City of Basketball Love

Rich Flanagan (@richflanagan33)
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A week after winning its first district title in program history, Del-Val Charter came out sluggish in its PIAA Class AAA first round match-up with Gettysburg.

After missing their first five shots from the field while committing four fouls in the first two minutes, the Warriors shook off a slow start and were able to withstand a tough outing from Gettysburg in a 70-62 victory at Abraham Lincoln High School.                           

After being down 7-2 early in the first quarter, the Warriors went on a 13-1 run to end the quarter with a seven-point lead. They came alive and extended their lead to 11 at the 1:40 mark of the second quarter behind Wade Lowman’s eight-point, eight-rebound first half.

Del-Val took a nine-point lead into the locker room at halftime and head coach Jason Harrigan liked the response from his team after their initial start.

“Early on, I think they did a good job defensively. They gave us some different looks out of their zone,” Harrigan said. “In the second quarter, we were able to get consecutive stops in a row. We weren’t making all of our shots but we did make some free throws. At the end of the day, we got a lot of consecutive stops and that was what we were telling them on the bench.”

After halftime, the Warriors ran out to their biggest lead at 40-27 with 4:55 to play in the third quarter but the combination of Gettysburg’s resilience and some lackadaisical turnovers kept the game close.

Gettysburg (14-11) remained in the game behind Marquise Camel--who finished with 14 points and four assists before fouling out late--and Ravaughn Dillard, whose double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds was highlighted by a thunderous slam off an inbound pass which capped an 13-2 run to cut Del-Val’s lead to two at the end of the third.

Gettysburg head coach Jeff Bair was pleased with his team’s ability to not get stifled even when Del-Val (25-4) looked to be pulling away.

“I think that one of the positives on our team is execution. We were fortunate to have a dead ball or they would press so we could run our press break,” Bair said. “Things that we practice every night that we felt comfortable in. We were able to score right back and that just gave us the confidence to keep playing. Those kinds of things just kept us in the game.”

To begin the final quarter, Del-Val’s Antwuan Butler, who finished with 15 points, and Camel exchanged 3-pointers, and the score stayed within seven until Del-Val’s Rashae Nixon (seven points) became the second player to foul out for the Warriors.

With the lead at 63-58 following a basket by Gettysburg’s Devin Ringler (six points), Waheem Lowman (Wade’s twin brother), drove baseline, converted an and-one, and made the free throw to put the game out of reach with 53.3 seconds remaining.

Along with Butler and Makai Morris (13), Waheem Lowman finished in double figures with a game-high 16 points and spoke about his team’s depth and how any guy can step up at any time.

“We all work. We never know when another guy is coming,” he said. “We all work at practice to get better, and we’re always ready to play.”

Del-Val advances to play Lampeter-Strausburg in the second round. Harrigan says his team has a number of things to take from this game and work on if they hope to keep their season going.

“One was we had a few defensive lapses. We were a little sloppy with the ball. Also, our energy early [was poor,]” Harrigan said. “Right from the tip, we weren’t ready to play. It’s been a week since we played so getting back into the groove of playing is better. We’ll get a strong practice in on Monday and we’ll be ready to play on Tuesday.”

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Friday's AAA State Tournament results
Delaware Valley Charter 70, Gettysburg 62
Lampeter-Strasburg 56, Berwick 37
Imhotep Charter 77, Eastern York 45
Lewisburg 72, Blue Mountain 58
Scranton Prep 51, Shamokin 44
Neumann-Goretti 69, Eastern Lebanon County 48
Lower Moreland 67, Milton Hershey 56
Pottsville 43, West Scranton 25
Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 75, Salisbury Twp. 48
Archbishop Carroll 76, Holy Ghost Prep 27
New Castle 82, Meadville 61
Beaver Falls 57, Steel Valley 54
Highlands 46, Girard 44
Hollidaysburg 75, West Mifflin 53
Mars 68, Clearfield 60
Erie Strong Vincent 71, Hampton 51

SECOND ROUND
Tuesday, March 8 (sites/times, TBA)
Delaware Valley Charter (12-1, 25-4) vs. Lampeter-Strasburg (3-4, 24-4)
Imhotep Charter (12-4, 22-5) vs. Lewisburg (4-1, 26-2)
Scranton Prep (2-1, 25-2) vs. Neumann-Goretti (12-2, 23-4)|
Lower Moreland (1-2, 21-6) vs. Pottsville (11-1, 28-0)
Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt (3-1, 21-6) vs. Archbishop Carroll (12-3, 23-3)
New Castle (7-4, 24-2) vs. Beaver Falls (7-1, 24-3)
Highlands (7-2, 22-5) vs. Hollidaysburg (6-1, 21-4)
Mars (7-3, 20-6) vs. Erie Strong Vincent (10-1, 19-7)

QUARTERFINALS
Friday, March 11

SEMIFINALS
Tuesday, March 15

CHAMPIONSHIP
Friday, March 18
At Giant Center, Hershey, 8 p.m.