounded. The players jumped around the court while exchanging/slaps/etc., then sr. WG Sean Kelly began a mad dash toward the student rooters. The other guys followed and the exchange of great-jobs!, thanks-for-your-support! was beautiful to watch. Janet Dollard, C-E's president, said seven buses, holding 44 students apiece, made the trip to Hershey. That's 308 kids, rumor has it (smile). Other kids probably came up with parents or buddies. Dollard said C-E's current enrollment is 544 and that the baseball team and an academic group were unavailable due to trips. "Almost 90 percent of the available students are here," she said. Wonderful support, troops! . . . And speaking of troops, the Eagles received their trophy from Damon Page, a member of the National Guard. Damon's a 2010 C-E grad and the son of Lee Page, a prominent multi-sport ref in the Philly area. Lee is also in the National Guard and he has been here throughout Finals Weekend, presenting the championship trophies. Said Lee, "I told Damon to come up here and make sure he was in uniform. I knew it would be very cool if he got to present the trophy to his old school." Indeed. I might have seen a tear or seven (smile). Aliquippa, a Pittsburgh suburb, entered perfect at 29-0. The Quips scored six of the first eight points as C-E went 1-for-6, looking the slightest bit unnerved. But soon, McCray-Pace canned a layup off a HARD drive and Jordan ended the first quarter with a right-corner trey and, just like that, Frank Sciolla's club was on top at 12-8. Things got better. The halftime count was 31-15, thanks in part to a trio of treys by sr. WG Chase Kumor. The third session brought a hint of discombobulation. The Eagles were not playing horribly, but neither were they in sync. Aliquippa also had a huge rooting section and those peeps were bringin' the juice. Ditto for the players. A few were talking trash to the Eagles. Shortly into the fourth quarter, a Quip hit a three and barked right in McCray-Pace's face, "How ya like THAT, b-tch?!" (It happened right in front of where I was sitting two seats away from the legendary Kevin "Sparky" Cooney, of the Bucks County Courier Times.) Pri gave the Quip a look that seemed to say, "Calm down, bro. I hope you enjoy our response." In high school, especially, free-throw shooting can be dicey when the tension mounts. Kudos to the Eagles! They drained their first 11 attempts of the last quarter and finished 15-for-17 (en route to 28-for-35 total). And one of the misses occurred after the issue had been decided. McCray-Pace (22) and Jordan (21) finished a close one-two in scoring. Kumor added 14 points. McC-P and Kelly halved 16 rebounds and the former, who often wound up with the ball out front, dished four assists. Dalessandro was credited with just two blocks in the official boxscore, but I'm pretty sure he had four. Sr. F Jordan Burney added grit as the sixth man and soph G Daniel Green claimed the game's last rebound as part of the Deep Subs Brigade. Enjoying the win in major fashion, up in the stands, were former baseball coach Rich Papirio, who still handles PA duties at basketball games, and '74 grad Brian Townsend, a former All-Catholic player who's a confirmed Eagle for life. Perched behind Brian was Leonhard "P.J." McCray, Mastbaum's former quarterback and LaPri's father. I'm guessing he yelled various comments 227 times over the 32 minutes. (Ha, ha. Always love the energy, P.J.!) Just three years ago, C-E was in MAJOR danger of closing. Now it owns a state championship. Very cool script as well, eh?

MARCH 20
PIAA CLASS AAA FINAL
Neumann-Goretti 69, Carroll 67
(At Hershey's Giant Center)
  Second verse, same as the first. Just three nights ago in the semifinal vs. Imhotep, Neumann-Goretti managed to claim a two-point halftime lead even though co-headliners Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble (sr. WG) and soph Quade Green (soph WG) owned just two points apiece. Flash ahead to the moment tonight when 6:01 remained in the third quarter. Kimble made the third of two free throws (huh?) to give the Saints a 28-27 lead. That point was his third. Green had managed just four. Once again, we were seeing how talented -- and how much drive -- these guys have. If most teams get next to nothing from mainstays, they crumble. Somehow, the Saints have soared to seize another state crown, their fifth in six seasons (missed in '13). Oh, about that "third of two" reference. Fresh missed both ends of a two-shot foul, but the Patriots were hit with a lane violation. He took advantage. Ultimately, N-G triumphed because it fared pretty darn well at the line in the fourth quarter (16-for-20). That was not the case in the Catholic League championship game and these Saints, who could have extended the title streak to all-time-best of seven, likely will be bothered by that for eternity, but at least they learned from the devastation and prevented it from happening again. Particularly effective was Green, a k a Death and Taxes, who drained two at 2:03, two more at 0:53 and two more at 0:35. Then came the biggest two-spot. At 0:12, jr. WG Zane Martin nailed two more free throws to extend the pad to a close-the-door five points, at 69-64. Jr. PG Josh Sharkey followed by draining a trey for Carroll, and the Saints had to call to a timeout after having trouble getting the ball inbounds. Out of the break, they spread out much better and the lengthy inbound pass was caught to end it as coach Carl Arrigale raised his arms in triumph. Soon, the Saints were awaiting their medals and soph bench guy Mike Milsip was bellowing with a smile, "Where the haters? They the motivators!" He was referring to those media members who'd tabbed Carroll to win. A short time later, Milsip, known to be quite the character, was yelling multiple times, "Where's the Hershey Bar?! I'm hungry!" So, how did the Saints do it? A much better performance at the line (21-for-29 to 10-for-25 for Carroll) topped the prominent list. Also important early was the defensive work of soph PF Emil Moody. In the beginning, Carroll's sr. franchise F, Derrick Jones, was doing pretty much what he wanted. He posted 10 points in the first seven minutes and it was not impossible to envision 30, 40, 50 (slight exaggeration). But with Moody on him, Jones then missed a trey and could not convert his next four attempts (some on follows) and that blip was quite important in enabling the Saints to rebound from a 14-6 deficit. By the time the buzzer sounded, Jones did own 30 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks. Yet, he made just four of 15 attempts at the line. Martin, meanwhile, went 8-for-9 en route to 26 points. Green went 6-for-6 en route to 14. Jr. PG Vaughn Covington, so important vs. 'Tep, nailed three treys and finished with 17 points (in addition to seven rebounds and five assists). Kimble experienced severe shooting woes (3-for-15 floor, 3-for-8 line) en route to 10 points. Yet, he did nail a trey to make it 39-31 with 2:08 left in the third quarter and that success, judging by a quick glance at the bench, appeared to provide an all's-right-with-the-world feeling for the coaches and subs. Joining Jones in double figures were Sharkey (13) and soph WG-SF Dave Beatty (11). Jr. WG Ryan Daly came close (nine). Daly (13) and Sharkey (10) were active on the boards and the latter had five assists. As is well known by now, the Saints have managed to own Carroll in this century. Beginning with a quarterfinal in '01, they've won 31 of 32 meetings and the lone exception was a state quarterfinal in '09. That was the Catholic League's first season as a PIAA member and the Patriots went on to claim the first state title. Carroll's gals matched the feat. Today/tonight? Ditto for N-G. In a game that started at noon, the Lady Saints buried Seton La Salle, 79-34, behind Ahnje Timbers (20), Sianni Martin (16), Christine Abowora (13) and Ciani Cryor (11). School on Monday could be interesting. Can't you just hear it now? Gals to guys . . . "You won by two? We won by 45!" Spend the weekend working on clever comebacks, fellas. It's gonna be difficult (smile).

MARCH 20
PIAA CLASS A FINAL
Constitution 85, Farrell 52
(At Hershey's Giant Center)
  Really, how could this NOT have happened? Constitution last year stormed to the Class AA title, then returned almost everybody and dropped down one class. Recipe for dominance, folks! Though this result might have provided at least a little bit of a surprise. In a state final at any level, you don't expect one team to score 31 of the first 35 points. But the Generals did that over the first eight minutes and a leather-lunged student supporter could have hollered between the quarters, "Bring out the trophy!!" (Instead, he waited until after the third quarter -- smile). Though of course we're two-thirds of the way through March, snow was falling outside. Indoors, it looked as if a hurricane were blowing through the Giant Center. The Generals were basically perfect in the first quarter, playing count-their-teeth defense and storming from one end to the other in let's-frolic mode. Who knows? They might have won a game in the first round of the NCCA Tourney (smile). Leading the way, as he'd done in the semifinal destruction of Math, Civics and Sciences, was sr. F Ahmad "J.R." Gilbert, a lefty bound for George Mason. He finished the first session with 12 points (two treys) and two assists and got plenty of help from sr. PG Kimar Williams and sr. PF-C Chad Andrews-Fulton (eight points apiece). The game looked, basically, like a varsity vs. a JV, and it was tough not to feel some sympathy for the Steelers and their large throng of supporters. The second quarter was normal and ConHigh (28-4) actually lost it, 16-8. Next up? Avalanche time again! The Generals won the third stanza, 30-14, and spent much of it repeating their impressive feats of the first quarter. Gilbert (11 points, three triples) and Williams (nine) paced the power display. Late in that period, there was an excellent example of brotherhood. Gilbert missed a trey and jr. G Nasir Randolph snatched the rebound in traffic. Randolph looked out beyond the arc, saw that J.R. was open and whipped him the ball. He could have shot it, easily. Instead, he waited as Randolph ventured beyond the arc and hit him with a pass. Bang! Three for Nasir. Assist for J.R. The fourth quarter started with a crazy kinda dunk by Andrews-Fulton. As he tried to slam the ball, it kicked high above the rim. In fact, it hit against the top of the backboard . . . and then fell straight through the net. Legendary! The afternoon was finished for all starters with 4:25 remaining. That last possession featured SIX shots by the Generals and ended with a follow by Andrews-Fulton, making the count 80-41. Thirty-four seconds later, a timeout was called and the Generals gathered 'round coach Rob Moore. Blaring over the sound system was that "Single Ladies" song (or whatever the official name is). Standing at the back of the group were Gilbert and student manager Isaiah Patrick. And they were dancing! Gotta love it. In all, Moore dressed 18 players. Only 17 made it into the ballgame, however, because there were not enough jerseys. Left out was frosh PF Naeem Feggans. This crown was ConHigh's third in four years. The run of domination began with an A title in 2012. Sr. G Akeem King, Gilbert and Williams all played in that championship game, combing for seven points. Today, Gilbert shot 10-for-18 overall and 6-for-12 on treys en route to 28 points. He also notched 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocks. Williams contributed 20 points (9-for-14, two treys) and eight assists. Andrews-Fulton owned the inside with 15 rebounds in addition to his 14 points. Sr. G Haneef Vaughn had seven dimes. Sr. sub F Isaiah "Fan Favorite" Bradley claimed four rebounds. Principal Tom Davidson estimated that ConHigh was supported by 200 to 250 students; the school has only 350. Congrats, kids! The most touching moment, by far, occurred as the presentation of medals wound down. Accepting on behalf of former assistant Fran Hamilton, who died during the offseason, were his parents, Fran Sr. and Kim. They were swarmed by pretty much everybody and the tears were flowing, big time. Fran was beloved and it was so great that his parents were able to bask in such support. RIP, Fran, especially while knowing that his dedication had gone so far to help make it happen.

MARCH 20
TEDBIT
  Talk about weird . . . District 12 thus far has produced 15 state champions. In semifinals, seven times the opponent for the eventual state champ has been another D-12 squad. The average margin of victory in those games has been 17.4 points and the lowest spread has been 11 points. When Our Guys have played Elsewhere Guys (eight games), the average margin of victory has been 6.0 points. In semis this past Tuesday, the margins of victory were: 41 for Constitution in A (vs. an Our Guys opponent); 11 for Conwell-Egan in AA (Elsewhere Guys); 8 for Neumann-Goretti in AAA (OG), 27 for Carroll in AAA (EG), 3 for Roman in AAAA (EG) and 13 for King in AAAA (EG). Not sure what it all means (smile). 

