City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Andrew Robinson (@ADRobinson3)
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It’s time for the state semifinals. 

The quarterfinal round of the PIAA playoffs was a good one for District 1 and District 12; of the 10 games on Tuesday involving area teams (three of which were all-local matchups), an area squad won seven of them, giving the Delaware Valley plenty to watch in this weekend’s semifinal round. Four of the five games involving local teams will be played Friday, as scheduled; one has been moved to Saturday as part of a mega doubleheader.

Here’s a look at each of the five games involving area teams:

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Archbishop Carroll vs. Quaker Valley (4A Boys)
Bald Eagle HS, 6 PM

What a ride it’s been, in more ways than one, for the Patriots.

A month ago, it looked like Carroll’s season was done after losing to Devon Prep in the first round of the PCL playoffs. Gifted a second chance when Bonner-Prendergast had to pull out of the state tournament, the Patriots have made the most of it by getting to the final four.

Another long bus ride, this one to Centre County, awaits but they’re ok with that too.

“I don’t want to say we’re used to it — we actually had a lot of great memories on these buses now. You spend close to six hours together — our ride home was a lot of fun,” Carroll coach Francis Bowe said.  “All this time on the bus is priceless — what it’s doing to our guys’ bodies, well I’m not playing, so I really don’t know, but it’s been a lot of fun, so for me, the road trips have been great. We try to get there early enough before the game, an hour and a half, two hours, to really stretch our legs and really feel good and hope that we play well. I’m having a blast, as crazy as it sounds.”

On top of the basketball stuff, which has been pretty impressive with wins over Berks Catholic, Athens and Montour, these Patriots are getting to see very different sides of each other. Bowe cited Blake Deegan as the breakout star of the postseason, bus ride edition, just by breaking out of his shell.

“Blake Deegan, his personality came out of nowhere, he’s always been the shyest kid in the world to me, everyone else told me ‘no, he’s really outgoing,’ and it was like ‘are you sure?’ and he played DJ on our bus, kid you not,” Bowe said. “They had a little speaker, and the songs he was picking was like he went to high school with me, he’s playing all these songs from the early 2000s.”

Waiting at the end of this standard yellow school bus ride is District 7 Quaker Valley and their sterling 27-0 record. The Quakers are paced by standout 6-foot-5 senior Markus Frank, who is putting up 28.1 points a game and his 6-foot-5 running mate in guard Adou Thiero, with the tandem combining for 45 points in their quarterfinal win.

Carroll has followed Dean Coleman-Newsome’s lead at point guard and Moses Hipps’ lead scoring the ball while the previously quiet-demeanored Deegan has been a presence swatting away shots around the rim. If senior Shawnn Smith can recover from an ankle injury in time, the Patriots would also benefit from his presence after a turnover-heavy showing last time out.

“We were kinda made to play in this event, in the state tournament, and thankfully we’re playing well, and we’re playing well at the right time,” Bowe said.

It’s a shade more than three hours from Radnor to Bellefonte, but for the Patriots, it’s just more time together they didn’t even think they’d get a month ago.

“You know what’s funny, a lot of people have been saying that, the house money, we’re good. I just think the kids knew we were a good team and that given that opportunity, they’re like we can’t waste this,” Bowe said. “The phrase is, we didn’t come all the way out here to lose. I don’t want them to jinx us on Friday. We did not drive all this way just to lose.”

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Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Cedar Cliff (6A Girls)
Garden Spot, 7:00 PM

Something has to give.

Whether it’s the Colonials’ drive for a perfect season or the Colt’s postseason road-grading of teams from District 1 and 12 will be up to the last two teams on the eastern side of the 6A bracket to decide. PW has handled the season well, keeping a laser-like focus only on the next game and it's the approach the District 1 champions will need against a Cedar Cliff team that’s lost just once all year.

From a purely basketball perspective, there’s a lot to like about both teams and plenty they share in common.

The biggest question going in for Plymouth Whitemarsh is the status of senior Jordyn Thomas, who had to sit out Tuesday’s quarterfinal with a non-COVID illness.

A 6-foot-1 post heading to Jefferson, Thomas is the anchor of PW’s rigid defense and her passing and shooting ability are crucial on the offensive end. All season, the Colonials have responded to whatever challenge is in front of them, but they know having Thomas back would be a game-changer.

“It’s one day at a time, we’ll see how she’s healing, how she’s feeling,” PW coach Dan Dougherty said. “I think by Thursday, we’ll know.”

There’s a good chance the outcome will be decided on the backboard. Cedar Cliff is a strong, physical team paced by their freshman double-double machine in Olivia Jones and the Colts used their advantage in rebounding as a key metric in their quarterfinal win over Pennsbury.

