City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Four teams are in contention for the District 1 5A title.

Four others are playing for their seasons.

The 5A boys semifinals and playbacks take place this Saturday, the four semifinalists already qualified for the PIAA 5A bracket while the two playback winners will also lock up a spot. Last year’s runner-ups, Unionville, are still in the mix, while defending champ Radnor is in the playbacks. The Suburban One League and Pioneer Athletic Conference champs are still alive in the mix in one of the most competitive years yet in the relatively-new 5A classification.

Here’s a look at all four games; games are at higher seeds, times in parenthesis:

Semifinals (Sat., Feb. 24)
1) Unionville vs. 4) Phoenixville (7:00 PM)
On a day that has more than 20 various high school playoff games on the CoBL slate, this just might be the best one of the whole bunch. Both teams have had terrific seasons, Phoenixville winning the PAC championship for the first time in 17 years while Unionville has only lost three games all year, a cold shooting game costing the Longhorns (21-3) in the Ches-Mont semifinals. The Phantoms (19-6), which have won eight straight games, beat PAC rival Pottstown in the quarterfinals, getting 20 points from junior wing Deacon Baratta to lead the way. 

Baratta, a 6-5 wing, is part of a sizable Phantoms attack that also includes 6-5 Max Lebisky, a point forward who’s one of the more versatile talents in the area, plus 6-6 Aidan McClintock up front. Sophomore point guard Dawson Brown, whose father played at Villanova, leads a guard group that includes Christian Cervino, Brady O’Donnell and Keron Booth, the freshman guard adding a nice midseason boost. 

Unionville’s frontcourt doesn’t lack height, with 6-6 Tulane baseball commit Nick Diehl providing a good two-way presence, and 6-5 sophomore wing forward James Brenner the program’s brightest prospect. Senior guards Ryan Brown, Charlie Kammeier and JT Anderson don’t lack size, either — all are 6-2 or taller — but they’re going to find themselves in some mismatch situations at both ends of the floor. How they navigate those will be a key factor in who ends up playing at West Chester on Thursday.

2) Upper Dublin vs. 6) Sun Valley (1:00 PM)
A historical season for Upper Dublin continues, as the Cardinals (23-3) tied the program record with their 14th straight win and qualified for the PIAA state playoffs for the first time in 22 years by beating Penncrest on Saturday. The Cardinals, who captured the Suburban One League title and have scored wins over the likes of the Cheltenham, Abington (three times), PW (twice), and more, are in uncharted territory — but then again, so is Sun Valley, which has won 10 of its last 12 games to finish the season strong, winning thrillers against Marple Newtown and then Radnor to get into the district semis for the first time since it won the 2019 title.

The Vanguards (17-9) have been following the lead of senior Blaize Eldridge, a versatile 6-3 two-way wing forward who’s been stepping up in big moments, hitting the game-winner with less than two seconds left against Radnor. Senior guard Noah Griffin is strong with the ball in his hands, and junior guard Kaiden Robinson is a quality third option who can score inside and out and keep defenses honest with his ability to stretch the floor. Junior guard Aaron Freeman and senior wing Donnie Maieron round out the starting lineup, and they’ve gotten timely shooting off the bench from junior guard Dino Diemidio.

Upper Dublin’s attack is guard-based as well, led by 6-2 junior Ryan Mulroy and 5-7 sophomore Kobe Bazemore, an athletic slasher and speedster point guard who both can create offense in their own ways. Sharpshooting 6-4 senior Brady Fogle, senior guard Chris Kohlbrennerand sophomore guard Noah Cohen give them more floor-spacing, while senior forwards Anthony Oliviera-Schultze and Idris Rines do the dirty work and crash the glass.

Playbacks (Sat., Feb. 24)
5) Pottstown vs. 8) Upper Moreland (1:00 PM)
Pottstown’s already making progress as a program, having won a district playoff game for the first time in 16 years, but Ken Ivory would love to get his Trojans into the state playoffs to extend a run for his senior class. Senior twins Sadeeq and Abdul Jackson and senior forward Jurrell Young were all First Team PAC Liberty selections, and they’ve all got good size, versatility and athleticism. Upper Moreland counters with a deep group that goes from 5-9 senior Alex Best to 6-10 senior Sean Murphy, with 6-2 junior Colson Campbell also a major scorer and defender for head coach Dan Heiland.

3) Radnor vs. 10) Penncrest (1:00 PM)
It’s a rubber match between the Raptors and Lions, who each won on their home courts in the regular season. Radnor gets the home-court advantage this time as Tim Smallwood’s first group hopes to make it back to the state tournament; many of the contributors, including seniors Kessy Cox, Michael Savadove and Henry Pierce, are three-time state lacrosse champions, so they’re poised this time of year. Penncrest is super-young and still adjusting to this time of year, though sophomores Mikey Mita and Connor Cahill, among others, are getting valuable experience that head coach Mike Doyle knows will pay off down the road.