Semifinal Results for D-12's Eventual State Champs
2014 Neumann-Goretti  AAA Constitution AA   
   Phila. Elec., 65-53 Elmer Meyers, 55-44   
2013 Imhotep  AAA   Vaux  A
   Donegal, 56-54    MC&S, 83-66
2012 Neumann-Goretti  AAA Imhotep  AA Constitution  A
   Boys' Latin, 74-43  Holy Cross, 37-35  MC&S 62-37
2011 Neumann-Goretti  AAA Imhotep  AA MC&S
   Lancaster Catholic, 82-75  Comm Tech, 49-38  Constitution, 87-74
2010 Neumann-Goretti  AAA    
   Eastern York, 81-73    
2009 Carroll  AAA Imhotep  AA  
   York Suburban, 65-57  Hughesville, 53-46  
2008   --    
       
2007   Prep Charter  AA  
     Imhotep, 61-48  
2006   Prep Charter  AA  
     York Catholic, 56-53  
2005   --  

 

MARCH 19 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  My opinion of the Top 10 performances by Pub/Cath players in PIAA championship games, through 2014 (no more than one per game; not all games represented) . . .

Top 10 Performances by Pub/Cath Players in PIAA Finals, 2005-14
Rank Year Class Player School Loser Score
No. 1 2014 AAA Ja'Quan Newton Neumann-Goretti Susquehanna Twp. 64-57 OT
  One day after his mother passed, he scored a career-high 33 points (5-for-9 on treys) while adding eight rebounds.
No. 2 2006 AA Rodney Green Prep Charter Beaver Falls 82-51
  Shot 10-for-12 and 5-for-7 for 25 points while adding eight rebounds, six assists and three steals.  
No. 3 2013 A  Rysheed Jordan Vaux Johnsonburg 83-63
  Shot 14-for-20 en route to 32 points while adding six rebounds, four assists and five steals.  
No. 4 2009 AAA Juan'ya Green Carroll Greensburg Salem 75-54
  Shot 5-for-9 and 5-for-5 while scoring 16 points. Also had five apiece of rebounds/assists and three steals.
No. 5 2012 A Daiquan Walker Constitution Lincoln Park 68-49
  Totaled 22 points, seven rebounds and six apiece of assists/steals.    
No. 6 2007 AA Markieff Morris Prep Charter Aliquippa 68-66
  Shot 6-for-8 and 4-for-4 for 16 points while claiming 16 rebounds.    
No. 7 2011 A Jeremiah Worthem Math/Civics/Sciences Lincoln Park 70-55
  Shot 10-for-14 en route to 22 points while adding 12 boards.    
No. 8 2009 AA Sam Prescott Imhotep Pittsburgh N. Catholic 75-67
  Went 8-for-8 at the line en route to 21 points. Also posted 13 rebounds and five steals.  
No. 9 2013 AAA Brandon Austin Imhotep Carroll 54-45
  Mixed 25 points with eight rebounds and three assists.    
No. 10 2014 AA Ahmad Gilbert Constitution Seton La Salle 61-59
  Totaled 19 points and 14 rebounds.      

MARCH 19
TEDBIT
  Play great defense and win the rebounding war. No guarantees, but doing so in the upcoming state finals might be a darn good recipe for success for all six teams preparing for battle tomorrow/Saturday. In championship games, 12 of District 12's 15 winners have captured the rebounding contest (admittedly not by much sometimes, but, hey, a win's a win) and 12 of the 15 have forced the opponent to shoot less than 40 percent from the floor (often much less, in fact). However, Neumann-Goretti last year became the first D-12 champ to claim a win despite allowing 42.9 percent shooting and getting outrebounded, 35-30. The breakdown is below.

Two Key Categories for D-12 State Titlists in Championship Games
Year Class Winner Loser Loser
Shot . . 		For a
Pct. of . . 		Rebounds
W on Left
2006 AA Prep Charter Beaver Falls 20-67 29.9 38-28
2007 AA Prep Charter Aliquippa 27-76 35.5 47-43
2009 AAA Carroll Greensburg Salem 19-49 38.8 37-26
AA Imhotep Pittsburgh N. Cath. 23-64 35.9 40-31
2010 AAA Neumann-Goretti Chartiers Valley 24-55 (43.6) 34-28
2011 AAA Neumann-Goretti Montour 17-48 35.4 31-28
AA Imhotep Greensburg CC 11-43 25.6 46-20
A MC&S Lincoln Park 21-58 36.2 (29-37)
2012 AAA Neumann-Goretti Montour 15-38 39.5 26-25
AA Imhotep Beaver Falls 22-69 31.9 37-34
A Constitution Lincoln Park 19-54 35.1 40-38
2013 AAA Imhotep Carroll 17-56 30.4 36-34
A Vaux Johnsonburg 20-46 (43.5) 31-20
2014 AAA Neumann-Goretti Susquehanna Twp. 21-49 (42.9) (30-35)
AA Constitution Seton La Salle 20-51 39.2 (35-36)

MARCH 18
TEDBIT
  The PIAA expanded its basketball classifications from three to four for the 1983-84 season. In the 32 seasons, this will be the sixth time that teams from one district have managed to advance to all four championship games. This year, District 12 is sending an amazing SIX teams. Below is a breakdown. No district has pulled off a sweep.
  UPDATED after state finals . . . D-12 pulled off the first sweep over four classes.

Year Class School Result
2015 AAAA Roman (beat King) won
D-12 AAA  Neum.-Gor. (beat Carr) won
  AA  Conwell-Egan won
  A Constitution won
2014 AAAA La Salle lost
D-12 AAA  Neumann-Goretti won
  AA  Constitution won
  A MC&S lost
2011 AAAA Mt. Lebanon lost
D-7 AAA  Montour lost
  AA  Greenburg CC lost
  A Lincoln Park lost
2004 AAAA Penn Hills won
D-7 AAA  Moon Twp. won
  AA  Sto-Rox won
  A Sewickley lost
1998 AAAA Harrisburg won
D-3 AAA  Steelton-Highspire won
  AA  Reading CC lost
  A Reading Holy Name lost
1987 AAAA Carlisle won
D-3 AAA  York Catholic won
  AA  Columbia won
  A Millersburg lost

MARCH 17
CLASS A SEMIFINAL
Constitution 87, Math, Civics and Sciences 46
(At Philadelphia University)
  By all accounts, ConHigh sr. SF Ahmad "J.R." Gilbert (George Mason signee) has played in respectable, but not eye-popping fashion this season. Then came tonight . . . Oh, my goodness! Try this on for size: The lefty shot 92.9 percent from the floor! Gilbert went 13-for-14 and his highlight was a perfect outing (4-for-4) from beyond the arc. His other buckets came on step-backs, crafty drives, teardrops off partial drives, spin moves in the post . . . and, yes, he did mix in a dunk. While scoring 31 points, Gilbert was hardly a one-man gang. Sr. PF-C Chad Andrews-Fulton shot 8-for-10 for 16 points and sr. PG Kimar Williams shot 6-for-10 en route to 13 points. That's 27-for-34 marksmanship (79.4 percent) from the top three scorers! When this one began, a decent crowd was on hand. Not quite as big as the just-short of a full house that watched N-G/'Tep, but definitely decent considering both schools are small and haven't been around very long. But lots of people left after one quarter (18-6), more booked after ConHigh went 8-for-8 to start the second quarter (34-15) and not a whole lot were left, understandably, when the final buzzer sounded. Gilbert added five rebounds and four blocks to his points. Sr. G Akeem King (six), Williams (five) and sr. G Haneef Vaughn (four) combined for 15 assists and A-F seized 12 boards. Late-game highlight: A bucket by deep sub sr. F Isaiah "Fan Favorite" Bradley. Only sr. WG Samir Doughty (St. John's commit) scored in double figures for MC&S, and his point total was 11 at the half. He did not attempt a shot until 7:16 remained in the first half and he wound up going 4-for-11 (one trey) and 6-for-6 for 15 points. Those markers finalized his career total at 1,766 for the 17th spot in city history; he played his first two seasons at now-closed Communications Tech. Tonight he passed four guys -- Clarence "Eggy" Tillman, West Philly '78, 1,752; Wayne Ellington, Episcopal '06, 1,756; John Cox, Lamberton/E&S '99, 1,759; and Stephen Vasturia, St. Joseph's Prep '13, 1,764. Doughty's last points came on two free throws with 5:34 remaining; Vaughn and jr. G Anthony Satchell combined for a strong defensive effort. He departed with 4:36 left and took a seat down the bench. After changing his sneaks and sitting there for a while, he moved up with the coaches and pulled up his jersey to cover most of his head. When it came time for handshakes, Doughty made a beeline for ConHigh assistant Kyle Sample, one of his summertime coaches, and gave him a lengthy hug. Congrats on a wonderful career, Samir! Sr. Gs Keith Griffin and Nick Jones halved 18 points for the Mighty Elephants. No other stats of note for anyone. For pic purposes, I decided to camp out up top. Aaron "Ace' Carter, Amauro "Amar" Austin, Mark "Frog" Carfagno and Keith Hines provided varying forms of entertainment (smile). Major props to Philadelphia University for hosting this doubleheader, and to CL honcho Joe Sette for making the request.

MARCH 17
CLASS AAA SEMIFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 75, Imhotep 67
(At Philadelphia University)
  Think about this: In basketball history, except for situations featuring severe foul trouble and/or injury/sickness, how often have a team's two most prominent players combined to take three shots in one half? That happened in this one and shot No. 3 was an unsuccessful deep trey a shade before the buzzer. Incredible, right? So's this: Though sr. WG Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble (one shot from floor, two points on free throws) and soph WG Quade Green (1-for-2 from floor) combined for just FOUR points over the first 16 minutes, N-G headed into the locker room with a 31-30 lead. Quite the weird occurrence. Feel free to scratch your head. We'll wait (smile) . . . Other guys, of course, stepped forward to ch-ching points onto the scoreboard and the biggest surprise was provided by jr. PG Vaughn Covington. In the Saints' previous six games, he'd TOTALED 16 points and thrice had gone scoreless. Thanks to three treys, he owned nine markers at halftime and he finished with 21. No wonder he earned Aaron "Ace" Carter's dual-papers ink. Heck, his picture should have been on the back page. I'm not saying the Panthers were letting Covington shoot, but he did have ample room on most of his launches. He finished 4-for-8 on treys, 1-for-2 on twos and 7-for-8 at the line. In the first half, also quite frisky were soph C Dhamir "DaDa" Cosby-Roundtree (5-for-6 for 10 points) and jr. WG-SF Zane Martin (eight points). Their performances proved once again that the Saints do have numerous weapons, and that it's impossible to shut down everybody. In the second half, Green was his ever-impressive self while scoring 16 points. His highlight was a three-spot of treys. One of them, from the right wing, came after Imhotep's own super soph, G Daron "Fats" Russell, embarked on an exciting drive that he capped with a dipsy-doodle layup. Great exchange, guys! With 5:02 remaining, N-G owned a 61-51 lead after Green missed a round-and-round-the-rim layup and Cosby-Roundtree converted a follow. Imhotep stood its ground, however, and roared within 67-65 at 2:05 as jr. G Jaekwon Carlyle hit a left-corner triple. To the point when 3:08 remained, the Saints were only 2-for-5 at the line in the fourth quarter. But, as in other recent games, they improved their focus and sniped 12-for-14 thereafter. And the second miss wasn't really meaningful because the outcome was decided by then. As for 'Tep, the Panthers could just not click down the stretch. It would have been nice to see another last-possession classic (as in the recent AAA City Title, won by N-G on Green's right-corner three). Just wasn't meant to be. All five N-G starters finished in double figures -- Covington (21), Green (18), Martin (13), Cosby-Roundtree (12) and Kimble (10, his future college coach, Saint Joe's Phil Martelli, was among the witnesses). C-R added 15 rebounds, seven blocks. Martin snagged nine caroms and Kimble dealt five assists. Russell embarked on a 27-point, seven-steal journey. His shooting wasn't good (9-for-25), but man did he get after it. Amauro and I swear "Fats" studies Kyle Lowry tapes non-stop (smile). Strangely, 'Tep recorded only five assists. Reason: Most of its FG attempts came off hard (sometimes lengthy) drives. Sr. G Khalief Tinley worked his butt off for 12 rebounds and sr. F DeAnte Robinson managed 10 points. Carroll also won tonight in the other bracket, so N-G will meet the Patriots in an all-Catholic League championship game Friday night in Hershey. Niiiiice.

