City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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The District 1 5A bracket is finalized with game times announced. The 12-team boys and girls tournaments begin Friday with four opening round games in each tournament as the other four squads earn byes. 

Six teams earn spots in the PIAA field so the winners head to next Wednesday’s second round and have at least two more games left in their seasons, while the first round losers shut the doors on their 2022-23 campaigns..

Here’s a look at each of next Friday’s first-round games, which will all take place at 7 PM (unless otherwise noted) at the higher seed; second-round games will be Wed., Feb. 22, also at higher seeds, who host through the championship game: Saturday, March 4 at Temple University:

Boys

8) Sun Valley vs. 9) Marple Newtown
Winner play No. 1 Radnor

The Vanguards have four starters who played in last year’s district tournament, opening with a win as the 8-seed before falling to top seed Radnor in the second round and 12th-seeded Chichester in the first playback game. The good news is they get another chance to do it again. Senior Chris Kwaidah has been even better after earning first team all-league honors complementing his shooting ability with plenty of other factors, including the ability to go up for a slam. Junior Noah Griffin is another explosive threat an opportunistic defender, while seniors Todd Harper, a strong frontcourt presence, and Bucky Grayston are the two other starters from last season. Sophomore Kaiden Robinson, a 6-1 guard, has had a few nice outings late in the season.

Marple graduated most of the lineup that got to the PIAA Class 5A quarterfinals last year, putting a huge scare into Imhotep, but Sean Spratt does have sophomore Matt Gardler back in the mix, the talented underclassman shouldering a much bigger offensive load this year. Around him is a guard-heavy lineup including seniors Corrado Fischetti and Bryan Bogan, junior Steven Tansey and sophomore Ryan Keating, though Spratt also goes up to five deep on his bench. They’ve also been playing without junior PJ Esposito, who’s recovering from a concussion; he would be a welcome readdition to the lineup if he can play in districts.

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5) Upper Dublin vs. 12) West Chester Rustin

Winner plays No. 4 West Chester East

Upper Dublin was upset in the first round of the Class 6A bracket by Cinderella story Garnet Valley last season, so the Cardinals won’t be one to overlook the last team into the 5A field. Though they had a lopsided loss to Plymouth Whitemarsh  and an overtime loss to CB East in the SOL semis (two of the 6A favorite), Upper Dublin is playing some of the best basketball around, winning 13-straight games before the loss to PW and 15 of 16 before the loss to CB East. Part of the January surge was the fact that football players like Colin O’Sullivan (Rutgers) and DJ Cerisier (Duquesne) were back in basketball mode after a late start to the year. Sophomore guard Ryan Mulroy’s had a terrific season, piling up a few big performances. Senior 6-5 forward Seaton Kukla, a Juniata recruit, helps the Cards on the inside, while junior Brady Fogle can knock them down from deep.

Rustin gave Downingtown West all it could handle in the Ches-Mont semifinals. With their league and district fates uncertain for about a month now, you could say the Golden Knights have had plenty of high stakes games to prep for districts, taking down Unionville late in the year. Senior guard Tyler Giunta and captain can break down the defense to get into the lane, hitting quite a few floaters against West. Senior wing Ian Schlesinger, a lanky lefty, was hitting from deep as well. Senior wings Sam Sproull and Matt Nochumson and sophomore guard Chase Hatton can all get going as well. The Golden Knights dropped their opener as 10-seed last season, but this senior group was around when the program went to the 5A title game in 2021.

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7) Holy Ghost Prep vs. 10) Upper Moreland
Winner plays No. 2 Chichester

Holy Ghost Prep, a mainstay in the District 1-5A field, has lost its opener in each of the past two seasons. Without a league slate, Holy Ghost put together a pretty challenging schedule that resulted in five teams from the 5A playoff field and five from the 6A field — going 2-8 in those games with wins over Pennsbury (No. 13 6A) and Upper Merion (No. 11 5A). The goal for 45th-year coach Tony Chapman was to test his team for the postseason. Senior 6-6 forward Mel Lindsey, senior 6-2 sharpshooter Seamus McDermott and bruising 6-2 sophomore Adrien Varella are the top offensive threats but Ghost goes deep with a nine or 10-man rotation and 13 seniors on the roster. Seniors Noah McDermott, Mark Tomasetti, Colin Lucas and Dasani McNelly are a couple of the other top contributors in the deep rotation.

