City of Basketball Love

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
--

Here’s installment No. 5 of City of Basketball Love’s state basketball rankings, a package that will appear on the website every Monday throughout the season. 

Appearing below are all four of our top 10s, with PIAA district and this season’s record displayed in parentheses. Only those schools competing for PIAA state championships are eligible for ranking purposes.

CITY OF BASKETBALL LOVE STATE BASKETBALL RANKINGS

(records through games of Jan. 3/OW-others to watch/NR-not ranked)

CLASS AAAA

Popping three players into double figures — Sam Iorio (21), Kyle Stout (15) and Jack Dreisbach (10) — Parkland rallied for a 63-53 win over La Salle College in the finals of the Scholastic Play-by-Play Parkland Classic Monday night in suburban Allentown. With the victory, Parkland jumped two spots to No. 8 while La Salle College tumbled three rungs to No. 9.

No.  School                                    Rec    Pvs
1.   Roman Catholic (12)                  8-1        1
2.   Allderdice (8)                              7-1        2                          
3.   Archbishop Wood (12)               7-2        3
4.   Plymouth-Whitemarsh (1)          9-0        4
5.   Coatesville (1)                            9-0        5
6.   Downingtown West (1)             10-1        7
7.   Reading (3)                                8-3        9
8.   Parkland (11)                              7-3      10                              
9.   La Salle College (12)                 9-1        6
10. Harrisburg (3)                             7-0        8

Checked in: No one.
Checked out: No one.

Others to watch: Abington (1) 7-3, Abington Heights (2) 9-0, Baldwin (7) 8-1, Bethel Park (7) 7-4, Carlisle (3) 8-2, Cedar Crest (3) 9-2, Central Bucks West (1) 8-2, Central York (3) 10-1, Chartiers Valley (7) 7-2, Chester (1) 3-5, Conestoga (1) 7-3, Emmaus (11) 9-1, Franklin Regional (7) 8-2, Gateway (7) 8-2, Hazleton (2) 5-3, Latrobe (7) 10-0, Lower Merion (1) 8-2, Martin Luther King (12) 6-6, McCaskey (3) 8-2, Nazareth (11) 8-2, North Allegheny (7) 7-2, Penn Hills (7) 7-4, Pennridge (1) 8-1, Pennsbury (1) 7-2, Peters Twp. (7) 7-3, Phoenixville (1) 10-2, Pine-Richland (7) 6-4, Plum (7) 8-2, Pocono Mountain West (11) 10-0, Ridley (1) 9-0, Spring Grove (3) 6-1, St. Joseph’s Prep (12) 8-3, Strath Haven (1) 9-2, Whitehall (11) 8-2, William Allen (11) 6-3, Williamsport (4) 7-3, York (3) 7-5.

Intriguing matchups of the week: No. 1 Roman Catholic certainly will have an interesting week, especially since Chris McNesby’s Cahillites will visit Class AAA No. 1 Neumann-Goretti and host Class AAA No. 4 Archbishop Carroll on Sunday at Girard College. Roman also will play Friday at Cardinal O’Hara. … Would be remiss, too, if we didn’t mention Thursday’s scrap at Coatesville between the No. 5 Red Raiders and No. 6 Downingtown West.

~~~ 

CLASS AAA
Scranton Prep’s 16-game winning streak in Lackawanna Division I play came to an end Saturday night at home, as Andrew Kettel’s Cavaliers fell 57-52 to unbeaten Abington Heights. Logan Bailey pocketed 23 points and Nick Dende chimed in with 15 for Prep, which led the showdown until the visiting Comets canned a trey late in the third quarter. Abington Heights will host the Feb. 2 return engagement.

No.  School                                   Rec     Pvs
1.   Neumann-Goretti (12)               5-2         1
2.   Imhotep Charter (12)                 7-2         2
3.   Mars (7)                                     7-3         3
4.   Archbishop Carroll (12)              9-1         5
5.   Beaver Falls (7)                        10-1         4
6.   New Castle (7)                          11-0         6
7.   Strong Vincent (10)                    6-3          7
8.   Scranton Prep (2)                       6-2          8
9.   Lewisburg (4)                              7-0         9
10. Del-Val Charter (12)                    7-2       10

Checked in: No one.
Checked out: No one.

Others to watch: Allentown Central Catholic (11) 7-4, Benjamin Franklin (12) 8-2, Bishop McDevitt (3) 6-3, Blue Mountain (11) 7-3, Cathedral Prep (10) 7-2, Cocalico (3) 8-2, Crestwood (2) 5-3, Eastern Lebanon County (3) 10-1, General McLane (10) 9-2, Gettysburg (3) 9-2, Girard (10) 9-0, Highlands (7) 7-3, Hollidaysburg (6) 9-1, Holy Ghost Prep (1) 8-2, Lampeter-Strasburg (3) 9-0, Lower Moreland (1) 8-1, Meadville (10) 7-1, Milton Hershey (3) 6-0, Nanticoke (2) 7-2, Octorara (1) 10-0, Pottsville (11) 9-0, Salisbury (11) 8-0, Shamokin (4) 11-0, Somerset (5) 7-3, Steel-High (3) 5-3, Steel Valley (7) 7-2.

Intriguing matchup of the week: Fast forward to Friday night at No. 5 Beaver Falls, where Doug Biega’s once-beaten Tigers will entertain unbeaten No. 6 New Castle in the first of two WPIAL Section 2 collisions. By the way, New Castle will host the Feb. 2 rematch. Beaver Falls’ only loss came Wednesday in the finals of the C.J. Betters Tournament, as Biega’s bunch tumbled to Class AAAA No. 2 Allderdice by an 81-62 count despite 24 points from junior all-stater Josh Creach.