MARCH 17
TEDBIT
  Over the last six seasons, Constitution vs. Math, Civics and Sciences has become the Pub's top small-school series. Tonight at 8 o'clock at Philadelphia University, in a PIAA Class A state semifinal, the schools will meet for the FOURTH time this season. MC&S won four of the teams' first five meetings. ConHigh has captured all five over the last two seasons along with eight of the last nine. (The AAA state semi involving Neumann-Goretti and Imhotep will tip off first at 6. The doors will open at 5.)
  UPDATED with state semifinal result in 2015. 

Breakdown of the Constitution-MC&S Series, 2010-15
Year Occasion Winner Loser Score Winner's Top Scorer Pts
2010 Reg. Season MC&S Constitution forfeit  --   
PL A Final MC&S Constitution 85-74 Thomas Moore 25
2011 Reg. Season MC&S Constitution 63-56 Tyreek Riddick 17
PL A Semi Constitution MC&S 56-53 Abdul King 14
PIAA A Semi MC&S Constitution 87-74 Jeremiah "Lump" Worthem 26
2012 Reg. Season Constitution MC&S 76-66 OT Savon Goodman 30
PL A Final Constitution MC&S 72-51 Savon Goodman 24
PIAA A Semi Constitution MC&S 62-37 Savon Goodman 18
2013 Reg. Season MC&S Constitution 90-75 Jeremiah "Lump" Worthem 31
2014 Reg. Season Constitution MC&S 62-54 Ahmad "J.R." Gilbert 16
Reg. Season Constitution MC&S 59-56 OT Ahmad "J.R." Gilbert 19
2015 Reg. Season Constitution MC&S 85-64 Ahmad "J.R." Gilbert 20
Reg. Season Constitution MC&S 72-65 Kimar Williams 19
PL A Final Constitution MC&S 66-59 Kimar Williams 16
PIAA A Semi Constitution MC&S 87-46 Ahmad "J.R." Gilbert 31
*-punishment for brawl in earlier game

MARCH 16 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  As near as I can figure, off some quick research, six "Our Guys" will be playing in the NIT. (One more is sitting out as a transfer.) Good luck! If I missed anyone . . . tedtee307@yahoo.com

"Our Guys" in the NIT
Name School College Ht. Yr. G PPG
*Taylor Bessick Frankford Iona 6-9 Jr. DNP --
Jaylen Bond #La Salle Temple 6-8 Jr. 31 7.9
Savon Goodman Constitution Arizona State 6-6 So. 23 11.0
Biggie Minnis #Southern Rhode Island 6-3 Jr. 31 3.4
John Moran #Malvern Richmond 6-3 Jr. 3 0.0
Jesse Morgan Olney Temple 6-5 Sr. 23 11.8
Ja'Quan Newton Neum.-Goretti Miami 6-2 Fr. 30 3.5
*-sitting out as transfer            
#-played high school ball elsewhere after listed school

MARCH 16
TEDBIT
  For the fifth consecutive year, District 12 has advanced at least five teams to state semifinals. This year, a D-12 record is being set as EIGHT teams (half of the 16) are competing in semis in the four classifications. Also, for the sixth consecutive year (and eighth time in nine), the semis will include at least one all/D-12 battle. This year there are two, as there were in '11 and '12.  

District 12's Semifinal Participants, 2005-15
Year Class A Class AA Class AAA Class AAAA
2005  n  o  n  e
2006   Prep Charter Comm Tech  
2007   Imhotep   Gratz
    Prep Charter    
2008 Freire Imhotep    
    Straw. Mansion    
2009   Imhotep Carroll  
2010   Imhotep N-G  
    Straw. Mansion    
2011 Constitution Comm Tech N-G  
  MC&S Imhotep    
2012 Constitution Imhotep Boys' Latin  
  MC&S   N-G  
2013 MC&S   Carroll SJ Prep
  Vaux   Imhotep  
2014 MC&S Constitution N-G La Salle
      Phila. Elec.  
2015 Constitution Conwell-Egan N-G Roman
  MC&S   Imhotep King 
      Carroll  
Teams in bold met each other

MARCH 15 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  As near as I can figure, off some quick research, six "Our Guys" will be playing in the NCAA tournament. Good luck! If I missed anyone . . . tedtee307@yahoo.com

"Our Guys" in the NCAA Tournament
Name School College Ht. Yr. G PPG
*David Appolon Imhotep Robert Morris 6-4  Sr. 21 6.0
Hakeem Baxter Phila. Electric Alabama-Birmingham 6-2 So. 34 7.6
Rysheed Jordan Vaux St. John's 6-4 So. 30 14.3
Nick Lindner Gtn. Academy Lafayette 5-11 So. 30 12.8
Kevin Rafferty Malvern Villanova 6-8 Jr. 14 0.3
Stephen Vasturia SJ Prep Notre Dame 6-5 So. 34 9.7
*-out for month-plus with shoulder injury; recently underwent surgery

MARCH 15
TEDBIT
  Here is an updated list of the city's top underclass scorers . . .

Top Career Underclass Scorers in Pub/Cath/Int
Name School Points
Stevie Jordan Conwell-Egan 929
Lamar Stevens Haverford School 880
LaPri McCray-Pace Conwell-Egan 764
*Liam Shanahan Masterman 698
*Daron Russell Imhotep 675
Blair Bowes Lincoln/Phila. Elec. 670
*Quade Green Neumann-Goretti 664
*Jesse Turkson Masterman 639
Vinny Dalessandro Conwell-Egan 625
*Nick Alikakos Episcopal 618
Matt Powers Malvern 607
Devon Goodman Germantown Acad. 607
Tony Carr Roman 578
Austin Chabot Ryan 557
Jovan Hammond Roxborough 542
Zane Martin Neumann-Goretti 517
*Evan-Eric Longino Germantown Acad. 515
Tommy Funk Wood 503
Nazeer Bostick MC&S-Roman 498
*Dave Beatty Carroll 487
*-sophomore    

MARCH 14
CLASS AAAA QUARTERFINAL
King 59, Plymouth-Whitemarsh 43
(At Norristown)
  Since when are teams allowed to use pit bulls? King did so today. The Cougars got after it again and and again and again at the defensive end and the spread was 20 points (49-29) with 5:02 remaining when many, MANY people began heading for the parking lot. P-W shot an unsightly 14-for-51 from the floor and most of the misses were not even close. Congrats to coach Sean Colson's ballclub for proving that relentless dedication to defense can definitely pay off. There was a major subplot today and it involved P-W sr. G Xzavier Malone. Last year he played for King, sparingly, and in P-W's previous game he exploded for 27 points. He's a thin lefty and very much favors step-backs on his jumpers. "X" was almost exclusively the assignment of sr. PG Sammy Foreman and, man, did Sammy exert non-stop energy. Malone finished just 3-for-14 from the floor while scoring 11 points. As you might expect, he was teased by King's student rooters. "X a hoagie! X a hoagie!" They chanted that multiple times. Being called a hoagie, in King lexicon, means you're corny. Ha, ha, ha. At least what's what the kids told me. Malone's final field goal was posted with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter an instant after the King kids hollered, "X can't save y'all! X can't save y'all!" Duane Ramer, King's AD, said about 35 kids signed up to take a special bus to Norristown to support the Cougars. About 15 stood throughout. Six Cougars scored from six to 12 points, led by sr. G Ladji Fofana (12), jr. PG Jabri McCall (11) and Foreman (10). Sammy also dished eight assists while McCall had four. Sr. PF-C Tyere Marshall snagged seven rebounds. Fofana and sr. G Tyheem Harmon had six apiece. King's 20 field goals featured 16 assists; great display of teamwork and court vision. More than a few times, Foreman was on one side of the court when he whipped a pass to the other for an unchallenged trey. The stretch featured a weird scenario. P-W subbed anybody and everybody, but starting G Andre Mitchell remained on the court. Reason: He was on the doorstep of 1,000 career points. In the waning moments, P-W kept fouling so Mitchell could get more chances to score. With 8.1 left, he stepped to the line with 998. First shot. Swish. Second shot. Off the left side of the rim. Rebound. Quick hack. Mitchell got one last chance . . . and made the best of it! He drove the right side and kissed a successful layup off the glass to end his career with 1,001. Roman won the first game by one point over Pennsbury. A last-second Falcon heave hit the back iron -- phew -- and the winning point, you could say, was the first of the game. Pennsbury was assessed a tech for wearing incorrect uniforms (road instead of home) and jr. PG Tony Carr hit the first of two free throws. Oh, baby!

MARCH 14
CLASS AAAA QUARTERFINAL
Lancaster McCaskey 60, La Salle 59
(At Spring-Ford)
  No idea how McCaskey managed to finish as the eighth AAAA seed in District 3. But when the La Salle guys realized they were playing a team that far down the ladder, it was probably impossible not to feel confident. Perhaps even slightly overconfident. The this-will-hardly-be-a-cakewalk message was delivered early and often by a team with athletes, strength and more than a little brass (including trash talking). Paced by jr. WG-SF Kobe Gantz, a cousin of the kid (Milik Gantz) who starred last night for Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt vs. Neumann-Goretti, McCaskey stormed to a 15-6 lead. Luckily for its dedicated fans, La Salle did climb back into contention -- treys were very important -- and the game mostly featured back-and-forth slugging from the middle of the second quarter onward. Because the game's last possession was semi-controversial, we'll jump to that moment after a quick setup. With 24 seconds left, McCaskey claimed a 58-57 lead as Gantz kissed a layup off the glass. La Salle called time at 17.7, then scored at :12 off a flip shot in the lane by sr. F Dave Krmpotich. At the other end, Gantz attempted a short teardrop from the left baseline and La Salle sr. WG Shawn Witherspoon appeared to get a piece. Sr. PF-C Tyler Owens was there to grab the rebound and power the ball into the bucket. The refs put 2.1 on the clock and the Explorers, of course, had to go the length of the court. The inbounder was Witherspoon. He lofted a semi-high pass to Krmpotich at about midcourt. "Krump" twice put the ball on the floor and was lifting it for a last heave -- it was still only a smidgeon above his waist -- maybe halfway between halfcourt and the foul line when a defender knocked the ball away. "Krump" and others thought a foul had been committed. However, it's highly unlikely "Krump" would have been able to launch a shot in time considering no more than two-10ths of a second remained -- judging by a YouTube video posted by Aaron "Ace" Carter -- at the instant the ball was knocked free. Perhaps that's why no call was made, if a reach-in foul indeed was committed . . . Tough ending to a season with many stirring moments. In this one, La Salle was able to battle back into contention thanks to an impressive stretch that spanned the first/second quarters. Sr. WG Dan "Sniper to the" Corr and sr. PG Najee Walls hit threes to wind down the first, then both guys struck again from deep early in the second, thus storming the Explorers within 21-18. Just under three minutes prior to halftime, Witherspoon toughed his way to a three-point play off a lefthanded layup, thus providing a 28-27 lead. About five minutes into the third quarter, Krmpotich incurred his second and third fouls a few seconds apart (over the top on the offensive end, pushing violation on defense) and his absence caused some momentary problems. Walls, thanks to several hard drives, finished with 17 points along with four assists. Krmpotich had 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. Corr went 4-for-6 beyond the arc for 12 points, 'Spoon and jr. F Shane Stark halved 14 points and jr. WG-SF Ryan McTamney had the other two. This loss was the first game of the day for District 12's teams (Roman's win over Pennsbury started/finished a shade later) and the setback ended a 19-game winning streak for the 12s. Gantz (26) and Owens (18) were McCaskey's far-and-away leaders. Thanks to the Explorers for a lot of great viewing this season and best of luck going forward to the seniors. Also, congrats to senior baseball starter Ian McIntosh for his cool moment right before the game. Ian was positioned in the front row of the student section when a ball rolled over toward him. He stepped forward and -- bang! -- hit the day's deepest trey. Not even sure he was standing in "fair territory," to use a baseball term. Truly a magic moment. (Checked with Ian at La Salle's baseball opener on March 30. He said he shot a from a spot between the sideline and stands, maybe eight feet beyond the arc. Even more legendary!)

