City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Another Play-By-Play Classic took place in the region on Wednesday as Widener University hosted the Pete & Jameer Nelson Classic. CoBL had staff in attendance for the six-game affair, which saw 10 area teams and one each from Delaware and New Jersey match up for some high-level hoops.

Here’s a brief recap of the first three games with more coverage to come:

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Game One: Plymouth Whitemarsh 60, Salesianum (Del.) 48

Qudire Bennett had the hot hand early and it never cooled off in Wednesday’s win.

The Colonials’ senior wing finished with a game-high 28 points to help PW (7-1) to a win over Sallies.

“I don’t do any of those crazy behind the back dribble moves to get past the defender,” Bennett said. “One move and go. If you don’t have it pass it out. That’s how I play. Just put the ball in the hoop.”

Junior Chase Coleman (11 points) had seven and Bennett had six in the first quarter as PW got up by double digits and led 20-12 after eight minutes. They expanded that advantage to 18 points, 34-16, by halftime, helped by another seven from Bennett.

Sparked off the bench by freshman Anthony Smith (14 points), Salesianum made a push in the third, cutting the Colonials lead all the way down to six, 36-30. Bennett drilled a pair of threes in response, scoring all eight of his team’s points in the third as they weathered the storm and went into the fourth with a  He saved seven more for the fourth, helping keep Sallies at bay for the remainder of the contest.

“Q was a neutral scorer out and in,” PW coach Jim Donofrio said. “Now, he’s got that look in his eye. He’s a veteran guy. He knows a lot of this is his confidence. Last year, not thrilled with ourselves. Realize how good you are man and he knows it. That goes a long way. He’s a talented guy. He’s got a green light to shoot 28-footers. Come out and cover that.”

The Colonials have won seven straight since a lopsided loss to Roman Catholic to open their season. Bennett said he and his teams are continuing to reap the lessons learned in that defeat.

“32 minutes is a long time,” Bennett said. “You have to fight each quarter until the game is over. That’s why I think that Roman game really taught us something in our next seven games coming back from it.”

By Quarter
Salesianum:  12   |  4  |  17  |  15  ||  48
Plymouth Whitemarsh:    20  |  14   |   8   |  18  ||  60

Scoring
Salesianum: Anthony Smith 14, Justin Hinds 12, Robbie Johnson 12, Isaiah Hynson 5, Zach Swartout 5

Plymouth Whitemarsh: Bennett 28, Coleman 11, Sayles 10, Sharpe 4, Willis 4, Masico 3

Game Two: George School 63, Springside-Chestnut Hill 41

A matchup of two potential league champions went the way of the Friends’ School, as George School’s imposing frontcourt helped the Cougars lock the Blue Devils down in the second half of a 63-41 win.

With SCH Academy (8-2) pushing the tempo early and able to neutralize the effectiveness of George’s 6-9 senior Kachi Nzeh and 6-11 sophomore Luke Bevilacqua, it was a 17-17 game after one quarter, though George (8-1) was able to open up a 31-25 advantage at the break. It was still a six-point game a couple minutes into the third when Ben Luber’s Cougars finally put their collective foot down.

A 17-0 run spanning the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarters left George with a 52-29 advantage, the outcome well decided by the time it was over. The Cougars didn’t shoot well from beyond the arc (2-14 3PT), but were too effective inside — and too dominant defensively, holding SCH to 6-27 shooting in the second half — for it to matter.

“We didn’t play great offensively but I think the second half, especially the third quarter, we finally were just more active,” Luber said. “We finished plays defensively, we weren’t just playing hard in spurts; we actually executed offensive strategy, rebounded the ball and got a good shot on the other end. I thought we did that multiple times in the third quarter which gave us that momentum we needed.”