After jumping out to a 10-1 start to its season, Upper Moreland posted a 3-8 mark in the new year. There’s plenty of talent there, however, if the Golden Panthers figure things out before the postseason. Senior Jon Clark (6-3) is a lefty who can take the ball to the hoop and and sophomore guard Colson Campbell, the top player off the bench from last season’s semi final team, is not afraid to let it fly. Junior point guard Alex Best (5-10) is another shooter and advantageous defender, while sophomore forward Nigel Adamson (6-6) is a monster on the glass and junior Sean Murphy (6-9) adds even more size.

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6) Pottstown vs. 11) Upper Merion
Winner plays No. 3 Unionville

The PAC Frontier foes played a pair of exciting games this season with the Vikings, the division champions, taking both contests — 69-68 at Upper Merion on Dec. 16 and 80-75 at Pottstown Jan. 17. If you want to see points on Friday night, this is likely the game to go to.

The host Trojans haven’t been in the district playoff since 2019 and hadn’’t won a postseason game of any kind until a PAC first round win over Norristown last week. Senior guard Ty Elliot-Moore, whose range extends a few feet beyond the 3-point arc, and junior twin brothers Abdul and Sadeeq Jackson lead the charge for Pottstown, while senior forward Terryce Phillips and junior guard Jurell Young have been steady postseason contributors.

Upper Merion lost by three in its district opener as the 11th seed last season, the fourth straight campaign that ended with a first-round district loss. The Vikings won the first PAC playoff game in program history last week to reach the league championship game, so maybe that’s a sign of things to come. Sophomore Devon Nelson and junior guard Nick Smiley are both tall, athletic guards who can finish in traffic. Junior Colin Hirshorn’s been the team’s top perimeter threat. Seniors Devin Swayze, Zayd Etheridge and Yusuf Riley find ways to make plays as well and junior guard Allen Cole’s hit a couple of clutch shots already this postseason.

Girls

8) Oxford vs. 9) West Chester East
Winner plays No. 1 West Chester Rustin

This all-Ches Mont matchup is a rematch of a Dec. 8 game at Oxford, where the Hornets trailed by six to the Vikings but used a 17-1 run to open the third quarter to defend their home court in a 49-38 victory. Both have had their ups and downs this season; Oxford (12-10) went just 2-8 in the Ches-Mont American, struggling with some of the 6A squads in its division, though beating most of its 5A opponents. East (12-10) went 5-7 in the Ches-Mont American and has won three of its last four but only has one win over a team in the 5A field (Phoenixville).

Under the direction of second-year head coach Paul Day, Oxford has taken a nice jump from last year’s five-win season, especially considering that five of the Hornets’ eight-girl rotation are sophomores: Kate Patterson (5-9), Kate Kline (5-6), Gianna Ferrario (5-8), Jasmine Johnson (5-9) and Jordan Eshleman (5-9); a trio of seniors, all in their second year as starters, provide the leadership and experience: Olivia Voss (5-7), Caroline Tipton (5-8) and McKenna Frank (5-8). With good size across the board but without any true post players, the Hornets rely on their defensive prowess, holding a number of teams below 30 this season.

West Chester East has also taken a big step forward, winning only five games of its own a year ago, without a senior in the lineup. Senior guard Mikayla Kusher returns after missing last season with a knee injury; the three-year starter is the only senior in a starting lineup that also includes 6-1 sophomore Kofia Keith, 5-9 freshman Lauren Horan, 5-9 junior Annie Kerns and 5-3 sophomore Annalise Kubasko. Keith, Kearns and Kubasko are all returning starters, so there’s a good deal of experience here, which could pay off this time of year.

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5) Upper Moreland vs. 12) Strath Haven
Winner plays No. 4 Gwynedd Mercy

On paper, this might seem like a tough draw for Strath Haven (10-12), having to travel to play an Upper Moreland squad that enters the postseason with an 18-5 record. But the biggest question for the Golden Bears is health. Upper Moreland was minus three key players at the end of the regular season and SOL tournament quarterfinals, which is why they enter the playoffs with three straight losses after opening up with 18 wins in their first 20 games, so who’s available might determine how long their postseason lasts. Haven, which has lost five of six entering districts, hasn’t played a team from the Suburban One all year.