MARCH 14
TEDBIT
  This is a gigantic country, of course, and state basketball tournaments have been played forever in many formats. However, it’s hard to imagine that too many districts have claimed 19 consecutive victories in state playoffs as D-12 has done (over the last eight days, March 7-13). Actually, the total wins in the streak COULD be 21, depending upon what time the buzzer sounded to end two games played March 7. The start times for the four wins listed below with 3/7 were 2:30 (Roman) and 4 (the three others). Also that day, King (over Allentown Allen) and La Salle (over Ridley) were victorious in AAAA games that started at 1 o’clock. Also starting at 1 were AA games involving Freire (lost to Minersville) and Parkway Center City (lost to Columbia). Five more games will be played today. Will the streak be extended to 24? Good luck, guys!

District 12's Nineteen (At Least) Consecutive Playoff Victories
Date Class Round Winner Opponent Score Leading Scorer for Winner   Pts
3/7 AAAA First Roman Downingtown West 68-52 Gemil Holbrook   22
3/7 AAA  First Carroll Octorara 83-49 Derrick Jones   26
3/7 AA First Conwell-Egan Camp Hill 71-54 Stevie Jordan   22
3/7 AA First Mastery North Bristol 77-54 Eli Alvin   18
3/8 AAA Second Neumann-Goretti Manheim Central 72-44 Quade Green   24
3/8 AAA Second Imhotep Scranton Prep 77-54 Daron Russell   25
3/8 AAA Second Carroll Steelton-Highspire 83-54 Derrick Jones   23
3/8 A Second Constitution Shanksville-Stonycreek 86-43 Ahmad Gilbert   24
3/8 A Second MC&S Meadowbrook Christian 65-41 Samir Doughty   16
3/11 AAAA Second Roman Cedar Crest 53-35 Manny Taylor   11
3/11 AAAA Second King York 70-56 Sammy Foreman   25
3/11 AAAA Second La Salle Abington Heights 62-40 Dave Krmpotich/Najee Walls 14
3/11 AA Second Conwell-Egan Mahanoy Area 82-31 Chase Kumor   22
3/11 AA Second Mastery North Trinity 67-61 Rodney Ross   18
3/13 AAA  Quarter Neumann-Goretti Harrisburg McDevitt 76-71 Quade Green   21
3/13 AAA Quarter Imhotep Susquehanna Township 58-49 Jaekwon Carlyle/Daron Russell 14
3/13 AAA Quarter Carroll New Castle 77-48 Derrick Jones   22
3/13 A  Quarter Constitution St. John Neumann 83-45 Kimar Williams   20
3/13 A Quarter MC&S Millersburg 92-60 Keith Griffin   30

MARCH 13
CLASS AAA QUARTERFINAL
Neumann-Goretti 76, Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 71
(At Reading High's Geigle Complex)
  Wow! This almost turned into one of those Friday-the-13th-is-bad-luck occasions for Neumann-Goretti. Who would have thought? Pretty much no one, especially with roughly 3:20 remaining in the third quarter. Check out this sequence: McDevitt blocked one, two, THREE shots on the same N-G possession and began to head upcourt. The journey lasted maybe three feet. Soph WG Quade Green made a steal and passed to jr. WG-SF Zane Martin for an easy bucket and the Saints owned a 49-34 lead. In retrospect, maybe that sequence turned out TOO great. Maybe the guys were thinking, "We just got embarrassed like crazy, with three shots getting blocked on the same possession, but look what happened. We STILL came out smellin' like a rose. Isn't it great being us?" Not right after that. McDevitt, which played an up-tempo style all night long, came storming back and by the end of the quarter N-G's lead was only two points, at 51-49. McDevitt had a large rooting section and those folks were going crazy. The noise level only increased when Mickey D scored again to open the fourth stanza. The thought then became, "Uh, oh. This is not lookin' good. McDevitt has all kinds of momentum and it now REALLY owns the building, from the support standpoint." Soon, another thought was no doubt rolling around in the heads of N-G's backers, coaches and probably even the players. "This is a flashback to the Catholic League championship game." Reason: In the fourth quarter tonight, N-G hit only three of its first nine free throws. Remember what happened in the title-game loss to Roman? N-G finished 2-for-9 at the line overall and was a messy 1-for-7 (including two front ends) in the fourth quarter. But guess what? Just when the situation became you better hit these or else, the Saints regrouped, showed major stones and pretty much traveled to Death and Taxes Land over the final 2:06. They attempted 14 free throws . . . and hit 13! Talk about clutch! Coach Carl Arrigale's clubs, of course, have slapped together all KINDS of special moments in this century, but this late turnaround at the line has to rank near the top, especially since more failure would have ended the season. Jr. PG Vaughn Covington/Green went 4-for-4 apiece. Sr. WG Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble and sub jr. G Rasheed Browne went 2-for-2 apiece while Martin hit the second of two with 22 seconds left to provide a 72-68 lead. The one bucket during that stretch was a dunk by soph C Dhamir "DaDa" Cosby-Roundtree off a feed from Browne. That slam put N-G ahead at 65-63, but McDevitt notched the next five points on a right-corner trey and a flush-down of its own. Sr. G Milik Gantz, a very impressive player thanks to hops, quick hands/feet and excellent court vision, among other things, had assists on both field goals. From there, however, McDevitt missed shots from the floor and N-G nailed shots at the line. When Kimble converted a double-bonus at 13.3, thus making the score 74-68, LOTS of people started heading for the exits. Gantz did drain a left-wing trey thereafter, but McDevitt was out of timeouts and a pair of free throws by Browne finalized the score. Phew! That was hairy! Green (22, three treys in first half), Martin (19, effective on the move) and Kimble (11) scored in double figures. The rest of the points went to Covington (nine), Cosby-Roundtree (eight) and Browne (seven, all in fourth quarter; lots to like about this kid). C-R had 14 rebounds and four blocks. Martin (eight) and Green (seven) also got on the glass. Green had four steals. For McD, Gantz had 16 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists while jr. F James Williams mixed 23 points, 15 boards and five blocks. He's a thin kid, but man does he battle inside. As stat helper Amar Austin put it, "The ball just finds him (off the glass)." Another kid, Kyree Calli, had all 11 of his points and all eight of his boards in the second half. Philly's now assured of having a team in the AAA final because one semi will feature N-G was Imhotep, the winner in tonight's first game of the doubleheader. And who knows? Carroll might emerge from the so-called western bracket to create an all-Philly final.

MARCH 13
CLASS AAA QUARTERFINAL
Imhotep 58, Susquehanna Township 49
(At Reading High's Geigle Complex)
  Let's start with the unusual, then the impressive. First, eight guys scored for Imhotep and every one posted an even number! The totals were: two players with 14, one with 10, two with six, one with four and two with two. Cool, right? Meanwhile, ST sr. G Nehemiah "Bud" Mack attempted 16 free throws and . . . made every one! Pretty sure at least 13 were dead on. Maybe even 14. Like Roman's game Wednesday night at Coatesville, this one was ruined by crappy over-officiating. Not sure how many personals were called, but the number might be in the thousands (smile). LET THEM PLAY!! Man oh man is it frustrating to hear non-stop whistles and see players afraid, by game's end, to even go near somebody, let alone actually play defense. At some junctures it appeared Imhotep would win in very comfortable fashion, especially after coach Andre Noble's ballclub hit eight of its first nine shots in the second quarter to snag a 31-17 lead. Then, early in the fourth quarter, 'Tep owned an 11-point pad at 47-36. Again, the Indians declined to fade away and crept within 53-49 on -- what else? -- two free throws by Mack. The Panthers stood their ground and closed with a six-point streak, however, and jr. G Jaekwon Carlyle got it started with a successful drive out of a spread offense. Carlyle had a nice outing, scoring 14 points in efficient fashion (6-for-8 floor). Soph whirlwind G Daron Russell also scored 14 points and I'm feeling he needs to be nicknamed "Cup" or "Tin" because he always gets to the rim. (Heard from coach Noble on Saturday morning. Daron has been known as "Fats" since early childhood and is called that by everybody.) True bulldog! His shooting wasn't the greatest tonight, but he did add two assists and five steals. Sr. WG Devin Liggeons was the other double-figure scorer with 10. Oddly, sr. PF DeAnte Robinson was the only Panther with as many as five rebounds; he fouled out with 2:49 left. Sr. G Khalief Tinley again was completely willing to sacrifice his body for charges. Great to see. ST was hurt by foul trouble for Mack and an injury to another guard, Williams. He suffered a deep, blood-spurting gash over his right eye late in the first half. A trainer gave him a complete concussion test during halftime and though he was cleared to return, he missed his only three shots of the second half. Except for cheerleaders, it's doubtful 'Tep had more than 10 supporters on hand. (That might even be a generous number.) The gals showed great energy. Once, a ST cheerleader did some flips during a timeout and went to sit down. A 'Tep gal scrambled out and did some neat tricks of her own. Upon wrapping up her routine, she looked downcourt toward the ST girls and rocked her head to one side as if to say, "Take that! How'd you like it?! I'm thinkin' it was better than what your girl did!" Ha, ha. The fans loved it.

MARCH 13
TEDBIT
  Since the Catholic League signed up for the 2008-09 season, District 12 has improved from consistent to amazing in terms of advancing teams to at least the state quarterfinals. Seven teams made it in 2011, '12 and '13. Last year's total was eight and this year's total is TEN (of a possible 12). The average for seven seasons -- 6.6. The year-by-year breakdown is below.

District 12's Quarterfinal Participants, 2009-15
Year Class A Class AA Class AAA Class AAAA
2009   Imhotep Carroll  
      N-G  
2010   Imhotep N-G Roman
    Straw. Mansion    
2011 Constitution Comm Tech N-G La Salle
  MC&S Imhotep    
    Vaux    
2012 Constitution Imhotep Boys' Latin  
  MC&S McDevitt Carroll  
      N-G  
2013 MC&S Constitution Carroll SJ Prep
  Vaux   Imhotep  
      N-G  
2014 MC&S Constitution Carroll King
    Del-Val N-G La Salle
      Phila. Elec.  
2015 Constitution Conwell-Egan N-G Roman
  MC&S Mastery North Imhotep King
      Carroll La Salle
  Nine Thirteen Sixteen Eight

MARCH 12 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  Thirty two teams are still alive in Pennsylvania high school hoops and 10 can be found in good, ol' District 12. NOT so ol', actually. This is season No. 11 for Philly's involvement in the PIAA (and only No. 7 for the Catholic League). Ten will compete in state quarterfinals. Only two districts can boast of having even half that many.

Participants by District/Classification in PIAA Quarters
District AAAA AAA AA A Total
1 2       2
2     1   1
3 2 2   1 5
4     1 1 2
7   2 2 1 5
8 1       0
9     1 1 2
10   1 1 2 4
12 3 3 2 2 10

MARCH 12
TEDBIT
  District 12 fashioned an amazing performance in the second round of the PIAA playoffs. Not only did all 10 schools post victories, they did so by 258 points for an average of 25.8. Conwell-Egan, in an 82-31 destruction of Mahanoy Area, posted the largest margin (51 points, tops ever for a D-12 squad) while Mastery North settled for the lowest (six points) with a 67-61 triumph over Trinity; doubtful the Pumas minded (smile).

