City of Basketball Love

Anthony Dabbundo (@AnthonyDabbundo)

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Despite dominating a short-handed Phoenixville team 90-63 earlier this season, Academy Park knew it wouldn’t have it as easy this time around with both teams fighting for their state playoff lives.

With Phoenixville star senior Christian Kelly--who led the PAC-10 with 23.8 points per game--back in the lineup, the Phantoms had enough firepower to match the Knights offensively. Kelly, who missed the first meeting on January 16 due to a hand injury, was back to extend his high school career for at least one more game.

“We knew that with Kelly playing it would be a totally different game, so we actually watched more tape of their other games to get ready,” Academy Park coach Allen Brydges said.

Despite 30 points from Kelly, Academy Park moved one step closer to the PIAA state tournament thanks to 22 points from senior guard Jawan Collins in the Knights’ 71-58 win.

After the first quarter where Academy Park shot just 6-of-16 (37.5 percent) from the field, the Knights used their press and ball movement to generate easy looks in the paint and wear down their PAC-10 counterparts.

The Knights’ athleticism was on full display on a 9-2 run to end the half, when they responded off a Marquise McDuffee Phantoms’ three with a lay up, a steal directly off the inbound, and another easy lay up. Then, Collins converted on another drive before the half to cap off the run.

Paced by junior forward and football safety Teddy Wright, Academy Park took a 33-28 lead into the break after an end-to-end second quarter. Wright’s eight first-half points all came inside the paint, which was controlled by the smaller Knights team for most of the evening. .

“We were definitely a little sloppy at first but I liked the pace, and our offense always gets going at some point,” Brydges said.

The supporting cast also added their fair share, as four Knights ended up in double figures with Nahir Stokes and DeAndre Covert adding a combined 23 points.

After making 18 3-pointers in the first meeting, Academy Park only needed to make two to get past Phoenixville yet again.

“Tonight we tried to limit their 3-point shooting, and they ended up with some easy layups instead,” Phoenixville head coach Eric Burnett said.

Coming out of the break, it was all Knights, as a dominant 21-8 third quarter run shut down any hope for a Phantoms comeback. During that stretch, Kelly was the only Phantom to convert a field goal, scoring nine of Phoenixville’s 10 third-quarter points.

“All we really cared about was getting stops and pushing the tempo, 33 points at the half and that is exactly what we wanted,” Brydges said. “We didn’t think they could keep up with us if we got to 70 points.”

Collins, a bouncy 5-11 guard and two-sport star for the Knights who also excels on the football field, had six points and four assists in the third quarter alone, extending the lead to as many as 18.

“My teammates told me to keep shooting the ball and getting to the basket,” he said. “They have a lot of confidence in me to just play my game.”

On a night when freshman forward Khyree Temple played just 10 minutes due to injury, the Knights used their bench to provide the additional scoring. Temple scored just two points, but Academy Park had seven other players in the statbook.

On the other hand, Phoenixville struggled to generate any offense outside of their star senior. Kelly finished with 30 points in the final game of his historic career, but the usual Phantoms’ scorers were shut down.

“They did a good job keeping the tempo up the entire game and we had to try and match them to come back,” Kelly said. “Our team never gave up but we didn’t get it done.”

The trio of 6-foot-5 Phoenixvllle big men, Matt McLaughlin, Avery Close and Jeff Conboy, scored just two points combined, as the athleticism of the Knights’ defenders frustrated the Phantoms’ big men for most of the evening.

Academy Park is now set to travel to Downingtown West Tuesday night, with a state playoff bid on the line in a win or go home game.  

For the Phantoms, they’ll always have that undefeated PAC-10 regular season, and Kelly will have his 1,000 points, but they came up short of their ultimate goal of a PAC-10 title and state playoff berth.

“I’m going to miss these guys,” Kelly said. “These four years have been the best of my life and I’m going to miss everything about my team, the fans, and Phoenixville basketball.”

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Friday's District 1 AAAA Results
No. 11 Lower Merion 68, No. 14 Conestoga 45 (Game story)
No. 2 Plymouth Whitemarsh 43, No. 7 C.B. West 41 (Game story)
No. 9 Chester 49, No. 17 C.B. East 33
No. 4 Ridley 54, No. 12 Spring-Ford 50 (Game story)

Play-Back Round
No. 5 Pennridge 61, No. 20 Perkiomen Valley 42
No. 18 Academy Park 71, No. 10 Phoenixville 58
No. 3 Downingtown West 63, No. 27 Upper Dublin 59
No. 26. Hatboro-Horsham 66, No. 1 Coatesville 57

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Tuesday's District 1 AAAA Semifinals
Liacouras Center, Temple University
No. 2 Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. No. 11 Lower Merion (7 PM)
No. 4 Ridley vs. No. 9 Chester (8:45 PM)

Seeding Rounds
Higher seeds host
No. 12 Spring-Ford vs. No. 17 C.B. East
No. 7 C.B. West vs. No. 14 Conestoga

Play-Back Elimination Games
Higher seeds host
No. 5 Pennridge vs. No. 26 Hatboro-Horsham
No. 3 Downingtown West vs. No. 18 Academy Park