Bevilacqua, in his first year at George, had eight points in the third quarter as part of the stretch, finishing as one of four Cougars in double figures with 13 points, adding seven rebounds (three offensive). Nzeh had a team-high 16 points on 6-7 FG (4-4 FT), with seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks; junior guard Christian Bliss (13 points, 4 rebounds) and senior wing Carson Mastin (12 points, 5 rebounds) also had solid all-around games.

SCH Academy was led by a 10-point effort from freshman Patrese Feamster, who knocked down two 3-pointers. Marquette-bound center Al Amadou only had two points on a pair of foul shots, with four rebounds and four blocks.

By Quarter
SCH Academy:  17  |   8   |   4   |  12  ||  41
George School:  17  |  14  |  15  |  17  ||  63

Shooting
SCH Academy: 16-54 FG (4-24 3PT), 5-5 FT
George School: 25-48 FG (2-14 3PT), 11-12 FT

Scoring
SCH Academy: Feamster 10, Burns 9, Morton 7, Williams 6, Brown III 5, Alston-Nelson 2, Amadou 2

George School: Nzeh 16, Bliss 13, Bevilacqua 13, Mastin 12, Weise 7, Ryabov 2

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Game Three: Lower Merion 81, Germantown Academy 34

There wasn’t much for Sam Brown to critique about his performance on Wednesday.

The Lower Merion senior guard and Penn commit scored a game-high 29 points in a runaway win over Germantown Academy.

But it was one off a career-high and Brown thought he left some meat on the bone.

“I was a little disappointed, I missed a wide open layup,” Brown said of a missed fastbreak opportunity that would have given him a career mark.

Brown estimated the 24 first-half points he put up in the first half were the most he’s scored in a half during his career. He had 14 points in the first quarter, hitting four of his seven threes in the frame. 

The Aces led 29-11 after one quarter and expanded that to 55-23 by halftime as Brown poured in another 10 points in the second quarter. He was 9-of-13 from the field in the first half, including six threes.

“Everything was falling, at least in that half,” Brown said. “My guys helped me a lot. They got me open. They were looking for me, so that definitely helped.”

Sam Wright added 17, including 12 in the first half for Lower Merion. 

Lower Merion (7-1), the two-time defending District 1-6A champions, entered Wednesday as the No. 1 team in the district power rankings. The Aces have now won five straight following a two-point loss to Haverford on Dec. 8. 

While they aren’t the consensus favorite like last year, Brown and his team’s believe they have as good of a chance as anybody to three-peat.

“People don’t think we’re going to get as far as I think we are, if we take it one game at a time we should,” Brown said.

By Quarter
Germantown Academy:  11   |  12  |  5  |  6  ||  34
Lower Merion:    29  |  26   |   12   |  14  ||  81

Scoring
Germantown Academy: Nolan 10, Brooks 7, Presley 6, Johnson 6, Rush 3, Strauss 2

Lower Merion: Brown 29, S. Wright 17, Poles 8, Kasmer 6, Mobley 6, Nocek 5, Coyne 3, Pendergrass 3, Herenkohl 2, Mebane 2

Game Four: St. Joseph’s Prep 73, Malvern Prep 64

It was the exact type of game St. Joe’s Prep wasn’t ready to win last year — a tight contest against a quality opponent that wouldn’t go away, that kept making shots, making plays. But the Hawks are a year older, a year wiser, and they were ready for the Friars’ challenge. 

“I think it was early, first maybe three, four minutes when we were down, we weren’t really playing our game,” St. Joe’s Prep coach Jason Harrigan said. “We got to a timeout, and coming out of the timeout you could see, they were saying, ‘we’re only down five, so we’re good,’ and I could see they didn’t feel defeated or whatever — it was the switch kind of (flipping) right there.”

Led by sophomore guard Jaron McKie, the Hawks (4-1) outscored the Friars (6-3) 25-15 in the fourth quarter to secure the win — going 16-of-17 from the foul line in the final quarter and 27-of-30 for the game. 

