City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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It’s been a wild week for Matt Gardler and Marple Newtown. 

First, the Tigers’ junior hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer on Tuesday to end the regular-season with a 49-48 win over Penncrest, securing Marple the No. 5 seed in the Central League playoffs as well as a spot in the District 1 5A tournament. 

As it turns out, that was just the warm-up. Gardler played hero for the second time in three days, this time hitting a turnaround jumper in the lane to lift Marple Newtown to a 69-68 win in double overtime over Garnet Valley in the opening round of the Central League playoffs. 

“In our offseason, we had kids keep a made shot tracker,” Marple coach Sean Spratt texted CoBL late Thursday night. “Between [the] last day of school and [the] first day of school, Matt made 8,241 shots. There is not a shot he has taken in a game, regardless of time and score, that he hasn’t made hundreds of times by himself in the gym. Every shot he has made and been repped and repped and repped.”

Gardler’s game-winner capped off a 32-point outing for the latest star in one of Delco’s most successful hoops families, who also hit the 1,000-point mark in the win. Gardler scored at least five points in every period, hitting four 3-pointers and going 8-of-9 from the line. 

Senior guard PJ Esposito added 18 points and Ryan Keating dominated the glass for Marple, which faces Lower Merion on Saturday in a semifinal. Conestoga, which beat Harriton in the other first-round game, will face Radnor in the other semifinal.

Jake Sniras led Garnet Valley with 31 points. The Jaguars’ season will continue in the District 1 6A playoffs, as they should host a first-round game next week. 

In other playoff action Thursday night…

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Sun Valley has wild comeback over Downingtown West

The Vanguards looked dead in the water for the first seven minutes. Downingtown West, behind 6-foot-7 junior Zeke Staz, scored the game’s first 21 points, a deluge that looked like the Whippets were ready to run away to face Coatesville in Saturday’s semifinals at West Chester.

Sun Valley, like it has all season, battled back.

Click here for Josh Verlin’s story

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Kennett girls shoot their way past Coatesville

Speaking of wild comebacks…

Kennett was down 44-37 with 2:30 left at home against Coatesville, and walked out with a 46-44 victory.

How? Clutch triples from Mia Matthews and Greta Burns in the final minute of play, the two of them each assisting on one another’s. Matthews’ came first, from the corner in front of her bench with 50 seconds to play, making it a one-point game. 

After a timeout, pressure from Kennett on the ensuing inbounds caused Coatesville to throw it away. Kennett dribbled out 30 seconds on the clock before Matthews found Burns in the far corner, the shot dropping through with six seconds remaining.

Coatesville had one final chance to tie at the line with no time left on the clock after a foul call on an inbounds play under the Coatesville bucket, but the first shot was no good, and the Blue Devils celebrated.

“The nice part of it was, the crowd that came out to support from both teams,” Kennett coach Vince Cattano said. “Coatesville’s crowd was great, Kennett’s student body showed up, it was a great atmosphere.”

That sets up a Ches-Mont semifinal matchup with West Chester East, whom Kennett beat 41-37 on Jan. 27. Cattano said that prior result worries him — he’s got a team that’s used to being the underdog, and now they’ll have to be ready to play a team coming out with a chip on its shoulder.

“West Chester East is well-coached, the kids play hard,” he said. “We feel like we’ve been the hunter and now I feel like West Chester East is going to be motivated to get revenge, and our kids have to be used to that.”

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Henderson girls make it a dozen straight

West Chester Henderson’s girls started off their 2024 with a three-point loss at Coatesville.

They haven’t dropped a game since. 

A 48-41 win over West Chester Rustin made it 12 consecutive wins for the Warriors, who roll into Saturday’s semifinal game against Unionville with as much momentum as anyone around. 

“After our Coatesville loss, the girls had a team meeting, themselves only,” head coach Greta Neff said. “They decided a couple things, and they came to me and they said ‘hey Coach this is what we want to do,’ and I give them all the credit in the world. Their defense over the past four-five weeks has been amazing, it puts us in places where we can succeed.”

Jackie Shea led the way with an 11-point, 14-rebound double-double, hitting four shots in the third quarter to help Henderson stay in front. Whitney Evans had a team-high 13 points while Lilli Bertrando added 11 more for the Warriors. 

That was enough to overcome a 20-point outing by Rustin senior guard and Widener-bound star Riley Stackhouse.

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More results…

— Up at Spring-Ford High School, host Spring-Ford and PJP II’s girls both won their opening-round matchups. The third-seeded rams cruised to a 68-18 win over Norristown in the 3/6 game, setting up a game against No. 2 Phoenixville in Saturday’s semifinals. PJP II, the No. 4 seed, beat No. 5 Upper Merion 32-26; the Golden Panthers will face top seed Perkiomen Valley.

— The Garnet Valley girls cruised in their Central League first-round game, topping Ridley 50-23. While usual stars Kylie Mulholland and Haylie Adamski had seven points each, it was Adamski’s younger sister, freshman guard Addie Adamski, who led the way with 15 points, including three 3-pointers; Savannah Saunders added nine points. The Jaguars will play No. 2 seed Conestoga in the semifinals on Saturday.