Breakdown of District 12's 10-0 Performance in PIAA Second-Round Playoffs
Class Our Guys Opponent Score Margin Leading Scorer for Winner Pts
AAAA Roman Cedar Crest 53-35 18 Manny Taylor 11
AAAA King York 70-56 14 Sammy Foreman 25
AAAA La Salle Abington Heights 62-40 22 Dave Krmpotich/Najee Walls 14
AAA Neumann-Goretti Manheim Central 72-44 28 Quade Green 24
AAA Imhotep Scranton Prep 77-54 23 Daron Russell 25
AAA Carroll Steel-High 83-54 29 Derrick Jones 23
AA Conwell-Egan Mahanoy Area 82-31 51 Chase Kumor 22
AA Mastery North Trinity 67-61 6 Rodney Ross 18
A Constitution Shanksville-Stonycreek 86-43 43 Ahmad Gilbert 24
A MC&S Meadowbrook Christian 65-41 24 Samir Doughty 16

MARCH 11
PIAA CLASS AAAA SECOND ROUND
Roman 53, Cedar Crest 35
(At Coatesville)
  Tony Carr must have supersonic hearing. At halftime, I was having a discussion with a basketball friend and he was quite the non-TC fan at that juncture. "I keep hearing great things about him, but I'm not seeing it (tonight)," the guy said. "That whole first half, he pretty much did nothing." Quite true, actually. In the first 16 minutes, as Roman fell behind by 24-20, the jr. PG managed one whole point and nary an assist. Second half? Well, Carr was not quite a whirlwind because it wasn't that kind of game (mostly due to wickedly hard-to-watch officiating; more on that later), but he did have seven points, four assists and five rebounds (and played noteworthy defense) as the Cahillites stormed to a 33-11 advantage. So, what he "heard" must have provided motivation (smile). Though I'm guessing coach Chris McNesby actually provided the inspiration for Carr and his teammates with quite the pointed halftime talk. As for the refereeing . . . Since when is it a foul to breathe on someone? Or deliver a baby-touch? The zebras were atrocious. All night, it's doubtful that guys got their money's worth on more than five of the called fouls. Both ways, we're talking. The whistle-blowing hurt CC more than RC because the Falcons' lone guy with height, 6-6 sr. Andrew Eberhart, barely got to play. You had to feel for the kid. Walk onto the court. Tweet for nothing. Sit down. Return. Tweet for even less. It was unbelievable. Meanwhile, with Roman on offense early in the third quarter, Carr twice was called for something or other away from the ball. I know why this stuff happens. The refs know their performances are being monitored by observers. If they don't make calls on supposed violations, they run the risk of not getting further playoff assignments. Guess what? After this one, here's hoping the observer wrote on his sheet, "Let them play, damn it!!" Not surprisingly, considering the foul trouble for Eberhart (he's quite skinny) and the Falcons' overall lack of size, sr. PF-C Manny Taylor, the sixth man, was important for Roman. He shot 4-for-5 and 3-for-4 for 11 points and was one of the few Cahillites to have a respectable first half; things could have been much worse. Jr. WG Nazeer Bostick and sr. WG-SF Gemil Holbrook scored 10 points apiece and the latter had three assists. Carr, soph G D'Andre Vilmar and soph G Dakquan Davis did a nice job dialing up the defensive intensity in the second half on jr. G Evan Horn (19 points, a tough nut) and sr. G Josh Bucher (two early bombs). Only four players scored for CC. A right-wing trey by Horn gave CC a 29-28 lead, but Roman seized command from there. Down the stretch, there was a disturbing sequence that convinced McNesby it would be best to remove Bostick from the game. As Bostick tried to block a layup, he got tangled up with the CC player. That kid -- in Nazeer's mind, anyway -- purposely stuck his hand into Nazeer's shirt near his shoulder and yanked on it. The kid fell to the floor and Nazeer stood right over him in kinda-growl/stare-hard mode. Luckily, nothing happened. Once the deep subs came in, soph G Colin Flach drained a left-corner trey, jr. G Khalil Vincent had a rebound and steal, jr. G Mark Tobin claimed a board and soph F Aiden Rich had a steal. Always cool to see The Late Guys notch a stat or two. Early in the game, CC's coaches loudly complained that Roman guys were shooting free throws with the front part of their sneakers ever-so-slightly beyond the line. One ref finally agreed and nullified an attempt by Bostick. When the Cahillites first came out for warmups, a female in CC's student section, seeing the guys with height and/or weight, exclaimed, "Oh, my God! We're playing against grown men!" Ha, ha. Soon, an adult was standing nearby and I heard him say to two other people, "This IS a high school game, right? Look at that guy!" (He was pointing at Manny.) Props to first-magnitude high school fans Tom Taylor, Bill Wright and Tom Bachinger for caring enough to make the trek to Coatesville. Also had a great talk with ex-Penn Charter schoolmate Brad Bower, who was shooting pics of the game involving Bonner-Prendie's girls as a stringer for the Inquirer. Best of luck, Brad. Keep it rollin'!

MARCH 11
TEDBIT
  Senior wing guard Samir Doughty, of Math, Civics and Sciences Charter, continues his climb up the city's career pointfest ladder. The St. John's commit now owns 1,733 and that gives him the No. 22 spot. Recently dislodged from the Top 25 list was '77 West Philly grad Gene Banks, who finished with 1,694. MC&S could play three more games. Doughty, who played his first two seasons at now-closed Comm Tech, could wind up in the 1,800 range.
  UPDATED THROUGH MARCH 17; Doughty's total is final at 1,766.

Top 25 Career Scorers in City History
Name School Year Points
Maureece Rice Straw. Mansion 2003 2,681
Maurice Watson Boys' Latin 2012 2,356
Wilt Chamberlain Overbrook 1955 2,206
Tyrone Garland Bartram 2010 2,198
John Phillips Episcopal 1998 2,068
Gerald Henderson Episcopal 2006 2,059
Lynn Greer Eng. & Science 1997 1,991
Ja'Quan Newton Neumann-Goretti 2014 1,972
Jeff Jones Bonner 2007 1,923
*-Reggie Jackson ST More, Roman 1978 1,895
#-Brian Shorter Gratz 1986 1,869
Lonnie McFarlan Roman 1980 1,842
Rysheed Jordan Vaux 2013 1,817
Steve Benton Neumann 1985 1,808
Charron Fisher Roman 2004 1,804
Rasheed Brokenborough Univ. City 1995 1,774
Samir Doughty Comm Tech/MC&S 2015 1,766
Stephen Vasturia SJ Prep 2013 1,764
John Cox Lamberton/E&S 1999 1,759
Wayne Ellington Episcopal 2006 1,756
Clarence "Eggy" Tillman West Phila. 1978 1,752
Andrew "Scootie" Randall Bartram/Comm Tech 2008 1,735
Tim Whitworth Chestnut Hill 1999 1,727
Charlie Floyd Malvern 1974 1,725
Alvin Williams Gtn. Academy 1993 1,702
*-boxscores for four games in St. Thomas More's '75 season unavailable
#-transferred out of city for senior season

MARCH 10
PIAA CLASS AAA SECOND ROUND
Carroll 83, Steelton-Highspire 54
(At Reading High's Geigle Complex)
  The ride home featured so much fog, I expected to see Randall Cunningham throw an interception. (Google it, young bucks.) Talk about scary! A couple times along the highway leading from outside Reading to Morgantown, just for brief stretches, I had to scale down the lights from full to parking. But enough about road conditions. And after maybe 50 words, there'll be enough about the game, too. Just kidding. Maybe. We'll see. Carroll stormed to a 7-0 lead in 66 seconds, rolled forward to 17-1 and claimed the game's first 10 rebounds. OK, 20 words. Talk to you later . . . Steel-High got "rollersed," folks. (Rollers is the nickname.) Though the District 3 champ, Steel-High was undersized and shaky, especially after the Patriots frolicked to such an impressive start. For a while, it looked as if a varsity had scheduled a game against a freshman team. Hey, it happens. But it's not supposed to happen, you'd think, in the second round of the state playoffs. Four guys wound up scoring in double figures. Sr. F Derrick Jones shot 9-for-11 (four dunks) en route to 23 points while adding 11 rebounds and three blocks. Jr. WG Ryan Daly had 19 points and 12 boards along with something close to a dunk (smile). Jr. PG Josh Sharkey had 16 points and eight assists. Soph WG-SF Dave Beatty sniped 5-for-7 (two treys) en route to 14 points. Sr. WG Samir Taylor mixed five assists with three steals. Now, about Daly's kinda dunk. As the first half wound down, Sharkey missed a layup and -- choo, choo -- here came Daly powering along the left baseline. He jumped for a follow and wound up pushing the ball against the rim, then somehow into the basket. As Daly headed toward his teammates, Beatty put his hands on his head as if to say, "That was amazing! . . . Whatever it was." Jr. sub WG-SF John Rigsby engaged Daly in an understated chest bump. The whole time, Ryan was beaming from ear to ear. That fact comes courtesy of Mike Doyle, who was a halftime visitor to the "press box" atop the stands beyond that basket. Mike starred at O'Hara and now coaches at Penncrest. Ryan is his nephew (and the son of Penn State assistant Brian Daly, former Bonner all-timer and the Daily News' City Player of the Year in '88). Mike said his family members had lots of fun watching the kinda dunk and then discussing it. One member said, according to Mike, that Ryan was able to dunk only because the basket was now nine feet (after having momentarily locked in bent-down position a couple times earlier in the half). Ha, ha, ha. Anyway, the whole sequence was a classic and I'm doubting Ryan Daly will ever forget it. Meanwhile, there was VERY strange viewing as the third quarter wound down. The scoreboard began flickering and the seconds began ticking down on the LEFT SIDE of the colon, where the 0 for minutes should have been. Unbelievable. The glitch disappeared for the fourth quarter. Frosh G Zaheem Garrett fared the best among the deep subs. He entered the game with six varsity points and notched five more, thanks to a 5-for-6 performance at the line. He also had a steal. Frosh F Devon Ferrero claimed two rebounds. Also at the table upstairs were DN statman Amauro Austin and sports writer Matt De George of the Delco Times. They also enjoyed interacting with Mike Doyle. Today's first stop was La Salle High for practice pics. Lots of fun there. Journeys to Explorerville are always special.

MARCH 10
TEDBIT
  Friday, to the tune of 74-43 over Berks Catholic, Imhotep Charter earned a 20th win for the 10th consecutive season. Coach Andre Noble’s Panthers have been Public League members for 11 seasons. Their overall record in that first campaign was 16-9. ‘Tep has won five Pub crowns (2009-11, ’13, ’15), four state championships (’09, 2011-13) and three City Titles (2009-11). A breakdown of each 20th win is below . . .

Breakdown of Games That Provided Win No. 20 for Imhotep, 2006-15
Year Final Record
At 20		 Opponent Occasion Score Top Scorer Pts
2006 22-7 20-5 Hope PL Round 16 68-34 Kevin Burwell 14
2007 22-8 20-7 Easton Notre Dame State First 62-38 Kashief Edwards 15
2008 27-4 20-2 New Media PL Reg. Season 63-34 Rashad Savage 28
2009 32-1 20-1 Straw. Mansion PL Reg. Season 76-67 Sam Prescott 22
2010 25-6 20-5 Math/Civics/Sciences PL Semi 66-52 Ameen Tanksley 26
2011 31-3 20-3 Saul PL Prelim 76-26 David Appolon 15
2012 22-8 20-8 Wyncote McDevitt State Quarter 65-54 Brandon Austin 24
2013 28-5 20-4 Boys' Latin PL Round 16 69-36 Brandon Austin 21
2014 20-7 20-4 Gratz PL Round 16 78-52 Jakwan Jones 17
2015   20-9 Berks Catholic State First 74-43 Jaekwon Carlyle 16

MARCH 9
TEDBIT
  Quite the weekend for Pub/Cath squads! Thanks to victories in PIAA first-round state playoffs, Carroll, Constitution, Imhotep, King and La Salle reached 20 wins for the season while Neumann-Goretti and Roman hit 25. Pretty amazing, right? Seven milestone wins in a two-day period. Imhotep, under coach Andre Noble, has reeled off 10 consecutive 20-win seasons and that's the best streak for Pub/Cath/Int teams in this century. The Panthers have been a PL member for 11 seasons and their record in that first one was 16-9. Carroll (coach Paul Romanczuk) and N-G (coach Carl Arrigale) own seven "20s" in a row and the latter has posted 13 in the 2000s. Only one school, Conwell-Egan (17-8), still has a chance to achieve 20 wins this season. The one school that just missed was Washington (19). One note: Speedy Morris racked up 17 in a row as a high school head coach: his final nine at Roman (1973-81), his only two at Penn Charter (1983-84; he was an unofficial assistant at Bonner in '82) and his first six at SJ Prep (2002-07; after serving as the women's coach and then the  men's coach at La Salle University).
  UPDATED THROUGH END OF SEASON.