~~~

CLASS AA

Aliquippa captured last week’s highly anticipated matchup of top-ranked teams, defeating Class A Kennedy Catholic 51-37 behind 16 points from Jassir Jordan. Steven Johnson tacked on 12 points for Nick Lackovich’s unbeaten Quips, who outscored Kennedy Catholic 34-20 following the halftime break. The Austins, Maceo and Jason, shared 25 points for a Golden Eagles club that played without West Virginia recruit and returning Class A all-state selection Sagaba Konate.

No.  School                                          Rec    Pvs
1.   Aliquippa (7)                                     7-0        1
2.   Conwell-Egan (12)                            7-3        2
3.   Lincoln Park (7)                                 8-2        3
4.   Mid Valley (2)                                     9-0        4
5.   Greensburg C.C. (7)                          8-1        6
6.   Trinity (3)                                            7-2        7
7.   Church Farm (1)                                 6-2        5
8.   Minersville (11)                                   7-2        8
9.   Camp Hill (3)                                      7-3        9                                     
10. Quaker Valley (7)                               10-1    OW

Checked in: No. 10 Quaker Valley.
Checked out: No. 10 Avonworth.

Others to watch: Avonworth (7) 7-3, Bellwood-Antis (6) 6-1, Bishop Canevin (7) 7-3, Calvary Christian (1) 8-2, Dunmore (2) 5-4, Fairview (10) 6-4, Greenville (10) 7-2, Hanover (3) 9-1, Hughesville (4) 6-2, Laurel (7) 9-2, Neshannock (7) 8-2, Our Lady of Sacred Heart (7) 8-2, Penns Valley (6) 8-1, Richland (6) 7-2, Shady Side Academy (7) 8-3, Tyrone (6) 6-3, Washington (7) 5-5, West Branch (6) 6-1, West Middlesex (10) 4-4, Westmont Hilltop (6) 5-3, York Catholic (3) 7-2.

Intriguing matchups of the week:  No. 6 Trinity has a challenging week ahead in Mid-Penn Capital Division play, as Larry Kostelac Jr.’s Shamrocks will entertain an unbeaten Milton Hershey side on Tuesday before heading across town on Friday to play No. 9 Camp Hill in what should be a spirited scrap.

~~~

CLASS A

Plenty of props to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Mike White for offering up the following nugget regarding Joe Salvino’s No. 2 Monessen Greyhounds. Seems Monessen has played five Class AAAA sides thus far, with four of those games requiring one or more overtimes to decide. For those keeping tabs, Salvino’s Greyhounds are 1-3 in OT.

No.  School                                          Rec    Pvs
1.   Kennedy Catholic (10)                      5-2       1
2.   Monessen (7)                                   7-3       2                                 
3.   Farrell (10)                                        5-2       3
4.   Constitution (12)                               5-6       4
5.   St. John Neumann (4)                       9-0       5
6.   Sewickley Academy (7)                     9-1       6
7.   Elk County Catholic (9)                     8-0       7
8.   Homer-Center (6)                              9-0       8
9.   Ridgway (9)                                       7-1   OW
10. Clarion-Limestone (9)                        8-1     10

Checked in: No. 9 Ridgway.
Checked out: No. 9 Lincoln Leadership.

Others to watch: Bishop Carroll (6) 6-2, Clarion (9) 5-2, Coudersport (9) 8-0, Cowanesque Valley (4) 6-2, Delco Christian (1) 6-3, Eden Christian (7) 8-3, Faith Christian (1) 7-2, Ferndale (6) 7-2, Greenwood (3) 7-3, Jeannette (7) 7-3, Lincoln Leadership (11) 7-2, Lourdes Regional (4) 8-1, Math, Civics & Sciences (12) 5-7, McConnellsburg (5) 7-1, Millville (4) 8-1, North Penn-Mansfield (4) 6-4, Notre Dame-East Stroudsburg (11) 5-5, Old Forge (2) 6-2, Paul Robeson (12) 8-3, Phil-Mont Christian (1) 9-1, Portage (6) 7-1, Saltsburg (6) 9-1, Shanksville-Stonycreek (5) 9-0, Shenandoah Valley (11) 7-2, Southern Fulton (5) 6-2, Sullivan County (4) 9-0, Union-Rimersburg (9) 8-2, Vincentian (7) 6-3.

Intriguing matchups of the week: After playing at Philly Public League rival Math, Civics & Sciences on Tuesday, No. 4 Constitution will take on Class AAAA hammer Pennsbury on Friday night at Philly’s Benjamin Franklin High School. Rob Moore’s Generals are coming off a win over Conwell-Egan at last week’s Nelson Classic.