City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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The field for the Pennsylvania Independent School Athletic Association (PAISAA) semifinals might look a little familiar to some, as the same four teams who reached this round last year will all be back for another shot at the title.

The only differences from last year are that this year's bouts will take place at Malvern Prep, as opposed to last season's venue of Penn Charter and the match-ups differ as well. Last season, Westtown Academy was pitted against Episcopal and Germantown Academy took on the Hill School.

So while the settings surrounding the contests may be different, four familiar teams are back and will be giving it their all to reach PAISAA glory and win the coveted state championship. 

Here's a look at Friday night's games:

No. 1 Westtown School  vs. No. 4 Germantown Academy (6:30 PM)
A rematch of last year’s title game, which Westtown (28-3) won by a score of 73-65, pits two star-powered squads against each other with a spot in the championship on the line. Germantown Academy (22-6) boasts the duo of 6-foot-5 senior forwards Evan-Eric Longino and Kyle McCloskey, who finished first and second in the Inter-Ac in scoring this season. Longino (23.2 ppg) scored 21 points in GA’s 68-46 quarterfinal victory over Penn Charter, and the Villanova football commit McCloskey (23.0 ppg) led GA with 23 points in the win. Also of note for GA will be the efforts of seniors Josh Brownstein and Cole Storm, who do the majority of the ball-handling for the Patriots. 

On the other side will be Westtown, who boasts one of the most talented rosters in the country and is fresh off of a 78-44 demolishing of the Phelps School in the quarterfinal round. Leading the way for Westtown in its win were the performances of Brandon Randolph, Cameron Reddish, Mohamed Bamba and Jake Forrester. Randolph, who will be continuing his basketball career at Arizona next season, cashed in for 29 points, while 5-star junior Reddish chipped in 13 and Bamba, the No. 5 ranked player in the 2017 class, and Forrester, who boasts quite the resume of Division I offers as well, each added in 11. Rounding out the starting 5 for Westtown is senior forward Anthony Ochefu, who will take his talents to Stony Brook next season.

An intriguing matchup in this one will be to see how the undersized Germantown Academy, whose tallest players are Longino and McCloskey, will deal with Westtown’s huge starting front. Countering GA’s small lineup will be one of the tallest lineups you’ll see in high school basketball as Randolph (6-6), Reddish (6-7), Forrester (6-8), Ochefu (6-9) and Bamba (6-11) would all be the tallest player on Germantown Academy’s roster. If last season’s championship game is any indication though, Jim Fenerty will have his Patriots ready to play and give the uber-talented Moose all they can handle. 

Game 2: No. 2 The Hill School vs. No. 3 Episcopal Academy (8:00 PM)
The second matchup of the night will pit the two losers of last year’s semifinal games against each other to see who will be able to reverse last year’s fortunes and earn a spot in the championship. The Hill School’s game plan will depend on the potential return of 7-foot-1 senior Solomon Ruddell. Ruddell, the UC-Irvine commit, has been sidelined for the last two games with a concussion. Filling in for Ruddell in his absence has been Chase Audige, Colton Lawrence, and Ethan Norton. Audige, a 6-foot-4 junior, stuffed the box scored in Hill’s 63-46 quarterfinal win over the Haverford School as he turned in a 22-point, seven-assist, six-rebound, four-steal performance to lead the way for the Blues. Lawrence, a senior, added in another 15 points and eight rebounds while Norton dished out six assists, grabbed five rebounds, blocked four shots and stole the ball twice. 

Countering the Hill (20-6) will be an experienced Episcopal Academy (17-10) team led by senior forward and Navy commit Nick Alikakos. The 6-foot-7 Alikakos scored a team-high 18 points in EA’s 53-45 quarterfinal win over the Perkiomen School. Assisting Alikakos in carrying the scoring load was a 17-point outing from fellow senior Connor Delaney, who has enjoyed a fine senior season as his point total from his final campaign (467) is more than he scored in his first three seasons of high school basketball combined (448). Also chipping in for EA in the win was sophomore Matt Dade, who scored 12. 

In the back end of the doubleheader on Saturday, these two squads both boast experienced rosters that will want to avenge last season’s losses and make their way to the state championship. With the Hill boasting eight seniors and EA adding in five more of its own, both of these teams will be doing everything in their power to make sure their leader’s high school careers don’t end on Friday night.