20-Win Seasons for Catholic Teams in This Century
  Carr C-E Dough Judge La S N-G North Roman SJP Wood
2015 23-7 21-8 x   21-7 29-2 x 29-2    
2014 23-5   x   23-7 27-4 x 23-5    
2013 23-7   x     23-6 x   24-6  
2012 20-8   x     28-3 x   21-6  
2011 21-6   x   21-6 27-4 x      
2010 24-5       20-6 30-1        
2009 27-3         26-3        
2008             22-5      
2007     25-3     26-6 22-6 28-3 22-8  
2006     21-6     22-6   26-6 24-5  
2005           27-3   21-9 26-5 20-7
2004     26-6         22-7 27-4  
2003     24-4           30-2  
2002     22-5     21-7     24-6  
2001       21-5   23-8   23-7    
2000     21-6     26-5   25-7    

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20-Win Seasons for Inter-Ac
Teams in This Century
  EA GA HS MP PC SCH
2015    22-6        
2014            
2013   23-6        
2012   20-10   24-3    
2011       24-7    
2010       20-7   21-4
2009   24-6   22-9    
2008           22-6
2007     20-8      
2006 27-4          
2005 25-3 24-6        
2004 22-6 24-8     21-7  
2003         26-4  
2002 21-6 23-7        
2001   27-3        
2000   25-2   21-7 21-5  

--

20-Win Seasons for Pub Teams in This Century, A-F
  Bart BL Cent Con CT E&S Fkd Fkn FLC Fre Fut
2015       24-8 x            
2014     22-4 28-5 x           21-3
2013         20-8            
2012   25-7   23-9 20-10 21-2          
2011       25-6 23-6   20-6        
2010       20-7     22-5        
2009       x 10-5            
2008 21-7 x   x 28-4   22-6       x
2007   x   x     22-5   20-7   x
2006   x   x 29-4 22-6     21-4   x
2005   x 26-3 x x   20-5     20-5 x
2004   x   x x 20-5     21-5 x x
2003 24-4 x   x x       22-4 x x
2002 26-1 x   x x         x x
2001 22-5 x   x x   25-2 20-4   x x
2000   x   x x     20-6   x x

--

20-Win Seasons for Pub Teams in This Century, G-Z
  Gtz Imho King MCS NE Oln PET Prep Sou SM Vaux
2015   22-10 23-9               x
2014   20-7 24-6               x
2013   28-5 24-5 26-3   20-4         24-8
2012   22-8                  
2011 20-4 31-3   26-5     23-6        
2010 20-5 25-6   22-6           28-2  
2009   32-1   22-6       21-7      
2008   27-4             23-7 23-6  
2007 25-7 22-8           27-4 21-8    
2006 24-5 22-7   x       28-5     x
2005       x       22-6     x
2004 25-3 x   x   22-4 x   20-5   x
2003 23-6 x   x     x     21-5 x
2002   x 22-5 x 20-7   x     24-4 x
2001 24-3 x   x     x x     x
2000 22-6 x   x     x x 20-3 24-3 x

MARCH 8
ON THE TRAIL WITH DOUBLE T
  Note from Ted: Tom Taylor, who has long been the go-to guy for basketball scoring in the city leagues, lives near Harrisburg. This weekend, he attended first-round state playoffs involving Audenried and Parkway Center City. Here is an email he sent on the evening of March 7 . . .
  I saw two Phila teams play this weekend. Both lost but neither one has anything to be ashamed of.  Last night Audenried lost to Harrisburg McDevitt, 80-71. It was close all the way and despite some questionable calls (McDevitt shot almost twice as many free throws) and missing some of their own free throws Audenried kept hustling and never lost their composure. Today at East Pennsboro, Parkway Center City lost to Columbia, 49-47, in a game that was close all the way. The last twenty seconds were crazy. Columbia hit a free throw to go up 47-46, missed the second, and PCC got the rebound and drove down court. A player drove and put up a reverse layup that was halfway down and came out. Columbia got the rebound and was fouled and made both free throws. Columbia had two fouls to give and gave one as PCC brought the ball upcourt. After a time out it was PCC's ball at midcourt and that was where it really got crazy. Cole Ruley, who had played very well, got the ball and put up a trey and was fouled in the act with a little over three seconds left.  He missed all three, the rebound got loose and he corralled it in the corner and was once again fouled putting up a desperation three with .8 sec. left.  He missed the first two, made the third, and Columbia inbounded the ball to end the game. You had to feel for Ruley. What do they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger??  Just like the night before, the Pub composure and behavior was spotless.

MARCH 8
TEDBIT
  Perfection, revisited! In year No. 7 of PIAA competition, the Catholic League this weekend went 5-0 in first-round games for the third time. Here's a breakdown of the year-by-year results . . .

Cath Results in PIAA First-Round Playoffs
Year Class AAAA Class AAA Class AA
2015 Roman  W N-G  W C-E  W
La Salle  W Carroll  W  
2014 Roman  W N-G  W West  W
La Salle  W Carroll  W  
2013 SJ Prep  W N-G  W C-E  L
Roman  L Carroll  W  
2012 Roman  W N-G  W McDevitt  W
SJ Prep  L Carroll  W  
2011 La Salle  W N-G  W West  L
Roman  L Carroll  L  
2010 La Salle  W N-G  W West  W
Roman  W Carroll  W  
2009 Roman  L N-G  W West  W
North  L Carroll  W  
  9-5 13-1 5-2

MARCH 7
PIAA CLASS AA FIRST ROUND
Conwell-Egan 71, Camp Hill 54
(At Archbishop Ryan)
  One postseason win in 51 seasons. Two in a nine-day period. If you ever needed confirmation that the sports world is a crazy place . . . Break up the Eagles! They're the truth! (smile) Friday a week ago, C-E (nee Egan) halted an 11-game, since-a-'64-CL-semi postseason losing streak by thumping Freire Charter, 67-31, for the Class AA City Title. Today, coach Frank Sciolla's club kinda-waffled Camp Hill to maintain the good momentum. "Kinda-waffled" was used because the Eagles, at times, were dominant. But they also experienced some slightly-teetering moments (in part due to foul trouble) and CH was still hanging around in the early part of the third quarter. Then came a weird moment. Jr. PF-C Vinny Dalessandro unfurled a dunk that was disallowed because he hung on the rim for what seemed, like, oh, about a week and a half. But almost immediately thereafter, he DID post a wicked dunk on a feed from jr. PG Stevie Jordan. Then, jr. G-F LaPri McCray-Pace made a steal and folks could tell, even from the other end of the gym, that he wanted to flush one down, as well. Alas, "Pri" was bumped in midair but still had the presence of mind (and body) to complete the play by twisting the ball into the bucket. That sequence created MAJOR noise and everyone KNEW at that point, "C-E will be heading to the second round." While scouting Camp Hill, either via tape or in person, C-E's coaches must have made this note: Very vulnerable in transition. The Eagles came out flying and roared to a 13-2 lead. Jordan shot 4-for-4 for nine points and great teamwork was evident. They kept it going, too. Their first field goal not accompanied by an assist did not come until 1:22 remained in the quarter, and that was a follow by Dalessandro. (The Eagles finished with 21 field goals. There were 12 assists and three of the FGs were follows.) Though both missed time in the second quarter due to foul troubles, Jordan (22) and McCray-Pace (16) led the way in scoring. Dalessandro (15) and sr. WG-SF Sean Kelly (14, four treys) were right in the ballpark. Jordan had four assists while McC-P/sr. WG Chase Kumor halved six. McC-P also had six boards. Making three steals was sub sr. F Jordan Burney. In the late going, the players and student fans were dying for deep sr. sub F Greg Lutz to get into the scorebook. Alas, he could not quite can a layup off a low-post move. As the Eagles came back downcourt for defense, a fan yelled, "Greg, you're still my MVP!" Aaron "Ace" Carter and I camped out behind the far basket and to our right were three C-E exchange students from China. They spoke Chinese to each other throughout and I'm pretty sure they combined to utter only one English word (or two, depending on which dictionary you prefer). After a particularly ugly CH shot, one of the exchange students yelled, "Airball!!" Ha, ha. Ace had a good line, too. After an apparent 5-second violation went uncalled, he said, "That's the longest 4 I've ever seen." Ha, ha. Dignitaries: C-E president Janet Dollard, lens lady Stacy Souchuck, Phil Consalvo Sr. (remember, Sr. not Jr.), Pat Frain, Tom Magallanes (and son Anthony, former website stalwart), Kevin "Sparky" Cooney (also a FWS and now lighting it up with the Bucks County Courier Times), Jerry Greenberg, Norm Eavenson, Brian Townsend/wife Carolyn Giglio and Joe Mulvaney. Joe was an All-Catholic player for Egan in '77 and his son, Luke, as a soph, was the sixth man for Chestnut Hill Academy's 2010 Inter-Ac kingpins. He earned second team all-league honors as a junior, but then suffered a major injury just two games into his senior season. Luke pushed onward to Catholic University, but the big-injury bug kept biting and his days of playing are over. Hang in there, Luke. Your love/respect for the game was always evident and if you choose to stay involved with the game as a coach (or even as the director of a nutty website -- smile), here's wishing you the best of luck!

MARCH 7
PIAA CLASS AAAA FIRST ROUND
La Salle 58, Ridley 54
(At Spring-Ford High)
  This game was very pleasing to the eye. Lots of quality basketball and very few boneheaded and/or selfish plays. However, the most memorable moment, by far, did not involve a dunk, lengthy jumper or ankle-breaking move to the hoop. The student rooters from coed schools love to chant toward those with only boys, "We have girls! . . . We have girls!" Today the Ridley kids went down that familiar road and, after a slight pause, the La Salle kids responded, "We have Jesus! . . . We have Jesus!" Ha, ha, ha, ha. There was laughter, literally, throughout the gym and we think every member of the student section should now get an automatic A in religion! C'mon, AD Joe Parisi or somebody. Make it happen! Classic moment! (smile). As mentioned earlier, this tilt offered lots of nice viewing and it appeared for the longest, at least to some degree, that the teams would hunt and peck at each other pretty much until the final moment, when somebody would win it with a last-second shot. But in the third quarter, La Salle embarked on a wonderful, nine-point journey, thus staking itself to a 40-31 lead, and Ridley, as things turned out, was cooked. The outburst featured treys by sr. WG Shawn Witherspoon and jr. SF Ryan McTamney (this relative newcomer to meaningful playing time continues to be a positive influence) and a three-point play off a follow by sr. F Dave Krmpotich. As you can tell by the final score, the outcome was hardly decided at that juncture, but the spurt provided many positive vibrations. Soon, there'd be another magic moment. The third quarter ended at 47-40. Immediately out of the huddle, the Explorers ran a back-door, alley-oop play for The Greatest White-Boy Leaper in World History (smile) and Krmpotich flushed off a perfect feed from 'Spoon. Ridley, to its credit, was not in let's-wilt mode, however, and La Salle was unable to completely assume command. As time went on, it was: lead's down to six, lead's down to four, lead's down to two. That 54-52 moment occurred with 30 seconds left. To that point sr. PG Najee Walls had attempted only six shots all game and none had been sent basketward from the foul line. But at 23.6 and again at 13.4 he converted both ends of one-and-ones (clutch!) to send the 'Splorers to the second round. Krmpotich shot 10-for-14 (two dunks) and 2-for-6 for 22 points while adding seven rebounds. Witherspoon had 13 points and six assists, and he was particularly effective in the third quarter, aggressively willing his way to 10 points. Walls had 11 points, three steals. Sr. WG Dan Corr and McTamney hit two triples apiece; the latter also had three apiece of boards/dishes. Spring-Ford is a great venue. Spent half the game with Brian Shane, who coached Haverford School to the 1999 Inter-Ac crown (its first in 21 years; none since) and is now the boss at Marple-Newtown. No. 2 for Ridley, a sub guard, has truly wacky shooting form. He puts the ball fully behind his head and then spins it up there sideways. The La Salle students noticed during warmups and then begged him to shoot the ball all game. He only did so once. It was a layup and "Krump" rejected it. Weirdest request from a La Salle kid while the game was going on: "Hey, Naj, can I get a ride home!?" Ha, ha. Father-son notables in the house: Dan and Dan Again Spinelli, George and Ryan Winslow, Tim and Mark Hueber, Bob and Bob Again Zanneo. Holding down the brothers' fort with pride: Bernie and Dan Fitzgerald.

