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PIAA Class 2A/4A Second-Round Preview: District 12 impressing early

03/15/2017, 9:15am EDT
By Michael Bullock

Michael Bullock (@thebullp_n)
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As they made the lengthy trek to the Poconos and Pleasant Valley High School, it wasn’t Saturday’s long bus ride that had Kenyatta Bey concerned as he pondered Audenried’s opening-round game in the PIAA’s Class 4A tournament against Jim Thorpe.

What had Bey a bit apprehensive going into Saturday’s contest was the fact that his Rockets had not played since dropping a five-point decision (74-69) to Imhotep Charter on Feb. 13 in the Philadelphia Public League’s Class 4A championship outing — a 26-day layoff.

While Bey’s Rockets had worked out, they hadn’t been in an actual game for quite some time.

“The concerns that I had was coming out flat,” Bey revealed. “I started getting my guys ready during our practice sessions and stuff like that and I was expressing how we needed to be sharp and crisp from the very tip. They pretty much did what I asked them to do.

“Play well together. Play hard defense. And share the basketball.”

Audenried (19-5) also bounced out with an 84-36 victory over Jim Thorpe, riding a shared 75 points from Damir Prescott (32), Terrence Moore (22) and Nisheem McNeal-Wright (21) to a decisive triumph that propelled Bey’s Rockets into Round 2.

Up next for the Rockets is a scrap with perennial state contender Berks Catholic (22-7) in Thursday’s second round (8 p.m.) at Spring-Ford High School in Royersford. Berks Catholic, the third seed from District 3, dispatched District 4 champion Lewisburg 59-39 in its Round 1 outing.

Oh, by the way, Saturday’s victory was the first at the state level for Audenried, which reached its first PIAA tournament (Class AAA) in 2015 only to fall to Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt.

“They had a huge reaction to it,” Bey said of Audenried’s post-game celebration. “They was very excited about the opportunity to be making history. As a matter of fact, we’ve been having a pretty historic season this year overall. We’ve had quite a few milestones that we reached.

“We had a 15-game winning streak at one point. We had a player [McNeal-Wright] score his 1,000th point,” the sixth-year skipper said of his first performer to reach 1K. Bey also enjoyed his own memorable moment in January, posting his 100th win at the Audenried helm.

While Bey’s Rockets received plenty of offensive production from the 6-4 Prescott, the 6-6 Moore and the 6-4 McNeal-Wright, senior starters 6-5 Shaheed Fagan-Haynes and 6-2 Abdul Azeem-Bey also are capable of putting up some impressive numbers.

Azeem-Bey is Bey’s nephew.

Yet since Audenried went without a game for such a lengthy stretch, Bey had his Rockets approach the Jim Thorpe contest as if they were back in December readying for Game 1.

“It’s like a whole new season … because it is,” Bey said. “State playoffs. All the other stuff, city stuff, is pretty much over. Now it’s time for the states.

“It’s like the March Madness of high school.”

While Bey has been working diligently to find what he can on Snip Esterly’s youthful Saints — Marcus Wilson pocketed a career-high 20 points against Lewisburg, while sophomore Casey Jack added 13 — he’s also been determined to keep his talented Rockets firing at the high level they flashed Saturday against the overmatched Olympians.

“Try to focus on the things that we do best,” Bey said. “Every so often we try and take a look at what other teams do, but the philosophy that we have is if we’re playing and doing the things that we’re supposed to be doing as a unit, we can beat anybody.”

One other Philadelphia-based group may be feeling the same way.

A 1981 West Philadelphia graduate who played for the tremendously successful Joe Goldenberg and considers former Speedboys great Clarence “Eggy” Tillman as one of his mentors, Bey was extremely pleased to see his alma mater prevail 78-65 over District 3 champ Lancaster Catholic in its first taste of state tournament play.

“We grew up in the same neighborhood,” Bey said of Tillman, who started his college career at Kentucky before relocating to Rutgers. Bey also played for the late Claude Gross.

“I picked up what I could from them two [Goldenberg and Gross] and I’m implementing what I learned from those two with our group,” Bey added.

Ironically, West Philly’s milestone victory comes 40 seasons after a Speedboys squad featuring Tillman, Gene Banks, Darryl Warwick, Joe Garrett, Mike Powell and future Olympic heavyweight boxing champ Tyrell Biggs was considered the best team in the United States after finishing the 1976-77 campaign with a perfect 30-0 mark.

