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District 1 Playoffs: 5A and 6A Roundup (Fri., March 12)

03/13/2021, 12:00am EST
By CoBL Staff

Karell Watkins prepares to shoot the basketball

Karell Watkins (above, last season) score 20 points to help propel Chester to the District 1 5A Championship game. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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The District 1 playoffs continued on Friday night, with 5A semifinal matchups and 6A quarterfinals. Below is a roundup of all of the night's games.

5A semifinals 

2) Chester vs. 6) Phoenixville

What started as a close game quickly became anything but as the Clippers cruised to a 73-40 victory. Chester led by three points at the end of the first quarter and managed to boost that to a double digit lead during the second quarter. With less than three seconds remaining in the first half, Phoenixville senior Mike Memmo hit a 3-pointer to cut Chester's lead down to single digits.

The Phantoms made a few pushes early in the third quarter, cutting their deficit down to as few as six points, thanks, in part, to foul trouble from the Clippers. Within the first four minutes of the second half, Chester had piled up five fouls. The accumulation of fouls didn’t prove to be too costly for the Clippers, though, as they were able to push their lead back to double digits. Freshman Kyree Womack scored at the third quarter buzzer to give the Clippers a 15-point lead headed into the final eight minutes of play.

Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Chester racked up its 10th foul of the half, though, again, it didn’t do much damage to the Clippers. About halfway through the quarter, the Clippers’ lead was at 20 points. And, with a little over two minutes left, their lead was up to 30 points. 

Memmo led the Phantoms with 19 points. The Clippers had three players finish with double digit points: Seniors Jameel Burton Jr. (21), Karell Watkins (20), and Shaquan Horsey (11). Senior Fareed Burton Jr. chipped in nine points for Chester.

4) West Chester Rustin vs. 8) Unionville

Behind a 30-point performance from senior and Hofstra commit Griffin Barrouk, Rustin defeated Unionville 68-56 to advance to the District 1 Championship game. Unionville had a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and the teams traded leads during the second quarter and went into the half knotted at 27.

The Golden Knights held a four-point lead over the Longhorns after three quarters, and scored six consecutive points to start off the final frame. Despite missing some free throws, the Golden Knights scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to secure their victory.

6A quarterfinals

1) Cheltenham vs. 9) Lower Merion

Lower Merion upset the number one seed by a final score of 59-50. For coverage of this game, click here.

4) Garnet Valley vs. 5) Perkiomen Valley

Garnet Valley put together another dominant performance, defeating Perkiomen Valley 63-38 to advance to the semifinals. The Jaguars were led by Carl Schaller who scored 30 points. Schaller didn’t waste any time getting going, scoring nine points in the first quarter and 15 by halftime, which equaled Perkiomen Valley’s total at the break. 

“We play completely off of him,” said Garnet Valley coach Mike Brown. “He draws so much attention, but he’s always in control.”

When Perkiomen Valley started to double Schaller in the second half, Justin Langan stepped up. Langan didn’t have a field goal in the first half, but got hot in the third quarter, scoring 10 points, including two 3s. Langan finished with 16, as he and Schaller outscored Perkiomen Valley 46-38 by themselves. 

At the end of the first quarter, Garnet Valley had a slim lead, 14-13. From then on, it was all Jaguars, as they outscored Perkiomen Valley by 24 in the final three quarters, including a 9-2 second quarter. 

Garnet Valley was able to hold Perkiomen Valley’s Tyler Lapetina to 19 points on only four made field goals. Lapetina scored 28 in the last game against Pennridge, hitting 11 shots, but was held in check for most of the game. 

7) Central Bucks East vs. 18) North Penn

Freshman point guard Jacob Cummiskey won it for Central Bucks East with a buzzer-beating drive. Yes, you read that correctly. No, you didn’t travel back in time to Tuesday evening, when Cummiskey also won it for the Patriots with a buzzer beater.

This time was a little different. With less than 10 seconds left, Josh Jones put North Penn up with a pair of free throws. Cummiskey then went on an end-to-end drive to the rim en route to his second game-winning shot in as many games, giving the Patriots the 56-55 victory. 

“Actually, as they were shooting the foul shots and my teammate started to inbound the ball, I had immediate flashbacks to the game on Tuesday,” Cummiskey said. “As I got [the ball], I’m like, ‘I’m gonna go score this basketball.’ I saw [Jones], who was defending me all game, he was right in front of me, and after that, there was just the open court, and that’s what I do best. So I gave him one of my combo moves and got by him and just took it up to the basket and scored. I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on because, like, how can I go into this game expecting to hit another game winner? It was unreal.” 

The Knights led at halftime thanks to a 19-point first quarter effort. CB East scored 13 points in each of the first three quarters, and both squads scored 17 in the final frame.

Jones led all scorers with 23 points, and Billy Coley chipped in 14 for the Knights. Cummiskey led the Patriots with 18 points, and Joe Jackman added 15 points, including three triples. Jack Hamilton registered a double-double for CB East with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

6) West Chester East vs. 14) Abington

Abington pulled off another upset win, this time edging out West Chester East, 50-49. The Vikings got off to a slow start, scoring only three points in the first quarter; the Ghosts had a similar problem in the second quarter, scoring only two points. West Chester East held the slim 15-13 advantage at the half.

The offense picked up for both teams in the third quarter, though, with Abington scoring 21 points to WC East's 14. As the clock ticked down in the final minutes of the last quarter, the Ghost clung to a narrow lead. The Vikings’ Jackson Kulp hit a 3-pointer with about a minute to go to shave the difference to three points. 

With less than 10 seconds remaining, Abington led by only one point, and with just under four seconds left, the Vikings came out of a timeout with possession of the ball. But, the potential game-winning shot missed the mark, and the Ghosts, who have won seven of their last eight games, hung on to advance to the semifinals.

“West Chester East played extremely well. They had a good game plan and followed it to a tee,” said Abington head coach Charles Grasty. “I thought in the third quarter we were able to come out with a lot of energy and pick up the tempo a little bit. It was definitely a team effort… We just fought. We played team basketball. We shared the ball, we locked in on defense when we needed to.”

Kulp led all scorers with 17 points. The Ghosts had three players finish in double figures, led by senior point guard Rob Bell with 14 points. Junior Connor Fields chipped in 13 and senior Antoine Ellis had 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting, including three 3-pointers. Fields and Ellis both hit career highs in points. Senior Oreck Fraiser added seven points and seven rebounds.


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