City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It’s hard to believe the 2023-24 regular season is nearly wrapped up — at least, at the high school level, with only a couple weeks left until postseason play begins across the Delaware Valley. The colleges are a couple more weeks behind, but everybody’s gearing up for the playoffs, with just about every game in the area holding importance of some kind. 

With that being said, it’s time for another look at the week ahead in local hoops, with a focus on the area’s high school races and the most critical games to watch. We’ll go league-by-league for the high schools for the last time; next week, we’ll focus back on the collegiate races and do separate playoff previews.

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AACA
The Catholic Academies could end up with a split regular-season title, as Villa Maria (12-6, 6-1) only needs to beat winless Merion Mercy to finish 7-1, while Gwynedd Mercy (15-3, 4-1) has to survive Villa Joe (10-7, 3-3) and Mt. St. Joe’s (5-13, 1-4) at home before going to Merion Mercy to force a tie, with VIlla and Gwynedd having won one regular-season matchup each. Gwynedd/Villa Joe takes place Tuesday; GMA won the first matchup, 50-36, at Villa Joe on Jan. 22.

Bicentennial Athletic League
Dock’s stranglehold on the boys’ side of the BAL has continued, the Pioneers now 14-5 overall, 11-0 in league play. Their toughest game remaining is Feb. 8 at Jenkintown (10-5, 7-3), but BAL teams have had a tough time scaring Dock lately. As for this week, second-place Delco Christian at MaST Charter on Friday is interesting as MaST is one of four teams with three league losses ostensibly tied for third place.

Catholic League
Let’s start with the girls’ side, where Archbishop Wood (13-5, 7-0) remains the only unbeaten, just ahead of Archbishop Carroll (10-7, 5-1) and Neumann-Goretti (12-3, 5-1) right behind them along with Cardinal O’Hara (14-2, 4-1) — though Wood’s already beaten all three. Carroll has a huge week, hosting O’Hara on Tuesday and Neumann-Goretti on Friday. O’Hara and Lansdale Catholic (13-3, 4-2) play another important one on Saturday. 

The top four spots in the PCL on the boys’ side are down to six potential teams: Roman (8-1), Judge (7-1) and Neumann-Goretti (7-1) are all at the top after Roman beat Neumann-Goretti on Sunday, with Wood (7-2) and Prep (6-2) right there; Archbishop Ryan (5-3) is the only other squad with a realistic shot at a first-round bye, with Archbishop Carroll (4-4) needing all sorts of help to even think about it. 

All that being said, games of importance this week start with Judge hosting Ryan on Monday, the two rival programs’ annual matchup taking on extra importance this season. Friday’s night’s biggest game is in South Philly as Neumann-Goretti hosts St. Joe’s Prep. Those are the only two games that pit top-six teams against one another; it’s also worth looking at the battle for the 10th and final playoff spot, with Devon Prep at 3-5 while, Cardinal O’Hara, Conwell-Egan and West Catholic all sit on two wins; two of that group will qualify. None of them play each other this week, either; keep an eye on O’Hara hosting Bonner-Prendergast (4-4) on Friday as an opportunity for the Lions, while Devon Prep has two tough ones against Father Judge and Archbishop Wood.

Central League
With three games left to play on the boys’ side, Lower Merion (18-1, 13-0) has all but clinched the top seed in the league’s six-team playoffs, though second-place Conestoga (12-5, 10-3) will try to be the first to knock off the Aces in a quality game Tuesday night. Radnor (14-3, 10-3), tied with ‘Stoga, has a quality game of its own Tuesday night at Marple Newtown (9-9, 7-5), which is hanging onto fourth place but has four six-loss teams right behind it: Harriton and Penncrest (7-6), Garnet Valley and Springfield (6-6). Penncrest has a huge week, hosting Harriton on Tuesday and going to Springfield on Thursday, and Marple hosts Harriton on Friday to complete a tough week of its own.