McKie, a 6-3 guard and the son of Temple coach Aaron McKie, finished with a career-high 34 points, hitting three 3-pointers (10-17 FG, 3-5 3PT) and going 11-of-11 from the foul line. He had at least two buckets in all but the fourth, when he went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, and scored 13 in the third quarter alone.

The young guard with a bright future also didn’t shy away from contact, needing to change jerseys in the first half after getting blood on his, then getting knocked around on everything from layups to 3-point attempts, popping back up quickly every time. 

“Warm-ups, we had shootaround back at our schools, I feel good shooting the ball, dribbling, everything felt good today,” he said. “I just felt relaxed out there [...] we had the day off a couple days ago, so my body was nice and relaxed.”

McKie’s classmate Olin Chamberlain Jr. added 14 points for the Hawks, who got a stellar interior presence from junior forward Tristen Guillouette, who had 14 rebounds, six blocks and four assists, his five points basically an afterthought. Malvern Prep was led by junior guard Ryan Williams, who had 19 points, five assists and two rebounds, plus senior guard Andrew Phillips, who had 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

By Quarter
St. Joe’s Prep: 17  |  16  |  15  |  25  ||  73
Malvern Prep:  14  |  15  |  20  |  15  ||  64

Shooting
St. Joe’s Prep: 20-45 FG (6-14 3PT), 27-30 FT
Malvern Prep: 21-64 FG (11-22 3PT), 11-12 FT

Scoring
St. Joe’s Prep: McKie 34, Chamberlain 14, Harper 9, Gorman 7, Guillouette 5, Ellerbee 4

Malvern Prep: Williams 19, Phillips 18, R. Pegg 9, Oschell 6, Davis 4, Pegg 3, Miller 2

Game Five: Cardinal O’Hara 70, Rutgers Prep 53

Cardinal O’Hara got a chance to show what it looks like when all things are clicking on Wednesday.

The Lions locked down on defense and had all five starters reach double figures as they shared the rock and pushed the ball in transition for easy looks.

“That’s how we try to play,” forward Pearse McGuinn said. “That’s the type of offense that we want to play where it’s high paced, high intensity. We just push the ball before the defense can even get back. That’s how we want to play.”

McGuinn posted a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double to lead the way. Izaiah Pasha, Josh Coulanges and  Christian Cervellero all added 13 while Aasim ‘Flash’ Burton chipped in another 12 for O’Hara in a well-rounded scoring effort.

The Lions raced out to a double-digit lead and went up 25-5 in the second quarter before going into halftime with a 36-13 advantage. Rutgers Prep’s Jadin Collins (14) woke up in the second half but the damage was already done with O’Hara pushing its advantage close to 30 on multiple occasions.

“I thought out defense was great,” McGuinn said. “That was probably some of the best defense we played all year. They couldn’t really get anything. Most of their possession, I felt like they were just dribbling and couldn’t get anything. We would get a steal and then we’d run down and get a layup.

“When everyone gets a touch and we all get momentum, everyone’s scoring, we just play off that, keep getting buckets, keep moving in transition,” he added.

Pasha racked up nine rebounds and seven assists to go with his 13 points. Wednesday was an example of how he can take a game over even when he’s not hunting his own shot, showcasing his terrific passing and playmaking abilities.

“Izaiah, he always makes an impact,” McGuinn said. When he’s not scoring, he’s looking for his teammates. When he is scoring we look for him. It’s kind of a mutual thing and that’s the trust we have to have as teammates.”

By Quarter
Rutgers Prep:  5  |   8   |   18   |  22  ||  53
Cardinal O’Hara:  19  |  17  |  22  |  12  ||  70

Scoring
Rutgers Prep: Collins 14, Jones 11, Atkins 6, Parker 6, Nsenkyire 5, Kelly 3

Cardinal O’Hara: McGuinn 16, Pasha 13, Coulanges 13,  Cerverello 13, Burton 12, Johnson 6.