Adding Thomas back to a front line that includes 6-foot-2 senior Lainey Allen, who’s been racking up double-doubles herself, and 6-foot Erin Daley gives the Colonials the size and toughness to match up. Another area the Colts controlled on Tuesday was the foul line, taking 16 free throws to just six for the Falcons, so PW’s usually disciplined defense will have to be extra sharp.

Junior Taylor Ferraro has also been solid for the Colts in the state tournament, posting a team-high 18 on Tuesday after hitting for 10 against Archbishop Carroll a round earlier. Sydney Weyant and Ferraro are also reliable outside shooters and Megan Schrader is firm in the paint.

PW likes to keep things balanced on offense although the SOL champions have been just fine playing through Abby Sharpe in key stretches this postseason. The junior guard, who has shown an ever-evolving game this season, led with 20 against Perk Valley on Tuesday and has elevated her play at the times PW most needs someone to get going.

“We’ve tried to run the ball up the floor more to get her in open space more,” Dougherty said. “Against good defensive teams, it’s the thought to try and sprint the ball up the floor so you can score before they get set defensively.”

However the Colonials line up, they’ll again turn to senior point guard Kaitlyn Flanagan to direct everything on offense. The Holy Cross recruit has 19 assists in three state playoff games and showed an extra bit of aggression Tuesday with 14 points.

Friday night’s game will be Cedar Cliff’s first ever appearance in the state semifinals but for all the Colonials’ combined experience, it’s also the first time in the final four for anyone on the roster with PW’s last semifinal coming in 1985. 

“It’s crazy being in this spot as it is,” Sharpe said Tuesday. “We all want this very badly and being part of school history, we want to take it all the way. Being in this spot and having this opportunity I think is going to give us the extra push to go and make history.”

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Neumann-Goretti vs. Imhotep Charter (3A Girls)
Archbishop Wood High School, 6 p.m.

Imhotep Charter is two wins away from being the first Philadelphia Public League girls team to win a PIAA state championship as David Hargrove’s squad makes its first semifinals appearance. Standing in the Panthers’ way is a familiar foe: Neumann-Goretti, the same Saints squad that beat them in the District 12 championship game, 54-45, a few short weeks ago.

The Panthers (16-9), in the state semifinals thanks to wins over Executive Education (51-45), District 3 champs Trinity (46-45) and District 2 champs Riverside (46-40), has a strong trio of seniors in Taniyah Finney, Janai Smith and 6-4 Mikala Rambert-Carter as well as junior Samya Stevens, who’ve been taking turns starring during their postseason run.

In their latest game, where a nine-point first-quarter advantage on Riverside turned out to be enough space in a close-fought game the rest of the way, Finney scored 15, Smith 14 and Stevens 10; it was Stevens who led the way with 17 points the last time these two teams met up.

The star in the district championship game, as she’s been for the Saints the whole season, was 5-4 senior guard Mihjae Hayes, who had 33 points in the win, including 15 in the third quarter alone. The talented ball-handler and outside shooter is the engine that makes Andrea Peterson’s squad go, a two-way dynamo who sets the tone for the Catholic League squad.

Mahjae Hayes (above) had 33 points the last time Neumann-Goretti and Imhotep met, in the District 12 championship game. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

“She’s like the steering wheel to the cart, basically,” senior D’Ayzha Atkinson said after the quarterfinal win. “She drives us in every direction, she feeds us, gives us better opportunities to score.”

In the quarterfinals, Hayes had 25 points, five assists, five rebounds and five steals as N-G (15-9) beat Conwell-Egan. Atkinson added 14 points and 14 rebounds in the quarterfinal win, with junior guard Amirah Hackney coming off the bench to score nine. 

At 5-9, Atkinson is the Saints’ tallest starter, with guards like Hayes and freshman Carryn Easley (7 points, 6 assists, 6 steals in the quarterfinals) not blessed with much height but with a lot of toughness and talent.

“I don’t think anybody expected us to be here,” Peterson said. “Everyone walks in the door, they say, ‘wow your team’s so small,’ but we have a lot of heart, and I say it’s heart over height, so we’re ready for the Final Four.”

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Chester vs. Imhotep (5A Boys)
Saturday (March 19) — Coatesville High School, 1 PM

Chester and Imhotep have tested each other over the years, the two local powerhouses — the longtime District 1 kings and the upstart Public League squad which became a national-level name — testing each other in a few December and January clashes, each prepared for their own postseason runs. For most of their shared existence, Chester was in the ‘big school’ classifications, Imhotep down at the 2A or 3A level, their PIAA futures never involving each other.

But the Panthers kept moving up classifications as Chester dropped from 6A to 5A, and now the two find themselves meeting for the first time in March. It’s the furthest thing from a tune-up.

“Those are totally different games,” Imhotep coach Andre Noble said, “and yeah, we’re looking forward to it.”