Haverford’s girls (15-3, 10-2) knocking off Conestoga (18-1, 12-1) this week made the race quite a bit more interesting, with Garnet Valley (15-2, 10-2) also in the mix; Radnor (14-4, 10-3) is currently the fourth seed. The top seed race could very well come down to Garnet Valley at Conestoga next Tuesday (Feb. 6), a rematch of a 46-40 ‘Stoga win back in December. Keep an eye on the Friday game between Penncrest (8-5) and Springfield (5-7), the latter trying to get into the final playoff spot

Ches-Mont League
Unionville (16-2, 7-0) has all but won the Ches-Mont American championship, something it should have well in hand by the time it plays Sun Valley (11-7, 6-3) in the season finale next week. Sun Valley can clinch second place in the division with a win in that game, but if it loses, the door is open for Rustin (11-7, 4-3) to get in there if it wins its final three games, starting with at Great Valley (8-10, 4-4) on Tuesday. In the National division, Henderson and Coatesville — both 8-1 in league play — have wrapped up playoff spots, and they’ll battle Tuesday at Coatesville for the outright division title; Henderson won the earlier matchup, 62-57 on Jan. 4.

There’s much more at play in the girls’ side of the Ches-Mont, in both divisions. Start with the American, where Unionville (6-1) leads Kennett (6-2) and Rustin (4-2), which has a busy end to its season thanks to weather postponements. Unionville hosts Kennett on Thursday, a game Rustin will be watching closely; Rustin at Kennet on Tues., Feb. 6 is another big one. 

The National is even more crowded: West Chester East (7-2) leads Coatesville (7-3), Henderson (6-3) and Shanahan (5-4), which is rallying late after a slow start. East gets Shanahan at home on Tuesday to potentially lock up the division, while the Henderson/Coatesville matchup (Tuesday at Henderson) is arguably bigger on the girls’ side as neither team has secured a league playoff spot.

Delaware Valley League
The boys’ side of the Del-Val is all but decided, as Chester (16-1, 6-0) has had a resurgent season, and nobody else has any fewer than two losses. The Clippers’ girls (9-8, 5-1) also lead, but Academy Park (5-13, 4-1) is right behind them; those two won’t meet again, so it’ll come down to the rest of the league to try and pull an upset, or there will be a split title. 

Friends’ Schools League
On paper, the girls’ FSL race is close, with Westtown (6-0) only a game ahead of Friends’ Central (5-1). But the Moose are a national-level program playing in a good local league, and there isn’t anybody in the FSL (or the state) that can hold a candle to Fran Burbidge’s group. 

The boys’ side is much more intriguing; Academy New Church (5-0) leads Friends’ Central, Friends’ Select and Westtown, all 5-1, with George School (3-3) looming. ANC hosts Thursday in a rematch of several of the recent Friends’ Schools League championships, and Friends’ Central hosts Friends’ Select on Thursday in the regular-season finale. Either way, it’s all setting up for a great FSL playoffs.

Inter-Academic League
There’s still a little bit of time for movement, but the Inter-Ac is turning into a two-team race on the boys side, with both Episcopal and SCH Academy at 4-1 through five games; Malvern Prep’s 3-3 through six games, and Haverford School/Penn Charter are both 2-3, while GA is 1-5 but just beat Penn Charter. Anybody can beat anybody in this league, which means every game is important; EA and SCH don’t play each other until Tues., Feb. 6, with two games each to play before then. 

The girls’ Inter-Ac has Penn Charter (7-1) and Germantown Academy (5-1) theoretically tied for the lead, though GA still has another game against Notre Dame (5-2), the only other team in the league with the firepower to knock off the teams above it. PC and GA don’t meet until Fri., Feb. 9 at Penn Charter, which took the earlier game 61-58 at GA on Jan. 18. Barring a major upset, one of those two archrivals will take the league outright — PC for the third time in a row, GA for the first time in four years.

Pioneer Athletic Conference
It’s a banner year in the PAC, with depth and quality on both the boys’ and girls’ side, and both playoffs should be fun to watch. The girls’ field is controlled by Perkiomen Valley, the Vikings (18-1, 8-0 Liberty) the league and District 1 6A favorites to repeat as champions in both; they play at Spring-Ford (16-3, 7-1) on Friday in the regular-season finale to decide the division champ. The Phoenixville girls (13-6, 8-0) have the Frontier division title all but sealed, while Pope John Paul II (10-8, 6-2) needs to win at Upper Merion (10-8, 5-3) on Thursday to secure second place.

As for the boys — Phoenixville (13-6, 7-1) and Pottstown (13-5, 7-1) are currently tied atop the Frontier division, and they play each other Tuesday night at Pottstown. Winner gets the division, but the loser’s still guaranteed a spot in the league playoffs. As for the Liberty, Spring-Ford (16-4, 8-0) has two games left against its toughest competition, the two teams tied for second place in Methacton (13-6, 6-2) on Tuesday at home and at Perkiomen Valley (17-3, 6-2) on Thursday. A three-way tie is possible.