Some 40 years later, a different group of Speedboys skippered by Jermaine Snell popped five players into double figures against high-powered Lancaster Catholic. Latrell Carroll poured in 24 points as West Philly grabbed a 32-20 halftime lead, upping that cushion to 55-36 after three.

Cyrie Coates (15), Dymeir Shackelford (14), Maxwell Brown (12) and Malik Lorenzano (11) also netted 10 points or more for Snell’s bunch, which had not played since a Valentine’s Day victory over John Bartram earned the Speedboys their state invite.

Up next for West Philly (14-9) is a scrap with District 2 Class 4A runner-up Wilkes-Barre GAR Memorial in the first of three games (5 p.m.) at Bethlehem’s Liberty High School.

Jerry Altavilla’s Grenadiers (19-7) sidelined District 4 runner-up Selinsgrove in their opening-round bout, getting 28 points from Will Johnson, 20 from Keyshawn Palmer and 12 from Andrew Campbell in a 72-59 triumph.

And the Speedboys, much like Philly Public League counterpart Audenried, will be trying to advance another round deeper when they take the floor Thursday.

“One game at a time,” Bey said. “One play at a time. One stop at a time.

“It’s not over yet. We’ve got plenty of things to do, plenty of work to do. We still got history to make. Like I was telling my guys, ‘Most of you guys are seniors and one loss ends your career.’”

~~~


Darien Simmons (above) and Conwell-Egan take on Nanticoke at Parkland HS on Thursday night. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

In other PIAA 2A/4A action involving District 1/12 teams on Thursday night:

4A: (12-2) Conwell-Egan vs. (2-3) Greater Nanticoke
6:30 PM, Parkland HS, Allentown
Eric Kindler’s Eagles certainly picked the right time to halt a seven-game skid as Conwell-Egan (10-14) eased past Saucon Valley 81-59 to advance to Thursday’s second round. Awaiting C-E is District 2 3-seed Nanticoke (19-7), which upended District 11 champion Bethlehem Catholic 58-56 behind a shared 27 points from Nate Kreitzer and Cody Piestrak. John Beggs’ Trojans trailed 40-28 after three, but Piestrak scored all 12 of his points in the fourth — including a pair of freebies with 45 seconds that put Nanticoke in front to stay (52-51).

2A: (12-2) Constitution vs. (2-1) Holy Cross
7:00 PM, Whitehall HS, Coplay
After grinding out a 53-49 victory over Church Farm — Raquan West banked 17 points and Maurice Waters chipped in 13 for Constitution, which played without Tamir Green, Leeron Wills-Worthy and Youssef DiabateRob Moore’s Generals (16-9) find themselves in a second-round scrap with District 2 winner Holy Cross. Al Callejas’ Crusaders (19-8) took out Shenandoah Valley 52-35 behind 18 points from Kieran Burrier and 11 from Tyler Mozeleski.

2A: (12-3) Masterman vs. (3-1) Halifax
7:30 PM, Penn Manor HS, Millersville
Knocking off District 11 champion Marian Catholic 70-62 for the school’s first state victory, Tim Roache’s Blue Dragons (21-5) will try to claim No. 2 by toppling the District 3 titlists. Liam Shanahan scored 24 points in Masterman’s opening-round success, while Gary Williams and Jesse Turkson split 30 more. Will Sagle’s Wildcats (17-10) needed OT to get past Muncy 47-42 as Luke Blasick netted 18 points.

2A: (12-1) Math, Civics & Sciences vs. (4-2) Northeast Bradford
7:30 PM, Weatherly HS
The defending PIAA Class A runner-ups, MC&S got an early challenge from Christopher Dock in the opening round before pulling away for a 52-35 victory — Malik Archer and Tymair Johnson split 30 points — earning the Mighty Elephants (19-9) a matchup with the District 4 runners-up. Winning in the state play for the first time since 2004, Northeast Bradford (16-10) squeezed past District 2 runner-up Mountain View 41-38 behind 17 points from Garret Smith.

4A: (12-1) Imhotep Charter vs. (2-1) Scranton Prep
8:00 PM, Easton Area MS
Running their winning streak to 18 games by walloping Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt 74-41 — David Beatty (20), Bernard Lightsey (17) and Donta Scott (16) cracked double figures — Andre Noble’s Panthers (27-2) will meet up with a quality Scranton Prep squad in Thursday night’s second round. Prep (23-3) encountered little resistance in Round 1, as Andrew Kettel’s Cavaliers put six players in double figures in a 99-46 smothering of Salisbury. Leo O’Boyle led Prep with 17 points, while Nick Dende tossed in 13.


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