City of Basketball Love

Corky Blake (@CorkyBlake)
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READING -- If the Garnet Valley boys basketball team could’ve just bottled the first two minutes of the first and second quarters against Parkland, the Jaguars would still be playing in the PIAA Class 6A tournament.

Instead, the District 1 seventh-place team is done for the season after falling to the District 11 champion Trojans 74-58 in the second round Wednesday night at Reading’s Geigle Complex.

Parkland (20-9) advances to the Elite Eight against Roman Catholic, a 60-56 overtime winner over Lower Merion, on Saturday at a time and site to be determined.

“They have good players, but I think we could’ve played better defense by getting out on their shooters,” said Garnet Valley senior guard Max Koehler when asked to dissect the loss. “We let up too many offensive rebounds. I know I forced a couple of shots.”

The Jaguars broke to a 7-0 lead on guard Drew Van Horn’s post-up basket, Koehler’s three-point play and Ryan Faccenda’s basket, also on a move from the low block.

Parkland regrouped and went ahead 14-11 on 3s from guards Matt Ray (20 points) and Nick Coval (23 points). But Garnet Valley answered with a 3-pointer from Faccenda and a three-point play from reserve Jack Krautzel for a 17-14 lead entering the second quarter.

Krautzel and Jake Sniras opened the second stanza with 3s, and senior Logan McKee then deposited an alley-oop pass from Faccenda for a highlight reel basket and 25-16 lead with 6:18 still to play before halftime.

The rest of the quarter belonged to the Trojans, who went on a 20-4 run to lead 36-31 at halftime. Parkland hit four 3s in the spree, but the backbreaker was Coval following up a miss of his wild layup try just before the buzzer. Everybody seemed to stop except Coval thinking the half was over.

That’s just one reason why the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference MVP and son of DeSales University coach Scott Coval is drawing heavy interest from Division I schools and holds an offer from Saint Joseph’s, among plenty of others.

“They’re a very good team,” Garnet Valley coach Mike Brown said. “We expected their No. 2 (Coval) to be that good, but his teammates are good, too. They took turns making 3s.”

The Jaguars (18-10) stayed within striking distance in the second half until they fell behind 53-42 with 6:15 left in the game. Brown called a timeout to instruct his team to trap the Trojans from baseline to baseline.

The results were mixed, but the change perked up Garnet Valley and the Jaguars charged back.

McKee swished a 3 after a Parkland turnover and 28 seconds later converted a pair of free throws. A Koehler foul-line jumper and Sniras’ deep 3 brought Garnet Valley to within 59-56 with 2;30 to go.

Three Jaguar possessions came up empty, and twice the Trojans broke the press for layups. Ray then made 9 of 10 free throws to clinch the win and a date with Roman Catholic, a team the Trojans scrimmaged in the preseason.

“We missed a lot of easy shots and lost momentum,” Brown said. “Overall, we played hard.”

Sniras again showed he’s one of the state’s top sophomores. He led the Jaguars with 21 points.

Last Saturday, Sniras hit a shot for the ages when his 3-pointer just before the buzzer lifted Garnet Valley to an opening-round 46-45 win at District 3 runner-up Cumberland Valley.

“We’ve kind of had a roller-coaster season, but I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished,” said Koehler, who intends to continue his academic and basketball careers at York University. “This was a special group of guys. And that win (over Cumberland Valley) gave us a memory that will last forever.”

“We won 18 games for the second year in a row so that’s 36 in two years,” Brown said. “We were hoping to finish on a high note and put on a show against a good team.”

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GARNET VALLEY (58)

VanHorn 1 0-0 2, McKee 3 4-4 11, Koehler 3 1-1 8, B. Krautzel 0 0-0 0, J. Krautzel 3 1-1 8, Faccenda 3 1-4 8, Sniras 8 2-2 21. Totals 21 9-12 58.

PARKLAND (74)

Coval 8 4-4 23, Ray 5 9-11 20, Gerbasio 4 0-0 9, Spang 2 2-3 6, Smaltz 3 0-1 6, Ruisch 3 0-0 8, Johns 1 0-0 2, Bednar 0 0-0 0, Escalona 0 0-0 0, Rodgers 0 0-0 0, Toth 0 0-0 0, Pulver 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 15-19 74.

Garnet Valley:   17  |  14  |   8   |  19  ||  58
Parkland:           16  |  20  |  10  |  28  ||  74

3-point goals: Sniras 3, Faccenda, J. Krautzel, Koehler, McKee; Coval 3,  Ruisch 2, Ray, Gerbasio.

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Wed., March 15
Boys 6A
(11-1) Parkland vs. (1-7) Garnet Valley (6 PM)
(1-2) Spring-Ford 43, (3-3) Hempfield 39
(12-1) Roman Catholic 60, (1-3) Lower Merion 56 (OT)
(7-2) New Castle 65, (1-4) Downingtown West 56
(3-1) Reading 86, (1-6) Upper Darby 58
(1-9) Coatesville 61, (1-8) North Penn 55
(12-3) Archbishop Wood 72, (3-6) Chambersburg 45

Girls 5A
(1-1) West Chester Rustin 49, (2-2) Abington Heights 46
(12-1) Archbishop Wood 42, (1-2) Villa Maria 29
(1-3) Bishop Shanahan 43, (2-1) Pittston Area 35.
(11-1) Bethlehem Catholic 34, (1-4) Gwynedd Mercy 24

Boys 4A
(1-1) Bishop Shanahan 69, (2-1) Scranton Prep 57

Girls 4A
(12-1) Lansdale Catholic 79, (4-2) Jersey Shore 42
(3-5) Trinity 67, (12-2) Audenried 50
(2-1) Scranton Prep 51, (1-1) Nazareth Acad.47 (OT)
(3-1) Wyomissing 40, (12-3) Neumann-Goretti 33

Boys 3A
(12-3) Devon Prep 82, (2-2) Mid Valley 52
(12-1) West Catholic 56, (2-1) Holy Redeemer 47
(3-1) Trinity 91, Math, Civics & Sciences 84 Girls 3A
(2-1) Dunmore 52, (12-1) Imhotep Charter 34

Boys 2A
(11-1) Mahanoy Area 58, (12-1) Constitution 40
(1-1) Dock Mennonite 60, (12-2) Sankofa Freedom 44

Girls 1A
(4-2) St. John Neumann 40, (1-1) The Christian Acad. 37