Philadelphia Public League
The Public League regular season wraps up this week, and then we head into the massive Public League playoffs. On the boys’ side, the biggest game takes place Tuesday when Northeast and Engineering & Sciences, both unbeaten in the ‘B’ Division, meet up for the title; that same day, the ‘C’ division title is also up for grabs as Ben Franklin and Samuel Fels meet up, and the ‘E’ Division as well as Swenson visits TECH Friere. But there’s no doubt the overall league favorite is Imhotep, which romped through the ‘A” Division; the semifinal spots are totally up for grabs. 

On the girls’ side, the ‘C’ Division title is up for grabs Wednesday when Bodine visits Masterman, the latter yet to take a loss on the season. Audenried, the overall Pub favorites, sits atop the ‘A’ Division at 6-0, while Palumbo leads the ‘B’ Division at 9-0. 

Suburban One League
Boys
Okay, lots to cover here. Central Bucks East (15-4, 10-3) has a two-game lead in the Colonial, though it has to play a couple teams fighting for their postseason lives at Souderton on Friday and at home against North Penn next Tuesday; both of them have 7-5 SOL records. CB West (14-5, 8-5), safe for districts, could also make the SOL playoffs if it finishes 3-0, including a win at Souderton next Tuesday. 

Cheltenham (13-4, 10-2) has the upper hand in the Freedom, with a huge week ahead in William Tennent (12-6, 9-4) at home Tuesday and Upper Moreland (11-7, 8-5) on the road Friday, the two teams behind it in the division standings. Upper Dublin is in a similar spot, the Liberty leader at 16-3 (11-1) playing Abington and PW on Tuesday and Thursday, needing to beat one of the two three-loss squads to ensure it does no worse than tie. As for the Patriot division, Bensalem (15-2, 11-0) has a five-game lead with five games to play.

Girls
The Suburban One Colonial is a two-horse race with North Penn (16-2, 11-1) and CB East (15-2, 9-2), the two meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at North Penn to close out the year, both programs locked in for the SOL and District 1 tournaments. The Liberty is also similarly settled, with Upper Dublin (17-1, 12-0) ahead of Abington (13-4, 9-1) clearly postseason-bound, though those two meet this Tuesday at Abington. 

Neshaminy (13-4, 9-2) has a two-game lead on the Patriot, with Council Rock South (8-4), Bensalem (7-4) and Pennsbury (7-4) all in the mix for an SOL postseason berth behind them. That makes Tuesday’s game between Bensalem and Pennsbury at Bensalem an important one, same with CR South hosting Pennsbury on Thursday. Finally, in the Freedom, Lower Moreland (11-5, 8-3) leads Upper Moreland (12-6, 8-4), those two splitting their regular-season matchups. Lower Moreland has a big pair of road games Monday/Tuesday at Plymouth Whitemarsh and New Hope-Solebury, the first a rescheduled crossover game, that’ll help determine who’s really in the lead when the calendar hits February.

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Weekly Schedule
Note: this is not the complete schedule of every local high school game; CLICK HERE for the full boys’ slate and CLICK HERE for the girls’ schedule. Included are every Big 5 game (home and away) plus local D-II and D-III games of note. Home team listed first unless @ symbol used.

Mon., January 29
Boys: Eng. & Sciences vs. Northeast (3:15 PM)
Boys: Conwell-Egan vs. La Salle HS (7:00 PM)
Boys: Cardinal O’Hara vs. Archbishop Carroll (7:00 PM)
Boys: Father Judge vs. Archbishop Ryan (7:00 PM) 

Girls: Imhotep vs. Audenried Charter (3:15 PM)
Girls: Freire Charter vs. Mastery North (3:15 PM)
Girls: Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Lower Moreland (7:00 PM) 

Tues., January 30
MBB: Villanova vs. Marquette (7 PM)

Boys: SCH Academy vs. Haverford School (4:00 PM)
Boys: MCS vs. Dobbins (4:00 PM)
Boys: Spring-Ford vs. Methacton (6:45 PM)
Boys: Pottstown vs. Phoenixville (6:45 PM)
Boys: Coatesville vs. West Chester Henderson (6:45 PM)
Boys: Upper Dublin vs. Abington (7:00 PM)
Boys: Lower Merion vs. Conestoga (7:00 PM)
Boys: Cheltenham vs. William Tennent (7:00 PM)
Boys: North Penn vs. Souderton (7:30 PM) 