MARCH 7
TEDBIT
  If not for a last-second trey, Neumann-Goretti would have claimed the record for highest victory margin by a D-12 team in a state playoff. The Saints thumped Gettysburg, 77-29, and the 48-point margin ranks No. 2 behind MC&S' 100-50 whipping of Delco Christian in a 2014 Class A first-round game. Below are all blowouts of at least 30 points. Take note: None have occurred in AAAA.
  UPDATED through 2015 finals (one now in AAAA) . . . Nine of this year's wins featured 30-point margins.

Year Margin Winner Pts Loser Pts Round Winner's High Scorer(s) Pts
2015 51 Conwell-Egan 82 Mahanoy Area 31 2A 2nd Chase Kumor 22
2014 50 MC&S 100 Delco Christian 50 1A 1st Samir Doughty 45
2015 48 Neum.-Gor. 77 Gettysburg 29 3A 1st Lamarr Kimble 15
2013 45 MC&S 86 Gospel of Grace 41 1A 1st Louis Myers  16
2013 45 Imhotep 79 Salisbury 34 3A 1st Brandon Austin 15
2015 43 Constitution 86 Shanks.-Stonycreek 43 1A 2nd Ahmad Gilbert 24
2011 42 Imhotep 78 Wyomissing 36 1A 1st Ameen Tanksley 17
2015 41 Constitution 87 MC&S 46 1A semi Ahmad Gilbert 31
2011 40 MC&S 78 Millville 38 1A 2nd Tyreek Riddick 25
2012 39 Constitution 84 Camp Hill 45 1A 1st Savon Goodman 24
2013 38 Constitution 66 Notre Dame (GP) 28 2A 1st Kimar Williams 19
2015 38 Constitution 83 St. John Neumann 45 1A Qtr Kimar Williams 20
2012 37 Neum.-Gor. 89 York Suburban 52 3A 2nd Derrick Stewart 23
2013 35 Vaux 76 Sullivan County 41 1A 2nd Lester Mattox 17
2010 35 Neum.-Gor. 91 Holy Redeemer 56 3A 2nd Tony Chennault 24
2011 34 Neum.-Gor. 75 West Scranton 41 3A 2nd Lamin Fulton 17
2012 34 Constitution 81 St. John Neumann 47 1A 2nd Savon Goodman 32
2012 34 Neum.-Gor. 81 Greencastle-Antrim 47 3A 1st John Davis 21
2015 34 Carroll 83 Octorara 49 3A 1st Derrick Jones 26
2011 33 Imhotep 67 Greensburg CC 34 2A final Khyree Wooten 12
2015 33 Constitution 85 Farrell 52 1A final Ahmad Gilbert 28
2007 32 Imhotep 66 Wilkes-Barre GAR 34 2A 2nd Kashief Edwards 17
2010 32 Imhotep 67 Hanover 35 2A 1st Ameen Tanksley 23
2015 32 King 69 Allentown Allen 37 4A 1st Tyere Marshall 17
2015 32 MC&S 92 Millersburg 60 1A qtr Keith Griffin 30
2006 31 Prep Charter 82 Beaver Falls 51 2A final Rodney Green/Doug Davis 25
2012 31 Neum.-Gor. 74 Boys' Latin 43 3A semi John Davis/Ja'Quan Newton 19
2015 31 Imhotep 74 Berks Catholic 43 3A 1st Jaekwon Carlyle 16
2007 30 Freire 61 Pottsville Nativity 31 1A 1st Jarrod Denard 20
2010 30 MC&S 62 MMI Prep 32 1A 1st Thomas Moore 11

MARCH 6
PIAA CLASS AAA FIRST ROUND
Neumann-Goretti 77, Gettysburg 29
(At Archbishop Ryan)
  Major props to N-G coach Carl Arrigale. With the mercy-rule clock racing toward 0:00, he noticed that Gettysburg's last two deep subs were camped out in front of the scorers' table, waiting/hoping to check in. Carl called time at 33.3, those two guys entered and one of them, Bill "Full Beard" Sautter, drained a right-wing trey a shade before the buzzer. That's the only G-burg name you'll see in this report because somebody at that school made a moronic decision to order maroon uniforms with black numbers. The numbers were pretty much unreadable, especially from the other end of the court. Black on maroon? You're kidding me, right? Brutal. I kept track of the Warriors' buckets for maybe 10 minutes, then gave up . . . Anyway, things weren't looking too great for N-G in the early going. Don't get me wrong. There was never a doubt that the Saints would win. But with a Ryan-type offensive approach, the Warriors were hanging around and providing a least a hint of resistance and one couldn't help but think, "N-G's guys are going to have a lonnnnng day in school on Monday." Why? Because they'd be getting teased like crazy by the girls. In tonight's opener, N-G's gals stormed to a 40-point win (77-37) over Trinity. At halftime of the boys' game, N-G was up by "only" 12 points, at 30-18. Next thing we knew, the score was 50-18! G-burg put up a donut for the first five minutes of the third quarter. The Saints continued to frolic and led by 63-26 with 5:57 left in the game, when Arrigale removed his starters, and by 72-26 with 2:42 left, when the last few deep subs checked in. In time, N-G frolicked because it dominated in transition and pretty much claimed every rebound. Seemed like it anyway. Scoring in double figures were sr. WG Lamarr "Fresh" Kimble (15), soph C Dhamir "DaDa" Cosby-Roundtree (14), jr. WG-SF Zane Martin (14) and soph WG Quade Green (10). Martin had his first-half appearance shortened by personals, but was a whirlwind in the second half with 10 of his points and six of his seven steals. C-R packed eight of his points and six of his nine boards into the third quarter. Four subs -- soph WG Rasheed Browne, sr. WG Jack Taylor, jr. WG Amire Tyler and frosh WG Denelle Holly -- hit one trey apiece while soph Emil Moody, jr. F Mike Milsip and Tyler thirded nine boards. A timeout was called after Tyler hit his triple and Martin rushed off the bench to engage him in a side-bump. Cool to see. He must be a popular kid. In PIAA playoff history, I can't imagine too many (any?) girls-boys teams from the same school have swept a doubleheader by a total of 88 points. Phew! Dignitaries: brothers Mike and Pat Frain, Phil Consalvo Sr., Tom Magallanes, Frank "Five" McArdle, Fran Dougherty, Joe Sette, Mike Flynn, former Bok football star Phil Ricks (his daughter plays for N-G's JV), Fran Dunphy (maybe to check out Green and/or Cosby-Roundtree?), DN photo stringer Joe Kaczmarek . . . Hey, this report is long enough for a 48-point blowout. See ya! (smile)

MARCH 6
TEDBIT
  Twenty five years ago this week, Eric "Hank" Gathers, former star at Dobbins Tech, collapsed and died while starring for Loyola Marymount with his ex-Dobbins teammate, Greg "Bo" Kimble. Hank (RIP) and Bo were headliners on perhaps the Daily News' strongest All-City team ever, based on performances in high school/college/NBA. Thirteen of the 16 honorees went on to play Division 1 ball and four advanced to the NBA; Hank would have. Counting high school, college and the NBA, the 13 guys combined to ring up more than 55,000 points and 10 scored at least 1,000 in high school and college. Gratz' Brian Shorter, barring injury, would have crushed what was then the city record for career points (2,206 by Overbrook '55 grad Wilt Chamberlain, RIP). He scored 1,869 in three years at Gratz, then transferred to a prep school in Virginia. Check below for a breakdown. Arizona State WR Jaelen Strong, a West Catholic product and likely about to become a high-round NFL draftee, is the son of John Rankin (RIP). Also on that '85 team were Mastbaum's Warren Hawthorne (second), who starred at Hancock JC in California (still trying to nail down where he played thereafter); Central's Jonathan Jones (third), who scored 1,931 points at D-3 University of Rochester; and William Penn's Henry Jackson (third, RIP), who died during his sophomore season at New Mexico JC.

Points Breakdown for 1985 Daily News All-City Honorees
Who Went on to Play for Division 1 Schools
  High School(s) Points College(s) Points NBA Pts. Total
FIRST TEAM            
Jerome "Pooh" Richardson Franklin 1,024 UCLA 1,461 7,104 9,589
Mark Stevenson Dobbins/Roman 1,519 N. Dame/Duquesne 1,567   3,086
Greg "Bo" Kimble Dobbins  1,596 So. Cal./Loyola Mary. 2,350 574 4,520
Eric "Hank" Gathers Dobbins 1,251 So. Cal./Loyola Mary. 2,723   3,974
Steve Benton Neumann 1,808 Boston College 1,000   2,808
SECOND TEAM            
Paul "Snoop" Graham Olney/Franklin *940 Ohio Univ. 2,170 1,505 4,615
j-Lionel Simmons Southern 1,549 La Salle 3,217 5,871 10,637
Craig Conlin La Salle 1,202 La Salle 1,159   2,361
John Rankin West Catholic 1,240 Drexel 2,111   3,351
THIRD TEAM            
j-Barry Bekkedam Carroll 965 Villanova 142   1,107
Rick Williams Gtn. Academy 1,358 Siena 942   2,300
Otis Ellis Gtn. Academy 1,421 Lafayette 1,870   3,291
s-Brian Shorter Gratz 1,869 Pitt 1,633   3,502
  17,742   22,345 15,074 55,161
*-estimate based on averages (scoring for seven games unavailable; 849 confirmed
j-junior in that season
s-sophomore in that season

MARCH 5 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  Here are the top scoring outputs by Public League players in state playoffs. MC&S' Samir Doughty, now a senior, claimed the No. 1 spot last year with a 45-point outburst vs. Delco Christian. Strawberry Mansion's Dwayne Davis and Southern's Ramone Moore managed two appearances apiece.
  UPDATED through finals.

Top Scoring Outputs by Pub players in state playoffs, 2009-15
Name School Opponent Pts Round Year
Samir Doughty MC&S Delco Christian 45 1st 2014
Tyrone "Braidheart" Garland Bartram Pocono Mtn. East 40 1st 2009
Maurice "Doo-Wop" Watson Boys' Latin Camp Hill 34 1st 2009
Ramone Moore Southern Chester 34 2nd 2007
Rysheed Jordan Vaux Johnsonburg 32 Final 2013
Savon Goodman Constitution St. John Neumann 32 2nd 2012
Carlos Taylor Boys' Latin Abington Heights 32 Qtr 2012
Dwayne Davis Mansion Trinity 32 Qtr 2008
Ahmad Gilbert Constitution MC&S 31 Semi 2015
Anthony Wright-Downing Sankofa New Hope Academy 30 1st 2014
Ramone Moore Southern Cumberland Valley 30 1st 2007
Keith Griffin MC&S Millersburg 30 Qtr 2015
Sammy Foreman Vaux MC&S 28 Semi 2013
Floyd Preito Constitution Holy Cross 28 Qtr 2013
Raquan Brown-Johnson King Reading 28 1st 2013
Carrington Ward Phila. Elec. Pope Paul II 28 1st 2011
Dwayne Davis Mansion Jeannette 28 Final 2008
Ahmad Gilbert Constitution Farrell 28 Final 2015

MARCH 5
TEDBIT
  Here are the top scoring outputs by Catholic League players in state playoffs. Not surprisingly, N-G's Tony Chennault (played at Wake Forest and Villanova), SJ Prep's Stephen Vasturia (now a soph at Notre Dame) and N-G's Ja'Quan Newton (now a frosh at Miami) rang up two apiece.
  UPDATED through finals.