The good news for coach Matt Carroll is none of the injuries were too serious and he’s optimistic his roster will be full come Friday night. Having someone like EmmyFaith Wood sitting out would hurt any team, but the senior point guard and 1,000-point scorer is absolutely integral to UM as a perimeter defender and the team’s point guard and best shooter so the Bears are eager to get No. 11 back on the floor.That’s not to take away from Lily Hansen and Allie LaRocco, both regular starters before injuries subtracted them from the lineup, their absence definitely felt in the middle of Upper Moreland’s stout defense. Forward Holly Gohl has been steady on both ends of the floor in her junior season, guard Mikel Lancit has emerged throughout the course of the season and forward Alyssa Wiley has given UM a little bit of everything.

Strath Haven, under second-year head coach Christine Smith, has made it to the district tournament for the first time since 2015. The Panthers have a balanced top seven, led by 5-5 freshman guard Chloe Hunold, who averages about 12 ppg, plus 5-9 sophomore Olivia Voshell, senior guard Sierra Felder, 5-10 junior forward Laura Shea and sophomore guard Maryella Gill in the starting lineup; senior center Lauren Goldberg and junior forward Bianca Penn are the most significant bench contributors. 

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7) Mount St. Joseph vs. 10) Marple Newtown
Winner plays No. 2 Bishop Shanahan

On paper, the Magic (11-12) look like a team built for a postseason run with four senior starters and a pretty challenging regular season slate behind them. They’ve played some top teams in the SOL, the PAC, the PCL and from Delaware but as senior guard Lauren Hoffman noted after Saturday’s AACA semifinal loss, all that matters is Friday night. But Marple (12-10) is coming off a season in which it won a state playoff game for the first time ever, and though many of their major contributors are gone from that year, the memories are recent enough to serve as a reminder that this time of year, anything can happen.

Hoffman, aside from a few games missed to a foot injury, has been Mount Saint Joseph’s offensive keystone as a reliable three-point shooter able to drive to the rim. Senior Georgia Pickett has steadily put together a strong season, routinely leading the Mount in rebounds and scoring in a variety of ways. Kiersten Pumilia sets the pace at point guard while Chloe McGrorty adds another shooter/slasher off the perimeter to round out the senior quartet of starters. Junior Emily Birmingham finalizes the starting lineup in the frontcourt while Addison Smith also brings size and toughness at forward and Carlie Shouldis earned her stripes filling in during the team’s midseason bout with injuries.

Marple’s Ryan Wolski has a couple four-year starters to lean on in point guard Mary O’Brien and forward Brooke Impriano, both major parts of last year’s postseason success, and the Tigers have made the districts in all four years they’ve been there. After that it’s some new faces: junior guards Ellie DiBona and Catherine Kirby and freshmen forwards Taylor Murrin and Rowan Hilden round out Wolski’s top six. This is Marple’s first game this season against an AACA team, and MSJ’s first against a Central League team.

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6) Radnor vs. 11) Phoenixville
Winner plays No. 3 Villa Maria

Both of these squads enter the postseason having put together some winning streaks near the end of the season. Phoenixville (12-9) has lost its last two, including to Spring-Ford in the PAC semifinals, but had won six straight and eight of 10 games before that point. Radnor (15-9), which lost to eventual Central League champs Haverford High in its own league semifinal, had won four straight before then. They only played one common opponent: West Chester East, which Radnor beat 52-31 back on Dec. 6 and who Phoenixville lost to 41-29 on Jan. 14, if that’s a sign of anything.

Radnor is led by 5-8 point guard Mary Sareen who is at the core of the team’s style of play on both sides of the ball; the senior scored 17 in the loss to Haverford in the Central semifinals. The Raptors play a hard-nosed style of defense in which they make life difficult for opposing teams, particularly in their attempts to attack the basket. Senior guard Meg Dole and junior Caroline Monagan provide nice balance as perimeter scorers while freshman Anna Reger and junior Kate Gallagher, a West Point lacrosse commit, are vital as secondary offensive creators. They are a competitive bunch who are ready to muck it up defensively and leave it all on the floor.

Boosted by a few young pieces, Phoenixville won the Pioneer Athletic Conference Frontier Division this season. Senior guard Jaime Michaud, a multi-sport standout, isn’t one of the scoring leaders this season, but she’s one of the few who have been around. Freshman 6-foot forward Riley Ford-Bey has a pretty good feel in the post for a young forward, leading a very balanced squad in scoring, and sophomore Nevaeh Latimore-Beasley gives the Phantoms a boost from the perimeter. Freshman Ava Gnias and junior Mali Warren are the other starters, while senior Caroline Flick adds some experience off the bench.