Girls: Perkiomen School vs. Pennington School (N.J.)
Girls: Archbishop Carroll vs. Cardinal O’Hara (6:00 PM)
Girls: West Chester Henderson vs. Coatesville (6:45 PM)
Girls: West Chester Rustin vs. Great Valley (6:45 PM)
Girls: West Chester East vs. Bishop Shanahan (6:45 PM)
Girls: Haverford High vs. Ridley (7:00 PM)
Girls: Bensalem vs. Pennsbury (7:00 PM)
Girls: Abington vs. Upper Dublin (7:00 PM)

Weds., January 31
WBB: La Salle @ UMass (11:00 AM)
MBB: Ursinus vs. Franklin & Marshall (6:00 PM)
WBB: Villanova vs. UConn (6:30 PM)
MBB: Saint Joseph’s vs. George Mason (7:00 PM)
MBB: La Salle @ Rhode Island (7:00 PM)
WBB: Saint Joseph’s @ Loyola Chicago (7:00 PM)
WBB: Temple vs. Wichita State (7:00 PM)
MBB: Eastern vs. Widener (8:00 PM)

Boys: Delco Christian vs. Sun Valley (5:30 PM)

Girls: Neshaminy vs. Central Bucks East (3:15 PM)

Thurs., February 1
MBB: Drexel @ Monmouth (7:00 PM)

Boys: Academy New Church vs. Westtown (5:30 PM)
Boys: Perkiomen Valley vs. Spring-Ford (6:45 PM)
Boys: Upper Dublin vs. Plymouth Whitemarsh (7:00 PM)

Girls: Upper Merion vs. Pope John Paul II (6:45 PM)
Girls: Haverford High vs. Garnet Valley (7:00 PM)
Girls: Council Rock South vs. Pennsbury (7:00 PM)
Girls: Plymouth Whitemarsh vs. Upper Dublin (7:00 PM)

Fri., February 2
WBB: Penn vs. Brown (6 PM)
WBB: Drexel vs. Delaware (6 PM)
MBB: Penn @ Brown (7 PM)

Boys: Penn Charter vs. SCH Academy (7:00 PM)
Boys: Roman Catholic vs. Archbishop Carroll (7:00 PM)
Boys: Neumann-Goretti vs. St. Joe’s Prep (7:00 PM)
Boys: Abington vs. Wissahickon (7:00 PM)
Boys: Upper Moreland vs. Cheltenham (7:00 PM)

Girls: Faith Christian vs. Jenkintown (5:30 PM)
Girls: Archbishop Carroll vs. Neumann-Goretti (6:00 PM)
Girls: Spring-Ford vs. Perkiomen Valley (6:45 PM)
Girls: Chester vs. Penncrest (7:30 PM)

Sat., February 3
MBB: La Salle vs. Saint Joseph’s (12 PM)
WBB: Saint Joseph’s vs. UMass (2 PM)
WBB: Villanova vs. Seton Hall (2 PM)
MBB: Haverford vs. Gettysburg (3 PM)
WBB: Penn vs. Yale (4 PM)
MBB: Penn @ Yale (7 PM)

Boys: Coatesville vs. Unionville (1:30 PM)
Boys: Pope John Paul II vs. Holy Ghost Prep (2:00 PM)
Boys: Reading vs. Cheltenham (3:00 PM)
Boys: Malvern Prep vs. Academy New Church (4:00 PM)

Girls: West Chester East vs. Downingtown Est (12:15 PM)
Girls: Cardinal O’Hara vs. Lansdale Catholic (12:30 PM) — Josh
Girls: Ridley vs. Lower Merion (1:00 PM)

Sun., February 4
WBB: Drexel @ William & Mary (1 PM)
WBB: La Salle vs. Dayton (2 PM)
WBB: Temple @ Charlotte (2 PM)
MBB: Temple @ Tulane (4 PM)
MBB: Villanova vs. Providence (6 PM)

Girls: Conwell-Egan vs. Archbishop Carroll (1:30 PM)

Boys: Devon Prep vs. Archbishop Wood (2:30 PM)
Boys: Marple Newtown vs. Ridley (TBD)