Top Scoring Outputs by Cath players in state playoffs, 2009-15
Name School Opponent Pts Round Year
Ja'Quan Newton N-G Susquehanna Twp. 33 Final 2014
Rakeem Brookins Roman Reading 32 2nd 2010
Stephen Vasturia SJ Prep Coatesville 31 Qtr 2013
Derrick Jones Carroll Neumann-Goretti 30 Final 2015
Alec Stavetski Carroll Trinity 28 2nd 2012
Stephen Vasturia SJ Prep Abington 27 1st 2013
D.J. Irving Carroll N-G 26 Qtr 2009
Billy Shank N-G Lancaster Catholic 26 Semi 2011
Derrick Jones Carroll Octorara 26 1st 2015
Tony Chennault N-G Steelton-Highspire 25 1st 2009
Aquil Younger West Holy Cross 25 2nd 2010
Tyrell Long McDevitt Shenandoah Valley 25 1st 2012
Tony Chennault N-G Holy Redeemer 24 2nd 2010
Brahieme Jackson McDevitt Riverside 24 2nd 2012
Ja'Quan Newton N-G Scranton Prep 24 2nd 2012
Quade Green N-G Manheim Central 24 2nd 2015

MARCH 4
TEDBIT
  This is year No. 11 for the Public League as a PIAA member and all kiiiiinds of games have been played in state tourneys. How many? Two hundred and 27! Pretty amazing. The overall record is 145-82 (.639, 11 of those games have featured Pub teams against each other) and 10 championships have been claimed -- three in A, six in AA, one in AAA, none in AAAA. In the previous four years, the Pub averaged 28 playoff games. Through the years, some schools have competed in two classifications. Overall marks for those schools: Boys' Latin 3-3, Comm Tech 11-6, Constitution 16-3, Franklin LC 0-4, Imhotep 30-5, Vaux 8-2. The following schools no longer exist: Bok, Comm Tech, University City, Vaux.
  UPDATED through finals -- Pub went 17-8 in 2015 (162-90 current record; one more championship in A).

Results for Class A Pub Teams in State Playoffs, 2005-15 (Includes Play-Ins)
  Totals BL Const. Fre MC&S NM Robe Sank Vaux
2005 0-0                
2006 0-0                
2007 1-2     1-1     0-1    
2008 7-2     4-1 3-1        
2009 1-2 0-1     1-1        
2010 2-2   1-1   1-1        
2011 8-1   3-1   *5-0        
2012 8-1   *5-0   3-1        
2013 10-2       3-1     2-1 *5-0
2014 4-3       4-1 0-1   0-1  
2015 8-2   *5-0   3-1   0-1    
*-champ 49-17 0-1 14-2 5-2 23-7 0-1 0-2 2-2 5-0

--

Results for Class AA Pub Teams in State Playoffs, 2005-15 (Includes Play-Ins)
  Totals C. Tech Const. D-V E&S Fkn FLC Freire Future Imho Mast. N Pky CC Prep C. Sayre S. Man. Vaux
2005 1-3       0-1   0-1           1-1      
2006 7-2       1-1         1-1     *5-0      
2007 8-1                 3-1     *5-0      
2008 7-2                 3-1         4-1  
2009 8-2                 *5-0     3-1   0-1  
2010 7-3         0-1       3-1         4-1  
2011 11-3 3-1               *5-0     1-1     2-1
2012 7-3 1-1   0-1           *5-0           1-1
2013 5-4 1-1 2-1 1-1                   1-1    
2014 7-2   *5-0 2-1         0-1              
2015 2-3             0-1     2-1 0-1        
*-champ 70-28 5-3 7-1 3-3 1-2 0-1 0-1 0-1 0-1 25-4 2-1 0-1 15-3 1-1 8-3 3-2

--

Results for Class AAA Pub Teams in State Playoffs, 2005-15
    Aud Bok BL C. Tech Dobb FLC Imho PET
2005 0-1 0-1 0-1            
2006 4-1       4-1        
2007 0-2       0-1   0-1    
2008 2-2       2-1   0-1    
2009 0-1           0-1    
2010 1-1         1-1      
2011 1-2     0-1         1-1
2012 3-2     3-1         0-1
2013 6-1             *5-0 1-1
2014 3-2             0-1 3-1
2015 3-2 0-1           3-1  
*-champ 23-17 0-1 0-1 3-2 6-3 1-1 0-3 8-2 5-4

--

Results for Class AAAA Pub Teams in State Playoffs, 2005-15
    Bart Cent Edi Fels Fkd Gratz King Sou U. City
2005 2-4   1-1     1-1 0-1     0-1
2006 1-4     0-1     0-1   0-1 1-1
2007 4-4     0-1   0-1 3-1   1-1  
2008 2-4 0-1       0-1 0-1   2-1  
2009 1-2 1-1             0-1  
2010 1-2 0-1       1-1        
2011 1-2 0-1       1-1        
2012 1-3 1-1     0-1 0-1        
2013 1-1             1-1    
2014 2-1             2-1    
2015 4-1             4-1    
*-champ 20-28 2-5 1-1 0-2 0-1 3-6 3-4 7-3 3-4 1-2

MARCH 3
TEDBIT
  Through six years of PIAA membership, the Catholic League boasts a rather impressive winning percentage in state playoffs (.699). As we mentioned last year in the original version of this post, two AAA schools, Neumann-Goretti (24-2, four state championships) and Carroll (15-5, one) have done the heavy lifting. Will this be the year a full breakthrough occurs in AA or AAAA? We'll start to find out this weekend. (in AAAA, the last two years have provided hope. SJ Prep advanced to a state semifinal in '13 and La Salle rolled all the way to the championship game last year.)
  UPDATED through finals - Cath went 21-2 in 2015 (current record 79-27 -- three more state titles)

Catholic League Teams in State Playoffs, 2009-14
     --- Class AA --- Class AAA  --- Class AAAA ---
    West McD. C-E Carr. N-G Roman North La S SJP
2009 8-4 1-1     *5-0 2-1 0-1 0-1    
2010 11-4 1-1     2-1 *5-0 2-1   1-1  
2011 7-4 0-1     0-1 *5-0 0-1   2-1  
2012 10-4   2-1   2-1 *5-0 1-1     0-1
2013 9-5     0-1 4-1 2-1 0-1     3-1
2014 13-4 1-1     2-1 *5-0 1-1   4-1  
2015 21-2     *5-0 4-1 *5-0 *5-0   2-1  
79-27 3-4 2-1 5-1 19-6 29-2 9-6 0-1 9-4 3-2
*-champ     10-6   48-8   21-13

MARCH 2 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  Decided to revisit Quade Green's outstanding CL/CT outings for Neumann-Goretti and compare them with those posted by 2014 grad Ja'Quan Newton over his final three seasons. It'll be very interesting to follow Quade's final two seasons.  

Quade Green's CL/CT Performances as Soph
Compared With Ja'Quan Newton's as Soph/Jr./Sr.
Quade Green, 2014-15
Occasion Opponent FG-ST F-FT 3's Points
Quarter Judge 4-10 1-1 2-4 11
Semi La Salle 10-12 1-2 5-6 26
Final Roman 9-14 0-1 3-6 21
CT Imhotep 9-13 3-3 4-6 25
 Totals   32-49 5-7 14-22 83
  Pct./Avg.   65.3 71.4 63.6 20.8
Ja'Quan Newton, 2013-14
Quarter West. Cath. 8-19 4-7 6-12 26
Semi Carroll 6-12 1-1 2-3 15
Final Roman 7-14 8-9 1-3 23
CT Phila. Elec. 10-16 5-8 1-5 26
    31-61 18-25 10-23 90
    50.8 72.0 43.8 22.5
Ja'Quan Newton, 2012-13
Quarter McDevitt 6-18 6-8 1-3 19
Semi Carroll 7-13 3-5 1-4 18
Final SJ Prep 8-15 8-11 3-4 27
CT Imhotep 6-13 6-7 2-5 20
    27-59 23-31 7-16 84
    45.8 74.2 43.8 21.0
Ja'Quan Newton, 2011-12
Quarter O'Hara 6-12 3-5 0-1 15
Semi Roman 3-11 10-14 1-4 17
Final  SJ Prep 8-16 3-5 2-4 21
CT Boys' Latin 5-11 11-18 0-0 21
    22-50 27-42 3-9 74
    44.0 64.3 33.3 18.5

MARCH 2
TEDBIT
  While winning the Catholic League and City championships, Roman joined the skin-of-their-teeth club. CTs existed from 1939-80 in their first go-'round and this was year No. 7 in the second. The Cahillites' margin of victory in the combined league/city finals was six points, giving them a tie for fifth place on the slimmest list at six points. As you'll see below, three schools won both games by one point apiece. Very cool.   

Slimmest Combined Victory Margins
For League/City Champs, 1939-80/2009-15
Year School Pts League Final Pts City Title Pts
1961 St. Thomas More 2 Dougherty 1 Bartram  1
1956 North Catholic 2 La Salle 1 West Phila. 1
1943 West Phila. 2 Bartram 1 Roman 1
1969 Edison 5 Southern 2 Roman 3
2015 Roman 6 Neumann-Goretti 5 King 1
1947 St. Joe's Prep 6 La Salle 4 Bartram  2
1967 North Catholic 7 Bonner 2 Overbrook 5
1945 Southeast Catholic 7 West Catholic 6 Southern 1
1968 West Phila. 9 Overbrook 2 O'Hara 7
1951 St. Thomas More 10 West Catholic 7 West Phila. 3
1941 Southeast Catholic 10 *SJ Prep 7 West Phila. 3
*-game No. 2 in a best-of-three series; no need for third game

MARCH 1 (Evening)
TEDBIT
  It's not that unusual to see a guy average at least 20 points in the postseason. But it's doubtful many guys in city history have done so as efficiently as Neumann-Goretti sophomore guard Quade Green. Don't believe me? Check out the numbers below. His percentages from the floor overall, and on treys, are outrageous.

Quade Green's Incredible Four-Game Postseason Run
Occasion Opponent FG-ST F-FT 3's Points
Quarter Judge 4-10 1-1 2-4 11
Semi La Salle 10-12 1-2 5-6 26
Final Roman 9-14 0-1 3-6 21
CT Imhotep 9-13 3-3 4-6 25
 Totals   32-49 5-7 14-22 83

  Pct./Avg.

   65.3 71.4 63.6 20.8

MARCH 1
TEDBIT
  The drought was certainly lengthy, but it's all over now! Friday night at Saint Joseph's University, Conwell-Egan (nee Bishop Egan) dismantled Freire Charter, 67-31, to claim its first postseason win since the 1963-64 season, its first as a Catholic League member. LaPri McCray-Pace (16), Stevie Jordan (15), Vinny Dalessandro (14) and Chase Kumor (11) scored in double figures and the other starter, Sean Kelly, contributed six rebounds. The Eagles won their first-ever postseason tussle, a CL semifinal at the Palestra in '64, by a score of 69-59 over Bishop Neumann (now Neumann-Goretti). After losing by 69-59 to now-closed Cardinal Dougherty in the final, the Eagles had to wait 30 years before making another postseason visit. The win over Freire was preceded by 11 consecutive losses. Two were one-pointers. Congrats to coach Frank Sciolla and his players for halting the skid.

Postseason Games Played by Egan/C-E, 1964-2015
Year Occasion Opponent W-L Score Leading Scorer for Egan/C-E Pts
1964 Semi Neumann Won 69-59 Chris Cosmas/Dave Frederick 20
1964 Final Dougherty Lost 69-59 Dave Frederick 22
1994 Quarter North Catholic Lost 78-65 Shaun Profy 16
2009 First Wood Lost 49-37 Ike Robinson 14
2010 First Dougherty Lost 64-53 Ike Robinson 15
2011 Prelim Ryan Lost 53-45 Carlton Whitehead 18
2012 First O'Hara Lost 45-44 Jamal Nwaniemeka 20
2013 Prelim Lansdale Lost 50-35 Stevie Jordan 9
2013 City Title Comm Tech Lost 70-60 LaPri McCray-Pace 18
2013 *First Del-Val Charter Lost 63-59 LaPri McCray-Pace 17
2014 First McDevitt Lost 58-57 Stevie Jordan 19
2015 Quarter Carroll Lost 47-34 LaPri McCray-Pace 10
2015 City Title Freire Won 67-31 LaPri McCray-Pace 16
*-state tournament