Imhotep Charter (26-4) was expected to be in this game, the Panthers one of the dominant forces in the state over the last decade-plus under Noble, their only head coach since the program’s beginning at the turn of the century. This team is one of his best yet, featuring top-five junior wing Justin Edwards and his classmate, point guard Rahmir Barno, plus sophomore Ahmad Nowell, and a steady group of seniors including Gannon commit Ronny Raphael and forward Chad Anglin.

Rahmir Barno (above, in Dec.) and Imhotep survived a close call against Marple Newtown in the quarterfinals. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

They nearly got tripped up in the quarterfinals by an upstart Marple Newtown squad which had them on the ropes into the fourth quarter, Imhotep’s overwhelming advantage in athleticism, talent, size, etc. ultimately allowing them to overcome in the final minutes for a 44-39 victory.

“That team played really hard and we played really poorly, and I’m hopeful that we did [learn a lesson],” Noble said. “I talk to them all the time about a few things; one it’s tough to be really good offensively five games in a row, and you have to be able to rely on your defense to do that. We did our pressure stuff, but credit to (Marple), they held it together and made it really, really tough for us.”

Chester’s had something of a magical postseason, winning the District 1 5A championship in overtime thanks to some heroics by sophomore Kyree Womack, who hit both the game-tying 3-pointer in regulation and game-winning bucket in OT; Womack also hit huge shots in the Clippers’ second-round state win over Archbishop Ryan, while 6-4 sophomore Kevin Rucker led the way with 26 points in a 65-59 quarterfinal win over District 3 runner-up Shippensburg. 

There’s also 6-5 sophomore Larenzo Jerkins, a muscular forward with a nice mid-range jumper, who’s been their leading scorer in quite a few outings this year, plus 6-3 senior Isaiah Freeman, a Lincoln-bound quarterback who came up with 11 rebounds and eight steals against Ryan. And don’t forget senior guards Quadir Lowrie and Brielynd White, two of a number of other high-energy guards whom Keith Taylor can call upon to come up with a steal or knock down a jumper.

“That’s the thing that’s dangerous about them, is they get contributions from everywhere…the sum of what they’re doing is really tough,” Noble said. “It’s almost easier when you’re playing teams that have one guy, and it’s like ‘okay we’re going to get him.’ They’re playing together, they’re getting contributions from everywhere. You’ve got to deal with everybody that’s on that court.”

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Neumann-Goretti vs. Dallas (4A Boys)
Freedom HS, 7 p.m.

It’s Dallas vs. Philadelphia, albeit in a different form than the gridiron rivalry.

For the third game in a row, the District 2 champions will take on a team from District 12, having beaten Cardinal O’Hara (75-57) in the second round and then West Philadelphia (79-68) in a thrilling quarterfinal game that needed OT, setting up a matchup with the District 12 champion Neumann-Goretti in the semis. 

The Saints (21-4), who won the Catholic League championship and haven’t looked back, will be the toughest matchup yet for the Mountaineers (25-3), who haven’t lost since Jan. 15. The Saints have won eight PIAA championships since joining the PIAA in 2005, making deep run after deep run, the South Philadelphia institution featuring at least a couple dozen future Division I players over the years.

This year’s no different.

“This tournament’s a grind ‘cause you’re all over the place, playing all these teams, and everybody wants to take a shot at the Big Bad Wolf,” N-G coach Carl Arrigale said after their quarterfinal win. “We’re like the Big Bad Wolf of the tournament cause we’ve been winning and have had a lot of success. We’re everybody’s Super Bowl, and (the players) don’t understand it sometimes, but I think they’re getting it now.”

Robert Wright III (above) and Neumann-Goretti will be the toughest test yet for District 2 champs Dallas. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Arrigale has at his disposal an impressive mix of veteran experience and exciting youth; senior guards Masud Stewart and Aamir Hurst set the tone, while sophomore guards Robert Wright III and Khaafiq Myers — both of whom possess a growing list of D-I offers — will certainly be haunting defenses in the PIAA playoffs for a couple more years. Then throw in 6-8 British junior Sultan Adewale, who has a good list of high-majors after him, and it’s a Saints lineup that’s tough to find a crack in to exploit.

Dallas does have experience on its side, with senior guard Nick Nocito (23 points) leading the way in the win over West Philly. The point guard is a tough ball-handler who can score from all three levels, but he’s not their only scoring option; sophomore Michael Cumbo added 20 in the quarterfinals, and senior Austin Finarelli 13; both Nicito and Finarelli are 1,000-point scorers.

What the Mountaineers don’t have is a ton of size — senior center Jackson Wydra is just 6-1, and no one on the roster is listed as taller than 6-2. They’re going to have to find a way to limit Adewale and backup center Luke Bevilacqua, while also containing Wright and Myers, certainly no easy task. Otherwise, the Saints will be one win away from their first state title since 2018.